A/N – Another chapter and more torturing you with cliffhangers and

Harry kicked away a thrall, his sword slashing out and cutting across the neck of another as he looked at Syd. "Do you have any arrows left?"

"No," his friend and bodyguard said, his own glaive carving a deep gash in the chest of a monster that lashed out at him. "The servitors took all of them." Grimacing he drove the glaive deeper, a tired smile appearing on his face as he heard the howls turn into pained yelps. "And I don't think we could do much against those things. They're too stubborn to die. And too tough."

Keeping a thrall safe distance from his body Harry scowled, his eyes turning dark blue as winds howled and a snowstorm came almost from nowhere. It blew away and onto the jagged rocks the monster Syd was fighting with, before making servitors that still were alive behave as if they were leaves on the wind.

"Nice work, Harry." At the noise Harry spun in place, his sword thrusting out, only to be lowered when he recognized Lea and Aurora. "Time to go back to Arctis Tor. We have what we came for and there is someone I don't want to face unprepared."

"One of their warlords?" Syd asked, wiping blood from his brow. "Or someone worse?"

"Your father knows," Lea said and frowned for a second, her eyebrows scrunching up on her noble and in a way predatory looking face. "He shouldn't be dangerous, but even in the old days he was a threat and now perhaps is even bigger one. I and Harry have the raw power to beat him, but the fight is undesirable."

Harry nodded, his eyes glowing with power as he tore a way into the Nevernever. What he did was not gentle, nor a very delicate work that was done by more magically subtle beings. He used the brute force of his magic to force reality to move and open a window into the Nevernever.

"You lack subtlety," Lea chided him as they slipped into the Nevernever. "Ripping holes in the reality works, just is extremely inefficient and tends to tell everybody someone is or was there."

"You didn't teach me how to be subtle about it," Harry said with a shrug as he looked at the snow covered landscape of the lands of Winter. "And the Mantle suggested this way."

"Well, the Mantle is not wrong. It's just as I said, a bad way and the Mantle is not know all things being." Lea paused for a second, her hands mindlessly trailing to her athame. "It knows a lot and can do a lot, but it hasn't been able to acquire as much knowledge and power as say the Mantle of the Lady or the Queen and you're not exactly the prime target for taking any Mantle."

Harry narrowed his eyes as snow started to move behind him, reacting to his anger and the raw magic he was putting into the air. "Explain, now," he said slowly. The words as cold as ice and none of his usual casualness or friendliness in them.

Smiling Lea looked at him and snorted. "Good attempt, but you're too young and too inexperienced to imitate your mother well. But a good attempt nonetheless." She smiled then and looked at the horizon where the spires of Arctis Tor were visible. "Let's walk to the castle and I'll explain it once we're inside. Some of this knowledge needs to stay in a place where we know there are no spies."

"Do you call me a spy?" Aurora asked, daggers in her hands and her eyes burning with passion. "Or do you call my brother one?"

Lea laughed and pointed at the sky. "Someone is scrying and while Mab does what she can to obscure the view, wasteland is far from important places for her to protect." Becoming serious Lea looked at the three of them. "Whoever it is, they are powerful and they know what they are doing. Or at the very least attempting to do."

"Fomor?" Syd guessed, his predatory eyes looking for any enemies in the snow around them.

"Considering the way we left." Lea shrugged and cast a look at Harry. "And considering the way he ripped the veil between the worlds. Yes, if I have to name someone that has everything to spy on us. Yes, Fomor fit the description perfectly. So, let's not tempt the fate and get to the fortress."

o-0-o

"Perhaps." Titania's burning red eyes watched the Red King intently, looking for any sign of weakness she could utilize. "Or perhaps, it is you who is wrong."

As Titania spoke those words from the smoke that lazily floated above the battlefield and the vegetation that appeared after her arrival stepped out a pair of beings. One of them a female strikingly similar in appearance to her and with a very similar aura of power and danger. Second, an elderly looking humanoid goat with a staff in one hand and magic rolling off in waves from them.

"Are you so sure you stand a chance against me?" Titania asked as she looked at her companions. "Are you certain, the Queen and the Lady and their most powerful advisor are unable to defeat one vampire that claims to be a god?"

"I. Am. A. God!" Kukulkan roared as through the sheer force of his will chunks of stone and bodies of dead lifted themselves from the ground before hurling themselves towards Titania.

Titania's eyes didn't even narrow as she deftly moved forward, bushes of thistle exploding in front of her and growing denser by the second, their branches thickening and thorns becoming more pronounced. "Really," she calmly said, watching as the barrier stopped everything he hurled at her. "Really? Trying to attack me through the most basic and primitive means? Ones aren't even used by the most idiotic of human wizards?"

The Red King didn't say a word and Titania's eyes widened as she felt, didn't even see moving towards her. She jumped out of the way of him, balls of fire exploding from her and hurling themselves towards him. "You're not as good as the rumors say you are," he croaked, landing on the ground and throwing himself at her. "You're slow."

"You think so, monster." She grabbed him out of the air and hurled towards the Eldest Gruff. "Now!"

At Titania's words the ground in front of the Eldest Gruff exploded. Vines shooting from the ground and flying towards the Red King, trying to snare him and drag towards the ground. Kukulkan didn't give them a chance, his leathery wings flapped and he threw himself at the ceiling. There he disappeared in the darkness and the nooks and crannies of the sculpting that covered it.

"We lost him, " Lily said as she joined Titania. "I can't sense him."

"He will come back. He doesn't retreat from such battles," Titania said as her eyes burned with energy and passion. "He is too stubborn and now his pride is hurt. He doesn't forget such things. And he knows if we are here and don't let him escape, he can't."

"The Nevernever is too turbulent to enter safely." The Eldest Gruff joined them, his staff striking against the stone. "Mab stole things of importance to the Enemy and the Enemy is unsettling it. Our presence here doesn't help."

"Do you know what exactly did she steal?" Titania asked, with one eye watching a quickly moving patch of shadow. It was too fast moving to be an event of nature and it was heading straight for them.

"Some of the relics of the White God." The Eldest Gruff looked at her and then nodded in understanding before striking the ground with his staff. Vines exploded from him and trapped the shadow which turned into one of the Lords of the Outer Night. "Not the one we fished for." The ancient fae commented and struck the head of the vampire with his staff. "But his master will come sooner or later."

Titania nodded in agreement, her eyes narrowed as magic swirled around her in a dangerous vortex of raw power and energy. She felt Kukulkan try to slide unseen across the ceiling, almost as if he glued himself to the wall hoping that the shadows and darkness would protect him. Titania allowed him to live in that bliss for a couple of seconds, then she snapped her fingers and the ceiling erupted in an explosion of magic and vegetation.

Bushes, trees, vines and roots of many plants appeared, as if from nowhere. The power of Titania filling the air and the wild magic flowing through the leylines made them grow even faster than other plants she so far summoned. Their roots and branches behaved as if they had a single mind and a single purpose. Catch Kukulkan and snare him down so that he couldn't escape.

The Red King was a powerful vampire and a deity, yet even he couldn't run away from a wave of vines, branches, roots and even whole trees appearing in his path and chasing him. A snarl got out of his mouth as he ripped a vine from his arm before getting trapped when branches of an oak caught his legs.

"I thought it would take me more to catch you," Titania said as she walked forward, a rapier in her hand, tongues of flames dancing across the graceful and slim silver blade. "What should I do with you? I can execute you like a pest you are, but then, the Fomor will be a problem." She looked at him, her eyes narrowed as she slowly lifted the blade she held and rested it against his sternum. The flames that kept dancing across the metal started to burn his skin and the stench of burnt flesh started to float across the corridor. "Tell me, what should I do with you?"

"Kill me," Kukulkan hissed and spat onto Titania. "Your kind will soon die if you kill me and I want nothing more than you and your damned sister dead." He paused for a second, as if savoring a thought of the Fae Queen dead. "They are coming." Kukulkan smirked. "You and I know that. The Fomor are coming and not much can stop them."

"You are not wrong," Titania said as she gently pressed the rapier against his skin, the blade licked the skin and cut through it, resting against the sternum. Yet a stronger push and it could easily embed itself in his heart. "However, I can maim you enough for you to take few years to recover." She smiled and twisted the blade, pressing even harder against it. A dry crack of bone giving up ripped across the corridor, a scream of Kukulkan following it. "You will be fine with a heart pierced. You are immortal, like I am."

"You...need...me," Kukulkan rasped, blood dripping from his mouth. "You...need...the...warriors...I...have."

Slowly withdrawing the blade Titania watched him, her own flaming eyes focused on his cold, deep, emotionless ones. "I have a need for the troops of your court," she said after a moment. "Yet, I have no need for you and your court holding so much power." She started to once again push the blade into his flesh, not caring about his howls. "I'll let you live." The rapier pierced Kukulkan's heart and for several seconds Titania watched the struggles of the ancient vampire. "But for a price."

"What do you want of me?"

"On the Yuletide night the White Council will host a summit, an Unseelie Accords summit, in say London and during it we will discuss the war you so foolishly started." Titania drove the rapier deeper before pulling it out. "You and your court will pay weregild for every single wizard slain by your warriors and you will hand over to the White Council every single practitioner you hide. Those two things you will do within next two weeks. If you fail..."

"I will personally come to Copan or Chichen Itza and drag you out of your fortress before murdering you," Oberon said as he joined them. He watched Kukulkan for few seconds then he finally smiled as he turned to look at Titania. "I never imagined you to be so vicious and ruthless." He bowed his head gently in respect. "It is hard to torture a deity well. And he seems very broken."

"I would advise that he is released," Eldest Gruff said as he cleared his throat. "While torturing him is certainly worthwhile and amusing. He needs to not die and he soon just might do that. A thing that would greatly inconvenience us."

Titania looked at the struggling form of the Red King and nodded, unraveling the vines and roots holding him. The second it happened he was gone, only a trail of blood suggesting where did he go. Not that anybody in the right mind would or honestly could chase him. She was exhausted by the fight and she knew that in the state Kukulkan was, he was still dangerous and could kill the Lady or the Eldest Gruff.

"Don't chase him," she said softly. "Instead focus on the forces he left. Those will need a lot of convincing to go away."

o-0-o

A hiss got out of Harry's throat as he lowered himself into the hot springs below the fortress. Lea wanted to see them, but first he needed some sinful pleasure and relaxation time to let his sore, sore body relax and help his muscles recover. He also needed a moment to be just alone, without anybody being there when he tried to process the events of the past few hours.

Until now the Mantle, the strange being he shared his body and mind with, and adrenaline kept him running. Now the Mantle withdrew, yet still he could summon its powers and knowledge at will and the adrenaline was gone completely leaving him an emotional wreck that needed time to recover.

Killing was so easy for him, so fast, so simple and so mechanical after a while. He stopped caring he was doing it and that servitors, no, humans, Harry corrected his mind, were losing theirs lives at his hand. He closed his eyes and he could see their faces as lives were snuffed out of their eyes by the arrows that were piercing their hearts, necks and eyes... Some of them didn't even seem aware of dying, while some seemed to beg him not to kill them.

A trickle of tears raced from the corner of his eye and down his cheek.

Killing, it all felt so pointless and so horrid. Yet the colder, more logical side of his mind was telling him he needed to do it. He needed to do it to survive and live on, the life of an Unseelie was not an easy, nor a nice one. Death was their constant companion, same as lust and vices and there was nothing they could do to run away from it.

"Snap out of it!"

Opening his eyes Harry noticed he was facing a copy of himself, or at least somewhat that was very closely related to him in more than one way. The same green eyes, the same scar on his forehead, the same predatory and haughty looks. Yet the being, him, whatever, was more noble, dangerous and much, much more mature and the hair wholly turned white.

"What are you?" Harry asked and paused for a second, licking his lips in uncertainty. "Or perhaps who?"

"It depends on what do you want to hear." The being smiled and looked for few seconds at his neatly trimmed nails covered with blue nail polish. One that greatly reminded Harry of Mab. "You could tell me the avatar of the Mantle or your inner I. Or your voice of reason. I'm whatever you think I am, I can be one or I can be all of them."

Harry frowned, his eyes turned into slits. "Why should I listen to you and don't just tell you to sod off?" He quietly asked and smiled coldly. "I mean, I doubt you are real in the first place."

"I am not real, well, nobody else can't see you." The being laughed. "They can't also hear us talking. I am real in the way that I exist in your mind as a part of it you can't be rid of. Normally I let you be the driver, but when you screw up I might need to step in before the Mantle really decides to step in."

"The Mantle can do it?"

"Step in? Sure, it can. And you don't want to allow it to do it." The being tsked in annoyance. "But back to the topic. You seem way too trusting, which perhaps is not a bad trait. Anyways, snap out of the brooding and sulking or the Mantle and more dangerous parts of your nature might take control of your mind." The being paused and focused on braiding and unbraiding his silver hair, as if Harry didn't exist for them. For several tense seconds Harry looked at them, the only noise was that of water clashing against the walls of the pool and their bodies. "I don't say that you shouldn't sulk, just be mindful of what you do and try not to make your mind so vulnerable. If I didn't step in, the Mantle would have grabbed control."

Harry sighed and eyed whatever was the thing that was talking with him. "How am I supposed to deal with the guilt and grief? Like I killed them because I didn't really have a choice, but it wasn't good nor was really necessary."

"It was necessary." Harry jerked in surprise, his nostrils flaring in anger. "If you wouldn't do this, there was a good chance those servitors would have caught your lover or Leanansidhe. Fomor do terrible things to anybody they catch, no matter if human or fae or deity. For many of them what you did was probably a much, much better fate than letting them be enslaved without any control over their bodies or minds." The being shrugged. "I'm not saying that you need to agree with me on killing is something we do because we can and we like it. What I'm trying to say is that in the event like this, it was the best choice out of bad choices."

Harry closed his eyes and slowly submerged himself in the water, hissing in pain at how hot water was. He felt strange, yet the heat and the momentary discomfort caused by it let him relax in a way. His mind felt clear and focused on a singular purpose and task.

What he heard and thought on his own suddenly made sense, his mind piecing them all into a coherent image. An image that was more bereable for him then the images of the dead servitors flashing in front of his eyes. He really needed to learn how to deal with all of the death and destruction that came with being a Sidhe, technically a half-blood one, he corrected himself. But a Sidhe still and there was nothing he could do to avoid the duties that came with him being the Prince.

Not now, especially not now. He knew how high the stakes were and how badly they were looking. He needed to remain focused on the goal and on the survival of the world. Anything else and his mind would slip into the oblivion of madness.

A stream of bubbles got out of Harry's mouth and finally he pushed himself to the surface, catching his breath as he emerged from it. When he looked around there was no presence of the being he was talking with, yet he still could feel its presence. Somewhere, somehow it didn't leave him, but was around him. Just out of his reach or maybe even less, but it was there.

"That was... strange," he said, shaking his head and running his hand through the hair. "I expected something else." He splashed some water onto his face, hissing as the hot liquid hit his skin. He hated the pain, but it was a good wake up call, one he badly needed.

o-0-o

Thomas hissed in pain as he watched a doctor sewed together the skin on his arm. That ghoul got too close to him, way too close for his own comfort and safety. He didn't expect that battle to be so vicious, deadly and at the same time strange in a way.

One moment ghouls were howling and attacking them as if there was no tomorrow, second, they were running away as if Thomas' sheer presence was a threat to them. He didn't understand what happened, yet he was extremely glad that it happened. If it didn't happen, they all would have been dead long before the end of the battle.

The door creaked open and looking up he saw his sister, Lara, walk in. Her clothes were more like bloody rags than the pristine and expensive pieces of fashion they once were. Yet compared to him she seemed unscathed, her injuries minor and few. "Hello, dear sister," he said, his smile twisted by the grimace of pain. "You look as charming and beautiful as always."

"Cut the crap," she hissed. "I don't want the niceties. Especially not now."

He blinked, Lara's voice was not one he was used to. A lot more hostile and demanding. "What's wrong?"

"The whole affair is wrong." She stalked to the window and looked out of it. "The White Council pulled in Titania. She almost murdered Kukulkan and her lovely husband, Oberon, of all fucking fae as if she wasn't bad enough on her own murdered Mavra. Not even a sliver of her is left behind. She's as dead as she can be."

"Oberon, wasn't he supposed to be dead?" Thomas asked and frowned, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he tried to calm down. "I mean, all you and father taught me about him is that he is a myth. Dead after that triangle with Mab and Titania.

"Because he was assumed dead." Lara turned and faced him, her nostrils flared in fear and eyes black as if her demon was about to take control of her. "This whole battle, this whole war was a set up. One we didn't see until we were dragged into it for good. So simple, yet so clever."

"The start of it was arranged by the Red Court." Thomas narrowed his eyes. "They wanted Dresden to attack Bianca or Beatrice or whatever was the name of the Red Court Countness he murdered. He was just a handy pretext for the whole conflict to start."

"And that was just the layer they wanted us to see. My dear little brother, we all were played, like idiots." She shook her head and scoffed. "The Red Court was the one that got played the most. Granted, they wanted this to happen, but not now and someone pushed for them to attack right now and get bloodied."

"Lara, but who would have the reason to do this all?"

"We will talk about this once in a more secure location." She paused and swallowed. "They have agents in our house and I don't quite know where or whom they are so I don't want to talk about them with the agents possibly next to you and me."

Thomas grunted and sent away the doctor. He flexed his hand, wincing at the burning sensation, but he knew that even just the stitches would be enough for his own body to do the rest. He sat up from the chair and looked at Lara, his eyes focused on spotting the minutiae details that normally didn't matter since she knew how to hide them.

Now however he could tell she was scared. No, she was terrified of something, terrified so badly that she couldn't maintain the perfect image she normally presented to the world and even to the family. Whatever it was that scared her enough, was dangerous and he didn't even have a desire to learn its name.

"So what's the plan?"

"We continue along our old. No point changing it just now. Maybe later. Now heal and once you recover, Hogwarts visit time is upon you. We need an anchor there and we need it fast." Lara narrowed her eyes and smiled at Thomas. "I hope that you know how to charm Sidhe nobles as you might run into quite a few of those and I don't want to see them return me your head."

"I can manage that sis," Thomas said and winked at her, a confident smile on his face. "I dealt with worse beings than them."

o-0-o

"The Red Court will agree to the terms that Titania forced onto them," Sarissa said and Mab nodded absently. "The Red King is too weak now to do much about them and even if he wanted to do much about them. His Court is out of manpower for few years. Not that Council is that much better."

"The Council can recover much, much faster," Mab said and Sarissa looked at her in surprise. "Yes, they have fewer members, but there are a lot of practitioners out there that need to be found and you my daughter will meet with the Merlin once he recovers and offer him help in tracking them all down." Mab allowed herself a cold smile of satisfaction. "They will be hissing and attacking us, but they know it is something they need."

"Will they agree tho?" Sarissa smoothed out her robe and corrected her hair before reaching for a wineglass standing on a small table between them. "The Senior Council knows well that we don't do things out of the goodness of our hearts. Besides, we cannot do things for free and they know that our help will be a part of a bargain they'll need to pay sooner or later." Sarissa paused for a second to sip the wine. "They know that well and are even more aware of how dangerous bargains with Fae can be. Even for other fae."

"They have not many good options to choose from and they probably will leap at our offer." Mab's green, cat-like eyes narrowed and she analyzed the pattern of the snowflakes falling outside of the spire. "They also know about how expensive bargains with me can be, but this one time they will swallow that bitter pill and probably hope they can pay me off in the distant future. A thing I'm fine with as they are of great use to me and I need their manpower and capabilities in places where I cannot act on my own."

"They are also annoyingly autonomous and capable of complicating our own plans."

"As everybody can do it." Mab laughed coldly. "But I'll admit, they are very good at complicating my plans in ways I didn't anticipate. However, considering their position, I don't think they will be willing to annoy me and instead they will focus their attention on other matters. Matters that need their attention and went without it for far too big of a span of time."

"The Isles?"

"Among other things, but the Isles have things they need to tackle and once again secure." Mab sat up and moved towards the window. "The Fomor, Harry and Lea are back and what they did bring is worrying."

"Two artifacts that were thought lost to the time."

"The Council wanted that to be believed. They had them in their custody all the time. Just pretended they were destroyed in the burning of the Library." Mab turned and looked at Sarissa. "What I mean is something else. They could steal artifacts from the White Council with the White Council none the wiser that they lost them. That's a much, much more worrying issue. Especially considering what we store in our own vaults."

"Maeve-" Sarissa hissed with venom barely concealed in her voice.

"Maeve did nothing, so far." Mab shook her head gracefully and smiled. "I would have known if she did something. But yes, she can do something and I don't like that. You will be tasked with reviewing the security measures and changing them so that Maeve can't access the vaults without my prior knowledge."

"Of course, mother."

o-0-o

"So, explanation time. Now," Harry said as he looked at Lea. "Explain to me what do you know about Mantles and what should I know about them."

Lea looked at him, her fiery hair moving in strange ways and then she smiled. "A brave and foolish Prince you are," she said, a smirk dancing across her lips. "Trying to demand knowledge from me. Knowledge I mentioned I would give you. You do know whom I am in the Irish legends?" Her smirk grew and she licked her lips, as if he was a meal for her. "Well, if you knew, you would know not to phrase your questions that way."

Harry frowned, the way she spoke and behaved rattled something inside of him. Something he not quite was aware that he possessed. "I do not know whom you are for the Irish or other Celts." He shrugged. "At Hogwarts we didn't learn about Sidhe or Faerie, at all. We didn't learn much about any myths, mythologies, monsters from them or the monsters that even roam the forests around Hogwarts."

Tsking Lea moved forward, her fiery red hair changing into pitch black and her green dress turning into a much colder and dangerous looking blue one. "You disappoint me. You are a son of Mab and an Olympian. Yet you are so blind about the world, the monsters that prey on the humanity, the denizens of the Nevernever and so much more." She stopped in front of Harry and looked into his eyes. "Somehow you live on. Even if the world should have killed you ages ago. You live on."

"I have luck and seem to know what to do when in danger."

"That you do." She smiled, perhaps genuine or not. That was not a thing Harry could tell easily. She was capable of twisting the words into shapes she fancied and not many were capable of understanding her true intention and he certainly was not one of them. "But as to what I said originally. I am a Sidhe that happily provides information and inspiration to anybody that desires it." Leanansidhe's smile sent shivers down Harry's spine. It was so primal and dangerous and feral in a way he didn't even want to be in the same room as she was. "But I did it for a price."

"As we all do," Harry remarked. "We all want something in exchange. We can't function in any other way. We need a bargain to be struck. Knowledge is expensive, even if I don't like it."

Lea nodded as she placed her hand on his shoulder, her fingers digging into his clothes and the skin below. "That lesson you received," she whispered as she leaned over him, her head almost resting on his shoulder. She smiled and he could see blood lust in her eyes. "Their lives when I found it entertaining. So be cautious young prince what do you ask me to do as you might get in return something you didn't quite expect."

Shuddering Harry shoved her away, his hands hitting her roughly and pushing away from him. As he looked at her he could see that she was surprised by the sudden aggression he was showing. Yet seemed pleased by it, too. "Stay away from me," he hissed, a dagger appearing in his hand. "I don't enjoy you being, you being so close to me."

"You should have mentioned that before."

Harry shook his head. "You are..."

"Am I what?" Lea asked sweetly as she laughed, her voice making Harry wince in pain. "I assure you that I didn't show you the worst, not yet anyways. As for your original question, the Mantles. I suppose that I can share some information with you for a price you'll know in due time."

"In due time?" Harry frowned, then his eyes lit up in anger. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you." She paused. "We can't lie. It's not in our nature and you know that."

"Nothing stops you from hiding things from me. That's not a lie. Just you not liking to share data with me."

"Well, you are not wrong." Harry crossed hands in front of his chest, making Lea snort in amusement. "You are not your mother or father for that matter and your posturing is amusing. But not dangerous or scary. A vial filled with your blood would work quite nicely as a payment."

"Which won't happen. Never." Harry's form shifted as he moved forward, his legs faced a bit further apart. "Blood is powerful and I don't want you to be able to have me under your control when you feel like it. I don't know much about the way you make your magic, but I know my blood in your hands... Is bad."

"And you won't get the information you seek from me," Lea said and smiled before vanishing in a swirl of snow.

"That bitch!" Harry spat as he looked around the chamber. "Where are you?"

o-0-o

Leananisdhe laughed as she appeared on the battlements of the fortress. Her fiery red hair flying in the strong gusts of the wind. Harry was so easy to play and so amusing at the same time. He was naive and somewhat foolish, well, she corrected herself. He was goofy, not foolish and she didn't want to know into what he would grow up if given training and education he was now receiving.

"Leanansidhe." The voice and its tone made Lea pause as her blood quite literally froze. Only one being had that effect on her and she really didn't want to see her mad as Mab being enraged was a thing not many wanted to confront.

o-0-o