CHAPTER 32
As they made their way through the fracas, Ani kept Rabbit behind her. Seth brought up the rear, and she and Devlin cleared a path. Even with blood streaming down his slashed arm, Devlin was fierce. His movements were clinical, though; there was a precision to the strikes. Hounds aided them, keeping their route open.
Once their small group was away from the studio, they maintained a triangle formation, but with Ani joining Seth at the back. Without speaking, they each scanned their respective sides of the street. He didn’t try to watch her area—or fail to monitor his own.
For a nonpack faery, he’s not bad.
As they proceeded farther from the fight, Seth’s uneasy glances at Devlin seemed to match her own. Why? Seth’s watch over Rabbit made sense: they were friends of a sort. The attention he paid to Devlin was equal to his regard for Rabbit.
“Let me help.” Seth spoke quietly. “Devlin?”
“No.” Devlin didn’t even look at Seth. “Be silent.”
The terse way Devlin spoke made her think that the unspoken topic wasn’t about protecting them. They passed a number of mortals, and Ani was grateful that everyone other than Rabbit had the ability to don a glamour to hide their bloodied and bruised state. Rabbit, who walked in the middle, was spared attention by his position.
The few faeries who saw them passed either gaped at them or scurried away quickly. Seeing bloodied Dark Court faeries was not unusual, but seeing the Summer Queen’s beloved in matching condition was noteworthy—as was seeing the High Court’s assassin in the company of Hounds. If not for the worry and fear, she would find the fleeing faeries’ reactions amusing.
Silently, she followed Devlin and waited for word from her father. Even at this distance, she could feel her link to the Hunt. She didn’t speak to Gabriel, but she listened, knowing he’d warn her if any of Bananach’s faeries escaped the Hunt.
Devlin and Seth both stopped. They had reached a graveyard at the edge of Huntsdale where Ani had attended more than a few parties.
Seth shot another worried look at Devlin’s arm. The bleeding hadn’t stopped, but it had slowed.
“Let me help,” Seth offered again. “You need blood.”
“Not here.” Devlin had a thin sheen of sweat on his face. “I can wait.”
“Let—”
“No,” Devlin snarled. A shadow flashed out from his eyes. “Do not offer a third time. You will not manipulate me thusly.”
Ani stepped up beside Devlin, not to get between them but
to be nearer Devlin. “You want to clue me in?”
“That’s what he doesn’t want,” Seth muttered. “He’s lost too much blood, but my brother is being uncommonly stupid.”
“Your who? What?” Ani looked between them. “Less clarity by the minute, guys.”
Devlin swallowed with effort. “Can we not do this yet?”
“If you bleed out, what good are you?” Seth spoke gently to Devlin, but his attention was still on their surroundings.
“Once we reach Faerie, Brother,” Devlin said.
Rabbit and Ani exchanged a look. Rabbit shrugged and then asked, “So we’re here? At the gate to Faerie?”
“One of them.” Devlin stretched his bleeding arm into the air in front of him to grasp something that Ani couldn’t see. His blood sizzled as if something in the air burned him. He closed his eyes briefly, not enough that his pain was obvious, but enough that he dropped the shield around his emotions—and Ani almost stumbled in the flood of pain and fear that washed over her.
A veil appeared as if out of empty air. A gate. To some degree, she’d always assumed that she would see the doorways to Faerie if she passed near them.
“Dev?”
He glanced at her—and then he toppled forward into a silver veil that stretched like moonlight between the earth and sky. Waves ripped through the surface when he fell; the shimmering silver light was displaced by his form. Just as quickly, though, it stilled. It looked like liquid, but the weighty fall of it was that of thick drapes.
Ani dove after Devlin, slipping from the mortal world into Faerie without the fear or hesitation she had expected. Seth and Rabbit came after her, and the veil fell in place behind them. The glimmer of light lingered for a moment, and then was gone as if there’d never been a door there.
“Seth?” Ani looked up at him. “I’ve never been here and… help?”