“Well, I’m not sharing with Cress,” he hissed. With one hand, he reached out and grabbed Cecil by the arm, and hauled him away.
I frowned. “Why would you be sharing with—”
“I do not need sleep,” Cress declared. Her rage hadn’t abated; she was so tight with tension she was practically bouncing off the walls.
“You must rest,” Donovan said, his voice cold.
“No, Donovan. You must rest. I am going to go and search for berserkers. I shall rest later.”
“You might not find any,” I said, a little bewildered. “It’s late. The games start very early tomorrow. Most of the competitors will already be asleep.”
“Then I will find my own amusement.” She stalked away without another word.
I watched her go. “Should she be going alone?”
“She will be fine,” Donovan said. “She would happily tear my throat out for saying so, but Cress needs time alone. She is feeling homesick. It is as the mortal saying goes—everyone is fighting their own battle.” He stared down into my eyes. “They are distracted. It is a good time to attack.”
“Ahhh, I don’t think that’s how the saying goes, Donovan.”
Nate plucked the other key out of my hand. “Eryk and I need to recharge our magic in case there's a fight tomorrow. If we have to face Connor and his assassins now—”
“Assassins?” The blood drained from my face. “How many assassins are we talking about here?” The giant knight in the pitch-black armor still haunted my dreams. He’d come so close to killing Donovan during their fight.
“There are countless high fae who have aligned themselves with my brother,” Donovan said. “But only three of his closest advisors are powerful enough to travel with him to other realms.” His expression darkened, and a crinkle appeared in between his eyebrows.
“What is it? What are you not telling me?”
Eryk cleared his throat and bowed. “We will take our leave, Your Highness.”
I watched them go. Slowly, I turned around to face Donovan. He stood too close, too big, too masculine. “If Cress doesn’t need to sleep…”
“I do not require slumber to function,” he said softly. He reached down and took my hand again. “Come, Chosen. If I know you at all, I realize you are about to pull out a chalkboard and interrogate me so you can take notes on Connor’s assassins. I will tell you everything you need to know now.”
“Where are we going?”
“This is a tavern, is it not?” He glanced back at me. “You might need a drink.”
Chapter
Twelve
The pub was jam-packed, but Donovan found us an empty booth in the corner. Well, it wasn’t empty when he found it, but it took him less than three seconds to throw the small, very drunk group of people out of it. Luckily, they all decided to join the rambunctious crowd on the dancefloor and began flinging themselves around to the sound of fiddles and drums.
I settled into the plush velvet booth gratefully. Donovan disappeared and came back immediately with two big glasses of beer.
“Thanks.” It had been years since I’d been in a pub like this. I’d forgotten how much fun it was to hide in a dark corner, listening to the band singing heart-wrenching folk songs. My dad loved places like these, so it reminded me a little of him.
Which, in turn, reminded me of something else. “What were you going to tell me about Connor? Why did he only bring three of his assassins?”
“He could not bring more. Travel between Worlds is exceptionally difficult, in most cases, it is impossible. You cannot move to a realm with a different vibrational pattern without first acclimating yourself. My company trained for decades to be able to come here, and we were hamstrung by the movement of the planets in this human realm. There are only a few opportunities for travel between Worlds, and when the stars aligned, we took the opportunity.” He grimaced. “Right after Connor took the same opportunity.”
“Oh.” I frowned. I remembered Nate ducking backward and forward between Faerie and the human world when they first got here, but he had said the portal had closed. “Is that why you haven’t gone home yet? Because it’s too hard to travel?”
“No. It is difficult, but not impossible.”
I waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “Okay. So, you guys trained, performed some big magic, waited until the stars aligned, and came here to the Middle World.” I doodled on the side of my glass with my finger, playing in the condensation. “And Connor did the same thing.”
Donovan frowned. “Connor did more than that. We needed a blood key to come here, so we were escorted by a handful of the kingdom’s human agents. My brother did not have any human agents.”
“So, what did he do?”
He let out a rough breath. “Connor enjoys experimenting, and his experiments have rewarded him. He devoured his first spark stone on impulse and found that it gave him more power. Since then, he has found other things to devour which give him power.”
“Oh.” I could see where this was going. “That’s how he’s getting into other realms, isn’t he? You said that you needed a blood key to get through the portals. I have ‘every blood’”—I made little air quotes with my fingers—“so I can get through. He could probably do what we’re doing and bully someone into taking us into their realm, but Connor strikes me as a more dramatic sort of person. So, that means…”
“You are astute.” He looked away. “Connor discovered that if he devours the heart’s blood of any creature, he can pass easily into their realm, provided the blood still lives when he goes through.”
I shuddered. “Yeesh.”
“Devouring heart’s blood corrupts a being in a way that cannot be undone,” he added quietly. “There is no going back after you have consumed the innocent life of another.”
For a moment, Donovan’s sadness was so overwhelming I felt tears well up in my eyes. Connor was his twin, and Donovan knew he was lost forever.
“It started small, as these things often do. He found out by experimenting with some of the smaller realms in our Upper World. He ate the heart of a henpixie and fell into their realm easily, although he couldn’t come back until he ate another. Which he did,” Donovan added darkly, “with relish. Worse, he gleefully told me all about it when he came home. It was then I realized he was beyond my reach. The power made him giddy.”
“He ate a human to come here, didn’t he?”
Donovan nodded. “You must understand; this is our most dangerous secret. Each species of magical creature protects their realm’s entrances. If it became common knowledge that anyone can gain access to a realm just by drinking their blood…”
