I hadn’t been in the mood for much conversation since I’d been knighted, but she got it, for which I was grateful.
When I emerged from the mineral sauna with steam clinging to my skin, Emmaline was waiting with a towel for wiping off my face and hands.
“Food’s waiting, and I ordered more salts for your bath,” she said with business-like efficiency.
As we passed through the corridors, eyes lingered on me. Everyone knew that I’d been knighted and would be fighting the Duergar champion.
“How’d I look out there?” I asked Emmaline, mostly as an excuse to ignore the curious looks.
“Amazing,” she said, her voice edged with awe. “I can’t even describe what it’s like to watch Aurora in action.”
“Ah, so it’s not me, but the sword?” I teased.
“Well, it’s both,” she said. “I can’t imagine two such weapons clashing. It will be like watching the gods themselves. You’re going to slaughter the Duergar champion, of course,” she quickly added.
At her mention of the gods, I went quiet, remembering how Jasper had sworn that the Tuatha de Danann had returned. In the whirlwind of the past few days, there hadn’t been an opportunity to think much about his wild claims.
When I returned to my quarters, I found Nicole in the kitchenette. It was the first time I’d seen her in days. The Stone Order was supposed to find her an apartment of her own, but at the news of my impending battle, every New Gargoyle had flocked back to the fortress in support, and there was a bit of a housing shuffle underway.
I realized I’d hardly spoken to her since breaking her out of the Duergar kingdom.
“Hi,” she said. She curiously scanned the welts on my exposed arms. “Did you get hurt?”
I shook my head. “Nah, this is just what happens after long use of stone armor.”
She plopped a tea bag in the mug of steaming water she’d just pulled out of the microwave.
“They’re trying to get me to summon stone armor,” she said. “If I can’t, the Duergar king might be able to take me again.”
Her eyes were sunken with dark smudges under them. Her glance flicked to my squire, and she watched Emmaline set down my gym bag and then leave quietly with the swords.
I peeled off my sweatshirt, still damp from the mineral sauna. “Still feel like you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole?” I asked.
Nicole was staring over the rim of her mug at nothing. She nodded, her eyes still unfocused. “Magical rock armor, battling Fae kingdoms, champion swordfights . . . Sometimes I’m positive I’m in a coma and this is all a dream.”
She’d been angry before, but in that moment she just seemed pensive.
“No luck with the armor yet, huh?”
“None whatsoever. Based on what I’ve been told, I’m starting to think you all made a mistake about my bloodline.”
“But you do believe you’re Fae now?”
She sighed. “Yes. I was able to detect glamour, and I passed a couple of other minor tests.”
I eased back onto the sofa, stretching out my tired legs. “It’s a lot to take in,” I said quietly.
Her focus sharpened, and she looked up at me. “I have to figure out the stone armor. I can’t go back to the Duergar kingdom.” Her face had paled. “I’ve learned enough about the Unseelie to know I can’t end up there.”
I sat up and then pushed to my feet. “I might have something to help you,” I said and disappeared into my bedroom. I rummaged around in a box on the floor of the closet until my hand closed around a cool stone.
I came back to Nicole and held it up. “I used this when I was learning.”
The stone, about the size of a large marble, was the soothing pale white-blue of aquamarine.
She came over to examine it, and I handed it to her.
“How does it work?” she asked.
“Use the techniques they’re teaching you to summon rock armor, and keep that in your hand,” I said. “Imagine you can spread the minerals from the stone like butter over your skin. There’s nothing magic about it, it’s just a visualization exercise. But it might help.”
An almost-smile touched her lips. “Thank you,” she said and then slapped her fingers over her mouth, her eyes wide. Her hand fell away. “Oh, shit. I’m not supposed to say that here.”
I chuckled. “It’s okay. There was no magic attached to the words, so I won’t hold you to it. I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. I’m supposed to be helping you adjust, and I’ve done a piss-poor job of that.”
She lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Eh, you’ve got bigger worries.”
My food arrived just then, as well as her escort to another session with Fern, her magic coach of sorts. Nicole folded the aquamarine stone in her hand and tucked her fist into the pocket of her jacket, giving me a little wave with her other hand as she disappeared out the door.
I did feel bad I hadn’t been more present. Nicole looked like a lost puppy. Not that I could do much for her—she’d been ripped from her life and home and thrust into a strange place that probably seemed like a fever dream. But once the battle was over, I’d make more of an effort. Most likely I was going to have to move back into the fortress, anyway, considering the way things were going on the other side of the hedge with my Guild job.
I stiffened, suddenly remembering my new assignment, and let out a string of curses. The chances of completing that job on deadline were slim to none, with my current obligation as the Stone Order’s champion. After a moment, I had to laugh at myself. Was I seriously worried about some piddly lost-object assignment when I might not even survive the challenge? It was a reflex, though—keeping good on my promise to make a life away from the fortress so I could hunt vamps. And in spite of how hard I’d fought in the past ten years to make it on my own on the other side of the hedge, I’d somehow ended up right back in the stone fortress.
I planted my hands on my hips and blew out a harsh breath through pursed lips. Kind of ironic. There I was, the champion of the Stone Order and about to fight an epic battle in Faerie but on the brink of bankruptcy and eviction from my apartment on the other side of the hedge. An observer might wonder why I was trying so hard to make it out there.
But I knew why—here, in Faerie, I might be the champion of the moment, but if I stayed permanently, I’d be under Marisol’s thumb. And on the other side of the hedge there would be criminal vampires on the loose, luring people in with their glamour, enticing them with the promise of VAMP3 charm, and victimizing weak and unstable people like my mother.
A rap on the door interrupted my sour thoughts.
A knot of officials, with Maxen and Oliver in the lead, stood on the other side. It was an array of tense faces and serious, unblinking eyes.
“It’s set,” Maxen said. “The High Court has ruled that the battle of champions will happen at dawn tomorrow.”
Chapter 25