Free Return of the Hunters (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 4) by Sonya Bateman

daughter. That was when he went crazy.
    Apparently, the Fae were physically unable to commit suicide. Kelwyyn walked into the Mists because it was the only way to end himself, after a few dozen mighty Fae warriors tried and failed to kill him.
    “Look. Let’s just go, okay?” I said. “Sorry about the delay.”
    Reun’s brow furrowed. “Are you certain you’re all right?”
    “I’m fine.”
    He nodded, and I followed him toward the Duchenes gathered ahead in the field. I only glanced back at the Mists once, when a final message whispered through my brain.
    Find me, DeathSpeaker. Soon.

    We’d been walking for almost an hour when the scenery started to change. Tall grass and patches of forest gave way to flat ground strewn with stone, rolling swells of land patchworked with swaths of heather and bluebell—or whatever the Fae equivalent was—and green-sown cliffs bathed in fog. The normal kind.
    Zoba seemed to be regaining some of his strength, too. Maybe it was the magic of Arcadia, or just being in another realm and hopefully away from Legba’s influence, but he’d started walking on his own about fifteen minutes in. Now he was up to almost regular speed.
    So far, nothing had tried to kill us. But I figured our luck would run out eventually. The sooner we got back to the human realm, the better.
    Not that facing Legba would be any easier than traveling through Arcadia.
    I caught up with Reun, who was leading our grim little procession up a slow-rising hill. “So, where are we headed?” I said.
    “Toward the Seelie palace,” he said. “It is safer on royal ground.”
    “Uh. Safer for who, exactly? I’m Unseelie.”
    “And I am high nobility.” He smirked without looking at me. “Not that I’ve been particularly proud of that lately. But I do know the Seelie King.”
    “Oh.” I hadn’t met him, but I knew of him. Uriskel and Cobalt had mentioned him—Braelan, their other brother. They said he hadn’t been king for long, but in Fae terms, ‘not long’ could be fifty or a hundred years, since they could live for thousands. “Hey, while we’re here, can you show me how to do that portal thing?” I said. “Cross the Veil, I mean.”
    Reun glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. “I suppose I could try,” he said. “It may be difficult to explain. I’ve never attempted to understand the process.”
    “So it’s just a thing you do, like healing.”
    “More or less.”
    Before he could say anything more, Denei stepped up her pace and tapped his arm. “We gonna head back to the real world soon?” she said. “Not that this ain’t…nice and all, but I wanna make sure we got plenty of time to get to Boko.”
    “Boko?” I said.
    “Boite Boko. Legba’s club.” Her eyes flashed briefly. “He only shows up there when he’s makin’ a deal. Or ending one.”
    The idea that he wanted to make a deal with me made my skin crawl. Especially since I got the impression from Zoba’s vision that he didn’t play fair with the Duchenes when they made theirs. He’d taken the younger ones by force and refused to let them go.
    “Soon, a’stohr ,” Reun said. “Once we’ve reached the top of this rise, we’ll be in view of the Valley of Kings, and the Seelie palace. We should be able to cross over from the valley.”
    “Good, ’cause this place is kinda creepy,” she muttered.
    We were about thirty feet from the top, and I’d just allowed myself to think we could leave Arcadia without being attacked when four figures came up from the other side and stopped at the peak. They carried swords, and wore armor made of light. I’d seen armor like that before—but it was blue, and these guys sported gold.
    And they did not look happy to see us.
    “Let me guess,” I said. “That’s the Seelie Guard.”
     
     

C HAPTER 16

     
    R eun stepped forward and extended his arms, motioning for everyone to stop. “I will deal with this,” he said. “They’ll not harm any of you.”
    I wasn’t so sure