Our worlds were quite literally falling apart; even after exhaustive research we still couldn’t figure out what we were supposed to do with the Shadow Heart, and at any moment the curse might strike out in a new way causing even more devastation. But even with all of that I still felt like the luckiest fae in the world to have him by my side through it all.
The brothers had started in on another ribbing session, good-naturedly calling each other out on their childhood antics when the thick library doors swung open. The conversation stopped as we all came to our feet.
In walked four heavily armed men surrounding one petite woman. The woman had flowing lavender hair down to her waist that shimmered in the torchlight, and matching large purple eyes. She was beautiful, but in an unconventional, otherworldly way.
Her small nose, rounded cheeks, and pointed chin made her appear elf-like and innocent. She looked about in her early forties, but then I remembered Stryker telling me that the blood witches were rumored to use blood sacrifices to keep themselves looking young, and my stomach soured.
Is that what this one had done, or did her features represent her true age?
Part of me didn’t want to know because intuition said I wouldn’t like the answer.
One of the men stepped forward and even with a scarf covering part of his face,I recognized him as Samuel, Zander’s spy. “My lord,” he said, dipping his head in reverence to Zander. “The blood witch you asked us to track down and bring back for you.” He gestured toward the woman who had crossed her arms and was glaring back at him.
“Thank you, Samuel,” Zander said as he stepped forward. “You and the others may leave her here with us.”
“My lord,” Samuel said in surprise. “I don’t think that’s wise. She is very powerful and—”
Just then Stryker produced a shadow beast like the one I’d seen before. It was just as vicious and intimidating as I remembered, yet this time I wasn’t scared of it as I had been before. Perhaps because I was no longer scared of the lord himself.
Zander’s mouth twitched. “I appreciate your concern for us, Samuel, but I believe the point my elder brother is trying to make is that the most powerful beings in all of Ethereum are in this room.” He made a point of grabbing Dawn’s hand and drawing her closer, letting her know he wasn’t just talking about him and his brothers. “We can take it from here.”
“Of course, my lord,” Samuel said, and with another quick bow he and the other men left the room, closing the door behind them.
The purple-haired blood witch crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin to look down at the rest of us. Her suspicious gaze traveled over the group, and I’d be lying if I said that a chill hadn’t run through me when it landed on me before moving to the next.
I usually tried to reserve my judgment of people, but I was starting to understand why the citizens of Ethereum were cautious of blood witches.There was just something about her that seemed off. Wrong. Perhaps evil was too strong of a word, but the vibe was unnerving to say the least.
“Thank you for coming,” Stryker started, but the blood witch scoffed.
“You say that as if I had a choice in the matter.”
I frowned. This already wasn’t going well.
“What’s your name?” Stryker asked, ignoring her last comment.
Her chin lifted even higher and she paused, as if answering to an Ethereum lord was beneath her. “Rowena,” she finally said.
Stryker nodded in acknowledgment and then quickly introduced the rest of us. I could tell she was wholly unimpressed to be in the presence of all four Ethereum lords, and didn’t seem very concerned with me either, but a spark of interest showed in her eyes when she looked at Dawn.
Her gaze dropped to Dawn’s belly and I read alarm in my friend’s eyes. Zander quickly sidestepped to shield his wife from Rowena’s view. His hand twitched and I swear I saw a black shard begin to protrude from his palm before disappearing into nothing.
A sly smile lifted the corners of Rowena’s mouth that caused a queasy knot to form in my gut. I knew we needed her, but I now wished we’d looked harder for another way to reach Isolde.
“You have me here,my lord,” she said, making Stryker’s title sound like a sneer. “Since you went to so much trouble, I’d love to know why.”
“Do you know of the land called Faerie?” he asked.
She raised one eyebrow. “I do.”
He nodded. “We need to reach someone in Faerie,” Stryker said. “We require you to project our consciousnesses to her.”
Her eyebrows shot up. Whatever she assumed we would ask of her, this wasn’t it.
“I usually only communicate with the dead,” she said.
“Can you do it or not?” Stryker asked.
“How many of you?” she peered around the room at our large group.
