Especially now that we knew the real truth of Dante’s plans. Or suspected it.
Of course, we could be wrong—again.
How he could have so much more power over me, I had no idea. My years as king—living and breathing the realms for thousands of years—should have counted for something.Anything. And yet, the false king rose, stole my wife, and proved just how mighty a foe he really was.
I shook my head of those thoughts and scrubbed a hand down my face. “What did they want?” I asked, voice still slurred. Slow.Tired.
Sao cleared his throat and clasped his hands in front of himself. “Their scout has made it into the Luna Court and breached initial wards surrounding the Titania Mountain Range. Word has been sent back that he began his trek into the forest, and first contact has been made with the ruins of an old Fae village, as well as the remnants of what appear to be items that suggest Emris might have been there.”
I stiffened, remembering what the divination mage learned during his research. “Emris had been gifted land in Luna…” I looked away from Sao as I rose. “The Titania Mountain Range is where, exactly?”
“The range borders the Luna Court and Dream Court, my King. Cuts across the entirety of the Unseelie Court and appears in Aither as well. From the eastern coastline, all the way to the western. But that is entirely guesswork on our part, my King.”
I moved towards the bar, though rather than pouring another glass of wine, I pulled out a pitcher of water. My mouth tasted like literal death, though I shouldn’t have been surprised after how much I drank.
“So, first contact has been made,” I mused darkly. “But no sign of Dante orhis army?”
As I turned, I noticed the disappointment on Sao’s face. “None so far, however?—”
The door to my suite slammed open as the divination mage appeared, striding in without a care in the fucking world. In his hand was an old tome that smelled older than the Underworld with how dusty it appeared.
“I found something,” he said, stopping at the leather chairs, assessing me. “You look like shit.”
I rolled my eyes and brought the water to my lips. “What is it?”
“Something doesn’t sit right with me,” he started, opening the book with a grimace. “You know, he brought up the moon cycles in Luna?—”
“To throw us off, force us to rally our army there and focus our efforts on him in Faery while he stole our Queen away to Avalon to take advantage of the lunar eclipse and blood moon.” I gulped down the rest of the water with a grunt. “Yes, I am aware.”
This time, the other male rolled his eyes. “The Luna Court must havesomesignificance, though. Right? Obviously, somehow, this Emris is more involved than we ever realised. But he wasn’t a Luna Fae. He was born to Autumn, so why did he pick Luna?”
I dropped my glass and leaned back against the bar with a frown. “I do not have an answer to that.”
“The High Palace,” the mage stated. “When Titania died, it basically locked itself up. Closed the doors and wouldn’t let anyone in until a couple centuries after her death. He wanted to stay in Luna because of its proximity. Even if Seelie was close, Luna istheclosest court to the High Palace. There’s a record here about bridging the gap between them—literally. With a bridge.”
“And how exactly does that help us?” Apparently, it had not even crossed my desk during my initial years as Elysian King, because I could recall nothing about such a request. And it was silly, because from what Ididknow about the water between those lands, a bridge would never last. Between theUnseelie Court and High Fae Island was a river of sorts that was treacherous.
Once the island became inhabitable again, the palace was ruined, falling apart. None would dare cross to its shores out of respect for the High Fae bloodline.
Why would anyone want to build abridgeto an island none dared step foot on?
“It doesn’t—not really,” the mage admitted. “But it does confirm something to me.”
“And what is that?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“He’s there. In Luna. But most importantly, he’s going to be close to the High Palace if he’s using the fortress Emris built. This all comes back to him and what he tried to do to Pandora. It all comes back to the skull.”
A chill rolled down my spine. Nothing in the male’s expression told me he doubted those words. He truly believed there was a connection between the two.
I wanted to believe it, too.
But was it too easy?
Was Dante already several steps ahead of us and knew we would have eventually worked it out?
I released a breath and looked at Sao. “Where is the scout now?”
“Eastern side of the mountains closest to the High Palace, as Sir Rowan suspected. That is where the evidence of Emris’s time in Luna was found.” Sao bowed his head and took a step back.
