Shadowfever
Page 33

We pass the red faade of the Temple Bar, of the bar district. I glance in. I cant help myself. I loved the place BWCbefore the walls crashed.
Now its a dark shell, with shattered windows, overturned tables and chairs, and papery husks of human remains. From the way theyre piled, I know the patrons were crammed inside, huddled together when the end came.
I remember the way the Temple Bar looked the first time I saw it, brightly lit, with people and music spilling from open doors into the cobbled streets of the corner beyond. Guys had whistled at me. Id forgotten my grief over Alina for a blessed second or two. Then, of course, hated myself for forgetting.
I can almost hear the laughter, the lilt of Irish voices. Theyre all dead now, like Alina and Barrons.
I remember spending the long week before Halloween walking the streets of Dublin for hours on end, from dawn til dusk, feeling helpless, worthless, for all my supposed sidhe-seer skills. I wasnt sure any of us would survive Halloween, so Id tried to cram as much living into those last days as possible.
Id chatted up street vendors and played backgammon with toothless old men who spoke a version of English so heavily distorted by dialect and gums that Id understood only every fifth word, but it hadnt mattered. Theyd been delighted by a pretty girls attention, and Id hungered for paternal comfort.
Id visited the famous tourist hot spots. Id eaten in dives and slammed back shots of whiskey with anyone whod do them with me.
Id fallen in love with the city I couldnt protect.
After the Unseelie had escaped their prison and savaged herdark, burned, and brokenId been determined to see her rebuilt.
Now I longed only to replace her.
Do you sense it, MacKayla? Darroc asks.
Ive been keeping my sidhe-seer senses as closed as possible. Im tired and have no desire to find the Sinsar Dubh. Not until I know everything he knows.
I open my senses warily and turn the volume up to a two on a scale of one to ten. My sidhe-seer senses are picking up the essence of countless things Fae, but none of them is the Sinsar Dubh. No.
Are there many Fae?
The city is crawling with them.
Light or Dark Court?
It doesnt work like that. I can only pick up Fae, not their allegiance or caste.
How many?
I adjust the volume to three and a half. A tenth this much Fae in close proximity used to have me holding my stomach and trying not to puke. Now I feel charged by it. More alive than I want to be. Theyre on all sides of us, in twos and threes. Theyre above us, on the rooftops and in the skies. I dont get the feeling that theyre watching us, more that theyre watching everything. Are they, too, hunting my Book? Ill kill them all. Its mine.
Hundreds? he presses.
Thousands, I correct.
Organized?
There is one group to the east that is considerably larger than the others, if thats what youre asking.
Then east we go, he says. He turns to the princes and barks a command. They vanish.
I voice a growing suspicion. Theyre not really gone, are they? They never are when you send them away.
They remain close, watching but unseen. A sift away, with more of my army.
And when we find this group of Fae? I press.
If they are Unseelie, they are mine.
And if theyre Seelie?
Then we will drive them from Dublin.
Good. The less Fae in my way, the better.
Few have ever seen the Seelie, save the rare mortal stolen away and kept at the Fae court and, of course, Barrons, who once spent a great deal of time there, sleeping with a princess, before killing her and pissing off Vlane for all eternity.
Ive seen thousands of Unseelie, but until now even Isidhe-seer extraordinairehave seen only a single Seelie.
Id begun to wonder why.
In the dark hours of the night, Id wondered if maybe he was the only one left, if he was hiding something, if perhaps he wasnt Seelie at all, despite evidence supporting his claim.
Seeing him as he is now, all my doubts evaporate.
Here are the Seelie.
Theyve finally gotten off their asses and started paying attention to the mess theyve made of my world. I guess they couldnt be bothered before now.
Even filled as I am with hatred for all Fae, I cant deny that Vlane looks like an avenging angel, charging down from heaven to set my world back on its axis and clean this whole mess up. Radiant, golden, and mesmerizing, he leads an army of angels.
Tall, gracefully muscled, they stand shoulder to shoulder with him, filling the street. Stunning, velvety-skinned, dusted with gold, they are so chillingly exquisite that I have a hard time looking at themand Im immune from having been Pri-ya, a Fae sex addict. They are otherworldly, divine.
There are dozens of Vlanes caste, male and female. They possess a terrifying eroticism that makes them deadly to humans. If a scientist managed to get his hands on one to study, I wouldnt be surprised to learn their skin exudes a pheromone we crave.
The perpetual promise of a smile hovers on irresistible lips, below ancient, iridescent, alien eyes. Despite all Ive suffered at their hands, I want to rush forward and fall to my knees before them. I want to slide my palms over their flawless skin, discover if they taste as amazing as they smell. I want to be gathered into a Fae embrace, yield my memories, my mind, my will, and be carried off to a Faery court where I could stay forever young, cocooned by illusion.