I glare at Katy for a moment longer. I think I have defeated her. I’m acting like this dagger gives the power to do terrible things to her, and she seems to believe me. Good. I don’t want to have to hit her over the head with it.
I draw a fake rune in the air.
“Step any closer and your insides will turn into mush,” I say.
And then I turn away because I cannot look at her anymore. The devastation on her face is too much to bear. However much I deserve it.
Three more strides and I’m standing right before the sleeping portal.
For hundreds of years, people have been trying to get to this moment, and here it is.
A relatively intact portal. A tapped vessel who has been raised for this. A fey dagger of extraordinary power. All coming together on Imbolc. A day of great alignment.
Four things. And now they have all clicked into place, it seems so ridiculously easy.
I plunge the dagger into the ground by my feet. I close my eyes. Open up my arms.
I let the magic of the dagger pour into me. I fling it at the shrine. I am the siphon. The conduit. The catalyst. Magic flows through me. It passes through my being so quickly it is not trapped. This magic does not need a mage to free it from my body. This magic is merely passing through.
I feel the runes carved around the portal begin to smolder and stir towards life. They are hungry after their long sleep. The dagger is not going to be enough. Luckily, there is raw power everywhere. In the trees. The earth. The air. It’s all around me. I draw it all in and feed it to the portal.
The runes ignite. They flame to life. The ancient magic weaves and spins like cogs of a machine clicking into place and turning.
The portal forms in a blaze of shimmering light. It’s open. It’s done. A doorway between realms has been born.
The fey can step through and conquer this world.
And I’ll have my Drew back.
Chapter twenty-nine
Drew
This feels like my bed. The sheets are soft and the mattress plump. It smells like home. I must be hallucinating. They’ve finally broken me.
Though surely I wouldn’t fantasize about being in this much pain? Unless it is too intense to ignore. Guess it means I’m still alive. Which is a good thing. I can’t leave Luci. If they are going to do this to me, what are they going to do to him?
I need to wake up. I need to escape. I need to protect Luci.
Vague echoes float through my mind. Luci holding my hand. Luci wiping my brow. Luci whispering soothing words.
Are those memories or more hallucinations? Could I really be home?
Only one way to find out.
I claw my way to full consciousness and tentatively open one eye. My bedroom window swims into view. So far, so good. It even looks like a nice sunny day. I open both eyes. It’s still my bedroom.
I’m really here. I’m no longer in that dank basement getting the shit kicked out of me. It’s over and done and I’m safe. And that can only mean one thing.
Luci saved me.
My consort can kick-ass.
The bedroom door opens and I whip my head over to face it. Luci is walking in with a tray holding what looks like a bowl of soup. He looks gorgeous in his dress with daisies on it. But there are dark circles under his eyes.
He is staring at me with a strange expression. Almost as if he is both utterly delighted to see me awake and also utterly terrified.
“How do you feel?” he asks softly.
“Like I’ve been hit by a bus,” I say truthfully.
He winces in sympathy. I watch as he carefully puts the tray on the dresser. He helps me sit up and stuffs a ton of pillows behind me. Then he places the tray over my lap and perches on the edge of the bed.
He hands me a glass of water with a straw in it. I open my mouth to say something about the straw, but actually, my jaw does hurt like hell. So I sip on the water complacently instead.
Luci’s green eyes are on me like a hawk.
As soon as I’m finished drinking, he lifts a spoonful of soup to my mouth. I’m being fed like a baby, but strangely, I don’t hate it.
Being nurtured and cared for by Luci is actually quite lovely. I bask in it for a little while. But questions are crowding my mind.
“How did you get me out of there?” I ask.
A dark shadow fills Luci’s eyes. He puts down the spoon and carefully dabs around my mouth with a napkin.
His touch is wonderful. It is so good to see him. To be near him. I thought I was going to die and leave him behind. I was so scared. And the pain was awful.
I’m such a wimp. Luci endured being beaten by his own father. Several times, by the sounds of it. When he was only a child. Gods. Luci is a million times stronger than I will ever be.
