Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (free ebooks romance novels .TXT) 📗

come in handy right about now. Screw you and the horse you rode in on, Mom.

“Where would you go?” Astrid asks.

“Back to my family’s farm.” And from there across the Veil and into Underhill where I would kill the treacherous Underhill once and for all.

“What’s it like there?” It takes me a minute to realize she’s talking about the farm, not the land beyond the Veil.

“This time of year, it’s very quiet.” I close my eyes as I picture the icicles hanging from the roof of the house, the snow layered over the ground like a thick blanket. The icy north wind whipping a blast of chilly air between the barn and the other outbuildings, making the powdery snow dance.

Astrid studies me. “Are there any animals?”

“Not that we own. But Addy has a veterinary clinic where she takes care of dogs and cats. I help out there sometimes after school.” Or I had until my destiny had blindsided me.

“It sounds nice.”

“It is my favorite place in all the worlds. My home.” It’s true. My memories from my life as Nicneven had shown me wonders beyond human imagining. I’d seen the in-between—the space behind the Veil that separates Midgard from Underhill. I’d grown wings and flown, bathed in a bioluminescent pool and dressed from a magical wardrobe in a sea glass and sandcastle by the sea.

But Dorothy had it right—there’s no place like home.

I wonder if I’ll ever see it again.

“Someone’s coming,” Astrid says a moment before I hear the footsteps.

“Stay behind me.” I put myself between her and this new threat.

A hiss as the airlock door opens. Two guards stride through the door, both armed, both wearing the required cleanroom suits. “Get up.”

I am slow to comply. I don’t threaten them but neither do I try to pull off poor, pregnant teenager. These people have no mercy, so playing the sympathy card is a waste of time.

“Step forward.”

I do but when Astrid moves to follow the other levels his sidearm at her. “Not you.”

“It’ll be all right,” I tell her.

She doesn’t answer.

The guards lead me out into a hallway. As we walk, I make an effort to mentally map the twists and turns. Note the cameras perched in the corners of every intersection. Is there anything here that can aid me in an escape?

Astrid might know.

And then we come to the room that has become a familiar part of my day, interrogation 101 with professor Hanson. Time to sit and stare blankly at the wall behind her. Pretend I hadn’t cried, hadn’t begged for her to stop relating the tragic lives of my victim’s families. I hate her for that more than all the rest.

But Hanson isn’t inside the room. The guards don’t bother to tether my shackles to the chair. I scowl and look down but before I can decide if it’s an oversight or an order, they exit the room, the hermetically sealed door hissing behind them.

I sit and wait. Is this some sort of test? Best not to respond at all. There is no camera in here, no two-way mirror, only a thin vent in the ceiling. In the quiet I can hear the fan thrumming as air circulates through the ductwork.

I count to thirty. Then one hundred. Nothing happens. I’m used to waiting, it’s in my nature, but I’d be lying if I said that, under these circumstances, it isn’t unnerving.

The door opens and a woman steps through. She is tall and statuesque with blood-red hair wound up in an elegant chignon.

The Hag of the Ironwood. My heart leaps when I recognize her. But is she here as a friend or a foe?

“Don’t say anything,” Angrboda sets her briefcase down on the table. “We don’t have much time.”

“How did you get in here?”

“I had to wait until Hanson was off the premises to ensorcell the other mortals so they’d let me in.”

I stare at her, the woman my mother forcibly evicted from Underhill. The mother of monsters and the giantess who Aiden held responsible for ruining his life.

“I’m your lawyer, hired by your aunt, as far as they’re concerned.”

Chloe. “Is she all right?”

The giantess nods once. “Worried about you though. We have a plan to get you out of here. Soon.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t want to reveal too much. Just know that I’m going to slip an order into their heads on the way out to move you from this facility to a more secure location. When they transport you, we will be at the ready.”

I pick at a hangnail. “There’s a girl here, her name is Astrid. Do you know anything about her?”

The giantess shakes her head. “No. Is she fey?”

Unwilling to say the words out loud I murmur, “I want to help her, too.”

She studies me. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Do you know where Aiden is?” It’s the sort of question any normal girl would ask.

She shakes her head. “No one has seen or heard from him for days.”

The hangnail rips free. That’s why my eyes sting.

“One thing at a time. We have to set you free then we can worry about the wolf.”

“I’m pregnant,” I’m not sure why I tell her this, other than that it feels good to tell someone since everyone else has been busy telling me. It should be my news, fucked up as that is. “I’ve heard it’s a girl.”

The giantess’s eyes go wide. “The One True Queen.”

“What?” Where had I heard that before?

“Nothing.” Her green eyes fix on my face. “Does Aiden know about the babe?”

I shake my head. “I’m worried about his reaction though.”

“Worry about yourself, Nic.” Her gaze goes to my midsection. “For you carry the key to saving all of us within you.”

Aiden wakes to the feel of warm hands sliding across his naked back.

“Nic,” he breathes, but the second the scent hits him, he knows it is wrong.

Leaping out of bed, he turns his back on the goddess. “Keep your talons to yourself, goddess.”

“Is that what you really desire?” She is