AIRPS Fic: Chimera Part 10
Title: Chimera Part 10
Author: nymphaea1
Rating for this section: PG-13
Pairing: Adam/Kris, others
Warnings: Violence
Summary:
In 1683 the first boat carrying fey landed in Virginia. Receiving ill welcome from the young American colonies, most of the passengers and the ones who followed after chose to go west, eventually establishing the new kingdom of Western Faerie in the Pacific Northwest. Distrust of Faerie persisted in the east and traveled outwards as the United States
and its ally, the Kingdom of Texas, spread west into the lands bordering those claimed by the fey.
Two years ago Kris Allen, lost to himself after a bitter three-year war, answered a newspaper ad and headed west to the chaotic borderland known as South California. He'd hoped, in a land with no loyalties, he could find respite from his own divided nature. What he found was something else.
Older Sections
“I just don’t know what he’s going to say,” Adam said. He crossed his arms defensively over his chest and stared blankly at the portal before them.
They were waiting for the arrival of Adam’s uncle, Prince Riagán. Kris had felt pretty strongly that this was an event he could stay home for, but apparently the uncle had wanted to meet him. So now Kris stood there with the other three, his stomach tying itself in knots.
Allison placed a hand on Adam’s arm. “He just wants to see you. You know that.”
Adam bit his lower lip. “Fearghas was his best friend.”
“I have known Fearghas since coming to the west,” Baraz said. “Long enough at any rate for me to believe he would have desired no other end but to offer his life in defense of those he valued. Your uncle and I have very rarely seen eye to eye, but I think he would share this view.”
Kris frowned. “You don’t like the prince?”
Riagán was supposed to be the most gracious of the royal Sidhe-and one of he very few who actually liked humans. Though come to think of it that might be Baraz’s problem.
“He is a prince of great ability and vast potential,” Baraz said evenly.
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Adam said. “Baraz doesn’t like anyone.”
“There are some few exceptions,” Baraz said, giving Adam a small sideways smile.
“I guess I’m just lucky.”
“I am grateful you are finally able to acknowledge your fortune in that, Highness.”
Adam relaxed out of his defensive stance and placed a hand on Baraz’s arm. “I do appreciate that, actually.”
Baraz inclined his head and covered Adam’s hand with his own. “I am sure your uncle will place the blame for what has happened on those who attacked you-and that, as I do, he will feel only gratitude that you are safe. Do not trouble yourself on that point.”
Adam nodded although he looked far from convinced. The look Baraz gave him was filled with that mixture of affection and protectiveness that seemed to characterize all his interactions with Adam. Kris just wished he could trust it.
The portal flashed and then filled with a light-purple glow. One dark shape and then another oozed from the portal and took up a defensive stance on either side of it.
Kris tensed. He had forgotten about the Shadows. He had learned about them in the Division-mostly for completeness’ sake. No one in the Division had seriously ever contemplated facing one of them. You couldn’t fight a Shadow. They were the magical embodiment of Midwinter’s darkest moment-silence and ice and the black of midnight cast into humanoid form. There was no way to stand against that-all you bought from fighting one was your own quick death. Fortunately for humanity beings that magical couldn’t leave Faerie for more than a few hours at a time. These must be unusually dedicated to their prince if they’d been willing to come here at all.
The portal flashed again and a third stepped through. It could only be Riagán. He was tall and golden like his sister, and like Eilín his features were just a touch too sharp for human standards of beauty.
He strode forward with a glad cry and wrapped Adam in a tight hug. Adam for his own part just returned the gesture, clutching at his uncle with equal fervor.
Riagán took Adam’s face between his hands and backed away slightly. “They did not tell me what had happened until I returned from China. I would have been here immediately had I known.”
Adam took a shaky breath. “I know. I spoke with Mother.”
Riagán gave him a final searching look but then dropped his hands. “She regretted that she was unable to leave the city herself. She has been very worried.”
Adam nodded. The news made Kris think better of Adam’s family. He hadn’t been able to imagine where the hell they’d been through all of this.
Riagán finally seemed to notice there were others in the room.
He gave Allison an elaborate bow and kissed her hand. Allison actually blushed and batted her eyes at him. Adam exchanged a quick look with Kris and rolled his eyes.
“Baraz, a pleasure as always,” Riagán said, tucking Allison’s hand in his arm.
“Likewise,” Baraz said. He did not, Kris noted, give him the full bow or the honorific he usually granted Adam. It might not be significant-although the sharp-edged tension between them said otherwise.
Riagán shook his head, unimpressed, and they all turned towards Kris.
Kris belatedly remembered his manners and offered Riagán his best bow. The brownies had been helping him practice but he still felt absurd.
“My family owes you a great debt for what you have done,” Riagán said. “Do not think I will soon be forgetting that.”
Up close Riagán shown with a light that nearly dazzled. Kris nodded, barely able to breath through the overwhelming sense of power radiating from him. Where Adam’s magic seduced and enchanted, Riagán’s appeared only to compel.
Riagán offered him his hand, a gesture damn near unheard of from the older Sidhe. Kris took it, still struggling just to think.
Riagán shook Kris’s hand firmly, clapped him on the shoulder and then swept past, Adam and Allison on opposite arms.
“Are you well?” Baraz asked, taking his arm.
Kris blinked and realized they were quite alone. “I think so. What was that?”
“That was Riagán.”
At Kris’s undoubtedly dazed look he pursed his lips and dropped his hand. “All royalty wear the mantle of Faerie. It can easily overwhelm if not controlled. Riagán has never dimmed its effects on those around him. Either he cannot, which is dangerous, or he will not, which is merely tawdry.”
Kris looked down at the velvet and leather combo Adam’s staff had stuffed him into in preparation for meeting Riagán. “I didn’t really think tawdry was a bad thing around here.”
A small smile touched the corner of Baraz’s mouth. “In my experience, many things that are charming on Ailill wear thin very quickly on others-and even Ailill has better control over his magic than Riagán has ever demonstrated.”
Kris massaged the tension that had sprung up at the base of his skull. “I thought Riagán was supposed to be popular.”
Baraz nodded. “He has his finer qualities,” he said, looking a bit sour. “He has always been generous and his loyalty to his family is unquestioned. He has long been a champion of Ailill, even when it granted him no advantage to do so.”
Baraz gestured at the door. “Perhaps we could rejoin the others.”
Kris followed him out into the hallway, a little uneasy. “Why are you telling me all of this? No offense, but you don’t seem like the sharing is caring type.”
Baraz looked faintly surprised. “I have satisfied myself that you have Ailill’s best interests at heart. You can hardly be of any use to him if you are kept in ignorance. I cannot promise you complete transparency, but it costs me little to share information with you that is known to all in Faerie.”
Kris mulled this over. It sounded reasonable, but Baraz always sounded reasonable.
“You don’t trust me,” Baraz said. He held up a hand. “It is wise of you. The fact that you have been sensible enough to distrust us all is one of the reasons I have trusted you with him.”
They came to a great dining room. Adam was sitting next to Riagán at the head of the table, their heads leaned conspiratorially in together. Riagán said something in Adam’s ear and Adam’s gorgeous laugh rang out, free and easy. He looked happier than Kris had seen him in weeks.
“I do not think you entirely appreciate how very much you have been given,” Baraz said.
Adam looked over and his face lit up. “Kris! I was wondering where you’d gone.”
“I appreciate him just fine,” Kris said, low and quick.
Baraz eyed him and then Adam before giving Kris a slight bow in acknowledgment.
Kris sat next to Allison in the chair they’d reserved for him at Adam’s right. This left Baraz to take the place at Riagán’s left across from Kris. He seemed less than pleased but acceded to the arrangement with his standard unbending grace.
Adam’s “intimate family dinner” turned out to include a crowd of at least twenty. Kris supposed it was a small party by Embassy standards. They all pretty much ignored Kris as the dinner commenced-which was totally fine with him, really. Even Adam and Allison were too focused on Riagán’s every word to pay him much attention.
The almost puppyish hero-worship on Adam’s face was really kind of adorable. The fact that it seemed to irk Baraz was only a bonus.
He still couldn’t quite look at Riagán without feeling a bit like he was staring at the sun. As little as he liked admitting it, he had to agree with Baraz that it was pretty annoying.
About halfway through the meal an apologetic servant appeared at Baraz’s side. Baraz excused himself and then went to speak with the troll guard who lurked in the doorway. The conversation became increasingly heated though too low for Kris to hear.
“Baraz?” Riagán inquired mildly. “Is there something we should know?”
Baraz turned around slowly and faced Adam. Kris really, really did not like the look on his face.
“I am very sorry, Highness, but this cannot wait.”
Two guards appeared, a chained prisoner between them. Upon seeing Adam, the prisoner broke free of the two guards and ran to kneel at his feet.
“Please, Highness, please, you know I am innocent. I could never hurt you, not you.” He grabbed Adam’s hand where it lay on the armrest and pressed his lips to it over and over.
Adam freed his hand and used it to push the matted hair out of the captured Sidhe’s face, flinching when he saw the bruises on his face.
Kris recognized him. He was one of the three who’d followed Adam on the night of the Embassy party.
“Inir?” Adam said. “Baraz, what have you done?”
“He is the one who cast the spell that incapacitated you and the others. He invoked his right to petition the crown, or else he would be under further questioning even now.”
Adam shook his head. “There has to be some mistake. He couldn’t-it can’t be him. You’re wrong, Baraz.”
“I would give very much for that to be so, Highness,” Baraz said, honestly grieved. “But I am afraid there can be no mistake. We were able to locate the spot where you were taken. It was well hidden, but we were able to at last detect the signature of his magic on it.”
The supplication on Inir’s face turned to hatred and he leapt for one of the knives on the table. Kris grabbed his own and shoved his chair from the table, but not before Baraz gripped Inir by the throat and dragged him over to the wall. The Shadows drifted closer to Riagán but made no move against Inir.
“Why?”
Riagán put his hand on Adam’s wrist. “Does it matter? He is dead for what he has done, no matter the reason.”
“It matters,” Adam said. “To me, it matters.”
Inir laughed, low and bitter. “Only you could ask that. You have so much power and yet you waste every bit of it on silly vanities. The last one of you founded an empire-you hold parties. Do you know what we could have done if we’d managed to take a tenth part of that for ourselves?”
“There were others?” Riagán asked, intent.
“As far as we can tell, Inir received instruction by invisible messenger and does not know who else is responsible. If he is lying, we will discover it. I will perform all further questioning myself,” Baraz said.
“I understand why you wanted me,” Adam said, pale but steady. “But Fearghas? And Sean and Ysabeau? What did they do to deserve any of this?”
Kris wished that Adam would stop asking these questions. Riagán was right-it couldn’t matter now and Inir wasn’t going to tell Adam anything that wouldn’t just hurt him even more.
“Fearghas wasn’t supposed to be there,” Inir said. “The other two were necessary for practicing the spell.”
He turned on Baraz, beautiful face twisted into something feral and ugly. “You could have taken part in our new empire. We would have let you fuck him, if that’s what it would have taken. We all know that’s what you’re after-“
Baraz tightened his hold on Inir’s throat, cutting off his air. “I think we have heard quite enough from you,” he purred. “Although if you want to dance with me, Inir, I think you will find my card is free.”
“Oh come now, Baraz,” one of the nobles from further down the table said. “Far be it from me to quibble with your right to defend yourself from such a slur. But if you provoke him into challenging you, he will very quickly end up dead, and that would only rob our dear prince of his right to justice.”
The rest of the table leaned forward and looked at Adam, faces bright with expectation.
“He must be punished, I think we all know-I’m sure you agree, Highness,” the noble said. “An attack on the royal house cannot just be forgiven.”
“Give him to me,” Riagán said, voice rough with anger. “In the city there are those who live to deal with such as him. It will take him years to die.”
Adam looked at Inir for a long tense moment but then very obviously turned his face away. “Give him to the garden. He has weakened our defenses through his betrayal. Let him feed them in reparation.”
A few of those sitting around the table flinched and Allison went very still beside him. The majority only sat back in satisfied pleasure, however.
Including Riagán. “I admit this fate pleases me. It pleases me very well,” he said. “Let us open the doors to the garden so that we may enjoy his confession.”
“Yes,” Adam said. “I think that would be fitting.”
Baraz’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly, but he didn’t hesitate in calling the troll guards over to reclaim their charge.
Inir started shouting as soon as they had hold of him. They could still hear him yelling long after they’d dragged him out.
The servants came in, smooth and efficient, opening the garden doors and bringing out the next course as if nothing had happened.
The food looked good, but it tasted like cardboard in Kris’s mouth. When the screaming started twenty minutes later, Kris put his fork down and could only stare at his plate.
The sound of it, unrelenting and terrified, grated along Kris’s whole being, conjuring up memories he’d thought carefully buried. It didn’t seem as if a person could be in that amount of pain and live, but the screaming went on and on.
Kris knew from bitter personal experience how much pain a human was capable of withstanding-how much they could administer and how much they could endure. And he knew that the fey could survive a hundred times more. The screaming wasn’t going to stop, not any time soon.
Allison stayed still and silent beside him, but the rest went on as merry and unconcerned as they’d been before the servant had interrupted.
Adam sprawled in his chair, as easy as the rest of them, laughing at some comment of his uncle’s. He didn’t even flinch when the screaming whipped up into a higher register. They’d warned him, Danny and Lil, but he’d been too arrogant to listen. He’d been so damn sure that Adam was different, that he wasn’t like that, that he wasn’t the kind of person who could order someone’s execution and then sit there eating chocolate mousse while they were tortured to death just outside.
He dug his fingers into his thigh and told himself he just needed to get through this nightmare dinner.
He never knew how long he sat there, whether it was half an hour or ten. Riagán at last stood up, offering his apologies to the assembled nobility.
“I regret I may not stay any longer,” he said. “My guard must return to Faerie and Her Majesty will wish to be informed of what has gone on this night.”
Kris followed them to the portal room as it seemed to be expected of him. Riagán gave Adam one last embrace and then disappeared through the portal with his guard.
Kris opened his mouth to ask for his own gate home-anything to be away from here.
Baraz dug his fingers hard into Kris’s forearm. “I do not have time for your foolishness just now,” he hissed. “Do not presume to think you understand a tenth of what has gone on here this night.”
Adam just stared at the empty portal, seemingly oblivious to this exchange. “I probably should go back to the party.”
“You will not be going back there,” Baraz said in a tone that didn’t really invite disagreement.
Adam turned to him, surprised.
“There are limits to how much I will indulge you, even in this. Perhaps especially in this.”
“I ordered it,” Adam said. “I can’t just go off and hide now.”
“Inir does not deserve any further attention from you. Not after what he did.”
Adam shook his head. “It isn’t about what he deserves. Not all of it.”
Baraz crossed the room and gripped the back of Adam’s neck. “I have told you, I will not allow you to do this to yourself. This twisted sense of honor of yours is the only thing that would demand it.
“Ailill--Adam--do not do this. Please. For me, if you will not do it for yourself.”
Adam looked off towards the portal again, but finally nodded. “You will explain my absence to the others?”
“I will give them as much explanation as I feel they are owed.”
The smallest of smiles twisted Adam’s mouth. “Which is to say, none.”
“Go,” Baraz said. “I will do what is required here.”
Adam nodded and pressed Baraz’s shoulder before turning for the door.
Baraz waited until he’d slipped out before rounding on Kris. “I cannot go with him at this time, so you must. This time try, try to pay attention.”
Kris didn’t really have to be told twice.
He caught up with Adam halfway down the hall. Adam spared him a glance but didn’t say anything their entire way back to his suite.
“Stay-stay here,” Adam said when they’d reached the bedroom, sounding half-drunk. Adam lurched into the bathroom, but didn’t manage to get the door entirely closed. A minute later Kris heard the sound of Adam being violently ill.
Jesus, Kris thought, collapsing into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. He didn’t know if he should go in there or if yet another audience was the last thing Adam needed right now. He sat there, paralyzed by indecision. He heard the toilet flushing and then only silence for a long time.
He got up and tentatively pushed the bathroom door open. Adam sat in a shivering huddle on the floor, head lying on his drawn-up knees.
“Adam?” Kris said, kneeling beside him.
“I’m such a liar,” Adam said, not lifting his head. “Me, a prince, god it’s such a fucking joke.” He laughed, low and bitter, although Kris didn’t see what was so funny. “They all know it, too. And they push and they push and they push.”
Kris tried laying a hand on Adam’s shoulder, but Adam shoved it off with such violence he let it drop.
“I’ll have someone take you home,” Adam said. “I just . . . I can’t. Not now.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Kris said, infinitely grateful now that Baraz had stopped him earlier. “I want you to talk to me.”
Adam lifted his head, eyes wild. “God, why?”
“I need to understand this.”
Adam hauled himself to his feet, jerking away from Kris when he tried to help him again. “Don’t, just don’t.”
He brushed his teeth, once, twice, again, scrubbing violently enough to draw blood.
“Adam, stop, you have to stop this,” Kris said.
Adam gripped the edge of the counter, letting his head drop down. “You say you want to understand what happened. It’s not that complicated. I ordered someone to one of the worst deaths we know. Someone I fucked just last week. That’s what happened.”
“He tried to kill you. He did kill three other people.”
“You really don’t get it, do you? What’s happening to him. The garden will grow into him, will send its roots into every inch of his body, his brain, until all of his body, all that he is will be open to its magic. And then it will start to consume him. By morning it will own every thought, every memory he ever had. An effective method of interrogation, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
“And what would have happened if you’d given him to Riagán? Wouldn’t that have been worse?”
Adam flinched but at least he raised his eyes enough to meet Kris’s in the mirror. “I saw you, I saw what you were thinking. You don’t have to pretty it up now.”
“You think that’s the first time I’ve seen anything like that?” Kris said, his voice strange even in his own ears. “I was in a war. I killed-God, I don’t even know how many.”
Adam jerked upright, but Kris fell back a step, at last unable to push away the memories that had been fighting to emerge all night.
“They didn’t want to fight anyone-half of them were just children.” Everyone had known those pathetic, terrified fey didn’t really pose a threat to anyone, but at that point the war had gone far beyond any considerations of mercy. The worst of the early atrocities committed by Thistleaf’s army had been in northern Texas. They all knew there could be no quarter. Not there.
It was the screaming Kris remembered. The enemy fey had cast so many layers of illusion you couldn’t know what was real, just try to cast one defensive spell after another in a losing battle to keep them out of your head. Their lines had dissolved almost immediately, half of his companions lost to some nightmare only they could see.
“We just had to keep shooting-we didn’t even know what we were killing, if it was anything real.” The fey in the Division had taken the brunt of it, absorbing the worst of the enemies’ spells until at last the humans broke through the outer defenses. Kris remembered just emptying and reloading until he was out of ammo. That was when he’d pulled out his knife.
“I’m the last person who should be judging you,” he said.
He felt Adam yank him into a hard, tight hug. He curled his fists in Adam’s shirt, burying his head against Adam’s shoulder.
“Oh, baby, I’m so, so sorry,” Adam said against his hair. “No one should have to go through that.”
“I just couldn’t face them,” Kris said into Adam’s shoulder. “Not after what I did. I had to leave, I had to.”
Kris knew he was making absolutely no sense, but Adam just kept up the comforting sweep of his hand up and down Kris’s spine.
“Of course you did,” he said. “Of course you had to leave. Anyone could understand that.”
Kris curled his fists tighter into the fabric of Adam’s shirt and thought if he could just stay here for a lifetime or two it might be okay. With Adam’s arms strong and sure around him and the edges of his long leather coat wrapped around Kris’s shoulders it almost felt like the rest of the world didn’t have to exist for a while.
After a while Adam pulled back slightly. Kris started to protest, but Adam soothed him with another sweep of his hand.
“Shh, I’m not going anywhere. Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked, his eyes searching Kris’s face. “You can tell me--anything.”
“Yeah,” Kris said, surprising himself with just how much he did want to tell him. “Just maybe not right now, okay?”
“Okay,” Adam said earnestly. “But any time you want to talk to me, you tell me, okay? I don’t care what I’m doing.”
Kris nodded and was rewarded by being pulled back against Adam.
He heard footsteps on the carpet outside and tensed up again, but it was only Allison.
“Are you two all right?” she asked.
“No,” Adam said, “I don’t think we are.”
“Can I stay with you?” she asked, voice small.
“Of course you can, honey,” Adam said. “We just need to get changed. And I need to get this makeup off or I’m not going to be very pretty tomorrow morning.”
Kris snorted into Adam’s shoulder. “I can see where your priorities are.”
“A proper skincare regimen is important, Kristopher,” Adam said crisply.
Kris let himself be untangled from Adam.
“I think I might have ruined your shirt,” he said, eyeing the poor sad sequins that had been ripped from their place and were now hanging by twisted threads.
“I hate this shirt,” Adam said.
“It’s black and has sequins. And glitter. You love that shirt,” Kris said.
“I have lots of shirts,” Adam said. "There is only one you." Kris had to turn away before he did something really stupid like kiss him.
He waited while Adam went through his now-familiar night-time cleaning ritual. Adam eyed him in the mirror but didn’t say anything while Kris watched him remove one layer after another. When Adam at last shrugged out of his coat and reached for the collar of his shirt Kris had to flee back out into the relative safety of the bedroom.
The fey had stocked clothing for Kris in one corner of Adam’s giant closet. He left his velvet costume in a heap on the floor and pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants, immediately feeling a lot more like himself.
He found Adam and Allison on the bed when he returned to the room, Allison curled up along Adam’s side. Adam held out a hand and Kris settled against his opposite side, his head pillowed on Adam’s broad shoulder. Adam took up the long slow strokes of Kris’s spine again. Kris felt completely worn out if not entirely sleepy and it was easy to relax into Adam’s comfortable warmth.
“Talk to me, honey,” Allison said after they’d been quiet for a while.
“I think he’s asleep,” Adam said. “I don’t want to wake him.”
“He’ll be okay,” Allison said, though more quietly this time. “I’m more concerned with you right now.”
“I . . . I liked him. I thought . . . God, I don’t even know what I was thinking now. I knew it was probably one of them, but not him.”
“None of us suspected him,” Allison said. Kris felt her wrap herself more tightly around Adam.
“He said there were others,” Adam said. “It could be any of them, couldn’t it? It could be all of them.”
Kris wanted to lift his head, tell Adam he didn’t have to worry about that, because there was no fucking way Kris was letting any of those people anywhere near him ever again. He didn’t think it would help anyone but himself, though.
“It isn’t anyone in this room,” Allison said. “You can trust that. And you can trust Baraz. He found Inir and he’ll find the rest of them. You know that.”
“I guess.”
“Well, you can at least trust no one’s getting to you tonight. They’d have to go through me first. They’d be stupid to even try.”
Kris felt Adam’s suppressed laughter under his hand. “Is that so?”
“You know it is. So you might as well get some sleep.”
“Thanks, baby,” Adam said.
Allison settled down beside Adam again and Kris waited for a long while until Adam’s breathing settled out.
He opened his eyes to find Allison looking at him.
“I’m going to find the people behind this,” he said.
“Correction, soldier boy, we’re going to find them. You’re not the only one who gets to worry about him.”
Kris wanted to protest but the truth was he did need someone on this side of things to help him out. And she was right-he didn’t have the right to tell her to keep out of it.
“Okay,” Kris said. “It’ll be the two of us, then.”
Part 11
Author: nymphaea1
Rating for this section: PG-13
Pairing: Adam/Kris, others
Warnings: Violence
Summary:
In 1683 the first boat carrying fey landed in Virginia. Receiving ill welcome from the young American colonies, most of the passengers and the ones who followed after chose to go west, eventually establishing the new kingdom of Western Faerie in the Pacific Northwest. Distrust of Faerie persisted in the east and traveled outwards as the United States
and its ally, the Kingdom of Texas, spread west into the lands bordering those claimed by the fey.
Two years ago Kris Allen, lost to himself after a bitter three-year war, answered a newspaper ad and headed west to the chaotic borderland known as South California. He'd hoped, in a land with no loyalties, he could find respite from his own divided nature. What he found was something else.
Older Sections
“I just don’t know what he’s going to say,” Adam said. He crossed his arms defensively over his chest and stared blankly at the portal before them.
They were waiting for the arrival of Adam’s uncle, Prince Riagán. Kris had felt pretty strongly that this was an event he could stay home for, but apparently the uncle had wanted to meet him. So now Kris stood there with the other three, his stomach tying itself in knots.
Allison placed a hand on Adam’s arm. “He just wants to see you. You know that.”
Adam bit his lower lip. “Fearghas was his best friend.”
“I have known Fearghas since coming to the west,” Baraz said. “Long enough at any rate for me to believe he would have desired no other end but to offer his life in defense of those he valued. Your uncle and I have very rarely seen eye to eye, but I think he would share this view.”
Kris frowned. “You don’t like the prince?”
Riagán was supposed to be the most gracious of the royal Sidhe-and one of he very few who actually liked humans. Though come to think of it that might be Baraz’s problem.
“He is a prince of great ability and vast potential,” Baraz said evenly.
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Adam said. “Baraz doesn’t like anyone.”
“There are some few exceptions,” Baraz said, giving Adam a small sideways smile.
“I guess I’m just lucky.”
“I am grateful you are finally able to acknowledge your fortune in that, Highness.”
Adam relaxed out of his defensive stance and placed a hand on Baraz’s arm. “I do appreciate that, actually.”
Baraz inclined his head and covered Adam’s hand with his own. “I am sure your uncle will place the blame for what has happened on those who attacked you-and that, as I do, he will feel only gratitude that you are safe. Do not trouble yourself on that point.”
Adam nodded although he looked far from convinced. The look Baraz gave him was filled with that mixture of affection and protectiveness that seemed to characterize all his interactions with Adam. Kris just wished he could trust it.
The portal flashed and then filled with a light-purple glow. One dark shape and then another oozed from the portal and took up a defensive stance on either side of it.
Kris tensed. He had forgotten about the Shadows. He had learned about them in the Division-mostly for completeness’ sake. No one in the Division had seriously ever contemplated facing one of them. You couldn’t fight a Shadow. They were the magical embodiment of Midwinter’s darkest moment-silence and ice and the black of midnight cast into humanoid form. There was no way to stand against that-all you bought from fighting one was your own quick death. Fortunately for humanity beings that magical couldn’t leave Faerie for more than a few hours at a time. These must be unusually dedicated to their prince if they’d been willing to come here at all.
The portal flashed again and a third stepped through. It could only be Riagán. He was tall and golden like his sister, and like Eilín his features were just a touch too sharp for human standards of beauty.
He strode forward with a glad cry and wrapped Adam in a tight hug. Adam for his own part just returned the gesture, clutching at his uncle with equal fervor.
Riagán took Adam’s face between his hands and backed away slightly. “They did not tell me what had happened until I returned from China. I would have been here immediately had I known.”
Adam took a shaky breath. “I know. I spoke with Mother.”
Riagán gave him a final searching look but then dropped his hands. “She regretted that she was unable to leave the city herself. She has been very worried.”
Adam nodded. The news made Kris think better of Adam’s family. He hadn’t been able to imagine where the hell they’d been through all of this.
Riagán finally seemed to notice there were others in the room.
He gave Allison an elaborate bow and kissed her hand. Allison actually blushed and batted her eyes at him. Adam exchanged a quick look with Kris and rolled his eyes.
“Baraz, a pleasure as always,” Riagán said, tucking Allison’s hand in his arm.
“Likewise,” Baraz said. He did not, Kris noted, give him the full bow or the honorific he usually granted Adam. It might not be significant-although the sharp-edged tension between them said otherwise.
Riagán shook his head, unimpressed, and they all turned towards Kris.
Kris belatedly remembered his manners and offered Riagán his best bow. The brownies had been helping him practice but he still felt absurd.
“My family owes you a great debt for what you have done,” Riagán said. “Do not think I will soon be forgetting that.”
Up close Riagán shown with a light that nearly dazzled. Kris nodded, barely able to breath through the overwhelming sense of power radiating from him. Where Adam’s magic seduced and enchanted, Riagán’s appeared only to compel.
Riagán offered him his hand, a gesture damn near unheard of from the older Sidhe. Kris took it, still struggling just to think.
Riagán shook Kris’s hand firmly, clapped him on the shoulder and then swept past, Adam and Allison on opposite arms.
“Are you well?” Baraz asked, taking his arm.
Kris blinked and realized they were quite alone. “I think so. What was that?”
“That was Riagán.”
At Kris’s undoubtedly dazed look he pursed his lips and dropped his hand. “All royalty wear the mantle of Faerie. It can easily overwhelm if not controlled. Riagán has never dimmed its effects on those around him. Either he cannot, which is dangerous, or he will not, which is merely tawdry.”
Kris looked down at the velvet and leather combo Adam’s staff had stuffed him into in preparation for meeting Riagán. “I didn’t really think tawdry was a bad thing around here.”
A small smile touched the corner of Baraz’s mouth. “In my experience, many things that are charming on Ailill wear thin very quickly on others-and even Ailill has better control over his magic than Riagán has ever demonstrated.”
Kris massaged the tension that had sprung up at the base of his skull. “I thought Riagán was supposed to be popular.”
Baraz nodded. “He has his finer qualities,” he said, looking a bit sour. “He has always been generous and his loyalty to his family is unquestioned. He has long been a champion of Ailill, even when it granted him no advantage to do so.”
Baraz gestured at the door. “Perhaps we could rejoin the others.”
Kris followed him out into the hallway, a little uneasy. “Why are you telling me all of this? No offense, but you don’t seem like the sharing is caring type.”
Baraz looked faintly surprised. “I have satisfied myself that you have Ailill’s best interests at heart. You can hardly be of any use to him if you are kept in ignorance. I cannot promise you complete transparency, but it costs me little to share information with you that is known to all in Faerie.”
Kris mulled this over. It sounded reasonable, but Baraz always sounded reasonable.
“You don’t trust me,” Baraz said. He held up a hand. “It is wise of you. The fact that you have been sensible enough to distrust us all is one of the reasons I have trusted you with him.”
They came to a great dining room. Adam was sitting next to Riagán at the head of the table, their heads leaned conspiratorially in together. Riagán said something in Adam’s ear and Adam’s gorgeous laugh rang out, free and easy. He looked happier than Kris had seen him in weeks.
“I do not think you entirely appreciate how very much you have been given,” Baraz said.
Adam looked over and his face lit up. “Kris! I was wondering where you’d gone.”
“I appreciate him just fine,” Kris said, low and quick.
Baraz eyed him and then Adam before giving Kris a slight bow in acknowledgment.
Kris sat next to Allison in the chair they’d reserved for him at Adam’s right. This left Baraz to take the place at Riagán’s left across from Kris. He seemed less than pleased but acceded to the arrangement with his standard unbending grace.
Adam’s “intimate family dinner” turned out to include a crowd of at least twenty. Kris supposed it was a small party by Embassy standards. They all pretty much ignored Kris as the dinner commenced-which was totally fine with him, really. Even Adam and Allison were too focused on Riagán’s every word to pay him much attention.
The almost puppyish hero-worship on Adam’s face was really kind of adorable. The fact that it seemed to irk Baraz was only a bonus.
He still couldn’t quite look at Riagán without feeling a bit like he was staring at the sun. As little as he liked admitting it, he had to agree with Baraz that it was pretty annoying.
About halfway through the meal an apologetic servant appeared at Baraz’s side. Baraz excused himself and then went to speak with the troll guard who lurked in the doorway. The conversation became increasingly heated though too low for Kris to hear.
“Baraz?” Riagán inquired mildly. “Is there something we should know?”
Baraz turned around slowly and faced Adam. Kris really, really did not like the look on his face.
“I am very sorry, Highness, but this cannot wait.”
Two guards appeared, a chained prisoner between them. Upon seeing Adam, the prisoner broke free of the two guards and ran to kneel at his feet.
“Please, Highness, please, you know I am innocent. I could never hurt you, not you.” He grabbed Adam’s hand where it lay on the armrest and pressed his lips to it over and over.
Adam freed his hand and used it to push the matted hair out of the captured Sidhe’s face, flinching when he saw the bruises on his face.
Kris recognized him. He was one of the three who’d followed Adam on the night of the Embassy party.
“Inir?” Adam said. “Baraz, what have you done?”
“He is the one who cast the spell that incapacitated you and the others. He invoked his right to petition the crown, or else he would be under further questioning even now.”
Adam shook his head. “There has to be some mistake. He couldn’t-it can’t be him. You’re wrong, Baraz.”
“I would give very much for that to be so, Highness,” Baraz said, honestly grieved. “But I am afraid there can be no mistake. We were able to locate the spot where you were taken. It was well hidden, but we were able to at last detect the signature of his magic on it.”
The supplication on Inir’s face turned to hatred and he leapt for one of the knives on the table. Kris grabbed his own and shoved his chair from the table, but not before Baraz gripped Inir by the throat and dragged him over to the wall. The Shadows drifted closer to Riagán but made no move against Inir.
“Why?”
Riagán put his hand on Adam’s wrist. “Does it matter? He is dead for what he has done, no matter the reason.”
“It matters,” Adam said. “To me, it matters.”
Inir laughed, low and bitter. “Only you could ask that. You have so much power and yet you waste every bit of it on silly vanities. The last one of you founded an empire-you hold parties. Do you know what we could have done if we’d managed to take a tenth part of that for ourselves?”
“There were others?” Riagán asked, intent.
“As far as we can tell, Inir received instruction by invisible messenger and does not know who else is responsible. If he is lying, we will discover it. I will perform all further questioning myself,” Baraz said.
“I understand why you wanted me,” Adam said, pale but steady. “But Fearghas? And Sean and Ysabeau? What did they do to deserve any of this?”
Kris wished that Adam would stop asking these questions. Riagán was right-it couldn’t matter now and Inir wasn’t going to tell Adam anything that wouldn’t just hurt him even more.
“Fearghas wasn’t supposed to be there,” Inir said. “The other two were necessary for practicing the spell.”
He turned on Baraz, beautiful face twisted into something feral and ugly. “You could have taken part in our new empire. We would have let you fuck him, if that’s what it would have taken. We all know that’s what you’re after-“
Baraz tightened his hold on Inir’s throat, cutting off his air. “I think we have heard quite enough from you,” he purred. “Although if you want to dance with me, Inir, I think you will find my card is free.”
“Oh come now, Baraz,” one of the nobles from further down the table said. “Far be it from me to quibble with your right to defend yourself from such a slur. But if you provoke him into challenging you, he will very quickly end up dead, and that would only rob our dear prince of his right to justice.”
The rest of the table leaned forward and looked at Adam, faces bright with expectation.
“He must be punished, I think we all know-I’m sure you agree, Highness,” the noble said. “An attack on the royal house cannot just be forgiven.”
“Give him to me,” Riagán said, voice rough with anger. “In the city there are those who live to deal with such as him. It will take him years to die.”
Adam looked at Inir for a long tense moment but then very obviously turned his face away. “Give him to the garden. He has weakened our defenses through his betrayal. Let him feed them in reparation.”
A few of those sitting around the table flinched and Allison went very still beside him. The majority only sat back in satisfied pleasure, however.
Including Riagán. “I admit this fate pleases me. It pleases me very well,” he said. “Let us open the doors to the garden so that we may enjoy his confession.”
“Yes,” Adam said. “I think that would be fitting.”
Baraz’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly, but he didn’t hesitate in calling the troll guards over to reclaim their charge.
Inir started shouting as soon as they had hold of him. They could still hear him yelling long after they’d dragged him out.
The servants came in, smooth and efficient, opening the garden doors and bringing out the next course as if nothing had happened.
The food looked good, but it tasted like cardboard in Kris’s mouth. When the screaming started twenty minutes later, Kris put his fork down and could only stare at his plate.
The sound of it, unrelenting and terrified, grated along Kris’s whole being, conjuring up memories he’d thought carefully buried. It didn’t seem as if a person could be in that amount of pain and live, but the screaming went on and on.
Kris knew from bitter personal experience how much pain a human was capable of withstanding-how much they could administer and how much they could endure. And he knew that the fey could survive a hundred times more. The screaming wasn’t going to stop, not any time soon.
Allison stayed still and silent beside him, but the rest went on as merry and unconcerned as they’d been before the servant had interrupted.
Adam sprawled in his chair, as easy as the rest of them, laughing at some comment of his uncle’s. He didn’t even flinch when the screaming whipped up into a higher register. They’d warned him, Danny and Lil, but he’d been too arrogant to listen. He’d been so damn sure that Adam was different, that he wasn’t like that, that he wasn’t the kind of person who could order someone’s execution and then sit there eating chocolate mousse while they were tortured to death just outside.
He dug his fingers into his thigh and told himself he just needed to get through this nightmare dinner.
He never knew how long he sat there, whether it was half an hour or ten. Riagán at last stood up, offering his apologies to the assembled nobility.
“I regret I may not stay any longer,” he said. “My guard must return to Faerie and Her Majesty will wish to be informed of what has gone on this night.”
Kris followed them to the portal room as it seemed to be expected of him. Riagán gave Adam one last embrace and then disappeared through the portal with his guard.
Kris opened his mouth to ask for his own gate home-anything to be away from here.
Baraz dug his fingers hard into Kris’s forearm. “I do not have time for your foolishness just now,” he hissed. “Do not presume to think you understand a tenth of what has gone on here this night.”
Adam just stared at the empty portal, seemingly oblivious to this exchange. “I probably should go back to the party.”
“You will not be going back there,” Baraz said in a tone that didn’t really invite disagreement.
Adam turned to him, surprised.
“There are limits to how much I will indulge you, even in this. Perhaps especially in this.”
“I ordered it,” Adam said. “I can’t just go off and hide now.”
“Inir does not deserve any further attention from you. Not after what he did.”
Adam shook his head. “It isn’t about what he deserves. Not all of it.”
Baraz crossed the room and gripped the back of Adam’s neck. “I have told you, I will not allow you to do this to yourself. This twisted sense of honor of yours is the only thing that would demand it.
“Ailill--Adam--do not do this. Please. For me, if you will not do it for yourself.”
Adam looked off towards the portal again, but finally nodded. “You will explain my absence to the others?”
“I will give them as much explanation as I feel they are owed.”
The smallest of smiles twisted Adam’s mouth. “Which is to say, none.”
“Go,” Baraz said. “I will do what is required here.”
Adam nodded and pressed Baraz’s shoulder before turning for the door.
Baraz waited until he’d slipped out before rounding on Kris. “I cannot go with him at this time, so you must. This time try, try to pay attention.”
Kris didn’t really have to be told twice.
He caught up with Adam halfway down the hall. Adam spared him a glance but didn’t say anything their entire way back to his suite.
“Stay-stay here,” Adam said when they’d reached the bedroom, sounding half-drunk. Adam lurched into the bathroom, but didn’t manage to get the door entirely closed. A minute later Kris heard the sound of Adam being violently ill.
Jesus, Kris thought, collapsing into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. He didn’t know if he should go in there or if yet another audience was the last thing Adam needed right now. He sat there, paralyzed by indecision. He heard the toilet flushing and then only silence for a long time.
He got up and tentatively pushed the bathroom door open. Adam sat in a shivering huddle on the floor, head lying on his drawn-up knees.
“Adam?” Kris said, kneeling beside him.
“I’m such a liar,” Adam said, not lifting his head. “Me, a prince, god it’s such a fucking joke.” He laughed, low and bitter, although Kris didn’t see what was so funny. “They all know it, too. And they push and they push and they push.”
Kris tried laying a hand on Adam’s shoulder, but Adam shoved it off with such violence he let it drop.
“I’ll have someone take you home,” Adam said. “I just . . . I can’t. Not now.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Kris said, infinitely grateful now that Baraz had stopped him earlier. “I want you to talk to me.”
Adam lifted his head, eyes wild. “God, why?”
“I need to understand this.”
Adam hauled himself to his feet, jerking away from Kris when he tried to help him again. “Don’t, just don’t.”
He brushed his teeth, once, twice, again, scrubbing violently enough to draw blood.
“Adam, stop, you have to stop this,” Kris said.
Adam gripped the edge of the counter, letting his head drop down. “You say you want to understand what happened. It’s not that complicated. I ordered someone to one of the worst deaths we know. Someone I fucked just last week. That’s what happened.”
“He tried to kill you. He did kill three other people.”
“You really don’t get it, do you? What’s happening to him. The garden will grow into him, will send its roots into every inch of his body, his brain, until all of his body, all that he is will be open to its magic. And then it will start to consume him. By morning it will own every thought, every memory he ever had. An effective method of interrogation, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
“And what would have happened if you’d given him to Riagán? Wouldn’t that have been worse?”
Adam flinched but at least he raised his eyes enough to meet Kris’s in the mirror. “I saw you, I saw what you were thinking. You don’t have to pretty it up now.”
“You think that’s the first time I’ve seen anything like that?” Kris said, his voice strange even in his own ears. “I was in a war. I killed-God, I don’t even know how many.”
Adam jerked upright, but Kris fell back a step, at last unable to push away the memories that had been fighting to emerge all night.
“They didn’t want to fight anyone-half of them were just children.” Everyone had known those pathetic, terrified fey didn’t really pose a threat to anyone, but at that point the war had gone far beyond any considerations of mercy. The worst of the early atrocities committed by Thistleaf’s army had been in northern Texas. They all knew there could be no quarter. Not there.
It was the screaming Kris remembered. The enemy fey had cast so many layers of illusion you couldn’t know what was real, just try to cast one defensive spell after another in a losing battle to keep them out of your head. Their lines had dissolved almost immediately, half of his companions lost to some nightmare only they could see.
“We just had to keep shooting-we didn’t even know what we were killing, if it was anything real.” The fey in the Division had taken the brunt of it, absorbing the worst of the enemies’ spells until at last the humans broke through the outer defenses. Kris remembered just emptying and reloading until he was out of ammo. That was when he’d pulled out his knife.
“I’m the last person who should be judging you,” he said.
He felt Adam yank him into a hard, tight hug. He curled his fists in Adam’s shirt, burying his head against Adam’s shoulder.
“Oh, baby, I’m so, so sorry,” Adam said against his hair. “No one should have to go through that.”
“I just couldn’t face them,” Kris said into Adam’s shoulder. “Not after what I did. I had to leave, I had to.”
Kris knew he was making absolutely no sense, but Adam just kept up the comforting sweep of his hand up and down Kris’s spine.
“Of course you did,” he said. “Of course you had to leave. Anyone could understand that.”
Kris curled his fists tighter into the fabric of Adam’s shirt and thought if he could just stay here for a lifetime or two it might be okay. With Adam’s arms strong and sure around him and the edges of his long leather coat wrapped around Kris’s shoulders it almost felt like the rest of the world didn’t have to exist for a while.
After a while Adam pulled back slightly. Kris started to protest, but Adam soothed him with another sweep of his hand.
“Shh, I’m not going anywhere. Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked, his eyes searching Kris’s face. “You can tell me--anything.”
“Yeah,” Kris said, surprising himself with just how much he did want to tell him. “Just maybe not right now, okay?”
“Okay,” Adam said earnestly. “But any time you want to talk to me, you tell me, okay? I don’t care what I’m doing.”
Kris nodded and was rewarded by being pulled back against Adam.
He heard footsteps on the carpet outside and tensed up again, but it was only Allison.
“Are you two all right?” she asked.
“No,” Adam said, “I don’t think we are.”
“Can I stay with you?” she asked, voice small.
“Of course you can, honey,” Adam said. “We just need to get changed. And I need to get this makeup off or I’m not going to be very pretty tomorrow morning.”
Kris snorted into Adam’s shoulder. “I can see where your priorities are.”
“A proper skincare regimen is important, Kristopher,” Adam said crisply.
Kris let himself be untangled from Adam.
“I think I might have ruined your shirt,” he said, eyeing the poor sad sequins that had been ripped from their place and were now hanging by twisted threads.
“I hate this shirt,” Adam said.
“It’s black and has sequins. And glitter. You love that shirt,” Kris said.
“I have lots of shirts,” Adam said. "There is only one you." Kris had to turn away before he did something really stupid like kiss him.
He waited while Adam went through his now-familiar night-time cleaning ritual. Adam eyed him in the mirror but didn’t say anything while Kris watched him remove one layer after another. When Adam at last shrugged out of his coat and reached for the collar of his shirt Kris had to flee back out into the relative safety of the bedroom.
The fey had stocked clothing for Kris in one corner of Adam’s giant closet. He left his velvet costume in a heap on the floor and pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants, immediately feeling a lot more like himself.
He found Adam and Allison on the bed when he returned to the room, Allison curled up along Adam’s side. Adam held out a hand and Kris settled against his opposite side, his head pillowed on Adam’s broad shoulder. Adam took up the long slow strokes of Kris’s spine again. Kris felt completely worn out if not entirely sleepy and it was easy to relax into Adam’s comfortable warmth.
“Talk to me, honey,” Allison said after they’d been quiet for a while.
“I think he’s asleep,” Adam said. “I don’t want to wake him.”
“He’ll be okay,” Allison said, though more quietly this time. “I’m more concerned with you right now.”
“I . . . I liked him. I thought . . . God, I don’t even know what I was thinking now. I knew it was probably one of them, but not him.”
“None of us suspected him,” Allison said. Kris felt her wrap herself more tightly around Adam.
“He said there were others,” Adam said. “It could be any of them, couldn’t it? It could be all of them.”
Kris wanted to lift his head, tell Adam he didn’t have to worry about that, because there was no fucking way Kris was letting any of those people anywhere near him ever again. He didn’t think it would help anyone but himself, though.
“It isn’t anyone in this room,” Allison said. “You can trust that. And you can trust Baraz. He found Inir and he’ll find the rest of them. You know that.”
“I guess.”
“Well, you can at least trust no one’s getting to you tonight. They’d have to go through me first. They’d be stupid to even try.”
Kris felt Adam’s suppressed laughter under his hand. “Is that so?”
“You know it is. So you might as well get some sleep.”
“Thanks, baby,” Adam said.
Allison settled down beside Adam again and Kris waited for a long while until Adam’s breathing settled out.
He opened his eyes to find Allison looking at him.
“I’m going to find the people behind this,” he said.
“Correction, soldier boy, we’re going to find them. You’re not the only one who gets to worry about him.”
Kris wanted to protest but the truth was he did need someone on this side of things to help him out. And she was right-he didn’t have the right to tell her to keep out of it.
“Okay,” Kris said. “It’ll be the two of us, then.”
Part 11