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

She scoffs. “I’m not afraid of your beast.”

“I mean Loki.” His gaze slides to the cave. “He’s not stable. He wasn’t stable before centuries of endless torture.”

She shrugs. “Harbingers are never stable. I have the dead, I have the heart of the last queen of the Fire Throne. And I have you. All the ingredients for the perfect end of the worlds. Now enough stalling. It’s time for a family reunion.”

She waves a hand and the chain flies upwards into his mouth. He hisses at the lash of the metal against his tongue. But there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it.

Rodrick propels him forward. They move down the torch-lined cavern. It is a descent into hell, into madness, each step driving him ever darker into himself.

The wolf in him struggles and fights but Gleipnir is inescapable. If Fenrir hadn’t found a way free in all his centuries of imprisonment, there is no way Aiden will get loose.

The journey is agonizing. His heart pounds faster as they descend lower. He wants to run, knows it is futile.

Light flowers up ahead, a sickly greenish hue that dances on the walls. And then they are there. The place that haunts his nightmares.

He looks at his mother first. Her blonde head is lowered, all her focus on his father. She never looks away, never flinches from her task.

Not even when she gave birth to his helpless sister.

And beyond her, chained by his brother’s entrails, is the mad god himself.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Loki sing-songs.

Sigyn turns to empty the bowl of venom. The snake coiled above Loki hisses. Green venom drips down on his father’s face. The ground quakes beneath their feet.

Nic. he thinks. Where are you?

“How long has she been like this?” I snap.

“For days.” Bard moves forward, the chains rattling on his ankle. “She moved out of reach of the rest of us. We called for help but no one came.”

Days.

“Addy,” I lean over my aunt and take in the horrific, gaping wound. It looks as though she’s been burned with a blowtorch. The skin around the edges is chalky and flakes away and beneath I can see raw muscle and the white of her ribs “What did she do to you?”

“This wasn’t Underhill.” Fern crouches by Addy’s side.

“Did to myself,” Addy wheezes. Her hand flaps like a wounded bird.

I catch it in mine. “What?” Horror fills me at the thought.

“Can’t interfere.” She coughs and more blood spills out onto the stones. “Our law. It’s a killer.”

She laughs and the sound goes through me like a death knell.

So many things start adding up. Why Chloe had looked so sad when I’d mentioned a possible stay of execution for Addy. They’d killed a sister before, had destroyed Lachesis after the third Fate had abandoned me in the Black Forest. Had interfered with the course of my destiny.

Is it possible they had done so out of…mercy?

My aunt is dying. Before my eyes, her golden light dims. “What can I do to stop it?”

“Nothing, sweets. There will be another soon. One who will rise up and take my place.”

Take her place? Who could ever replace Addy? I shake my head. No. This isn’t possible. She’d lived for eons, has seen the secrets of the universe. She can’t die.

“Take care of Chloe, Nic.” Addy holds my gaze, hers swirling more slowly as if her magic is draining away with her life’s blood. “She will need you. Help her find her way to the others. Don’t waste your second chance, Nic.”

Her voice trails off then rattles. “Hurts.”

“Let me give you the Goodnight Kiss.” I can spare her the pain at least.

“Won’t work,” her edge of steel is still there, in spite of the horrific wounds that are eating her alive. “Only the Fates….”

“I’m sorry.” I should have brought Chloe with me. Foolish Nic. I thought I’d been protecting Addy and Chloe both by leaving her behind. My lips tremble. There’s so much I want to say to her. But one thing I must ask before it’s too late. “Addy, the runes. How do I use them?”

“You will know how when it is necessary.” Her lips are dry and cracked. “Don’t try to stop free will. And don’t waste it.”

A last, rattling breath leaves her. The flesh rots off her bones and falls to the floor like dry leaves. Her cheeks hollow and her skin, now the texture of burning paper, disintegrates.

“No!” The scream tears something loose from my very soul.

“Nic,” Nahini is by my side, her touch gentle on my shoulder. “Nic, she’s gone.”

“She can’t be.” I shake my head, unable to believe it. Addy, the most powerful of the Fates, the Norn who cuts the thread of life, can’t be dead.

My shoulders hunch. I need her. Need her help. And she’s left me alone. She, who embraced what I am from the very beginning, who did everything in her power to protect me. Taught me just how fiercely I should love.

Like a mother bear in winter.

She knew this was in store for her, this horrible end. But she’d come anyway. Interfered anyway. For me and for Addison Sophia.

“Addy,” I breathe and swipe at the tears that are running freely down my face. “I won’t waste it. I promise.”

No time.

There’s no time to mourn Addy. No time to rescue Aiden from Underhill’s grasp. No time to wield the runes and buy more time. My plan is in tatters. The Draugar will be here soon. By unspoken agreement, we make our way to the throne room at the center of the palace. Jasmine, Freda and Taj bar the exits. I stare at the Fire Throne, numb.

The ghosts of the hunt swarm to Nahini and she whispers something to them in a language I don’t recognize.

Then they all separate, moving in different directions.

Nightweaver remains, her gaze unflinching.

“Scouts. They’ll let us know when the Draugar near.” Nahini says.

“Can they fell them?” Soladin asks.

Nahini shakes her head. “There