Free The Angel's Fall (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 6) by Katherine Sparrow Page A

creepy and creeping nothingness that filled the ceiling and moved down this great room’s walls.
    I grabbed onto the leather bag’s zipper pull and tugged on it as I whispered, “ yn y bag. ”
    As promised, I used no magic. The words were a passkey that opened the bag.
    I dropped the bag on the ground and dove into it, head first.

 
     
     
     
     
    10
    A Bright and Empty Smile
    As I fell and fell into the strange physics of the bag, I heard the sound of the zipper closing above me.
    I landed a moment later upon a hardwood floor, cracking my skull with a thwack that echoed through the room.
    “You could have lined the place with cushions,” I muttered as I lay there and stared up at the ceiling. It was high and made of brown leather with a zipper running across it.
    “Wasn’t sure where you would land, love. Took you long enough.” Merlin appeared in my line of sight. “I was beginning to wonder what was happening out there. “He looked me up and down and then offered me a hand. “Your head is all right?”
    “Still attached, so yes.” I stood and shook out my skirt.
    The place where I stood stretched in every direction with mazes of bookshelves, chairs, low-lit lanterns, and couches leading away as far as I could see. A part of me itched to explore this secret and inner realm of Merlin, though there was no time for it.
    Merlin took my hand and led me toward a room within this space, walled off with bookshelves. A round table sat at the center of it, with chairs and a flickering oil lantern at its center. No, not a round table, the Round Table. I ran a finger over the ancient rowan and ash wood.
    I sat down and Merlin sat close beside me. Our knees touched.
    “Lila is well.” I spoke quickly. “She’s herself and not overcome by her transformation. The Spaniard, I’m not so sure. I sowed some seeds of dissent, we’ll see if—”
    I started as someone appeared out of the gloom and sat down on the other side of Merlin.
    It was Lucifer, so aged and shriveled, shrunken and ancient, that it took me a long moment to realize it was him.
    “Lady Death, I thought we would meet today. Hello,” he said and nodded at me.
    “I’m not—”
    “This is Morgan, Father, remember?”
    “Sorry, sorry. You do sort of look like her though.” His voice sounded weak and he mumbled.
    “You brought Lucifer here?” I asked Merlin.
    My wizard shook his head. “He appeared half an hour ago. Said we had to talk.”
    “How? That shouldn’t be possible.”
    “I needed to have a chat with my boy,” he said and put a hand on Merlin’s shoulders.
    Merlin nodded. “After I jumped into my bag to escape dismemberment by some kind of Queens-guard shadow-thing with too many arms, he showed up. As you know, we made dozens of protection spells against any coming into this bag besides us, and yet he tripped none of them.”
    The old man waved a dismissive hand. “Bypassed them. Easiest way through, though it still cost me. Every breath, it costs. Your bag is quite the find, by the way. A wonder of the world. Of the world I never got to be in. Except for one time. With your mother. She was a glory, Merlin. Have I told you about her?”
    Merlin nodded and put a hand on his father's forearm.
    The old man beamed and slowly got up. He ambled toward the nearest bookshelf.
    “He's having more trouble focusing. So Lila is Lila, and you have examined the bond between her and the Queen. How do we break it?” Merlin asked.
    “Break it? I don’t know if we can. The bond between them grows stronger with physical proximity and also when the Queen commands her. Lila cannot break it. I do know that. It sets her into a panic just thinking about it,” I said. “I am relatively sure the Queen is the only one who might sever it.”
    “Then we will hit her with a spell to get her to say the wrong thing,” Merlin said and reached into his vest’s pocket. He showed me three granite marbles that lay heavy in his hand. Each was dead weighted