As suspected, the massive city comes into view when we round the bend just the way I remember it from my dream.
Clusters of buildings built of mud and stone are separated by crude streets heavily lined with street vendors. The coloring of the city looks different, though, and I’m not sure if it’s because The Pit is at our back, casting light from behind us, or if my dream wasn’t in technicolor, but there’s a yellowish haze tinted slightly red hanging in the air. When I tip my head back, the cavern sky above us is still pitch black, but ahead of us and immediately surrounding the buildings, there’s an almost sulfurous glow that hangs heavy everywhere.
No gates seal off the city. Just hills and mounds of rocks to the left and right of the road that enters the bustle of Otaxis beyond.
Boral stops us before we enter, leading us off to the side of the road and behind an outcropping of rocks for privacy. I’m still wearing a zip-up hoodie, and Boral pointedly pulls it over my head and tugs it low over my forehead. “This isn’t going to disguise the fact you’re human if a Dark Fae takes a good look at you, but it will help to hide the bright beacon of your hair.”
He then looks to Maddox and Carrick. “Keep her in between you two. If anyone approaches us, let me do the talking.”
This is just a repeat of what Boral told us yesterday. He said that while Kymaris was the supreme ruler of the entire Underworld, the cities were run by the most criminal and corrupt Dark Fae. He likened them to the mob bosses who extort businesses for their personal gain and kill those that oppose their governance.
When I asked him about the royal Dark Fae, he merely said they rarely left the castle grounds, abandoning the cities to a sort of organized chaos under these mobster-like rulers.
“Ready to try to contact Zora?” Boral asks.
As decided, we’re going to try to make things easier by seeing if Zora will agree to a meeting before we go searching for her.
I nod and take a deep breath. Boral, Carrick, and Maddox face me, expressions guarded. I let the air out and prepare to close my eyes, but movement behind my companions startles me.
My eyes flare wide as a huge Dark Fae stands there, dressed head to toe in forest green leather and sporting massive wings folded behind his back but which I can see the rounded crests over his shoulders. The feathers are inky black and so glossy, they shimmer with a bluish color. I quickly duck my head so the hood shadows most of my face.
Boral, Carrick, and Maddox, reading my facial expression, immediately wheel around with their weapons drawn to face what surprised me.
The Dark Fae doesn’t even twitch but merely crosses his arms over his chest and plants his legs wide. He’s between us and the entrance to the city, and his message is clear.
We’re not going in.
“Who are you?” Carrick demands of the fae, but honestly… I only have half an ear on him. I’m fascinated with the fae’s wings. I thought they had all been stripped when they were tossed from Heaven.
I’m also fascinated by how uncannily gorgeous this winged man is. He’s got dark blond hair that’s cut extremely short to his scalp all the way around and has the perfect amount of facial scruff to make him look roguish. His blue eyes are dark as denim, yet seem cold as ice. While his entire body is covered in leather, I can tell by the bulges here and there that he’s incredibly muscular and from the way he stands facing off with two demi-gods and another Dark Fae, that he’s confident in his abilities.
“My name is Amell,” the Dark Fae answers in a deep, mellow voice that has just a hint of gravel to it, making him sound sexy and dangerous at the same time.
Enough, Finley, I scream internally. Quit drooling over the evil Underworlder.
“I am the ruler here,” he continues, arms still crossed over his chest. “You didn’t possibly think you could come through the veil and not be noticed?”
Amell leans slightly over to look past Carrick and lock eyes with me. “Especially bringing a human with you.”
“We had hoped we wouldn’t be noticed,” Maddox quips, giving Amell a wink.
His message is clear. He’s not intimidated in the slightest by a Dark Fae, even if he is the ruler here.
“I assume you are ruler in your queen’s absence,” Carrick says to Amell, and that catches the fae by surprise. Carrick seizes on it. “Yes, we know Kymaris is in the Earth realm.”
“And what do you hope to gain by coming here?” Amell asks defensively, his arms now uncrossing and hanging loosely to his side, where he has a huge sword attached to his hip. He refuses to answer Carrick’s assumption he’s covering for Kymaris while she’s off conquering our realm.