Dark Court Faery Tales

by Melissa Marr

  Dark Court Faery Tales

  A Wicked Lovely Book

  Melissa Marr

  "Old Habits: A Wicked Lovely Story " © 2011 by Melissa Marr; originally published by HarperCollins.

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  "Stopping Time: A Wicked Lovely Story " © 2010 by Melissa Marr; originally published by HarperCollins.

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  “Love Hurts“ © 2019by Melissa Marr

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  Excerpt of Seven Black Diamonds © 2016 by Melissa Marr; HarperCollins.

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  Copyright © 2019 by Melissa Marr

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Praise for the WICKED LOVELY series:

  “Marr offers readers a fully imagined faery world that runs alongside an everyday world, which even non-fantasy (or faerie) lovers will want to delve into” --Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

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  “This is a magical novel… the first book in a trilogy that will guarantee to have you itching for the next installment.” Bliss

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  “Fans of the fey world will devour this sequel to Wicked Lovely. Marr has created a world both harsh and lush, at once urban and natural.” --School Library Journal

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  “Marr has done it again with this dark, beautifully woven story of love, magic, and belonging.” --Romantic Times Bookclub

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  “Complex and involving.” -New York Times Book Review

  Praise for GRAVEMINDER:

  “If anyone can put the goth in Southern Gothic, it’s Melissa Marr. . . . Marr takes her time building the world of Clayville, and the sinister mystery that dwells within its city limits. She’s also careful to ensure that the book’s wider themes —how and if we accept the roles life assigns us, and what happens to us when we refuse them—matter to us as much as the multiple cases of heebie-jeebies she doles out before the book is through.” —NPR.org

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  “Spooky enough to please but not too disturbing to read in bed.”—Washington Post

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  “Dark and dreamy. . . . Rod Serling would have loved Graveminder. . . . Marr is not tapping into the latest horde of zombie novels, she’s created a new kind of undead creature. . . . A creatively creepy gothic tale for grown-ups.”—USA Today

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  “Plan ahead to read this one, because you won’t be able to put it down! Haunting, captivating, brilliant!” —Library Journal (starred review)

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  “Marr serves up a quirky dark fantasy fashioned around themes of fate, free will—and zombies. . . . Well-drawn characters and their dramatic interactions keep the tale loose and lively.” —Publishers Weekly

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  “The emotional dance between Rebekkah and Byron will captivate female readers. . . . Fantasy-horror fans will demand more.” —Kirkus Reviews

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  “No one builds worlds like Melissa Marr.” —Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series

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  “Welcome to the return of the great American gothic.” —Del Howison, Bram Stoker Award-winning editor of Dark Delicacies

  Table of Contents

  “Old Habits”

  “Stopping Time”

  “Love Hurts”

  Excerpt of Seven Black Diamonds

  Old Habits

  (Set after Ink Exchange)

  Prologue

  “You’re going to make an excellent king,” Irial said.

  And then, before Niall could react, Irial pressed his mouth to the long scar that he’d once allowed Gabriel to carve on Niall’s face. Niall felt his knees give out under him, felt a disquieting new energy flood his body, felt the awareness of countless dark fey like threads in a great tapestry weaving his life to theirs.

  “Take good care of the Dark Court. They deserve that. They deserve you.” Irial bowed his head. “My King.”

  “No.” Niall stumbled back, tottering on the sidewalk, nearly falling into the traffic. “I don’t want this. I’ve told you—”

  “The court needs new energy, Gancanagh. I got us through Beira’s reign, found ways to strengthen us. I’m tired—more changed by Leslie than I’ll admit, even to you. You may have broken our tie, seared me from her skin, but that doesn’t undo what is. I am not fit to lead my court.” Irial smiled sadly. “My court—your court now—needs a new king. You’re the right choice. You have always been the next Dark King.”

  “Take it back.” Niall felt the foolishness of his words, but he couldn’t think of anything more intelligible to say.

  “if you don’t want it—”

  “I don’t.”

  “Pick someone worthy to pass it on to, then.” Irial’s eyes were lightening ever so slightly. The eerily tempting energy that had always clung to him like a haze was less overwhelming now. “In the meantime, I offer you what I’ve never offered another—my fealty, Gancanagh, my king.”

  He knelt then, head bowed, there on the busy sidewalk. Mortals craned their necks to stare.

  And Niall gaped at him, the last Dark King, as the reality settled on him. He’d just grab the first dark fey he saw and . . . turn over this kind of power to some random faery? A dark faery? He thought of Bananach and the Ly Ergs circling, seeking war and violence. Irial was moderate in comparison to Bananach’s violence. Niall couldn’t turn the court over to just anyone, not in good conscience, and Irial knew it.

  “The head of the Dark Court has always been chosen from the solitary fey. I waited a long time to find another after you said no. But then I realized I was waiting for you to leave Keenan. You didn’t choose me over him, but you chose the harder path.” Irial stood then and took Niall’s face in his hands, gently but firmly, and kissed his forehead. “You’ll do well. And when you are ready to talk, I’ll still be here.”

  Then he disappeared into the throng of mortals winding down the sidewalk, leaving Niall speechless and bewildered.

  Chapter One

  Several weeks later

  Niall walked through Huntsdale, trying to ignore the responses his presence elicited. He’d never walked unnoticed. Over the centuries, he’d been a Gancanagh and the companion to the Dark King; later, he’d been advisor to both the late Summer King and the current Summer King. None of those were roles associated with dismissal. He’d always had influence. When he was with Irial, he hadn’t realized that his companion was the Dark King, but that hadn’t meant that many of those he’d encountered were unaware. They knew the influence he’d wielded far before he did.

  Dark Court faeries—my faeries now—scurried around him. They were always in reach, always in sight, always willing to do the least thing that he required. They sought his approval, and despite wishing he was impervious, he couldn’t withhold his responses. Being their king meant feeling a connection to them that he’d only ever felt twice—to Irial and to Leslie. Perversely, perhaps, being the Dark King meant he felt even more connected to both the mortal girl and the faery. Leslie, although she’d severed her tie to Irial, was still protected by the Dark Court, and Irial, while no longer king, was the pulse of the court.

  Worse, Niall could taste the emotions of every faery he passed. He knew the things they sought to hide with their implacable expressions. He knew their pains and their hungers. It made the world flex with sensory overloads.

  Niall walked through the door of the Crow’s Nest, the mortal club where his closest friend waited. Seth didn’t stand when he saw Niall; he didn’t bow or scurry. He m
erely nodded and said, “Hey.”

  The weight of the job Niall didn’t want seemed to slip away. He sat down at the small table in the back of the dim building. The jukebox was turned on, but the volume was at a bearable level this early in the day. A few mortals threw darts; others watched a soccer match on the oversized television; and a couple silently drank their beers. It was peaceful.

  Seth pushed an ashtray toward Niall. “What’s up?”

  Niall frowned. He’d unconsciously pulled out a cigarette when he sat. The habit resumed the moment I was connected to him again. Niall stared at the cigarette and refused to remember the first time he’d smoked. Memories of Irial are never good to dwell on.

  “You look worse than usual today,” Seth said.

  Niall shrugged. “Some days . . . some days I hate Irial.”

  “And the other ones?”

  That was the catch, the other days. Niall took a drag off the cigarette, enjoyed the feel of the smoke sliding into his lungs. He exhaled after a moment. “The other days, I know he was right. I am the Dark King and whining about it is futile.”

  “You could always give it away, right?” Seth leaned back, tilting his chair so it was balanced on the back two legs.

  “Sure. If I want to be a fool.” Niall signaled the waitress and ordered a drink.

  Once the waitress walked away, Seth leaned forward. “So what aren’t you saying?”

  Niall exhaled a plume of smoke. “I called Leslie.”

  “Why?”

  “I thought I could suggest that we could be friends. Leslie and me.” Niall paused, but Seth said nothing. The mortal simply stared at him, so Niall continued, “I wasn’t calling to suggest we . . . date.”

  “Bullshit.” Seth shook his head. “You don’t want to be her friend. Listen to how carefully you had to phrase that lie.”

  “If it were a lie, I couldn’t say it.”

  “Really?” Seth quirked one brow. “Try to tell me you just want to be her friend. Go ahead. Say it.”

  “I don’t think that—”

  “It would be a lie, wouldn’t it?” Seth interrupted. “Telling me you want to be just her friend would be a lie. You can’t say it.”

  “Why are we friends?” Niall muttered.

  “Because I don’t lie to you or pander to you.” Seth grinned. “You don’t like being adored or disobeyed . . . which makes you messed up enough to lead a bunch of crazy faeries, but makes you need a few friends who aren’t crazy faeries.”

  They sat silently while Niall accepted the drink the waitress delivered. He’d never had much trouble attracting mortal attention, but he’d expected it to lessen now that the Gancanagh addictiveness was negated. Instead, he was able to touch mortals safely, but was no less appealing to them. In his life, the only one who seemed to want absolutely nothing from him was the mortal who watched him now. Unfortunately, Seth wasn’t immune to the traits that made Niall interesting to most mortals. He was simply aware of them—and thus better able to know them for what they were. Which is why he keeps his distance. Seth was utterly nonjudgmental, but he was also utterly devoted to his beloved, Aislinn. And completely hetero.

  The Summer King’s ploy of encouraging Niall to watch over the mortal had had a few not entirely unexpected consequences. When Niall accepted that charge, he was still a Gancanagh—addictive to mortals. They hadn’t discussed it, but Seth knew why he responded so strongly to Niall: Keenan had expected Seth to become addicted to Niall.

  Not that I objected then.

  The Dark King shook his head. It seemed perverse that the orders he’d carried out for another regent filled him with more guilt than the things he’d done as a king himself. He still spent time with Seth, and he considered the mortal a friend, but there was more than a little evidence that Seth had some degree of addiction to him.

  I was following orders. A few touches on his arm, nothing more than an arm around his shoulders. It wasn’t as if anything happened.

  Niall reassured himself with the lies he could whisper in his mind, but the truth was the truth. He’d injured Seth, and the fallout was that he was dangerous to Seth. He always would be, and it was difficult not to take advantage of the thread of addiction and the new allure that Niall wielded as Dark King.

  Niall reached into his pocket and pulled out a nondescript stone. He slid it across the bar table. “Here.”

  “A rock. You shouldn’t have.” Seth lifted it between his thumb and index finger. A look of peace came over the mortal’s face. “Damn.”

  “If you don’t want it . . .” Niall stretched his hand out.

  For the first time since Niall had become the Dark King, Seth didn’t move out of reach. He also didn’t release the stone. Instead, he curled his hand around it, so the stone was wrapped firmly in his palm.

  Seth laid his other hand on Niall’s forearm briefly. “I’d say no one’s ever given me such a useful gift, but that seems too slight. It’s . . . difficult being around the Summer Court, the Summer Girls especially. . . . They’re good about trying not to manipulate me.” Seth paused and looked up at Niall. “Usually.”

  Niall smiled at the memory of the Summer Girls’ lack of restraint. He missed them, some more than others, but he doubted that the Summer King would support the idea of Niall visiting them. “They aren’t used to restraint. It speaks well of their regard for you that they even try.”

  “And you?” Seth prompted.

  “I noticed your tendency to keep a table between us,” Niall admitted.

  “It’s not personal, you know?” Seth flashed an amused smile then, one Niall hadn’t seen in weeks. “If you were female, your . . . uhhh . . . appeal would be cool. Not that Ash would be good with me doing anything then, either, but I’m not into guys. No offense.”

  Niall laughed. “None taken.”

  As they talked, Seth had kept the stone clenched in his hand. He took a deep breath, laid it down in front of him, and reached back to unfasten the chain he wore around his throat. While he did so, he kept his gaze on the stone, and Niall realized then how difficult it must’ve been for the mortal to be surrounded by so many faeries. And me. Niall could write it off as merely a result of Seth’s relationship with Aislinn, but it wasn’t because of the Summer Queen that Seth sat here at the table with Niall. Aislinn would be happier if Seth severed ties with Niall; Keenan would be happier too—for entirely different reasons.

  Seth slid the silver chain through a hole in the stone, and then he fastened the chain around his throat. When he was done, he tucked the stone under his shirt. “It’s like the world got more in control all of a sudden. I owe you one.” Seth poked at the ring in his lower lip. “Not that I have any idea how to repay that kind of gift, but I will.”

  “It wasn’t given with a price attached,” Niall pointed out. “It’s a gift, freely given. No more, no less.”

  “Yeah, well, you don’t look like . . . let’s just say, it was a little weird looking at you and having thoughts that I know aren’t what I think of you, and” —Seth bit his lip ring as he obviously weighed his words— “let’s just say, not everyone has been as unaware of how they could affect me.”

  Niall felt his temper slip a little. “Will you tell me who?”

  “Nope.” Seth grinned. “I’m not offering you an excuse to start shit with anyone, and now that I have this, I think those head games will be entertaining for me for a change. It’s all good.”

  For a moment, Niall debated pressing the matter, but part of being a friend meant trusting that Seth would speak if he needed help. Niall tapped out another cigarette. “You’ll let me know if you need intercession.” He looked at Seth as he packed his cigarette. “I have a few faeries who might find it entertaining to assist you.”

  “Yeah, Ash would be thrilled if I sent the Dark Court knocking.” Seth quirked a brow again. “If you want to pick a fight with him, you’ll do it on your own. I’m not planning to give you an excuse.”

  Niall lit his cigarette. “Just don�
��t forget.”

  “Not today, okay?”

  Admitting defeat, Niall held up his hands.

  “So how are you?” Seth prodded carefully. “Are you getting along any better with your . . . predecessor?”

  The fact was that Niall did want to talk to Seth about that topic, but he didn’t quite know what to say, not yet, at least. He took a drink; he smoked in silence.

  And Seth drank his own drink and waited.

  “He’s gone missing regularly, and I don’t know what he’s doing.” Niall shook his head. He was over a millennium old, and he was seeking advice from a mortal child. “Never mind.”

  “And you don’t want to ask what he’s doing, but you feel like you should.”

  Niall said nothing. He couldn’t deny it, but he didn’t want to admit it either. If Irial had handed all of the court’s backroom bargains, illicit investments, and nefarious dealings over to him, he wasn’t sure he’d be ready to be the Dark King, but he felt like he should know.

  “Either let it ride or tell him he needs to report in more. There’s not a whole lot else to say, is there?” Seth gestured at the now open dartboards. “Come on. Distraction time.”

  Chapter Two

  It had been hours that Sorcha sat unmoving as Devlin brought forth the business that required her attention. One of the mortals that lived among them was mourning. It was a messy business.