Umbra Read online

  As Jess watched the white wolves disappear into the brightening day, her thoughts followed them. Something felt different now that Jess had marched into battle with the pack. With a start, she realized that she wanted to go with them. But that wasn’t her course.

  Jess’s pulse pounded as she turned to the Depths portal. To where two vamps waited for her. A mixture of anxiety and guilt clamored through her. She’d felt their arrival through the portal during the tail end of the battle, an indefinable vibration nearby. But she’d had no time to acknowledge what it meant. Or who had portaled through.

  Now, Jess felt that awareness eat her up as if filling her every fiber. As her steps took her towards the bank, she reminded herself that it wasn’t about what she wanted. She was here for the Sidhe. Jess took a deep breath, telling herself that the first obstacle, the pucca unit, was gone. Sunny was to take them to Astra so that the fae could share whatever information she held about Mara. Even so, as she neared the vamps, she couldn’t quash her mounting anxiety.

  I think I preferred going into battle.

  As Jess came to greet the two vamps, she felt as if she might well still be charging over the plain with the way her heart stampeded. Her gaze skimmed Sunny’s bronze face, his sparkling emerald eyes, and golden hair, but it was soon drawn instead to the dark-haired vamp beside him.

  Rune’s skin appeared luminous in the daylight. She took in his dark chocolate hair, his charcoal shirt, and jeans, all contrasting starkly with his skin. The jagged cut of his cheekbones and collarbone reminded her of how he’d looked in the Triodia Prison when they’d first met rather than the months she’d known him on the outside: something that declared he was barely eating.

  Even half-starved, Jess couldn’t help thinking how divine he looked. Her thumping heart in her chest agreed with the prognosis. In the space of a few seconds, echoes of the moments in Norway when they’d lost themselves in one another—body and soul—merged with the moment Jess had compelled Rune. Her feelings rioted. Everything that she’d ever felt for him, every blissful feeling of desire and love, as well as anger and shame, surfaced. Her body seemed too confined to house this much as she clapped eyes on the vamp she’d both longed and dreaded seeing.

  His ebony eyes touched hers. And everything she felt was suddenly extinguished. Cold shock swilled through her instead. The black wells of rage had been replaced by hollow pits. She felt raw at the utter emptiness in Rune’s gaze.

  Jess’s attention fled to Sunny. With his golden hair, complexion so ruddy that his bronze skin positively gleamed, he was Rune’s opposite. As different as day to night.

  “Where’s Astra?” Jess asked.

  “It’s good to see you, too,” Sunny retorted.

  “She’s waiting in a cave a mile east of here.” Rune’s voice raised goosebumps along Jess’s skin, but its tone was as detached as his expression.

  Her gaze was forced back to him and his hollow eyes. Remorse swallowed Jess utterly. Six weeks apart and his temper had burned out. But the remoteness trickling down their bond told her that it wasn’t only his anger that had burned out. She couldn’t feel anything from him. With crippling heartache, Jess realized that whatever feeling she’d awoken in Rune for her had been destroyed when she’d subverted his will. She remembered how he’d told her that his feelings for her were the first thing he’d felt in five centuries. She remembered how fervently he’d confessed those feelings in Norway. “I felt…desire…and need. To stay with you, to be near you.” How impossible it seemed that Rune had ever uttered those words. For here they were standing together once more, and yet Jess had never felt more distance between them. And more than that—such lack of hope of ever bridging it.

  5

  CHANGELING

  Rune sped across the dusky plains, trying to think of nothing else except his own emptiness. It was a natural state for him to exist in, having been cursed by Alba’s all-consuming shadow for centuries. Except this time, it was self-induced. He wasn’t burdened by Alba’s consciousness anymore, but he let the same nothingness devour him. Rune became the husk he used to be.

  It’s the only way.

  In order to preserve the detachment he’d wrapped around the blood bond he shared with her. A bite of anger threatened, but he quashed it down. For the first few weeks of being banished by Jess, he had been consumed by anger; she’d used the very blood bond he’d sworn to protect her against him. For a while, her audacity had ensured his wrath. But worse was when that anger had dulled and the ache of betrayal consumed him. The one he loved had freed him from the puppetry of a god only to enslave him once more. And so, feeling as if he’d drown in the pain of Jess’s betrayal, he’d taken refuge in numbing his feelings once more.

  Rune pushed away that sense of beckoning grief. His form blurred with the landscape, and he became one with the shadows lacing the plains. He swept beneath a huge ebony tree, the air and shadows palpable with tension, the arcing branch above like a hangman’s tree as if waiting for the snap of bone.

  Since that terrible night in the Cathedral of Silva, this macabre state of expectation was never far away from him. Because, despite anesthetizing his feelings, slivers of dread still pierced him. For this. Jess’s coming to Umbra. All because she held the sickening delusion that the Sidhe was part of her. He knew it was a side effect of the Sidhe almost consuming her life’s blood and restoring the goddess, Silva.

  The irony of their situation tainted his thoughts with bitterness. Jess had saved him from Alba’s influence by allowing him to swear a blood oath to her, only to be infected by Silva herself. It was as if Jess had been burned away by the Between and Silva. And along with Jess, Rune had been destroyed, too.

  Rune the ruin.

  Even as he thought of how he’d lost the woman he loved that night, he couldn’t stop the prickling awareness flushing through him: Jess was only sixty feet behind him, running through the night in her wolfish form. Although… it was her human form that burned in his mind’s eye.

  The moment he’d seen her, he couldn’t help noticing the tight-fitting blue and green leathers showing off her every curve. The colors suited her perfectly—a reflection of her harmony with nature. Her pale eyes as clear as mountain lakes had threatened to capture him as had the red staining her cheeks like ripening berries when she’d caught sight of him. Memories of when her cheeks had been aflame with passion stirred through him. The feel of her skin, her ambery taste on his lips, her needy moans threatening to catch him up. But he’d reminded himself that the woman here wasn’t the one he loved. His Jess would never have made him a slave.

  Jess was being ruled by Silva’s damnable influence that had leaked into her in the Between. Rune strengthened his resolve as he had done these past six weeks of exile. He would find a way to rid Jess of Silva. Just as she had saved him from Alba, he would save her.

  Rune ran up the hillside, making for the cave he knew the jagged rock-face concealed ahead. He slowed, nearing the cave archway, drinking in the glowing teals and purples of the walls, covered in ignesfuncula—fire-eaters, organisms that took in the sunlight.

  Inside the cave, Astra jumped up from the rock where she was seated. She wore green and blue leathers, her hair was knotted across her scalp, and her features were as pointed as her ears and the edged formations of the cave walls. Her skin and hair blended with the shadows of the walls, but patches of her took on the glow of the ignes behind her. “Where’s Jess?”

  “Just coming. With Sunny.” Rune was incapable of keeping the bitter note from his voice.

  He knew from Sunny’s gibes that Astra had—apparently—onboarded the whole he and Sunny having Alba’s consciousness thing. Sunny had said the fae possessed an exciting source of information but hadn’t elaborated. That was to be expected, though; Sunny enjoyed tormenting him. When Jess had first sent him to find the ancient vamp, Sunny hadn’t lost any time in making it clear that he blamed Rune entirely for saving Jess’s life. Sunny had relished beating him to a pulp. Then, when h
e’d allied with Jess, Sunny had taken even greater delight in hammering home that he was doing everything he could to aid Jess in getting to Umbra. Sunny had ensured the supply chain of iron got to the Rems to armor them, had searched for Astra in the Silvan Mountains, and fine-tuned the details concerning this invasion. In other words, Sunny was doing his damnable best to steer Jess towards her doom.

  Rune’s black gaze bristled over Astra, wondering how the fae would react if she knew Jess had come to Umbra as a willing sacrifice for the goddess once more.

  Not that I can say one word to anyone but Sunny about it.

  The abrasive memory of Jess’s voice commanding him stole through him, “Say nothing of the Sidhe to anyone but Sunny.”

  Sunny, the next of Alba’s heirs. As if that wasn’t proof enough that Jess was being compelled by the part of Silva that had slipped into her.

  Seeking a distraction from his torment, he observed Astra more closely. He knew from Jess that she’d been searching the Silvan Mountains for something that could help her go up against Queen Mara. He also knew from her confiding in Jess that although she didn’t approve of the Unseelie practices in the torturing and tethering of iron-tinged sluagh or the tethering of pucca, that her parents belonged to the Unseelie Court, and that they themselves were pucca riders. Sunny had ensured that Astra’s parents hadn’t been stationed within the portal patrol that Jess and her clan had just killed. Yet, Rune imagined the conflict Astra must be struggling with by going against the Unseelie, against her family. “I hope the sound of the battle didn’t reach you,” he offered.

  The violet and blue patches of Astra’s skin and hair paled, but she answered steadily, “A little.”

  A light tread sounded behind Rune.

  The next moment, a blur of white misted the air, and Jess had the fae in a rib-cracking hug.

  The relief spilling down his and Jess’s blood bond made Rune’s throat tighten. The pang of loneliness washing through her seemed like a reflection of his own.

  He watched as Astra hugged Jess just as fiercely.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Jess said.

  “Me?” Astra retorted. “Little Miss I-almost-became-a blood sacrifice!”

  Jess deflected, “You kinda look like you’ve been to a paint party.”

  Clearly, Jess didn’t plan on illuminating Astra on the fact that she was still very much in danger of becoming a blood sacrifice, and that Sunny, who she’d invited here, wouldn’t hesitate to spill her blood.

  “What are they?” Jess added, studying the glowing patches of ignes around the cave that were causing the colorful lightshow across Astra’s hair and skin.

  “They’re ignesfuncula—fire-eaters,” Astra said. “They’re sort of animal and rock. Or at least the organisms have a symbiotic relationship with the rock. They ingest the crystals that take in the sunlight.”

  “Wicked.” Jess marveled at the ignes, her crystal eyes taking in the glowing walls. Rune stared at the cascade of her silvery hair that picked up the blue and purples too, her skin as fair as the petals of a moonflower. Two scian hung from the belt at her waist, one of the silver hilts was a wolf’s head. He remembered the tug of protectiveness that had stolen down their tether as she watched the Rems disappearing into the grasses of the plains after she’d fought fiercely beside them. She’d been magnificent, every inch the Alpha leading her pack.

  Rune tore his gaze away as her too-familiar eyes found him. He moved to a rock near Sunny in the center of the cave. The vamp was already lounging as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Rune bristled against the hateful vamp’s presence. He’d heard from Sunny’s own mouth, multiple times over the last few weeks, that the only thing preventing him from spilling Jess’s blood again was the block that Mara’s iron-tinged sluagh were putting between Jess and the Sidhe.

  The tall, golden-haired vamp with his debonaire smile looked like an angel, but Rune saw the snake in the grass, waiting to strike. His gut twisted with anger as he imagined Sunny enshrined with all of Alba’s power. Wrath simmered in Rune. They were traveling with an enemy. Couldn’t Jess see that? To think that Jess had ordered him to go to this vamp. Resentment towards Jess pricked at Rune. Now, this was her preferred confidante, a vamp who was her mortal enemy. While she’d confided nothing to Rune. Asked nothing of him.

  Except to stay away.

  Both Astra and Jess took purchase on a couple of rocks opposite the two vamps, forming an uneven circle. Awareness prickled over Rune; Jess was directly opposite him. He studiously avoided looking at her, instead pinning his attention on Astra. That was why they were here, after all. Why they were here in this cave anyway. To hear the fae’s information concerning Queen Mara.

  Jess was direct. “Tell us what you found in the mountains, Astra.”

  But Sunny interrupted, “Wait. Have you felt anything of Lorenzo’s blood sluagh?”

  Rune felt a tumble of shock down his and Jess’s bond. Jess’s shoulders relaxed and a smile lit her face.

  “I haven’t,” Jess exclaimed. “With everything going on, I forgot to search for the connection but… there’s been nothing.”

  Sunny nodded, his own expression lightening. “Well that answers that question. It seems Theo can’t reach you here. But listen out for signs of his blood sluagh at dusk.”

  Rune bristled at the instructional tone with which the vamp addressed Jess, who only nodded in affirmation.

  Astra broke in, “Sunny told me about that bastard. What Theo did—tethering Lorenzo’s sluagh from you, and now destroying the Silvan glades…” She shook her head, her features sharpening.

  Jess’s expression grew overcast but she said steadily, “Once we’ve saved the Sidhe, I have to believe we’ll be able to stop him.”

  “Damn right we will,” Astra asserted. “And I’m gonna tell you where to start.”

  That tension, Rune’s almost constant companion, jostled him once more as he waited for the fae. Wouldn’t Astra’s information lead Jess ever nearer to Mara, the Sidhe, and her doom?

  “The first time I was in the Silvan Mountains, my Seelie friend, Skiron, and I heard the same version of the Great Divide in the Heights that you told me about, Jess,” Astra said. Her tone took on a dry note. “Well, apart from the bit that Sunny filled me in on—that you two vamps are the last of Alba’s heirs and retain his consciousness.” Astra’s gaze lit upon Rune with open curiosity as if asking whether it was true. As if she didn’t entirely trust Sunny.

  Satisfaction swelled through Rune.

  At least someone has some sense.

  Rune nodded. “That’s correct.” Astra’s russet eyes widened. Before she could continue though, he added. “I, Sunny, and Alba’s previous heir searched the Silvan Mountains and the great lakes of the north and even traversed the Alban Seas for answers about the Great Divide. We spent centuries searching, but there was never any information about the Great Divide in the mountains or seas.”

  “Nothing in living memory,” Astra replied with an arched eyebrow.

  Rune stilled.

  She was talking about the faded fae, said to become part of the Heights and Depths upon dying.

  Is Astra seriously claiming to have found what we Alban heirs haven’t in centuries?

  The Umbran belief that the fae became part of the Heights and Depths when they faded was the reason Cuill had, in the first place, searched the Between for answers; searching for signs of seed magic—and the faded—but only being rewarded with the sacrifice of his sanity. Like an open wound, Cuill’s loss pricked Rune.

  “The faded fae are in the winds and water,” Astra announced confidently.

  Rune noticed Jess’s body tense, too, heard her heart speed up. Sunny clearly hadn’t illuminated her either concerning what Astra had found. But for once, Jess couldn’t hold his attention. He was riveted by the fae.

  “When fae fade they effervesce into the winds and waters, the Heights and Depths,” Astra went on. “But you need to know how to catch them to hear
them. Something the Seelie have long known.”

  Rune stared in consternation.

  “The Seelie?” Sunny exclaimed.

  Rune’s attention snapped to Sunny. The vamp’s expression was uncharacteristically solemn. Rune realized that his blood brother was hearing this information for the first time, too.

  Astra laughed. “You may be gods, but you seem as narrow-sighted as the Unseelie. So sure there’s nothing of merit in the Seelies’ simpler ways: their respect for animals and their harmony with nature.” Her challenging gaze swung to Sunny. “You’ve gotten caught up in the prophecies about the Great Divide from the ruling coven, and never thought to look anywhere else.” She added, “Maybe even gods overlook the humbler places. Such as the fact that the Seelie have long known that Silva and Alba can be found in Umbra’s lands and animals.”

  Rune spluttered, “The Seelie have professed a belief that Silva and Alba are part of the Heights and Depths but that’s all.”

  Sunny seconded, “Precisely. Other than muttering oaths to Alba and Silva, giving the best of their food to the gods as offerings, or believing that every animal is some sort of sign, they’ve never shown anything concrete.” With a mocking smile, he asked, “Are you going to tell us that you heard this story of the Great Divide through a flock of birds or saw it in a shoal of fish?”

  Despite feeling incredulous, too, Sunny’s scornful words brought something to Rune: the memory of the fuathan flocking around Cuill back in his shack, drawn to the Sidhe. The animals had known Silva haunted the vamp’s steps long before anyone else.

  Astra ignored Sunny’s gibe. “The Seelie have heard the voices of the faded in the storms in the mountains. To capture them, they catch and ride the wild pucca.”