Chaos by Nia Davenport Page A

wall that closed off Arythmia’s high society from its low society before being intercepted. A trio of men I recognized as belonging to Samael’s employ surrounded us.
    “Samael wishes a word with you Skyler,” one of them spoke.
    “Samael can shove it,” I snapped at him.
    A ghost of a smile played about his lips. “Your feistiness always did amuse me. I hoped you would resist. Dragging you to him shall be all the more fun.”
    “Touch her and you die,” Zander drew his sword from the sheath at his side.
    “Put the blade away Your Highness . You wouldn’t want to hurt yourself,” Samael’s man mocked him.
    Zander’s eyes flashed with an uncustomary darkness that I was momentarily taken aback by.
    “The only one who will end up hurt is you.”
    Samael’s man drew his own blade along with the other two who were with him.
    I sighed and drew mine as well.
    “Clearly, we are doing this the hard way,” I said to the trio whose lives were about to become short-lived.
    Samael would be pissed at me for leaving him with three less men who lined his pockets but he would have to get over it. The one who spoke looked at Zander with death in his eyes and I would not abide any harm coming to him.
    “No we are not.”
    I spotted Samael stepping out of the shadows from the corner of my eye a split second before he spoke.
    “What do you want?” I snarled at him through clenched teeth.
    He raised his hands to gesture he meant us no threat. “Only to talk dear Skyler.”
    I kept my blade leveled. “We don’t have time. At the moment there are more pressing matters we need to attend.”
    “I think you will want to hear this…Ysabeau sends a message.”
    The odd way the name rolled off his tongue made it clear the fae girl was foreign to him, which begged the question how he knew about her and how she had gotten a message to him from Faerie. Ysabeau’s magic was more powerful than I thought.
    “I’m listening.”
    Samael looked at each of his men. “You are dismissed.”
    They immediately obeyed his command fading silently into the night.
    Once they were gone, the green of Samael’s eyes faded until nothing remained but the pure uninterrupted white of Ysabeau’s. He opened his mouth and his voice spoke her words.
    “You cannot return the way you came Skyler. Belial has eyes that will see you and men that will capture you. You must find a different entrance. Once you do stick to the plan we initially laid.”
    “How are you doing that?” I asked Samael who was not actually Samael at the moment.
    “Your magic allows you to physically cross into the mortal realm. Mine allows me to see into it and telepathically link to certain individuals like I can with fae in Faerie.”
    “Can you also speak to them?” I asked seeking an answer to a nagging question.
    “In a fashion. I can speak through their subconscious,” she said confirming what I long suspected.
    The guiding voice within me sounded suspiciously like Ysabeau inside my head. It was the reason I so readily trusted it as real and allowed it to guide my actions.
    “Are you responsible for the visions Zander and I keep having as well?” Now that I knew Ysabeau could telepathically link to individuals in the mortal realm it would make sense.
    “No Skyler I am not and I cannot help you or explain them. Like I told you before you left Faerie, it is a path you have to find for yourself. It is both separate from and entwined with the task you left with.”
    I would have questioned her more but the green of Samael’s eyes started to seep back into the white.
    “Wait Ysabeau!” I called out.
    “Be quick Skyler. The mortal is weakening from my linking. I’m sorry. I needed to warn you and there was no other way. Consent is needed to be able to establish a link.”
    “Where else can I create a portal?”
    Ysabeau never answered. By the time I finished my question the green of Samael’s eyes had fully returned and with it rivulets of blood that poured from