this is so not good.”
Peigi came to stand next to him. “Not necessarily. We know Ben and Jaycee, who know a Tuil Erdannan. Ben said she broke the spell that kept him out of Faerie, which means she probably likes him. We can ask Ben to find her and ask. Jaycee too if we need her. Lady Aisling might know how to create another one, or point us to someone who can.”
“A huge risk.” Stuart let out a breath, but took comfort in Peigi’s nearness. “Lady Aisling might not have any interest, or if she asks another Tuil Erdannan to help, they might decide that destroying the dokk alfar is more fun.”
“Listen to the iron master,” a new voice rumbled from the shadows. “Best not to involve the Tuil Erdannan. We are growing bored with your little games.”
Crispin gasped in stark terror. “Oh, son of a bitch.”
Peigi growled, her bear-beast exuding fury. A chill gripped Stuart as he turned, sword ready, to confront a person who was Tuil Erdannan but definitely not Lady Aisling.
The man, tall and disdainful, had the flame-red hair of most Tuil Erdannan and dark eyes that could suck out souls. Stuart felt the press of his magic, an all-encompassing power that would crush them out of existence with the flick of his finger.
Peigi came right up against Stuart, a bulk of strength. “Did you do this?” She pointed at the ruined karmsyern. When the man gave her a grave nod, she demanded, “Why would you help the hoch alfar? I thought Tuil Erdannan didn’t like them.”
“Like has nothing to do with it.” He stepped out of the shadows, his dark gray cloak the same color as the stones. “Nor does hate. In your language, Shifter-bear, I do not give a shit.”
Stuart realized the man was speaking English—either he’d learned it somewhere or magic was translating the words for Peigi’s benefit.
“Then why?” Peigi insisted.
The Tuil Erdannan shrugged. “Amusement. Perhaps. Or to throw off the balance, or possibly restore it—who knows? Or to make Aisling Mac Aodha understand she can’t have everything her way.”
The room took on an icy sharpness. “You are an enemy of Lady Aisling?” Stuart asked.
“You could say that.” The man didn’t move, but Stuart felt the power humming inside him increasing, like a rumbling beneath the earth before a volcano spilled forth. “I am her husband.”
He lifted his hand, and a blasting wave of magic sent Stuart, Peigi, and Crispin straight toward the open window.
The wall blew outward, bricks exploding to widen the passage that the three flew through. There was nothing outside the window but a vertical drop, and they plunged together down into the misty abyss.
Peigi latched on to Stuart—as though she could stop his fall, she thought hysterically. Or maybe she just wanted to die with him. Crispin flailed and cursed, his big cat snarls cutting the air. Stuart said nothing at all, only assumed an expression of grim determination.
He flung something from his hand, and the two of them jerked to an abrupt halt. Stuart’s sword had become an iron grappling hook that found purchase in a beam jutting from the castle, the ropes they’d used to bind him to Peigi their lifeline. He’d grabbed the ropes, with great presence of mind, on their way out the window.
Stuart brought up his hand, and the iron cords around Crispin drew outward and likewise latched themselves to the rope.
Crispin shouted as he was brought up short, swinging on the rope’s end. After a moment of swearing, he grabbed on to the line, using his Shifter strength to hang on and find footholds on the wall.
“Great.” Peigi gazed the long way down, water churning at the bottom of the drop. “What now?”
Stuart grunted with effort as he held them all steady. “Now, we climb.”
In the next hour, Peigi learned the absolute power of an iron master. Stuart not only changed the iron in his sword and Crispin’s chains to climbing spikes but made the iron flow between minute cracks in the wall and affix themselves harder than any pounded wedge. Every few yards downward, he’d summon out the spikes and reaffix them for the next haul.
Stuart’s physical strength was incredible. Peigi realized how much he’d been holding back as he lived among humans and Shifters, letting them believe he was no stronger, and in some cases weaker, than they were. He climbed effortlessly, steadying the ropes for Peigi and Crispin, muscles working as he clung to the spikes and willed the iron to