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  Before I could stop her, speak, act, Anastasia jerked as though she'd been struck, shuddered into shadow and vanished.

  ***

  Chapter Six

  Gram and Shenka were in the kitchen when I stormed into the house, magic weaving around the dishes, cleaning up the mess from the party. Sassafras hissed at me as I stomped past him, barely missing his tail with my toes. He leaped onto the table to glare at me as I came to a jarring halt.

  “Sebastian isn't clan leader anymore.” Blurting random troubles was apparently my specialty.

  Shenka seemed surprised, but Gram didn't. In fact, she looked a little guilty before her wrinkled face fell into a frown.

  “Tell me you didn't keep this from me.” Yeah, my anger button was on a hair trigger. Had been pushed. And pushed. And pushed—

  “I knew.” At least she didn't try to deny it. Even so, I vibrated with the need to shake her.

  “And you thought it was a good idea to keep this little tidbit to yourself.” Cold, Syd. But, well, damn it.

  “There's nothing you can do,” Gram said, faded blue eyes empty and flat. “And you had enough on your plate. Still do.”

  That kind of crap was not going to fly with two broken wings.

  Gram sat with a sigh, her harsh mask fading, sadness and her own frustration showing as she reached out and stroked Sassy's fur. He instantly began to purr despite the tension in the room, his demon magic offering her comfort. “I had my own occasion to return to the vampire mansion,” she said. “I found out then Sebastian wasn't in control.”

  Grrr. My teeth ached from grinding them together. “Do you know who is?”

  She shook her head.

  “Celeste Oberman.” I let that particular gem sink in, watched her shoulders sag, felt instantly regretful and sank into the seat next to her. “Gram, Celeste. Of all people.”

  Her eyes flashed with blue fire, the family magic she still controlled rippling back toward me as her own anger woke up. “That bitch,” she said.

  Who undermined my mother at every turn, a Purity who couldn't bear to be a Hayle, who killed some of the finest witches I knew to protect herself. Who'd sided with Batsheva Moromond and the Brotherhood.

  Yeah. That bitch.

  “She has to be up to something.” I sat back, my own hand in Sassy's fur. He turned his head to stare, demon fire glowing in his gaze as his purr gained in volume. I could feel the tendrils of his comforting energy sliding up my hand, toward my heart and allowed it. “Anastasia came to me, asked for help. Said Celeste has been starving the vampires.” Gram gasped softly while Shenka took the seat at the head of the table, shaking her head, eyes wide. “That the Queens have gone mad.” It felt weird to repeat Anastasia's words. But I knew she was right. About Pannera, anyway, who accepted a known traitor into her blood clan.

  Wait a second. Anastasia said queens.

  As in—

  “Sunny.” I leaned forward, taking Gram's free hand in mine. “Have you talked to Uncle Frank?” Guilt slapped me all over again. Why hadn't I insisted they come for my birthday? Christmas last year? Something.

  Anything.

  Gram squeezed my fingers, jaw setting into a strong line. “I haven't spoken to either of them for months.” She nodded once, a sharp gesture. “But you're right, girl. We've all been so wrapped up in our own messes, we've let this go on too long. Time to find out what's what.”

  Awesome. I stood up, her hand falling from mine. “Let's go.”

  Gram's scowl was so deep I wasn't surprised when she kicked me firmly in the shin with one of her fuzzy socked-feet.

  “'Us' nothing.” She stood herself, tugging her button-up pink sweater around her thin cotton dress even as her eyes took on that faraway look telling me she spoke to someone elsewhere. I tried to eavesdrop, only to have her cut me off and glare. One sharp index finger poked me aggressively in the ribs. “You have to stay out of it.”

  Like hell.

  I didn't get to protest. Not when someone familiar walked through the wards and knocked on the door before Varity Rhodes let herself in. The tall, thin, former Enforcer leader looked as grim as Gram, so I assumed the short message Gram managed to fire off had some of the pertinent details.

  “Coven Leader.” Varity bowed her head to me before hugging Gram. “Ethie.”

  “Feel like taking a little trip?” Gram stepped away from her friend. “My son hasn't been answering his mail.”

  Varity glanced sideways at me before shrugging like it was no big deal.

  “I like Austria this time of year,” she said. “I'll drive.”

  Gram grunted. “You always get us lost. I'll drive.”

  Seriously?

  “I'm coming.” I'd already made up my mind and they weren't changing it.

  Two pairs of eyes stared me down, two old ladies, their mutual power snapping and crackling, sending me back a step.

  “You're staying put.” Varity pointed at me then at the floor under my feet. “Don't think I'm out of the loop, young lady. The Council is watching you like you're something good for dinner, just waiting for you to screw up. And while the vampires aren't in our purview, there's no way any granddaughter of Ethie's is going to the stake on my watch because some anxious-ass Council member decided you stepped over a line.”

  Bossy pants.

  “Let me handle this.” Gram turned from me, offered her hand to her old friend. “We'll be back before you know it.”

  A million protests broke over my mind.

  Didn't matter.

  Damn them.

  I watched them leave, tension poking me in the back, the need to act, to help, to do something driving me to shake where I stood.

  But they were right.

  How was I supposed to get anything done if I had to look over my shoulder every two seconds?

  Shenka rose and came to my side, hand on my shoulder, turning me gently around. The empathy in her eyes told me she understood.

  And was almost more than I could stand.

  “They might as well have left me in that pretty prison at Harvard,” I said, turning from Shenka. Meeting Sassy's eyes. “I'm still in a cell.”

  Sassafras sighed. “I hate to agree with you,” he said. “But you're correct. For now, all you can do is allow others to handle things. There will come a time when breaking the Council's shackles will be worth the risk. But not this time.”

  I didn't get a chance to reply.

  Syd! Liam's mental voice lurched against mine as I felt him surge free of the wards around the Gate cavern and into the open air. His touch was so strong I saw him standing in the dark basement of town hall, eyes wide, whole body shaking.

  Liam. I reached back, hugging him with my magic, surprised peripherally to find his clinging mother wasn't hovering in the background. What's going on?

  The Sidhe. He let me feel his fear. Something is wrong.

  —Decay. Crumbling death. Loss. Crushing me, pulling at my breath, my strength, the very earth beneath me weak and failing as Shaylee cried out in pain—

  No way was I holding back. Sassafras's right time to act had just shown up.

  ***

  Chapter Seven

  Charlotte stayed close behind me as I bolted out of the kitchen, part way into the street before I tore a hole in the veil and leaped through. I had just enough presence of mind to shield the sight from the normals on my block, barely inside the rubber membrane long enough to feel the touch of my demon grandmother's soul hovering around me before I hurtled out of the other end and into the side door of town hall.

  Liam met me at the basement stairs, arms engulfing me as I panted to a halt. His deep, earthy scent mixed with fabric softener and the warmth of him helped to slow my heart a little, but his own panic came through loud and clear.

  “Come on.” He turned and bounded down the stairs, me on his heels, passing through the wards. It wasn't until I grabbed Charlotte's hand and guided her through the Sidhe protections I realized Liam wasn't alone.

&n
bsp; But it wasn't the giant black hound growling softly at the entrance to the Gate room or even the still missing Sonja O'Dane I sensed. I shuddered to a stop next to Galleytrot and stared at the Sidhe prince waiting in the middle of the room.

  Thalion, prince of the Seelie Court, stood on our side of the veil. And he looked very unhappy.

  “Your Highness.” Thalion bowed to me, speaking to Shaylee, as usual. This time I didn't bother correcting him, taking in his pale features, how drawn and tired he looked, figuring I'd cut the guy some slack.

  He looked like he'd been having a bad day.

  “What's wrong?” I approached immediately, offering him my hand. Thalion's was cool to the touch, his power sliding over mine, though, for the first time, I didn't get a slimy, needy vibe from him. Neither did Shaylee. Instead, he felt desperate.

  “Our realm is under attack,” he said. “The storm is rising and we need your help.”

  The storm. I'd seen it when I crossed last time, a dark and oppressing line of black clouds huddled on the horizon of the Sidhe plane. I'd thought it was partly due to Ameline's interference, the rising thunderstorm rumbling with echoing thunder and lightning flashes. Clearly that wasn't the case. My suspicions about the Brotherhood's involvement made my heart clench in fear.

  “Let's go.” The Gate already stood open, humming softly, though, as I drew near I heard the faint discord in its song. One look through the veil told me what I needed to know.

  The storm had grown all right. So much, it almost covered the entire skyline visible through the doorway.

  Thalion led the way, me close behind him, the touch of the bubbled edge of the Sidhe veil as uncomfortable as ever. I stepped through the soapy film, feeling the glamour of the realm try to shift my appearance but, stubbornly refused to give in. Shaylee supported my choice and, though occasionally the hem and skirt of an elaborate dress flickered to life around my feet, I held onto my own shape.

  Was it stupid to fly headfirst into the Sidhe's problems when I had my own to worry about? Yeah, probably. Still, the need to do something was much more powerful than my ability to sit on my ass and wait for the world to come crashing down around me. Besides, Shenka had the fort, Sassafras at her side for support. And no one, not even the Council, could fault me for answering a call for help.

  I hoped.

  I drew in a short breath, the hint of ozone heavy in the air choking me. The sky appeared black to the west, over the realm of the Unseelie, though most of the Seelie court territory seemed to be clear still.

  “The king wants to see you.” Not the Queen? Who was he working for these days? Thalion strode off, long legs covering ground quickly as his power compressed the distance. One minute we were hurrying along a stone path up a green hill, Charlotte in blonde wolf form loping at my side, and the next we stood at the border to the Unseelie realm.

  King Odhran waited on the other side, his queen, Niamh, beside him, ranks of Unseelie in their odd, often ugly forms assembled behind him. They had created a camp of sorts and I wondered if they'd moved from this place since I left them last time.

  An archway formed in green fire, allowing me through. The moment I did, when I left the glamour of Aoilainn’s influence and entered Odhran's, I gasped.

  The storm. It covered the entire sky. Flashes of lightning and a moaning wind followed by deep, threatening rolls of thunder made me shudder like a child woken from a nightmare to realize the nightmare was real.

  Odhran offered one hand, his face as gaunt and drawn as Thalion's, entire body flaring with Sidhe fire.

  “Thank you for coming.” He followed my gaze as my eyes lifted again to the black mass of clouds hovering like a ceiling over the browning grass on the other side of the border. “Things have not improved since we last met.”

  “No kidding.” I hugged myself and shook my head. “You should have called me sooner.” I turned to Thalion who stood beside me. Another shocker. What was he doing on this side of the border? “Since when is a Seelie prince welcome in Unseelie territory?”

  Thalion shrugged gracefully even as the queen laughed.

  “Since he's made himself valuable,” Niamh said. “Trying to convince that stubborn, willful Seelie wench to pay attention and notice her world is crumbling around her.”

  The queen of the Seelie had proven herself to be less than reasonable.

  Shaylee sighed, but held her tongue. I knew it was hard for her to think of her mother that way, but after she'd forced Shaylee to leave me and inhabit a body of foliage that would have weakened and trapped her, leaving her vulnerable to Ameline, I didn't much care what Shaylee thought of her mother.

  Considering I had my own mommy issues, we were a great pair.

  I looked across the border at the lighter sky, a terrible feeling growing. “The storm?”

  Thalion nodded sadly. “My queen does what she can to hide it from us,” he said. “But it's consumed the entire sky in the Seelie court as well. Only her powerful glamour keeps my people from knowing what approaches.” He paused. Winced. “What has arrived.”

  “It's no ordinary storm.” Odhran repeated the obvious, but when he pointed to the ground, I understood what he meant. A wavering patch of darkness came and went, as though the edges of the very earth decayed under our feet. As he went on, I looked up and around, spotting more and more of these dark patches, eating away at the realm. “It draws power from the veil protecting our plane.” He shivered, leaning on Niamh who sent a surge of green fire to him, only to sag herself. “It takes all the will we possess to slow the outflux, but we are weakening. I fear, when we fall, the realm will fall with us.”

  And they said Aoilainn was stubborn. “You waited this long to tell me?” Of all the stupid, ridiculous, hard-headed—

  “We have nowhere else to turn.” Odhran bowed his head to me. Had to hurt. The Sidhe were a proud race. “We have done our best to protect our people, but we now know doing so is impossible without your help.”

  Time to set aside accusations and pride and do something. Right.

  “What about Aoilainn?” Shaylee shuddered at the thought her mother could just let this go on without fighting.

  “Perhaps if Her Majesty could be convinced to fight back,” Thalion said, “we could join forces.”

  Queen Niamh laughed again. “The Seelie and Unseelie? Join together?”

  Odhran shook his head, but not in denial. “It may be our only hope.”

  If so, they were totally screwed. I agreed with Niamh. No way would Aoilainn give up her power so easily. Even Shaylee admitted her mother would rather see the realm fall than join forces with the Unseelie.

  Which meant there had to be another option.

  I stepped away from them, reaching out with my magic, feeling the storm. I should have done it the first time I was here, but I'd had other things to keep me occupied. Like Ameline and losing Shaylee and Liam almost dying. Yeah. But this time I could focus.

  The moment my power grazed the edge of the storm I started to swear. Softly, under my breath, hands clenched at my sides, body shaking with the need to hurt someone.

  Preferably Liander Belaisle.

  Blank emptiness met my magical touch, pulling at my power, trying to suck me dry. I had to jerk free, to call on the depths of the blackness beneath me as the petals of the dark flower of my sorcery parted with a sigh and opened. Answered the call of the storm and began to suction power from the realm.

  Oh hell no. I put a stop to that immediately, cutting off my sorcery with a layer of creation magic, feeling the maji in me rise and take over. Everything stilled, calmed within me. I'd been practicing, focusing myself on my maji abilities, but they still fought me until I had a task to do.

  And then everything seemed to come together.

  Like now.

  I reached for the storm as my maji power swelled in answer.

  ***

  Chapter Eight

  No sweat. This would be no sweat whatsoever. I felt myself rise both in spirit and in
confidence, my mind and magic flowing upwards toward the edge of the emptiness. Creation power hummed, ready for action. I'd never felt more powerful, more in control of my abilities as I reached out through the blankness, searching for Belaisle and the source of the power draw draining the Sidhe realm.

  And tumbled back, falling on my ass in the dying grass as answering magic rippled over the surface of the storm and threw me off.

  I stared up in surprise, head ringing, body tingling with the shock of the violent recoil. Charlotte's hands grasped my arms, her human form returned now that we stood in the Unseelie realm. The monarchs of the Unseelie had no power to spare to play dress up.

  “Thanks.” I brushed at the seat of my jeans, face so tight in a frown my cheeks ached. “Well, that hurt.”

  Odhran stood mute, watching me. His disappointment looked to be about as powerful as mine.

  No way I was letting the Sidhe down.

  “Just give me a second.” I shuddered off the last of the tingle and gathered my power again. Went more slowly, eased my consciousness closer instead of my typical all or nothing. Ran into the exact same layer of protection against my power.

  I examined it for a moment, letting the maji energy slide along it, probing and exploring. There was something familiar about it, but reversed, as though I looked at and felt the underside of a power I knew. No amount of probing or poking could break through, though I came close several times.

  Very close. Twice. The first time when my bright creation energy connected with equally bright creation energy. Broke free as blackness sliced through the bond. Tried again, felt the sparkly, happy, brilliant power reach for me. Only to have the darkness snarl and shove me aside.

  I sank from the storm, the edge of emptiness, a sick feeling pooling in the pit of my stomach.