Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) Gwen Rivers (sneezy the snowman read aloud .TXT) 📖

can turn it around and burn you to ashes.” Freya smiles as though contemplating my immolation. “Not that I would mind seeing that, once the One True Queen is secured.”

I clench my hands into fists. Deep down, I know they are right. I have no magic, no army of the Wild Hunt at my back, not even my sword. I’m a pregnant teenager in desperate need of her baby daddy.

Am I risking our child for Aiden? Or for myself?

All magic comes with a cost. The price of freeing my wolf might be me and our baby. And I know Aiden wouldn’t survive that loss.

Not again.

“She might not have him yet. And even if she does, maybe he can escape.” Chloe picks up on my hesitation. “He has resources, you know.”

Aiden wouldn’t wait for me to escape. But they are right, he wouldn’t expect me to make a suicide run that will end in all of our deaths.

Haven’t I learned that life is precious? That I need to fight to survive? Crossing the tear unarmed, risking my life and the life of my child with no plan, is foolish.

Tears blur my eyes as I turn away from them, from the tear. Tossing the truck keys to Chloe, I head up the hill, blundering through the dark.

“Nic?” Chloe’s voice is full of worry.

“Leave her, Norn,” I hear Freya say. “She’s accepting her fate.”

I walk blindly for hours through the woods, stumbling over roots and rocks, pushing tree branches out of my way. At first, I have no destination other than away from the tear in the Veil that I am so desperate to cross.

But after a time, I begin to recognize my surroundings and head with a more purposeful stride.

I stare at the spot, the clearing on the bluff overlooking my farm. The site of our first date. Seasons have come and gone since Aiden brought me here, took me through the design of the house he was going to build. A place he said I’d always be welcome.

If I close my eyes, I can still hear the excitement in his voice. He’d come here to watch over me and had dreamed of a day when we could live together in peace.

My breaths tear from me, the frigid night air turning each exhale smoky. How much time is passing in Underhill? How much more will he suffer?

It was almost better when I was being held by the FBI. Though they’d tormented me and kept me locked up, I could still plan. It was supposed to end with me going after Pharaildis, dispatching her once and for all.

But that was before the baby. A sob rips from me.

“How can I do this without him?” I ask the night.

There is no answer other than the bitter caress of the North wind.

Shattered

Aiden comes to with his face pressed into a familiar moonstone floor. Rodrick must have knocked him out. His clothes are sopping wet, plastered to his body. The sound of splashing water filters into his mind and he frowns and then looks up.

Just as Underhill emerges wet and naked from the queen’s private bathing pool.

“It really is you this time, isn’t it?” Not bothering to dry herself, she reaches for a silk dressing gown.

Slowly, he sits up, keeping a wary eye on the fire blazing in the hearth.

“I see you’ve undone the Kiss of Madness.” Covered, she moves past him. Flames lick out from the fireplace and encircle his neck. It doesn’t scorch his flesh, but he doesn’t think her intent is to harm him.

Not until it serves her purpose.

The fire leash yanks him from the bathroom and into her dressing room. She sinks into a large padded chair before an ebony framed mirror. The wet silk clings to her curves. “Pity I can’t give it to you again. My daughter would surely love to know you were out of your senses when you help me free your father.”

“I won’t—”

She smiles at him. “You don’t have a choice. You and Nic left me with no choice. All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is to be free of this place. I was going to do it with power, destroy the Veil so the worlds could unite. But you’ve spirited the kings and queens away. Now, I have to end it all to have the freedom I crave.”

“You’ll die, too.”

Pharaildis shrugs as if she can’t be bothered with the trivial details. “Escape is escape. Do you know I tried drinking the most toxic poison known to mankind? I’m surprised it didn’t kill the child.”

Aiden’s eyes go wide. “You tried to kill your own baby?”

Underhill reaches for a crystal goblet and pours herself a healthy glass of fairy wine. She studies it intently. “You never think about the small pleasures until they are gone.”

Aiden can’t tell if she is addressing him or simply musing aloud.

“Food, wine, sex. Such simple joys. Hedonistic. And essential to maintain one’s humanity. Without them you become…something else.” Her eyes snap back to his and she sets the glass aside. “Nicneven’s never been more than another shackle around my ankle.”

He lets out a breath. “You don’t know what you’ve done to her. What that water did to her. It changed her fate. Your actions have damned her not only in one lifetime, but in two.”

She rises and reaches for a black gown. “She was never meant to exist in the first place. Why should I care if she’s suffered? No one cares about my suffering.”

“Nic cares.” He swallows. “She wanted to free you. She still can. You long for death? I know what that feels like. She can grant it to you and no one else needs to die.”

She releases her hair from its clasp and the dark river of night spills down her back. “Oh, I don’t want to die alone. I want to punish the fey. All of them. For what they’ve caused me to endure. How does the saying go? ‘Tis better to burn out