Blood of the Hunt

Blood of the Hunt - Chapter 16

Cassius shrugged back into the leather harness-style armour too soon for his liking, his reconciliation with Zeke cut short by the return of Clarissa Herondale and lovely Sera from the Adamant Citadel. By the tone of the voices rising from downstairs, it sounded as though they had somehow managed to convince the Iron Sisters to part with their precious gift of pure angel blood. All that remained now was the corruptisia blooms...

...and one thing more, he lamented silently as he twisted to refasten the straps and buckles that had only recently been undone. Zeke had retreated from him to lean back sullenly against the wide desk that dominated the east side of the room. Shafts of sunlight peeked through breaks in the heavy burgundy velvet curtains partially drawn across the floor-to-ceiling windows, the light illuminating one side of his face while leaving the other in shadow.

"You're not going to listen to me now any more than you were before, are you?" Zeke grumped sourly.

The Faerie crossed the distance between them and pressed a gentle kiss to stubbornly unresponsive lips. "No," he whispered, half an apology and half a command. "No Nephilim can withstand the perils of Deep Faerie. The land can twist reality until it is impossible to tell truth from fantasy, while the mind reels and shatters in horror from what may be revealed. The madness it causes leaves permanent damage, and I would not lose you so." He trailed the fingers of his right hand along Zeke's jawline wistfully.

The ex-Shadowhunter caught his mate's hand and pulled it down until it rested against his collarbone instead. "Then tell me why it's so much safer for you to go. Tell me that I should just sit here and not worry about a goddamn thing." He paused to wait for an answer, but Cassius remained silent. Zeke swore in low voice. "You can't, because you can't tell a goddamn lie, you Faerie bastard."

Cassius closed his eyes, filled with remorse for the anguish he was causing. He took a deep breath and hardened his voice. "But I am not a bastard. I am a scion of the seven Archangels of Heaven, the last living son of-"

"Yeah, yeah," Zeke interrupted irritably, "The son of the Angel of Solitude and Tears, Cassiel's kid, blah blah blah. I've heard it all before. I know who you are, Cass. I know what you can do." He jabbed a finger at the Faerie's chest. "And I know what you can't do. You won't even be able to teleport once you're that deep in the Faerie realm. I doubt you'll even be able to get yourself all the way in. That means you're going to be on foot for at least part of the way, and that means you're going to be in danger."

Guilt continued to flood through Cassius, but he steeled himself against it and turned away to find the familiar gloves he wore to safely handle the torahk-na looped at his hips. "I am aware of the risks, Ezekiel," he answered more sharply than he intended. "I have walked the lands of Deep Faerie before. I will avoid what dangers I may and engage only as a last resort."

Zeke buried his face in his palms and rubbed at his eyes in frustration. "Just go," he growled bitterly. "I can't stop you anyway, can I?"

Cassius bowed his head to hide the pain in his eyes. He knew that their final farewell would come all too soon, and still he was not yet ready to face it. "No," he whispered again, almost too quietly to be heard.

The Faerie folded his remaining wing around his body and vanished, the faded majesty of Morgenstern manor replaced an instant later by the endless rolling fields of red and purple grass that marked the edge of the realm of Faerie. As before when he had come with the body of the Unseelie King, he could penetrate no further into Deep Faerie with his power. Navigating the Courts and the Rift with his gift was only possible because those places were tethered to the Mortal realm by necessity; pathways existed between the two and served as anchors that dulled the twisting and turning of the Faerie lands. The warping could be felt further out from the centre of Courts, particularly along the seams where the two incongruous worlds were joined and the protection was weaker. Mortals often manifested headaches when they passed through those areas - the first sign that the nature of the Faerie realm was seeping through to tug at the edges of their minds.