Okay, so this was weird. Caer had returned to Faerie two years ago, seemingly alone. The world here had still been rebuilding itself, and most fae still preferred the luxuries of the human world to a forgotten land. But some must have followed. And they were…worshipping hernow?
“Look, I know Caer. We kind of go way back. I just want to talk to her about a prophecy she gave me a long time ago.” I curled my fingers around the hilt of my sword. “So, I’ll ask again. Do you know where I can findher?”
The fae stepped forward and hissed. “Caer will no longer be dispensing prophecies like candies. You will offer your prayers, and a sacrifice if you wish, and you will be deemed worthy ornot.”
“I’m thinking unworthy,” one of the other fae said in a boredvoice.
I cut my eyes to Axel. “You happen to have a potion that gets rid of three peskyfae?”
“That would be a negative,” he said with a minute shake of his head. “Though I don’t think that’ll solve our problem if you want to see Caer. Maybe just do the prayerthingy.”
“Right.” I turned back to the strange armoured fae. “What exactly does the prayer thingyentail?”
The leader pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “You do not seem to be taking this veryseriously.”
“I just don’t understand it,” I insisted. “Tell me what I have to do, and then I can make an informeddecision.”
She twisted to glance at her buddies. They both shook their heads. Hmm. Not a greatsign.
When she twisted back, I swore her eyes flashed with glee. “You must prostrate yourself on the frozen ground, and offer your life in service to Caer. If you are worthy, then we will take you to seeher.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Prostrate myself? You’ve got to be bloodyjoking.”
Her lips went white as she pressed them tightly together. Right. So, not jokingthen.
“I’m not really a prostrating kind of person,” I mumbled as I glanced back at Axel. He merely gave me a shrug, as if to say, ‘How badly do you want to ask Caer about yourprophecy?’
My heart thumped. I’d pretty much do anything at this point. As much as it pained me to admit, Caer had the answers that I needed. It had been weeks since I’d seen Lugh, and it felt like a hole had been punched through my heart. Every day, I thought about going back to him, and every day, I had to talk myself out of it. His life was on the line. I would not allow myself the luxury of his company just because I selfishly didn’t want to be withouthim.
Beingwithhim would only end in hisdeath.
Our relationship was doomed. Unless Caer had a way out ofit.
I sucked in a deep breath and sank down to my knees. Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I fell face forward onto the snow. A second later, hysterical laughter echoed all around me. I jerked up from the ground, narrowing my eyes to see the three fae doubled over, tears running down theirfaces.
“I didn’t think she’d actually do it!” the leader shrieked, pointing atme.
I jumped to my feet and drew my sword. The steel sang as it whistled through the air. Their laughter died on theirlips.
“Tell me what the fuck is going on. Now.” I growled the words. “I did what you said. Where the hell isCaer?”
“Who knows?” the leader said with a shrug, and then grinned again. “We’re not really her worshippers. We’re just bored and haven’t seen anyone come through here in a long time. We thought it’d be fun…” Her eyes flicked to my sword. “Honestly, it was just for a laugh. No harm, no foul.Right?”
“No harm?” I growled, stalking closer. “No foul? You just made me bloody prostrate myself beforeyou.”
“Yeah, you must really, really want to see Caer.” She took a step back. “Please put that away. We don’t want anytrouble.”
“If you didn’t want any trouble, then you shouldn’t have been a bunch of bloody wankers,” I snappedback.
Axel’s strong, warm hand found my arm, and he dragged me back. “They’re not worthit.”
No, theyweren’tworth it, but the anger rushing through my veins was more than just that. It was sorrow and pain, roiling through me like a snake. Caer had been my only hope for finding a way to break the prophecy. For a moment, I’d felt hope that we’d finally managed to track her down. Instead, I got pied in theface.
Silently, Axel led me away from the still-laughing trio. We stomped through the snow toward the white-peaked mountains, but took a left at the fork in the path. We were heading back south, down toward the portal, instead of continuing further north where Caer was hiding in the hills. I didn’t even try to argue with his choice. I knew it was the right one to make. Caer clearly did not want me to find her, which meant I never would. We’d been searching for her forweeks.
Finally, after what felt like hours of silence, Axel gave a shake of his head. “Well, that didn’t really go according toplan.”
No, it hadn’t. Another understatement of the century. I was practically swimming in them at this point. For the past month, I’d been on the hunt for anything that could give me an out, anything that could tell me how to reverse the damnprophecy.
