Maeve's lips pressed together into a thin line, posture rigid as she joined us in the wildflower meadow on the other side of the portal, with her hands on Kara and Mist's backs.

Manannan ran his hands through his hair, then let out a heavy sigh. "I saw you try to teleport away, Loki. Crom Crauch is manipulating the cloaking mists to prevent you from finding a clear area. It's not the full Wild Hunt. Llew isn't leading them, but it's enough that I don't think you can get far enough away to get a bifrost lock."

"Cyhiraeth, with her banshees and Cailleach's hellhounds are quite enough. Especially with Camulus there," growled Kara as she returned her bow to her back.

"Would you please explain for the person who doesn't know those names?" I asked, waving my hand to get their attention. The banshees and hellhounds were more familiar than I wanted them to be, but the others... except for Llew. Yeah, I recognized my fucking uncle's name. Remembering the incestuous lust in his eyes after the consummation ceremony had my stomach twisting, and I wrapped my arms around my middle, even as the hairs on the back of my neck stood. If I never had to be near him again, it would be too damn soon.

Maeve came and held my shoulders as she met my eyes. "Do you recall an old elf riding a demon stallion when the Hunt grabbed you last year?"

The vivid image came to mind immediately, a shiver crawling down my spine. The hot sweat from battle turned to a sticky, clammy sensation coating my skin like a grimy film that I couldn't get rid of. My pulse pounded with the speed of a trapped bird. Everything about that attack was etched in my memory. Down to the last terrifying detail. I saw it over and over again in nightmares that had plagued me ever since.

Unable to speak, I nodded.

"That's Crom Crauch. He used to be a fertility god before he perverted his powers to use pregnant women in his sacrificial rituals to help power the Winter Court," Maeve said, curling her lip in disgust.

I flinched, thinking of those poor women who'd been in that cell with me. Squeezing my arms around my middle tighter, I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Do I want to know what he does with them?"

Maeve pressed her lips together, green eyes hard as she shook her head.

Loki's voice was the dangerous, low snarl of a jungle cat. "She needs to know. I won't have Shannon at risk again because she underestimates them." He murmured something under his breath that I didn't catch as he rubbed my back in soothing circles.

Maeve glanced at him, then winced and gave a single, sharp nod. Meeting my gaze and squeezing my shoulders, her tone resonated with suppressed rage. "He and his sadistic cronies rape them until the woman miscarries, and continue until both mother and child are dead, bleeding out on the court floor for the sacrificial runes to absorb. After they are dead, they feed them to the creatures of the Wild Hunt, who rip them apart. It's a horrific death."

My breath froze in my lungs as every muscle stiffened to statue-like rigidity.

"That disgusting ritual, together with the vile corruption and abuse of children until they die by other members of the court, is why we went to war with them four hundred years ago, sealing the stone passages between Midgard and Alfheim," Loki snarled.

Breath whooshing out of me, Mother released my shoulders as I turned and gaped at Loki. I'd been told the immortal world was dangerous, and after my experiences with the Wild Hunt, I knew they were vicious beasts, but never would I have expected that level of sheer... depravity. Blinking in shock and shivering, it took me a minute to close my mouth and regain the ability to speak.

Over Loki's shoulder, I met Manannan's serious blue eyes. It took two tries before I managed to rasp out, "This... this is why you warned me last year to not let my Unseelie relatives know about my pregnancy."

He nodded, and in a subdued voice that hinted of deep sorrow, he said, "Yes. Unlike mortals that generally die within a day from their violent abuse, your torture would have lasted... for a long, long time."

The vivid image that evoked had my stomach heaving, and I clapped a hand on my mouth as I bent over and fought to swallow the burning bile swimming up my throat. Minutes passed as I swallowed and swallowed again, breathing harsh breaths, before I finally got the nausea under control. Even so, it churned sickeningly within my belly and I couldn't still the creeping prickling sensation crawling over my skin.

When I straightened, Loki raised a hand to my neck and a healing warmth chased away the fiery sensation. "That sick fuck needs to die," I choked out.

"Oh, he will," Loki growled, pulling me into his arms, warming me with his body.

Gratefully, I leaned my head against his shoulder. "Who are the others out there?" I asked, looking between Manannan, Kara, and Mist.

Manannan answered, "Cyhiraeth is the Goddess of Banshees, and Cailleach is the Goddess of Plagues and Disease, and the two breeds of hellhounds—Cwn Cyrff, the massive shaggy black hellhounds, and Cŵn Annwn, the ghostly white hellhounds with blood red ears—are her animals. She doesn't ride with the Wild Hunt, but allows her hellhounds to be part of it, as you are aware. It was odd to see her out there."

From behind me, Elatha snorted. "Those damned banshees were also part of the Wild Hunt that attacked us last year."

I shuddered. At least we'd dealt with the banshees more easily this time. Thankfully, Loki had reminded me to use fire against them. Putting my hand over Loki's on my neck, I smiled at him. "Thank you," I murmured, then turned to look at Elatha. 

Braced against Elada, he shifted his weight and winced, only to smooth away the expression as soon as I made eye contact. It drew my gaze to a dark wet spot on his thigh, leading down past his knee. Frowning, I looked closer. The black scale armour over his skinsuit was jagged over his dark flesh, and I sucked in a breath. "You're bleeding!"

Loki's head whipped around, and releasing me, he strode over to crouch by Elatha's thigh. "Damn it, Elatha. Why didn't you tell us one of those fucking hounds got you?" He met Elatha's eyes and put a hand on the injury.

Elatha sucked in a breath, flinching, but otherwise held still while Loki healed him. Or at least closed the wounds. My fists clenched. Loki's healing seidhr wasn't very strong, and I had no aptitude for it. I hated I was no help whatsoever, but I knew Elatha could draw energy from water. 

We needed to get him to the ocean.

Maeve put a hand on my arm, drawing my attention. "The other elf with them doesn't need banshees or hellhounds to be deadly. Camulus is the God of War and Sky. He's vicious, and an expert with all weapons. As you saw, he's as fast as Loki—"

Loki snorted.

"And able to manipulate air the way you do, so fighting him means fighting in a three hundred and sixty degree space," Maeve said, glancing at Loki with a curve at the edge of her lips.

"Loki could have taken him if he hadn't been trying to watch out for me at the same time, splitting his focus," I said, recalling the speed and strength of their battle.

"Even so, he still managed to throw a dagger at your back, the fucking bastard," Loki growled, hand still on Elatha's thigh as he met my gaze with narrowed eyes.

A little glow of confidence curled within me as I recalled deflecting that blade with a burst of air, thanks to Elatha's shouted warning. "How are we getting past them?" I asked.

Maeve's eyes gleamed and her lips turned up into an amused smirk. "A little deception and sleight of hand. Loki, if you put an illusion on Mist, Kara, and I so that we can pose as you, Shannon, and Elatha, we can go through the portal to get their attention again."

"I like that plan," Mist said from her position, leaning against one stone pillar of the gate.

Manannan opened his mouth, then closed it without speaking. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Mist. Yeah, I definitely needed to find out what had happened between the two of them.

Kara waved a hand. "Count me in."

Loki stood, lips pressed together, and gave a curt nod. Fury roiled off him in almost visible waves, like heat rising from a sidewalk in summer.

"In the meantime, Elada and I will escort you, Loki, and Elatha to the nearest water gate to Litaui," Manannan said, his voice a rough growl as he pulled his gaze from Mist and inclining his head to Maeve.

Elatha's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "You... you told Maeve about the water gates?"

Maeve snorted, rolled her eyes, and flicked a dismissive hand. "Oh please. Just because I can't access them, doesn't mean I hadn't realized that they were there. I figured that out before you were born, Elatha. As the Goddess of War, strategy is one of my strengths. You don't think I would have worked out how Manannan goes back and forth between Litaui and here with such ease compared to the lengthy swims required by Dylan and the other selkies?" She arched a mocking eyebrow at the brothers.

Elada held up his hands, grinned, and shrugged. "I assumed it was possible other elves besides Manannan knew, but since we haven't been visited by any Sidhe other than him in the last four hundred years I've been in charge of our Litaui outposts and the closing of the land-based stone rings, I haven't worried about it."

"We should implement our plan. Loki, if you'd please?" Maeve asked.

A wave of black rolled over Maeve, Mist, and Kara. When it dissipated, Maeve looked like Loki, Mist looked like me, and Kara looked like Elatha.

"It's only going to last a few hours, but we'll be in the water by then," Loki said, before another wave of black seidhr covered us.

Looking down at myself, I was dressed as Maeve, so I assumed I must also have her face. Loki now looked like Mist, and Elatha looked like Kara.

Mist's face pursed her lips and then lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "It made sense for us to take their identities so any spies that spot us don't see us in two places at the same time, giving away the deception."

Maeve-Loki nodded his head. "Good thinking. Let's get going," he said. Mist-Shannon and Kara-Elatha followed him through the portal, wishing us luck as they disappeared.

Elada's head tilted. "You must be all kinds of fun at parties, Loki."

"Your parties are already crazy, Elada," Elatha said, shaking Kara's head and starting back up the stone path through the wildflower meadow towards the forest.

Loki grunted, then one side of Mist's lips turned up in a reluctant smile. "We'll have to crash one of your parties."

As we followed Manannan, Elada said, "No need to crash, Loki. You're always welcome. You're family now."