For a second, Marasphyr loses her composure and scowls, but then, just like that, it returns: her perfect smile.
God, I just want to punch those teeth. I…
Okay, Arianna. Okay. Relax. Focus on something else.
"What is this place?" I ask, looking around. "Doesn't look like any of the Seven Realms I've visited."
"Because it's not," says Marasphyr, leaning against a tree. "You might call it a different world entirely, but it's not that either. Not truly. This is a place between worlds. A Rift, if you will. Normal rules don't apply here."
Kayla raises an eyebrow. "Normal rules?"
Tavian puts his arm around her, and they share a look of comfort. "Time moves differently here," he says. "Here, a year is like a week in Inferna. A day is less than a moment."
"Wait," I say, concerns rummaging in my head. "What of my contract? I must spend a month with each prince, and Levi isn't here. Even if he was, my time with him was pretty much over. I was due for another prince."
Fen clenches his fist. "Marasphyr, is her contract in danger of being violated?"
She rolls her eyes. "Relax, Fenris. By the time we leave this place, less than a day will have passed on Inferna. She's allowed to spend a little time away from a prince, isn't she?"
"Correct," says Fen.
"Then everything's fine. When we return, it will be as if we hadn't left. Well, mostly. We will keep our memories of this place, of course."
I wipe my forehead, relieved that my mother will be safe. My mother. All of this was for her, and yet she seems so far away now. I'm nothing like that girl I was when Asher first entered The Roxy. It seems so long ago. Now, my mother isn't the only consideration. Now there are so many other moving pieces to my life, so many people affected by the choices I make. Even thinking of it all makes my head spin, and just as I'm about to say something, the thoughts, the worries, they float away, like magic bubbles. It's all going to work out. I needn't fret. "So, is that why you brought us here?"
Marasphyr waves her hand dismissively. "Not really. Mostly, I took us somewhere Lucian cannot follow. At least, until he learns how, and I don't believe he will. And of course, we have time here. Time to think. To plan. When we return to Inferna, every second will count." She sits down and starts drawing swirls in the earth with her finger.
"And you're helping us—why exactly?" I ask, not wanting Fen to accrue more debts to this woman.
She smiles. "Believe it or not, Inferna is my home. My main home."
"But… I haven't seen any mermaids on Inferna or Avakiri. Aren't you from a different world?"
She looks down, her eyes dark. "I think we have better things to discuss than my past, girl. Like how we defeat the Darkness."
Dean whistles. "Doesn't seem easy, that. I mean, Fen stabbed good old daddy in the chest, and he didn't flinch. And that creature, you know, the ugly one, is it hard to kill too?"
Tavian nods. "Only moonlight steel can harm it."
He seems to know a lot, this Fae. I wonder who is. He doesn't seem that old, with his brown hair. But his eyes speak of a deep wisdom. And he alone was the only Fae not mind-wiped by Lucian's Primal One magic.
Fen frowns. "Moonlight steel? I've never heard of such a thing."
"I have," says Dean, his face lighting up. "It was an artifact of the Ancient Fae, much like the Mirror of Idis. But, I could never find much information on it. They say it was used by the Primal One to fight the Darkness. And, well, of course there was the prince."
"What prince?" asks Fen.
"The Moonlight Prince. Don't you remember?" Dean studies his brother quizzically, then shrugs. "Rumor said the prince had a moonlight sword. Supposedly, it's how he got his nickname."
"It's true," says Tavian.
"Ah, so you worked with the prince, didn't you?" Dean beams. "I knew you were hiding something. You helped him during the rebellion, didn't you?"
Tavian says nothing.
"What rebellion?" asks Fen.
"Really don't remember?" asks Dean. "The Fae had a large uprising long ago, led by someone called the Moonlight Prince. It was sometime, well, I believe sometime after you became a prince."
Fen shakes his head.
Tavian looks grim.
A tension grows in the air.
I butt in before things get crazy. "So, this moonlight steel, how do we get some?"
"Well, the easiest way would be to find the sword," says Tavian. "But…"
"But what?"
"But after the Moonlight Prince vanished, the sword disappeared. Many Fae have searched for it, myself included, and none found the blade."
Marasphyr sighs. "Perhaps we could succeed where you failed."
Tavian scowls at her. "The blade is impossible to find. Trust me. For thousands of years I have wandered, searching for the sword on my path. It is gone."
"Well, it can't be gone," says Marasphyr. "It must be somewhere."
"Yes." The Fae grits his teeth. "Technically, it is somewhere, on Inferna or Avakiri most likely. But last I checked, we don't have an extra thousand years to look for it."
Marasphyr shrugs as if to say fine.
"So," I say. "What if we forget the sword? What if we just find some steel?"