Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) by Brad Magnarella (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

Shit.

The immense birds landed nearby, air pummeling the grass around us. The lead roc was the size of a school bus, its wingspan easily fifty feet across. From a dusty blue head, fierce eyes stared down at Bree-yark and me. A thatch of bloody tengu feathers clung to the edge of its sharp beak.

The creature stalked forward on clawed feet. When my bowels jiggled, I considered opening the hatch on the chance it would make me less appetizing. But dignity overruled the notion, and I clenched instead.

C’mon, magic. Talk to me.

Soon, it continued to repeat. Soon.

Soon what?!

Feet from us, the roc came to a stop. The other two did the same, holding flanking positions. I didn’t realize there had been riders atop the massive creatures until a figure dismounted from the lead roc’s back. He was tall and muscular with cobalt blue skin and a mane of bronze hair. A chest plate, silvery and supple, glinted in the sun as he strode toward us. He stopped and stared down at me. Even without his human glamour, he was annoyingly handsome.

“Everson Croft,” he said.

I nodded and attempted to moan the name Angelus.

It was Caroline’s husband.

11

Without his glamour, the fae prince’s eyes were a regal green that complemented his skin and hair. I took a stab at reading them. Curiosity? Contempt? I couldn’t tell. They were even more sphinxlike here than in our world.

“We felt your passage into the Fae Lands,” he said, which explained the exceptional timing of their arrival. “Why have you come?”

As he posed the question, the paste in my mouth shrank to a wad the size of chewing gum, and my tongue tingled back to life. I spat out the wad and worked my jaw around. Except for a fading bitterness, it was as if the greamaigh had never been there. I noticed Angelus hadn’t removed our bonds, though.

“Well?” he pressed.

Suspicion raked through me as I remembered the pixies’ warning. Was Angelus the one who had “fallen under shadow?” His kingdom controlled the northern portal, which coincided with the fae townhouse. He could have been the one to order Osgood to abandon the Upholders and then stonewall me. If so, and if he knew I’d come here in search of a passage back, the game would be up. For that reason, I didn’t dare mention Crusspatch’s name. But I couldn’t lie either. He would know.

“My friends are missing,” I said.

“Friends from your realm?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve come to Faerie in search of them?”

“I was told I might find them.”

His head angled slightly as though weighing my answers. They were all technically true. The Upholders were missing, and earlier Seay had said Crusspatch might be able to help us access the time catch, where I hoped to find them.

I held the prince’s gaze, aware that two more fae, a man and a woman, had climbed down from the other birds. Though they were smaller and their skin lighter in tone, their features suggested kinship with Angelus. I was more distracted by the lead roc, though. It continued to stare at me, its head drawn back as if ready to pluck the flesh from my bones the second Angelus gave the command.

At last, Angelus turned his head and looked off into the distance. “Then your errand will be fruitless. Yours is the only arrival in more than a fortnight.”

“Do we have your leave to search anyway?” I asked.

“Neither our kingdom nor any other claims dominion over the Wilds,” he said. “You may do here as you wish. But mind the borders.” He nodded at Bree-yark. “Your companion will know them.”

As my suspicions let out slightly, Angelus motioned with his hand. The twine that bound me to the pole broke apart. I flexed my fingers and rubbed some feeling back into my wrists before pushing myself upright.

Even at six feet, I was much shorter than the fae being before me. His royal attire, which included a fine doublet jacket and glistening boots, had me conscious of the fact I was only wearing boxers. Thank God I hadn’t crapped them. Bree-yark hobbled up to my side in a pair of black bikini briefs that made me wince.

“You’ll find your belongings among the remains of your captors,” Angelus said.

“Yeah, about that.” I scratched an elbow. “Thanks for, you know, taking them out.”

“And freeing us,” Bree-yark put in.

“There are far deadlier creatures in the Fae Wilds than tengu, and help will not always be forthcoming.”

“We understand,” I said with a nod, but Angelus was peering toward the airborne rocs. They were circling over an area where the field fell to forest. I wondered if they were searching for his wife.

“I was told Caroline is missing,” I said suddenly.

I did so in part to gauge his reaction, but I was also worried for my former friend and colleague. Following my encounters with Osgood and then the pixies, I didn’t like what her absence suggested. Were there any leads? When his eyes returned to mine, they seemed to hold the same question.

“Have you seen her?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Do you think she’s somewhere in Faerie?”

“We’re not sure.”

I was tempted to bring up the subject of demonic influence and my growing sense that the solution was in the time catch. If Angelus didn’t wield the power to get us there, he likely had connections who could. But without being absolutely certain of his allegiance, it would be a gamble.

He stepped forward. “Did you have something to tell me?”

Deciding the gamble too big, I said, “We’ll keep our eyes out for her. Is there a way we can contact you?”

Angelus watched me for another moment, then reached into a pocket and withdrew a translucent stone that he set in the center of my palm. As he closed my fingers around its smooth surface, power radiated from his cobalt skin.

“Your word is Nim-nahn,” he said. “Say it now and open your hand.”

“Nim-nahn,” I repeated.

A lavender light glimmered to life inside the stone