Courts and Cabals 2 G.S. D'Moore (the little red hen read aloud .txt) 📖

didn’t allow them to see a Fae’s true form, but it was enough to identify if they were wearing a glamour.

Aveena sighed, but knew what she had to do. Plan A had fallen apart outside Vincent’s Hollow. Plan B was just as likely to fail as succeed. Plan C was something she was still formulating, but called for a lot of plastic explosives. She needed an insurance policy, something that, if she failed, might save her head. It wouldn’t save her honor, but that might be a price she had to pay.

Her decision made, she spun on her heel and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Saffron called after her.

“To make a deal with the devil,” she sighed, and stepped.

***

It didn’t take long to get where she was going. A few dozen, long strides and she found herself in front of a set of wards so bright she had to look away. In the Land Between something this bright shouldn’t have existed, but so much power had created a bleed-through effect. The blazing light kept everything unwanted out. She couldn’t even cross this threshold if Cameron Dupree was right on the other side of it giving her the finger. Hell, the wards around Caesars weren’t this powerful.

She stepped right up to the edge and stepped back into reality. Damp cold and the overwhelming smell of pine hit her like a sensory sledgehammer. She involuntarily shivered. It wasn’t the temperature in this place, but what it represented. In front of her was a cold iron gate. It was a flagrant violation of all the treaties signed between Fae and humanity, but the people that lived behind this gate didn’t give a shit about that. They were an ancient bloodline of warriors, and in their opinion, if the Fae had a problem, they could come down here themselves. As far as Aveena knew, no one had taken them up on it.

Next to the gate was a buzzer. No high-tech security apparatus; just a buzzer. With a trembling finger, she hit the button. There was a click, and all she heard was the breathing on the other end.

“I . . .I’ve got a job for you,” she hated that she sounded weak and afraid, “and request your Hospitality under the covenants.”

Hospitality, with a capital H, was an ancient, powerful concept. Inviting someone into your home, and guaranteeing them safety, bound the host and guest to act in good faith. The resulting gea could do terrible things to the being that violated guesting laws; death was probably the most painless of the penalties.

Only recently had the practice begun to wane. You could blame Hollywood. The movie with the gangster who invited everyone over to dinner, and then bludgeoned a man to death with a baseball bat, was a particularly good example of how the world was going to hell in a handbasket. That, or the TV show where everyone went to a wedding that ended with several characters having their throats slit. If Aveena paid more attention to pop culture, she’d remember their names. The only thing that really mattered was the masses embraced the ideas that anyone could do anything to anyone without retribution.

Suffice it to say, things didn’t work the same for near-immortal supernaturals as vanilla humans. People might no longer have any concept of the true meaning of hospitality, but the person on the other side of the cold iron gate sure as hell did; and, they would be bound by their word not to harm Aveena. Of course, there were always paths to get around a gea, but it didn’t do the Fae any good thinking about the ways she could wind up with her own throat slit.

The next second seemed to take an eternity, but then there was a loud buzz, and the gate opened a few inches. She’d rather have heard someone swear an oath, but this would have to do. She used her boot to kick the gate open a few feet, and had to squeeze through the small opening before it swung back and locked behind her. She gulped, but raised her chin and walked forward up a sloped driveway. The trees that lined the asphalt were old, tall, and strong. Just like the feel of this place. It was a place of power, and had been for a very long time. That’s why the family had chosen it.

When she finally reached the top, there were three buildings. The first looked like a barn about to collapse in on itself. Scaffolding was set up around it, and it looked like someone was about to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The second was a small, stone chapel that had a few centuries under its belt. The weathered stones had taken the best nature could throw at it and survived.

Lastly, there was a large house; all wood and windows situated among the trees. It was the opposite of the other two structures; ultra-modern, and all white and light grays from what she could see. She felt like a voyeur as she surveyed the home, but her senses were on high alert. Her insurance policy could put her in a premature grave if she upset the people who lived here. She took another deep breath and headed toward the house.

“The chapel,” a voice said in her head.

She nearly tripped over nothing as fear rippled through her. Mental attacks were something the youngest Fae children were able to defend against, and this person had stripped aside her normal defenses like they were nothing. Aveena turned to the chapel and wrapped layers and layers of glamour around her mind. It reduced her situational awareness to a faint buzz, but what good was it when someone could fuck with your mind. There were some things worse than death.

She slowly approached the chapel. Its heavy wooden door was ajar, so she pushed