Frost & Bothered (18 page)

H
is camp wasn’t far away, and was surrounded by a tall, thorny barrier. When Kethyrdryll touched it, the vines or whatever parted, forming a tunnel.

“I offer you hospitality,” he said. I glanced at Logan, who nodded. Connor was still out, and Logan had him over one shoulder.

“Thank you.” I followed the elf into the tunnel. It wasn’t long, maybe six feet. His shelter was a pavilion, divided into two parts. One had hangings across the door, the other didn’t.

A white horse stood in that side, covered with a blanket and eating hay.

“Where’d you get hay?”

“I always travel prepared.” Kethyrdryll pulled back one of the door hangings. “Please come in.”

We did, and I blinked, because the pavilion was definitely bigger on the inside. Elves apparently knew a few Time Lord tricks. Or maybe Time Lords had learned elf tricks. Or elves were the seed idea for that series? I shook my head.
Focus, Cordi
. “Nice place.”

“Thank you.” He gestured to an opening on the left. “You can lay your companion in there. He is healing?”

“Yes, thanks.” Logan carried Connor through the opening and I followed to look. It was a room with a comfy-looking cot. Logan bent, easing Connor onto it; I stepped forward to help remove the younger shifter’s boots and jacket.

“How long before he’s better?”

“Pierced some organs. Maybe a day.”

Kethyrdryll brought in a tray. It held a bowl of steaming water, some clean cloths, and a glass jar. “The salve will help.”

We cleaned Connor from the waist up and Logan applied the salve. After he was done, he laid the last clean cloth over the wound and I covered the younger man with a blanket before we left the room.

“If you wish to wash, the bathing chamber is through there.” Kethyrdryll gestured to the back of the pavilion, past the short, rectangular table and chairs in the center of the main room. “Clean clothing will be waiting.”

I noticed four chairs. Had there been four when we had first walked in? “Bathing chamber? Like, a tub with hot water?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

“Oooh.” I took a step before looking at Logan. “You go first.”

Logan shook his head. “I can wait.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” I untied the belt of my coat and shrugged out of it. Logan took it, and I hurried to the section of hangings Kethyrdryll had indicated. Slipping through them, I had to stop and stare. It was a smallish room, but there was a large, raised, blue marble tub, a toilet behind an ornately carved wooden screen, and a counter with a sink, its marble matching the tub. A towel and the promised clothing waited. I liked the elven idea of camping a lot right that moment. “Jackpot.”

K
ethyrdryll pulled out a chair for me and I sat, feeling like a princess in the red dress I wore. My feet were warm for the first time since we’d arrived in the wintry realm. The thigh-high stockings were nice, but I really loved the soft, over-the-knee, dark green boots. “Thank you.”

“Wine?”

“Um. Do you have hot tea?”

“Of course.” A teapot, delicate china cup, and sugar bowl appeared on the table before me.

“Is the food magic?”

Kethyrdryll chuckled quietly. “No, but it has been magically stored to ensure it does not go to waste.”

“Oh.” I poured and added sugar, taking a sip before saying anything else. “All right. Who are the Unseelie?”

He sat down at the head of the table, to my right. “Our people are divided into two courts, Seelie and Unseelie.”

“Light and dark, good and evil?”

“Life is never that simple, Lady Discord.”

I nearly choked on my tea. “I’m not a lady with a capital L. Alleryn calls me Cordi.”

“What does my brother call you?”

“Miss Jones.”

His lips twitched. “I see. The Unseelie are the dark to our light, but they are not evil. They tend to certain... unpleasant matters. They handle duties that are necessary, but distasteful.”

“Ah. They’re the folks that get the job done, whatever it is. Okay.” I tilted my head. “They’re not dark elves, though?”

“The dark ones were annihilated centuries ago, and they were renegades from both courts who turned to forbidden magics.” He paused. “How do you even know of them?”

“Your annihilation missed one. Dalsarin. He’s dead now. We helped your brother hunt him down. He was in cahoots with a god, Apep. That’s the one I blew up.”

Kethyrdryll blinked. “Interesting. You mentioned the Melding?”

“Yes, that’s what the breaking of the Sundering is called.” My turn to pause. “Uh, how long have you been here, and why are you here?”

“I was sent to discuss a sensitive matter with the Unseelie Queen. I did feel the shift of magical energies, but... it is always night here, and always winter. That makes it difficult to judge the passage of time for those of us who aren’t Unseelie.”

My eyes had gone wide. “Dude, the Melding happened almost eight years ago. You’ve been stuck here all that time?”

“Apparently so.” Kethyrdryll shrugged it off with a faint smile. “The more important questions are why it closed the portal, and why no one has come to meet me.”

My brain had quit at the knowledge he’d been sitting in one spot for years. I blinked. “Not everyone’s territory came through, but the people did.”

“Not the Unseelie,” Logan said as he left the bath chamber. “Or if they did, they’ve been silent.”

Kethyrdryll gestured at the chair to his right, and Logan sat across from me.

“Does that mean we’re stuck here, too? Forever? I don’t want to be stuck in an endless winter night forever. My dogs need me. The clan needs you.”

Logan held up his hands to stop my babbling.

“You’re tired.”

“Yes, but I’d be panicking even if I wasn’t.”

Logan smiled. “Don’t panic. We have towels.”

I had to laugh. “Right. Everything will be fine because we have towels.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand why towels are a source of comfort,” Kethyrdryll said, and I began laughing again.

Once started, it took me a while to stop, and the elf’s concerned questions about hysteria and other ailments didn’t help. Neither did Logan’s fight to keep from laughing with me, as his face contorted into expressions that tickled my funny bone even more.

At last, I managed to stop, wiping my eyes on a linen napkin as exhaustion weighed down my body. “Sorry. Had to vent.”

“It’s okay. Feel better?” Logan asked.

“Yes and no. I could sleep for days, but that’s not going to help anything.” I took a deep breath, and it escaped as a giggle.

“Perhaps a meal and rest is in order for all of us.” Kethyrdryll snapped his fingers and dishes of food began appearing on the table. My teapot slid backward and a plate, fresh napkin, and silverware popped into existence in front of me. A bowl of broth appeared, too. I breathed in the steam, appreciating its garlicky fragrance. “Mm, real food.”

“Is there another kind?”

“Yeah, it’s called ‘junk food’. I’ll introduce you to it when we get home.”

Logan aimed a smile across the table. “There’s the Cordi I know.”

“A hot meal is guaranteed to bring her out,” I said. We began eating, and my stomach jumped for joy at being filled with something besides breakfast bars.

“Is my brother doing well?”

I swallowed. “As far as I know. He’s healthy and irritating. Elves played a major part in talking sense to everyone after the Melding.”

“What was it like?”

“No clue. I conked out at midnight and was in a coma for three years.”

Kethyrdryll’s gaze sharpened. “You slept that long?”

“Yes.”

“And you gained much power.”

I finished my soup. “How do you know that?”

“The Sundering drew most magic away from the human realm, but there were humans who were born into magic. You’re descended from one of those families if you slept and woke with power enough to ‘blow up a god’.”

“Oh.” Made sense. “I’m not the only one.”

“Of course not. It’s highly unlikely those families would all have died out, as often as humans breed. But did any others sleep as long?”

“I hold the coma record, as far as Alleryn knows. He worked at the hospital, and helped me a lot after I woke.” Which reminded me I had a lot of questions about that for the mahogany-haired elf.

“And you’re one of my brother’s people.”

“Uh, no. I’m one of his.” I tilted my head toward Logan. “People. The clan adopted me. I work for your brother sometimes, when he needs a private investigator.”

“She’s employed by Lord Whitehaven,” Logan said.

“Ah. I begin to understand. Interesting. And she is a queen of your clan, as well.” Kethyrdryll’s dark blue eyes twinkled. “I’ll wager that discomfits my brother greatly.”

The soup bowls disappeared, replaced by some sort of baked fish drizzled with a pale red sauce. Wine-based, I decided after trying a bite. “Thorandryll thinks I’m stupid.”

“Beg pardon?”

“He keeps trying stuff.” I wasn’t going to admit I still had to fight the hazies around the Prince. “People don’t try to overwhelm other people unless they want something.”

“You’re wise for someone so youthful.”

But not brave enough to have a private “come to Jesus” meeting with Thorandryll. Yet. It would happen one day. Maybe even one day soon. “More like I don’t think a mere human can compete with his high opinion of himself.”

Logan snickered and the elf chuckled. “My brother can be a bit, ah, arrogant.”

A bit? Oodles. I concentrated on the fish and its rather spicy sauce.

“Hey.” Connor staggered out of his room. “There’s food.”

Logan jumped up to help him over to the table. Connor kept his hand over his side, grimacing as he sat in the last remaining chair. “Who’s he?”

“Our host, Lord Kethyrdryll.”

“Oh. Thanks for the bed.” Dinnerware appeared in front of him, and Connor sniffed the fish. “And this.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

Kethyrdryll hadn’t behaved like I would have expected of someone who looked so much like Thorandryll. I watched him separate a piece of fish from the serving on his plate and give it to Leandra, who’d lain by his chair at some point. She took the tidbit as gently as Leglin always did.

I missed my hound.

The elf was being much nicer to the two shifters than I’d ever seen Thorandryll be. Even Alleryn used a snooty tone when speaking to Logan. Maybe Kethyrdryll was glad to have company, and didn’t care who it was?

Connor looked up from his plate. “How’d we get here? What happened after that thing stabbed me?”

“Logan tromped it.” I grinned at him. “Then I tried to teleport us home, but we kind of hit something and came out here. Well, not here, here, but not too far away.”

“Here is good for now.” Connor speared the last of his fish.

“We’re in Unseelie land,” Logan said.

The other looked up at him. “Here is not good. We weren’t invited.”

Kethyrdryll spoke. “I was, and since the lady undertakes certain tasks for my brother, I’ll claim responsibility for you all. Of course, no one has come, and I don’t think anyone will.”

I stopped Connor by raising my hand. “We’re saving discussion for tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep. Tonight’s plan is to eat and rest. There’s a bathroom. With a tub, in case you need help with that.”

D
inner over, we retired to separate rooms. Mine looked exactly like the one we’d put Connor in: smallish, and furnished only with a cot. The lighting was magical, because I couldn’t find a source by scanning the ceiling. The only obvious difference was a folded nightgown at the foot of the cot.

I changed, and Ginger startled me by walking through the outer wall. We stared at each other for a long moment before I sat on the cot. For the first time outside of nightmares, I spoke to her. “Where’ve you been?”

She cocked her head, her gaze dropping to my lips. “You missed all the fun.”

Maybe the cold had kept her away. No, wait, she hadn’t had any trouble appearing outside while I drove around the city. Boy, that felt like ages ago. “What do you want? An apology?”

Ginger squatted, still staring at my mouth. Would an apology send her away? Apologizing hadn’t worked when I was asleep. “I thought I was doing what you wanted. I didn’t know he made you tell me all those horrible things. If I could take it back, I would.”