which means the magic probably fried it.”
He took the Marceil by the hand as he met Ilaria’s gaze. “Let’s get moving and I’ll explain as we walk. If we don’t find shelter soon, we’re going to freeze to death.” He grunted. “I’m going to freeze to death.” He was the only one of the three who wasn’t, from a human standpoint, immortal.
Without a second glance, the pair started off, leaving Ilaria standing in the snow. Rescued, he’d said. She hurried to catch up. “Why did you rescue me?” she demanded.
The man glanced back at her. “Were you the one who sealed the gates?”
She could deny it, but the very fact that he’d gone to such lengths to free her made it clear he already knew the answer.
“You wish me to seal them again?”
He nodded. “We have the seven stones.”
She nearly stumbled with surprise. They had them all, the six stones of Orisis and her own draggon stone. Astonishing, considering the number of human lifetimes that had passed. Hope bloomed within her. Stopping Rith might not be so difficult after all.
“You’ll return the stones to me, of course.”
He met her gaze, something hard entering his eyes. “We need your help, Princess, but you’ll forgive us if we have a hard time trusting the Esri. Any Esri. When we’re certain you mean to seal the gates, we’ll let you have the stones to do it. Until then, they’ll remain hidden.”
Her jaw compressed, anger sparking inside her. The only reason the humans had the stones was because she’d given them to them. They were hers, not theirs.
But the gleam of steel she glimpsed in the man’s eyes told her that no show of temper was likely to get her what she wanted.
Trust. She was going to have to win his trust. Which would take time she might not have.
With effort, she quieted her angry tongue. “Where are we?”
“I wish I knew. If I had to guess, I’d say northern Europe. Maybe Canada. It’s damn cold, wherever it is.”
“If you don’t know where we are, I assume that means the stones are a distance away?”
“They’re with my friends back in D.C. And the one thing I’m sure of is we’re not anywhere near D.C.”
“What is Dee Cee?”
“Washington, D.C. In the U.S.” He glanced at her and grimaced. “Hell, you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“I do not.”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s where we’re going.”
She could ask for nothing more. “If I’m not your prisoner, then untie me, human. Walking with my hands behind my back is tedious.”
“It’s Charlie, not human, and this is Tarrys.” His voice softened, filling with a soft wonder as he glanced at the Marceil. “My soon-to-be wife.” He turned back to Ilaria, his expression hardening again. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I have a death mark or two.”
“You fear I’ll take your life.” Esri, linked as they were, knew at once when one of their own had been killed, and by whose hand. Through the magic of their world, the killer acquired a death mark that all Esri could sense and follow. And upon which every Esri had long ago been ordered to act.
No mere human would acquire such a mark. Only a Sitheen.
“It crossed my mind,” Charlie said. “It’s a compulsion, isn’t it? To kill those with a death mark?”
“A compulsion? No. It was a law enacted eons ago. A law I’ve broken more than once and have no qualms about breaking again. I don’t take life unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Admirable.” But the way he said the word told her he doubted her sincerity.
“Is Dee Cee where the unsealed gate came through?”
“Yes.”
“How many full moons will it take us to reach it?”
A hint of amusement crinkled the corners of the human’s—Charlie’s—eyes. “Once I get a hold of my brother, we should be back there in a day. Two at the most.”
Ilaria frowned. “How can you know that if you don’t know where we are? I’ve been in the human realm, Charlie. I have some sense of its vastness.”
“Things have changed since you were here last, Princess. With a little cash, we can get anywhere in the world in a couple of days now.”
She stared at him, startled. “Humans have acquired magic.”
Charlie’s smile flashed white in the moonlight. “Not magic. Technology, though it may seem the same to you.”
She pondered that, finding the thought exhilarating. For too long she’d been trapped in a forest glade devoid of newness, devoid of stimulation of any kind but for the conversation of the men who’d been imprisoned with her. A new and exciting human world was exactly what her mind craved.
The snow grew thicker, the walking more difficult. In the distance, the glow of light told her they’d stumbled upon other humans. And she was still tied. Her excitement turned back to annoyance. “If you want my help, human, and I believe you do or you’d not have risked the Forest of Nightmares to free me, then you must trust me. Release me from these bonds.”
Charlie’s gaze cut to her. “Will you help us? Will you seal all of the gates this time and leave the stones with us as you did before?”
The keen intelligence in his eyes warned her that he’d hear the lie in her words if she wasn’t careful. So she answered with the truth.
“If what you say is true, I will help you.” And she would, though not in the way he meant. Not in the way he wanted.
No, the gates would not be sealed this time. The stones would never again be left in human hands. She would not make that mistake twice.
Chapter 2
Harrison rested his hand on the cold roof of the police cruiser, one of a dozen cars they’d parked in the grass of Dupont Circle Park. The fire ring blazed brightly in the falling snow, lighting the huge, chalice-shaped, marble fountain it circled.
It was almost midnight.
His hand went to his head, adjusting the riot helmet Jack had procured for them on short notice. All the Sitheen were now armed with helmets and bulletproof vests, hand shields and flame throwers, like some kind of bizarre urban army straight out of a sci-fi flick. Sadly, other than the movie part, that was exactly what they were.
If he’d owned an old-fashioned suit of armor, he’d have put it on. If the Marceils coming through that gate were half the archers Tarrys had been, the arrows would find any hole, any weakness. And Larsen’s vision would still come true.
