Emory wiped his cheek, then replied, “I don’t see how you are going to survive this. I’m serious.”

  “Listen up, my apprentice,” said Will, adopting a gruff tone that he hoped would make him sound older.

  “I’m almost the same age as you—you realize that, don’t you?”

  “Shut up. You’re still my student, so I’m going to impart some damned wisdom. Are you listening? This is something my teacher taught me, so listen carefully.” Once he was sure his friend wouldn’t interrupt, Will began. “You’ve watched me for weeks now, and you studied with me before that. The main thing you need to have learned, above all else, is that a wizard’s greatest strength is preparation.

  “Preparation means having the right magic at the right time, because when you don’t, you’re fucked. You have to pay attention to what’s coming and do your best to have what’s needed when disaster starts pissing on your doorstep. Part of that is practice, like we’ve been doing, and part of that is improving your other skills, whatever they may be. But the most important thing is to always keep thinking ahead.”

  Emory broke in, “Says the man who doesn’t have a single demon-steel weapon.”

  Will summoned the dagger that had killed the egg guardians. “Like this one?”

  His friend whistled, then returned, “That’s nice, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough for a monster the size of a barn.”

  “Two barns,” corrected Will. “You’re probably right, but I think I have everything I need. When I leave here, I’m going to kill a dragon and a lich, and probably a lot of whatever else gets in between me and those two things.”

  “You’re crazy, and I don’t like thinking you’re going to walk away from here without any real plan to survive. If you believe you can pull off two such preposterously insane goals, why not add coming home alive and in one piece as well?”

  Will’s response was dry, “I try to keep my goals reasonable. I can guarantee you I’m going to kill that goddamn dragon and that fucking lich, but that’s all I’m sure of.” Sammy was done peeling the onions, so Will stood up. “Come on. I want to see if you can dice onions properly today. I’m getting hungry.”

  “Is that all you care about?”

  Will laughed. “I have to make sure at least one of you can cook well enough to keep you both from starving when I leave.” Together, they got up and joined Sammy to prepare the evening meal.

  Chapter 45

  Four days later, Evie returned, and it was time to go. Will already had everything he needed stored in his limnthal, but he took out his breastplate and buckled it on over the ill-fitting uniform. Compared to the dashing figure he cut in his former clothing he looked like an army deserter now, or perhaps a battlefield scavenger.

  Emory hugged him goodbye. They’d already said everything they could say. Will had no way to explain to Sammy what was happening, but there was nothing wrong with her memory. Words or no words, she had figured out where he must be going. She latched onto him with a strength he hadn’t expected, and for several minutes she refused to let go.

  Will waited, not minding at all. He tried not to see the look on her face when she finally released him, afraid it would make it impossible to move forward. Turning his back on them, he spoke to the cat. “Lead the way.”

  Evie vanished, and after a few seconds Will slipped partway out of his body to find her. She had returned to the ley-line nexus in the mountains, so he teleported to her there. “Is this as close as you could get?”

  The Cath Bawlg transformed, shaping herself into a woman’s form in order to speak. Thankfully, she had improved. Aside from cat-like pupils and razor-sharp claws, she looked almost human, and she bore a suspicious resemblance to Tailtiu. She’d given up on clothes, however. “I can only seek certain places or people.”

  By seek, she meant her strange, spell-less form of teleportation, and by people, Will was pretty sure she only meant him, though he wasn’t certain on that topic. “Places?” he asked.

  “Here, the chamber where the dragon’s nest lies, a place in the fae realm where nothing grows, and the house I found you at,” she explained.

  “Places you have some special connection to,” said Will. “Places where something important happened for you.”

  She shrugged, a gesture she’d learned to emulate at some point. “I have no special connection to the place where the dragon’s nest lies, nor do I have any reason to think the dead place in the fae realm is special.”

  “You helped me kill a demon-lord where the nest is,” said Will. “That was in your previous life. The empty place in Faerie used to have a tree with a cave under it. You lived there for a long time before I met your predecessor.”

  Evie frowned. “Your words mean nothing to me.”

  “Your soul remembers, though,” said Will. “It’s interesting to me that you can connect to places, though. I can only teleport to people I’m close to.” Or beacons, he reminded himself, although there were none currently in existence. The ones in Cerria and Myrsta still weren’t ready. He wondered if the Cath Bawlg had some special sense that allowed her to home in on particular places as though they had a beacon, but it was a question for another day.

  He cast a travel disk spell and they got on it together, Evie transitioning back down to her usual housecat form. Together they traveled down the mountain pass toward Branscombe. They diverted just before they reached the city and went to the congruence point that led to the fae realm. Crossing over, Will called his grandmother for the first time since the day he had gone to Hell.

  She appeared sooner than he expected, within a minute of the third time he said her name. That was unusual, but Will didn’t mind. Maybe she was worried? He knew that wasn’t possible, but it was a pleasant fiction.

  “You survived. I thought you dead,” she announced flatly.

  Her remark was free information, so Will added it to the special file he kept in the back of his mind. “Question for question, truce for an hour, then I intend to invoke the final unbound favor.”

  Aislinn nodded. “Deal.”

  “I found some sort of hidden enchantments on Sammy and Emory’s clothes. Were you responsible?”

  “No.” She smiled, then asked her own question, “Did you know the lich betrayed you?”

  That was a gift in the form of a question. Aislinn was following the rules, but she was feeding him information at the same time. Once more, Will wondered if she truly cared, somewhere beneath her inhuman exterior. “No. Why didn’t you tell me if you knew beforehand? It should have been free, since it was related to the favor you were fulfilling at the time.”

  “You never asked, and your plan was sufficient already. You are here, are you not?”

  Another giveaway question, thought Will. Is she honestly trying to help me? He answered her question to even the score. “I am here. I’m prepared to use the final unbound favor you owe me.” He waited, rather than asking a question.

  His grandmother smiled, then accepted his obvious ploy, asking the next question herself. “Are there any changes to what you have planned for me?”

  Will smiled. “Yes.” He spent the next few minutes explaining his plans and contingencies. When he finished, he asked, “You understand your part?”

  She nodded. “Although I have agreed to the outline, where will the second gate lead?”

  “I will tell you at that time, assuming we get that far. I have a question for you, though.” His grandmother nodded, so he asked, “If you die suddenly, what will your people do?”

  Her laugh was bright and cheerful. “You worry they will seek vengeance. I’m sure you know better. Elthas’ subjects never cared after you slew him. We care little for retribution and outrage; our hearts are concerned only with our deals and bargains.”

  “You took over when Elthas died, and you owed me two big favors,” Will reminded her. “Answer the question.”

  “Very well. If I die while fulfilling your favor, that is between you and me only. No onus will fall upon you. My people will return home and find a new leader. The accord will remain in place. My existence means nothing in the larger scheme of things.”

  Will nodded. “Then we’re done. Wait for my call.”

  His grandmother’s hand touched his arm. “William, do you have the ring still?”

  “No. Do I need it?”

  “I have no soul of my own. We have no connection. When you call, I will need a beacon to find you quickly,” she explained.

  The ring might be at the scene, but Will had to be sure. “Blood, then?” He took out a small knife and a glass vial. After she nodded, he made a small cut and let several drops of blood fall into the container before stoppering it and handing it to her. “That should do the trick.”

  They left then, returning to Hercynia through the congruence point. Will hoped they had enough time. Evie resumed her humanoid form so she could speak. “They were preparing when I left, but the time may be close. I will go ahead.” She vanished without waiting for his answer.

  He knew where she had gone, and he was trusting her to return and let him know when it was time for him to appear. Will still had a rough outline of the lich’s plan, and he intended to wait until they had opened the pocket dimension containing the nest. It was at that point that Grim Talek and his specially prepared forces would rush in to destroy the egg guardians and the eggs.

  None of them knew how or when Lognion would appear. The dragon might be inside waiting, in which case the lich would rearrange the schedule, and killing Lognion would become their first priority. Will knew Grim Talek had a plan for it, but he didn’t know the details.

  Since he was planning to help them anyway, Will could just as easily have showed up early, but after pretending to be dead for a month, it seemed a shame to spoil the surprise too soon. Liar. You’re afraid of what Selene will do to you. Laina’s voice taunted him with the truth as she sometimes liked to do.

  “I made an honest effort to contact her several times during the first two weeks,” he said out loud. It felt like he was talking to himself, and maybe he was. Laina’s occasional remarks felt like his own thoughts, and he couldn’t tell if she heard his responses, or if he was simply playing a game with his own imagination. “But after that, it seemed wiser to keep it a secret,” he added.

  There was no answer, so he said it himself. “You’re right, though. I’m not looking forward to the lecture after this.” By showing up at the last moment, there wouldn’t be time for blame or recrimination, and if he died during the battle, at least he’d miss the punishment and forgiveness phase.

  “Always a silver lining,” he told himself, thinking of Aislinn, who often included similar rewards in her own plans. With nothing to do and an unknown wait ahead of him, Will left the forest and rejoined the road that led to Branscombe. It was a short walk to the town from where the congruence point was located, one he’d made many times in the past.

  There was a large market in the town as well as numerous traders and craftsmen. There was no time to get anything tailored or have properly fitting boots made, but he could at least buy some clothes that were closer to his proper size. If he had enough time, he might be able to show up looking the part of a hero rather than a shambling homeless man.

  ***

  Selene sat at her dressing table, staring at her hands, silently willing them to be still. She’d never suffered from nerves in the past, but since Will’s death, nothing had been right, not within, not without. Her life was crumbling, and she could only scramble to catch some of the pieces. A dark depression had swept over her since the day Grim had given her the news.

  “Lognion got wind of our plan. Spela was destroyed before the bargain could be completed.” The lich hadn’t said much more, but Selene understood what must have happened after that. There’d been no sign of Will since, and Emory and Sammy, who he had somehow dragged into the scheme, had never returned to Rimberlin House.

  She didn’t know what their part had been, but it must have been important since Will had been so adamantly against anyone else endangering themselves on his behalf. Selene had cursed him for his foolishness every night since the news, but the anger didn’t help. Night after night, she wept in the empty dark as soon as the lights went out. She must have slept as well, for every morning, she found the strength to return to her work, but she didn’t feel rested.

  Tiny and Janice worried over her, but it only caused her to withdraw more. Tabitha visited several times, but although Selene still made small talk with her, nothing changed. The world had become a black hell with no meaning.

  Selene’s only respite was her work. Not the work with Janice and Tiny—that was simple and settled. The work that interested her was her research. She spent increasingly longer hours at the Psyche and Healing building on Wurthaven’s campus. Much of it had involved improving the lives of people who had suffered terrible injuries, but now Selene found herself thinking of what she could have done to save her husband.

  Death didn’t have to be the end.

  That was the bitter pill that ate into her gut. Will had been powerful, but even he couldn’t face a demon-lord and her army alone and by himself—but with some of the things she knew now, he could have survived.

  Grim Talek watched her as the days passed, and his observant gaze didn’t miss the fatalism that was starting to consume her. But he didn’t mind. She knew that from the lich’s perspective, her suicidal thoughts were a boon. She hated his lack of concern, while at the same time appreciating his pragmatism.

  They both knew he’d lied about the ritual to open the pocket dimension to the dragon’s nest. Lognion could easily have made it so that no more than a drop was required, but that was not the dragon’s way. The key to the lock was much more secure if the key had to die to open it. She would be bled to death, until finally the way opened.

  Her urge to suicide was a blessing in disguise. Selene stared into the mirror, not caring that her hair was tangled and messy. For the first time in her life, she didn’t give a damn about keeping up appearances for her role. The woman staring back at her looked as though she was already dead.

  But death didn’t have to be the end.

  A polite knock came at the door, and Selene stood up to answer it. Her hands were steady now. She opened the door to see her husband standing outside. He was impeccably groomed, as he always was these days, but rather than elegant clothes, he now wore more utilitarian garb. A leather hauberk covered most of his body, and a broad belt girded his waist. Endless leather pockets were sewn into the belt, holding a myriad of small items. His boots were soft soled to give him better footing. Grim Talek looked like a strange cross between a forester and a traveling alchemist. “Are you ready?” he asked.

  She wasn’t wearing the clothes he’d recommended, which were similar to his own. Instead, she’d chosen a plain grey wool dress. It was utilitarian, though not intended for battle. She’d worn similar clothes many times while tending the sick. She’d met Will while wearing a dress that was probably identical, back when she’d been going by the name Isabel.

  The imposter arched one brow. “That’s not ideal clothing for where we’re going.”

  “Does it matter? That absurd leather conglomeration you’re wearing won’t stop dragon-fire either. These are my work clothes. They make me feel comfortable.” Her tone indicated she was unlikely to negotiate.

  Ever pragmatic, the lich skipped over her minor rebellion. “You remember the plan?”

  He ran through the details, even though she knew most of them didn’t apply to her. Selene wondered if he was nervous and guessed that if anything could get through his unflappable exterior, the events ahead of them today would be the most likely things to do so.

  “After the way opens into the nest, my men will enter, followed by your enormous friend. I’ll follow, and we’ll engage in the order discussed…”

  Blah, blah… she annotated his plan mentally. None of that concerns me. I’m the one dead on the sacrificial stone, remember?

  He paused. “Are you listening?”

  “Certainly,” she lied.

  “Good. This is important, since I may need your help inside. The presence of another third-order wizard could be crucial if anything goes wrong, so I’ll be expecting you to follow as soon as you’ve recovered,” he told her. The lich’s tone was simple and matter-of-fact, without any hint of deception.

  “Of course,” she replied, her voice sounding equally sincere. “I know you couldn’t possibly succeed without me.”

  Grim Talek paused, and Will’s beautiful blue eyes stared through her. She’d loved those eyes, but now they made her feel cold and barren. “I wouldn’t say that,” he replied. “After the countless ages I’ve endured, I like to think my preparations are solid enough to survive even if one of us falls.”

  “If I fall,” she corrected. “You cannot die.”

  He waved her remark aside. “You know what I mean. If this body gets hit with dragon-fire, it will be days before I can return to fight. I might survive, but the main point is whether we win or lose this fight. It isn’t about my life—or yours.”

  Selene smiled up at him. “I agree completely.” She reached out to rest one hand across the inside of his arm. In all the time the lich had been playing as her husband, she’d never touched him directly, nor had he attempted to touch her. A spark leapt from her skin just before she made contact, and he jerked slightly.

  He studied his arm for a moment, as though something beyond the pale had just occurred, and then his lips curled into a sardonic smile. “I did not expect that.”

  She didn’t meet his eyes, nor had she expected the strange discharge of turyn. There must be some kind of resonance. “Let’s go,” she responded.

  Grim Talek didn’t move. “Are you sure about this?”

  “You’ve repeated your plan endlessly. If I had an objection, you would have heard it from me before this.”