Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,57

the fear burning in the depths of her cool blue eyes. Nearly.

“This tunnel will lead you above,” Etherian said, his voice echoing from down the stony corridor. “Once we are above, you must stay within the borders I create. They will be narrow and difficult to hold. One misstep and you will fall outside that protected space and into Faerie, where you will undoubtedly be detected at once. So tread lightly, bastard princess.”

No pressure.

“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s your plan?”

“I agreed to get you to the fey royals, and I will. Everything beyond that is up to you. Kill them however you wish. You’ve faced them both before, have you not? Are you not the queen’s progeny, a princess mixed with the magic of the other realm?” I didn’t bother to answer. “My only suggestion would be not to take your time—and not to listen to whatever they say as their deaths await them. They both have poison tongues. They will lie and scheme with their very last breaths. Do not trust anything that leaves their mouths.”

Great. Super helpful.

The leaders of the various supernatural races did a quick headcount to take stock of who’d made it down—and who hadn’t. With that grim reminder, Kat and I led our half-army that remained through the narrow passage, Merc, Knox, and the others right on our heels. As we walked, I tried not to think about the carnage we’d left behind in the strange pocket of Faerie called the Ether. Or about those who’d likely leapt to their deaths when the portal had closed.

I wondered if some had realized what had happened before they took that fateful plunge—and if they knew it hadn’t been a trap.

“Thinking of all the ways you can kill Mommy?” Kat whispered in my ear. “Or are you having a bad case of déjà vu like I am and waiting for some gnarly creature to jump out of nowhere and tear our heads off with its enormous teeth?”

“Well, I wasn’t until now…”

She tossed her head back and laughed in the face of danger, as only Kat could.

“You needed a distraction.”

“I’m not sure that one was ideal.”

“Unfortunately, fucking one of your boys to take the edge off isn’t really a possibility right now, or I would have suggested it.”

I barked out a laugh and coughed until I caught my breath. She’d caught me off guard with that one, for sure.

Before I could come up with a worthy reply, I saw light in the distance. It grew brighter with every step we took.

“We are nearly there,” Etherian said, as though he’d sensed my thoughts. “Remember what I said. Stay within the barrier.”

“Can they hear us outside of it?”

A rumble that felt a lot like laughter vibrated around us. “I guess we will soon find out…”

“Time for your inside voices, boys and girls,” Kat called out over her shoulder before going deadly quiet herself.

I looked back to where Merc and Knox walked shoulder-to-shoulder, both of them staring at me. The vampire king nodded reassuringly. The double alpha’s eyes flared gold. I turned back around and took a deep breath. I could feel the hum of Faerie’s magic calling to me the closer we got to the exit.

Kat reached over and squeezed my hand. “No matter what happens, Piper, you take that cunt out, got it?” She shot me a sharp look out of the corner of her eye. “At any cost.”

Her grip tightened to the point of discomfort; then she let me go and slipped backward between Merc and Knox to disappear behind them, where Grizz, Reinhardt, and the Originals walked. I tried to ignore her absence and the strange, ominous things it did to my mind, as though it were a premonition of some sort. A glimpse of things to come.

“How close will we be when we emerge?” I whispered to the omnipresent being guiding our quest.

“Not far, from what I feel,” he replied. For once, there was no emotion in his tone, just concentration and a hint of anticipation.

“Good. We don’t have any time to waste.”

“Hungry for the kill, are we, bastard princess?”

Anger swelled in my chest. “Since the day she entered my life.”

“Remember that when she’s trying to kill you,” he replied. “Use it to fuel you.”

“Piper has me to do that.” The irritation in Knox’s tone was plain and strong. “Besides, she’s not the only one with a bone to pick where the royal assholes are concerned.”

“No,” Merc added, the dark tenor of his voice as sexy as