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

“There are innocent souls,” he pleads.

Her dark blue gaze glitters. “Like that of your child?”

A growl rips out of him, the wolf rising to the fore. “You leave her out of this.”

Underhill smirks. “Unlikely. Even if she is the one prophesized to combine the thrones of the Unseelie Court, it will take years for her to come of age. The end begins nigh.” With that, she rises from her seat and crosses the moonstone floor. With a wave of her hands the outer doors open and Druagar shuffle in. “Guards. Load him into my carriage.”

Aiden is dragged from the room, shaking, panting. He has to go, to get back to Nic. He promised.

Dawn bleeds through the bedroom curtains when I see Gretchen’s eyes crack open and she squints. “Nic?”

“Hey,” I rise from the chair I’d parked next to the bed and reach for the water glass. On the far side of the room, Liam rises from the crouch he’s held since I came in here to keep watch over Gretchen.

“Where am I?” She blinks owlishly.

Instead of answering, I hand her the water. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Her brow furrows as she drinks. “I took your backpack and the truck to a spot in the woods. Harmony sent me after Aiden. She said I needed to cross the Veil with him.”

So nothing about crossing, Underhill or any of it. It really had been Fenrir in control. I let out a relieved breath and meet her worried gaze.

“Gretchen, that was over a year ago.”

Her lips part in shock. “What? Have I been in a coma or something?”

“Not exactly.” I lean forward to take the glass from her shaking hand.

“Don’t get too close,” Liam cautions.

I glare at him. “She’s human again. At least as human as she ever was.”

“What?” Gretchen asks, her head whips back and forth between the two of us. “What do you mean, human as I ever was?”

Having spent several hours watching her sleep, I’ve gone back and forth trying to decide how much to tell her. Then my gaze falls to her necklace. “Sweetie, how long have you had that necklace?”

“It was a Christening gift from my grandmother,” she says. “Why?”

“It’s a long story and you need rest. The point is, Underhill is not the place for you.”

She glances around my room and shakes her head as though to clear it. Suddenly, the wind rushes into the room, an icy blast of air. Liam leaps up to shut the window.

“Um, Nic?” Gretchen holds out her hand, the one containing the glass of water.

It’s frozen solid.

“Yeah,” I sink down into the chair. “I guess I should start at the beginning. The thing is, there is one Unseelie queen in this room. And it isn’t me.”

Gretchen listens as I catch her up on all the big bad wolf had done in her absence. She shakes her head when I tell her that the wolf destined to swallow the world lives inside her, but she doesn’t deny it.

“And who is he,” she leans close to ask me, gesturing toward Liam.

Of course with his acute hearing he catches every word. “Technically, I’m your son.”

Gretchen’s jaw drops.

“From your last incarnation,” he adds as though that will answer all her questions.

I glower at the wolf and then snap my fingers to break Gretchen’s stare. “It’s going to be okay. Really. But you need to learn how to control your abilities before you hurt someone by accident.”

She nods. “Okay.”

“For now, do your best to keep calm. We’ll figure it all out.” I squeeze her hand and then move to leave, gesturing for Liam to proceed me out of the room. He doesn’t. Freaking stubborn werewolf. At least he falls into step behind me and shuts the door to my bedroom.

Laufey rises from the barstool where she’d been grinding some sort of red root into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. “How is she?”

“Overwhelmed.”

The giant nods as though that’s what she expected to hear. “And how are you, little mama?”

I almost snap at her to not call me that, but I catch the tender glance she shoots toward my belly. This child, for better or worse, will be part of her family. With both Aiden and Fern out of reach, the baby I am carrying is the only close connection she has.

Liam shoots his thumb toward the door. “I’m going to be out in the barn.”

I nod and wait for him to depart before I settle in a seat next to her. “Honestly? I’m scared out of my mind. Nothing that has happened has terrified me as much as the thought of raising this child alone.”

Laufey taps the powder out onto a sheet of parchment paper. “You won’t be alone. I’ll be here, as will your aunt, and Harmony, if you let her. And now you have the mortal host of Fenrir as well.”

True, but none of them was little Addison Sophia’s parent. “Freya told me she would slow the passage of time in Underhill. Can I trust her?”

Laufey snorts. “About as far as you can throw her. But in this matter, I do believe she will keep her word.”

“Why?” I ask.

“The fey are the largest group of worshipers Freya has. Gods derive power from their worshipers. She has too much at risk.”

Which explains why the gods of Asgard allowed the fey to take temporary refuge in the Vanir lands. Was everyone driven only by self-interest?

I put my head in my hands. Life was simpler when I just killed the bad guys.

Over on the stove, the kettle begins to sing. Laufey rounds the counter and then shuts the burner off. She dumps half of the powder into the bottom of a large mug and then pours the boiled water over the top, before sliding it to me. “Here, breathe that in. Just don’t drink it.”

“Why?” I stare suspiciously into the mug. “What’s in it?”

“Something to ease anxiety. Carrying around so much stress isn’t good for the baby.”

I want to argue