Yasmine Galenorn - Night's End

Regina followed him out the door with her gaze, then brought her attention back to us. “Rhiannon, you and both consorts will remain here. Cicely and I will take Kaylin to the Blood Oracle. Check, you may come as your Queen’s guard, but you will obey me . Do you understand? If I say jump, you jump. If I say drop down on the floor—”

“I will drop. Yes, Emissary.” Check snapped to attention, clicking his heels together smartly as he straightened his shoulders.

The fact that Regina addressed neither of us by our title didn’t bother me, and I knew it didn’t irk Rhiannon, either. Regina had known us both before our coronations, and somehow, rebuking the Emissary to the Crimson Court for overlooking a few words would just be borrowing trouble. There was no disrespect in her voice, and I doubted any was meant.

As she finished speaking, Lannan reentered the room, Kaylin in tow. I caught my breath, wondering how the fuck we were going to explain what was about to happen. We couldn’t just drag him along with us and then throw him to the wolves, so to speak.

Regina took care of that problem. She motioned for Kaylin to take his place in front of her. “Kaylin, I’m afraid we have a problem.”

He looked at her, a quizzical expression on his face. “Have I done something to offend you?” While a faint smile played on his face, a feral light flickered in his eyes. With his demon fully emerged, Kaylin had turned into a highly dangerous adversary, though there was no way to know just how powerful he would become as he evolved.

The Emissary shook her head. “No, you haven’t. I think, perhaps, the best tactic to take is the truth. Cicely, you do owe him an explanation, considering what we are about to undertake.”

I dreaded the thought, but she was right. How could I ask him to undergo Crawl’s scrutiny without knowing why? And if he was the spy, and tried to bolt now, then we’d be able to stop him. But . . .

“What if there’s a mind link?” I asked Regina. “What if . . . what I fear turns out to be true and there’s a link there?”

“Good point. That, however, we can solve simply enough.” She took hold of Kaylin’s arm. “Check, Cicely, follow us.”

Kaylin, looking confused now, allowed Regina to lead him over to the bookshelf. Check followed close behind, ready to stop him should he try to turn on us. If Kaylin was the spy, he either didn’t suspect anything or was furiously plotting what might happen next.

Lannan pressed a book on the bookshelf behind the desk. A secret door slid open to reveal a passageway lit by a dim light. We passed into a room where a table sat in the center, and a single bulb hanging from the ceiling illuminated the space. On the table—which was shaped like an octagon—a crystal hovered above a two-inch-thick crimson block of glass.

As soon as the door slid closed behind us, Regina let go of Kaylin and motioned for us to gather around the table. Still looking bewildered, Kaylin did as asked. Check stood next to him on one side, Regina on the other. I stood opposite him.

“Here, you may tell him. We are between worlds now, and I doubt if any message could reach through the veils.” She nodded at me.

“Tell me what?” Kaylin was beginning to look worried.

“Kaylin, I’m so sorry. But we have . . . I have . . .” I paused, uncertain how to verbalize my thoughts, but then they spilled out of their own accord. “I have to do something that’s going to be horrible. I have no choice.” In a flood of words, I told him what we were doing and why.

The expression on his face passed from angry to incredulous, and then—resigned. “I understand.”

I didn’t want to look into his eyes, to see the betrayal that had to be lurking there, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. I owed him that much.

To my surprise, Kaylin seemed calm and collected. “I understand,” he repeated. “You have a spy in your Court; you must find out who it is. Your shamans can’t perform their rituals on us, so—”

“This is the only way,” I finished.

“We are so far past being able to trust anyone’s word. Look at what Anadey did. To you. To Peyton, her own daughter.”

And then I realized that he really did understand, and that almost made me feel worse. I would have felt better if he’d yelled or screamed or cussed me out. But instead, he stood there stoically, and it made me almost want to say, “Forget it, I trust you.” But I couldn’t take the chance.

“Yes . . . so, when Crawl verifies you are what I believe you to be—a trustworthy friend—then we will have you examine Peyton, Luna, and Ysandra. I know how you feel about Luna, but . . .”

Kaylin had fallen hard for the bard, and I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy thing for him to delve into her mind. And I knew what he saw there might not sit well. Luna cared for him, but she was wary—not willing to dive off the cliff, romantic though she might seem to be.

Kaylin made no move to try to escape. Instead, he turned to Regina. “Tell me what to do. I will listen. I’ve no desire to have Crawl any closer to me than need be, so let’s get this over with.”

And with that Regina traced some sort of symbol over the crystal then said, “Hold hands.” She took Kaylin’s hand in her right, mine in her left. Kaylin reached for Check, and I completed the circle by holding my guard’s hand. As the world began to spin, twirling like a Tilt-a-Whirl, everything fell away, and a rush of wind swept us into the churning slipstream of time.

Time went whistling past, the centuries turning back—or perhaps we were moving sideways, hopping realities as the creak of trees echoed in the howl around us, and the scent of smoke from burning wood swirled to surround us. A shadow of spiders crept past, on tiptoe, and I wanted to whimper. Then a flurry as a murder of crows rose up and vanished through the turbulent currents.

We traveled between worlds, through portals in a way unlike the Twin Oaks and the Twin Hollies. Those portals shifted us, body and soul, through a crackle of electricity. This vortex swept us up and cast us to the raging winds, letting them buffet us against the jutting rocks of the static-filled ocean, bruising our psyches until—with one final howl—the winds dropped and we were standing in a gigantic chamber, dimly lit and echoing with every sound, every breath.

We were around a table identical to the one in the secret room back at the mansion. I slowly turned, all too aware of where I was.

Regina waved us toward her. “Follow me and do not step off the path or you will not live long enough to regret it. When we come to Crawl, do not speak directly to him. Do not answer him. Answer me if he asks you a question, and let me take the lead. Do you understand?”

Kaylin and Check both nodded. I already knew the drill. We set off, behind Regina, following single file. Kaylin walked behind her, then me, then Check.

Thirty feet high, the ceilings loomed overhead, painted to mimic stained glass, with portraits of battle and sex, a glorious beatitude in vivid color to the art and consequence of war. Below the ceiling, a rich, crimson wallpaper covered the chamber, and the light source remained hidden, but dim light flickered through the room. Marble benches lined the walls, their feet lost in a heavy mist that wisped along the floor in scattered strands.

The floor was, as I remembered it, a grid of magical symbols. A narrow pathway led through the etched tiles. Tuscan gold in the center with thick black border lines, each of the blank panels was a safe place to step. I remembered enough to know the magical runes engraved on the rest were to destroy the unwary. Setting foot off the path was painting a bull’s-eye on your forehead.