Some part of me, the part that still keeps lists of casualties, files it. Because what if he doesn’t come back?
He will.
“I know.” I don’t open my eyes. “Now go kill your father.”
He makes a sound that might be a laugh if it wasn’t so close to something else. Then his hand leaves my neck and the cold leaves with it and I find a knot in the floorboards and stare at it.
I look at it very hard.
Orion doesn’t ask what his job is. He just moves to my left shoulder. Where a guardian stands. His job was always to stand by me.
The thorns under my skin settle. They like him there at my back. My guardian.
“I’m taking back the Academy.” I say it to the room but I’m looking at Pepper.
“Obviously.” She pushes off the bar. Purple sparks trail from her fingertips. “What am I walking into?”
“It’s neutral ground,” Dagda says. “I built it in the center of Faerie. Where all courts converge. Though some courts haven’t gone in a while.” He taps the counter but I want to know if there are more courts. If there were they’d be here. He misspoke. “With Amarantha having a tantrum the Seelie wards will have gone up in flames.”
I crack my neck. “Last time I was there I uncovered that I’m Fae, bonded to two Fae males, and nearly died in a trial designed to kill me. So, it’s got a vibe.”
“Love a good vibe.” Pepper pours herself one more drink and downs it. “Enemies?”
“Everyone and no one. There are factions inside that have been fighting over that school for centuries. Some of them want me on the throne. Some of them want me in the ground. And with Amarantha’s wards destabilized, the building itself might not know whose side it’s on anymore.” I think about the sentientcorridors. The way the marble groaned under my feet. The portraits whose eyes followed me. “The Academy was built to protect the Treasures. We just absorbed the Treasures into our bodies and scattered across three directions. It might consider that theft.”
“Not true,” Dagda interrupts. “The Academy was built for the younglings. Fucking queens kept stealing babies.” He looks at me pointedly. “Mostly it’s to keep the Fae under five hundred busy. They like to kill each other. The fact that it became sentient was a bonus.”
“So the building might fight us.”
“The building has always had opinions. Last time I was there it grew a staircase out of the floor because it sensed my bloodline.” I look at my hands where the thorns pulse just beneath the surface. “But that was before Amarantha torched the Seelie grounds and broke the balance keeping the wards stable. So I honestly don’t know what it’s going to do when we walk in.”
“Great.” Pepper’s chaos magic sparks brighter. “I love surprises.”
“You really don’t.”
“No. I really don’t.” She grins anyway. And whoever meets that grin in a fight, well, it’s the last thing they’ll ever see.
“Ash,” Dagda interrupts. “There’s a door. Somewhere in the Academy. I don’t know where.” He glances at Orion. “It leads to the Sidhe mounds.”
“There’s a door to them?” Orion asks.
“Of course.” Dagda winks. “Don’t worry, I’m coming along.”
“We all are,” Morrigan says.
“I’ll eat anything that gets in our way.” Vanessa cracks her neck. Scales ripple across her knuckles, gold and iridescent, and I watch her pupils slit all the way vertical. “Everything in this world tastes better than Earth food anyway.”
“BBQ sauce is in the back.” Dagda chuckles.
“Don’t encourage her.” Pepper doesn’t even look at her. “Please stop eating the locals.”
“No promises.”
“I’m going to need the high ground.” Sabina is already eyeing the rafters. “Does this Academy have towers?”
“Several.”
“Great. I need the tallest one and a clear sightline to every entrance.”
