It’s something that’s been nagging me since Helix mentioned it. And maybe I’m deflecting, focusing on something else because I don’t want to accept that things between Rys and me aren’t as clear-cut as I wish they were, but I have to ask.
I need to ask.
He raises his eyebrows. “Can it wait?”
“I’ll make it quick.”
“Then go ahead. But I don’t promise that I’ll be willing to answer it.”
Fair enough. This is Rys. I’d expect nothing less from him.
“It’s just… what did the captain mean when he said that something was foretold about you? Like a prophecy or something?”
When Rys doesn’t answer me, I know that he doesn’t have any intention to. I should drop it. I can’t see how forcing him to tell me what that’s about is going to help me when it comes to going in front of Oberon.
Still, there’s something about his silence. He doesn’t have to say anything for me to make a pretty good guess at what Helix might’ve meant.
“Hang on… there’s a prophecy about you?”
“This is Faerie, my darling. Nearly every creature you meet has been touched by a soothsayer. Why would I be any different?”
That’s not a “yes”, I notice. That’s a very fae way of most definitely not answering my question. And, sure, I’ve heard people make mentions of something called the Shadow Prophecy. Even Morgan offered to look at my palm and read my future one of the time I sat down to dinner with her.
Morgan… betrayal or not, I hope she’s doing better than I am right now.
I shake my head. “What—”
“It’s not anything as interesting as you’re thinking,” Rys says, cutting me off.
“And, after we finish meeting with Oberon, I’ll tell you all about it if you’re still interested.” He pauses. “Do we have a deal?”
Huh. You’d think that by now I’d know better than to agree to a deal with a fae. Especially this one.
“Okay. Sure. Deal.”
Helix has a portal ready and waiting when we meet him back downstairs.
I’m getting used to traveling through the hazy, hot Seelie portals. Honestly, they don’t even faze me anymore. I just walk right over to it, Rys gliding gracefully behind me, before I wait for either one of the fae males to tell me to go.
No surprise when Helix insists on taking the rear. Just like the rest of the faerie folk, he clearly doesn’t trust us. As if I’d really turn and run if he was foolish enough to give me his back. Yeah, right. Not so long as he’s holding a reunion with Dusk over my head.
Rys is just as predictable. Before I can step into the flickering doorway, the swirling mixture of oranges, yellows, and whites making me squint to keep from searing my poor retinas, he slips in front of me.
“Let me lead, Leannán,” he murmurs, “but stay close behind me.”
I nod. “Okay.”
Lifting his hand, Rys rubs his thumb along the height of my cheek. A tiny smile that strikes right at my heart, a silent promise that I’m safe so long as I’m with him, and then Rys steps forward, the Seelie portal swallowing him up.
Stay close behind him. That’s easy enough. As soon as he’s gone, I jump right after him since I absolutely hate the idea of being left alone with Helix. He doesn’t trust us, but I definitely don’t trust him.
It’s warm in the portal. Not as hot as you would’ve guessed since it looks like a mini-sun contained in a doorway, but still oppressive. It’s a musty heat, thick and steamy, and I only have a few seconds to wish I’d thrown my hair up into a ponytail since I can just feel it poofing up before a cool breeze rushes past me and my boots land on solid ground again.
I quirk open an eye, then the next.
A strangled sound escapes my throat.
Bars. All I see are bars. They’re the same type of prison bars that trapped me inside of my cell back at Siúcra, too, a sliver of iron encased in a thick, transparent crystal.