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My head jerked in his direction as the shock of her invasion faded to the background. How did he know that?
Gerri winked. “We’re not strangers anymore. I just need a name.”
The danger of giving your name to a fae was just a myth. Or so they said. No one really knew the extent of fae powers. I’d heard a shit-ton of rumors about how powerful Prince Caleb of the Unseelie Court was.
“Terra.” Fane gave the name I’d told Furic in the Underworld.
The pixie smiled. “Terra. Pretty.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, shoving my hands in my pockets.
Fane cleared his throat. “I’m looking for information on the Infernal Sol. Not its location, but material on its power or history. Do you have anything like that?”
Gerri held her long index finger in the air and tilted her head as if listening for something. “Yep! I sure do.” When she noticed my perplexed expression, she winked. “The tattooed shavings of trees bound in skin speak to me.”
Um… what?
The pixie pirouetted, skipped to a shelf behind the register, and withdrew a heavy leather-bound tome. “The Infernal Sol is a mysterious thing.” She dropped the book on the counter, rattling a display of mood rings. “I, for one, would not want to even be in the vicinity of that thing.”
Fane and I shared a surreptitious glance. Gerri had no idea the demon amulet was a few feet away from her.
She flipped through the book, stopping on a depiction of the Infernal Sol similar to the one Coltrane showed me. Strange symbols inked across the thick page, slashing at the paper like black blades.
The demon shifter tilted the book toward us and ran his finger over a passage as his lips moved.
“Can you read that?” I pointed to the eerie markings.
He didn’t pry his attention from the page. “Of course I can. I’m half demon.”
I lifted my hands in the air. “Excuse me. I had no idea that being a demon meant you were born knowing all the languages.” Like humans and fae, demons had many different tongues.
“I learned it.” He narrowed his eyes, anticipating my insult.
Instead, I gave a saccharine smile. “Please continue, Professor Maverick.”
Gerri giggled and motioned her finger between us. “You guys are hilarious. Can I watch when you hate bang each other?”
I coughed to clear the sudden obstruction in my airways. “That’s not happening.”
The pixie pouted. “At least take a few pictures for me.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Heat rushed up my neck and into my cheeks. “The two of us willnotbe doing that, so there will be nothing for you to watch.”
“No one knows the original purpose of the Infernal Sol.” Thankfully, Fane interrupted the awkward moment and shut off my sputtering. “But it’s rumored to have been created by Astrix or another member of his family.”
From my classes, I knew Astrix was an original demon who lived eons ago.
“It’s been used to create devastation in all known realms. Things that would be seen as natural disasters like quakes, droughts, hurricanes, tsunamis, and storms have been attributed to its power,” Fane continued, hard lines deepening over his face as he read. “Some say it can rip through time and space to create doors to the Underworld.”
Gerri whistled. “Like I said, I want nothing to do with the Infernal Sol. That sounds pretty ominous.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Fane flipped the page. “Some believe its purpose is destruction, and it feeds off that energy. It was born of chaos and madness.” He paused and licked his lips as his gaze slowly lifted to mine. “The Infernal Sol may have been responsible for causing entire villages to go insane.”
The blood drained from my cheeks, and my knees weakened. Oh, great. I had a crazy-causing stone stuck inside of me. I’d end up in a padded cell with a Thorazine drip on twenty-four seven.
“These are just rumors, though.” Fane slammed the book closed and shrugged. “No actual proof.”
