Prince of the Courts

Prince of the Courts - Chapter 16

Her body screamed in agreement but her mind made her laugh and push him away lightly. "You're a fiend. I didn't even get dinner or a movie first."

He pushed himself up to his feet in one smooth motion and raked his fingers back through his hair and out of his eyes. "I get the feeling that dinners and movies are going to quickly become my second- and third-favourite things," he paused, thoughtful. "What's a movie?"

Sera just laughed helplessly and shooed him away to go find the rest of their clothes. When he had returned with the regrettably damp garments, she pulled on her tank top and shivered, willing the sun to rise faster. Her eyes caught the gleam of his arm band as he pulled on the somewhat bedraggled button-down shirt and she remembered Jace's warning about her diary.

"Wait a sec," she said, reaching out to take the bangle from its place just above the curve of his bicep. "The Consul has my notebook now, and we might be safer if they can't track me with it."

The band was hopelessly loose on her arm until Rayce put his palms around it and flexed, forcing it to close until it was comfortably snug. "I thought this thing was tuned to me specifically...?" He asked.

Sera arched an eyebrow. "Is that what Seraphine said to get your clothes off?"

Rayce's cheeks flushed with a bit of colour but he didn't respond.

They followed Jace's directions from the previous night, keeping to the low point between the two hills as they crossed deeper into the range. Sera felt goosebumps rise along her arms that had nothing to do with the damp clothes she was wearing, and she stopped walking, eyes searching the area for the source of her discomfort.

"Sera?" Rayce had stopped too, and was looking back at her.

"Just wait. I don't think we should be going this way. Something's not right." She was turning slowly on the spot, scanning the trees and grasses for danger.

"No, it's fine. If you're feeling like that, it means we're close. I can feel the tug of the ley line energy, but my people laid a forbidding on the network to keep Shadowhunters away. That's all it is, I promise." He held his hand out for her to take, nodding encouragingly as she laid her hand in his.

She immediately felt most of the dread drop away as she fell under the protection of his Fey heritage, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "That seems pretty effective," she observed as they continued forward.

"Effective against anybody except someone like Jace, I'd assume. He probably started running toward the rift when he felt the forbidding take a hold of him." Rayce shook his head in disbelief. Sera was inclined to agree with him.

The trees started growing closer together until they tangled into a mat of branches overhead and formed a tunnel that began to dip downward into the earth. Sera felt the dread return, and squeezed Rayce's hand a bit tighter, clenching her teeth and telling herself fiercely that it was all in her head.

Pulsing blue-white light was visible ahead, and the tunnel ended at a stoop of ancient rock that dropped off into the brightness. It was eerily silent, and the ley line magic splashed strange halos around Rayce's white hair as he turned to face Sera and took hold of her other hand when they stopped on the edge.

"I'll admit that I haven't done this very much; my sister was usually the one to shield Zeke from the worst of the geas on the ley line system. We've managed together before on the way to fight in exhibitions and revels, but I have no idea how much Zeke's status as a Stripped Shadowhunter was contributing to his protection." He looked worried, but Sera leaned in to steal a kiss.

"I trust you."

He shook his head doubtfully. "For this, I almost wish you didn't. It might be worth a pyr rune or two, good ones, just in case." He slid his hands up her arms to give her the freedom to apply them without losing his protection from the dread.