Anna pressed her hand to her own throat in sympathy when the soldier cried out, but she forced herself not to jump in without considering the problem. There was something familiar about the wretched mist, a hint of some element she’d seen before. But where? What?
No few of the surrounding nobles pulled forth their own magics until the air crackled with it, but when the mist ate through the last of the guard’s shields and clung to his flesh, chaos broke out. The crash and hiss of elemental magic connecting with Meren’s defenses blended with the screams of the soldier as the putrid mist flowed through his mouth and nose.
It didn’t actually eat the man’s skin, but when Meren threw the guard’s gaunt, lifeless body to the floor moments later, the horror movie vibe was strong. Anna forced her eyes away quickly, but her stomach roiled nonetheless. What that stuff must have done…
The swirl of mist swelled as Meren repelled or absorbed the incoming attacks. He had to have planned for this, and God knew how he’d developed the worst of it. Anna shivered at the thought of how the man might have incorporated Gwragedd Annwn knowledge. At least she’d dodged that trap. But as the mages switched to defensive measures to shield the crowd, she had to wonder if any of them would escape this one.
“I recommend you control your subjects,” Meren announced above the noise. “I have no qualms about killing more of them. Oh, yes. You should know that if I die, your mother does, too.”
No surprise crossed the queen’s expression, only heightened fury. “I will find a way to destroy you.”
“Only I can unwind this poison in its many beautiful forms. Isn’t that why you’ve been searching for me? Or did you think I wouldn’t hear?” The sickly fog spun faster around him. “Do you plan to let your guards and courtiers ruin your chance to face me? Though I can’t imagine you would dare to kill me with Tatianella’s life at risk.”
Queen Lera’s gaze sliced across the crowd. “None may interfere in this.”
To Anna’s astonishment, the nobles allowed themselves to be herded closer to the walls by the mages shielding them. Even the soldiers nearest Meren stepped back, although they didn’t sheath their blades.
The guard who had been with Maddy caught sight of Fen and froze, her attention falling to the sword he held. Then her expression tightened, and she rushed forward. At least until she heard Maddy’s soft call.
“General Tobenn, stop. We are not your enemies.”
The warrior proved to be a good leader, for within moments she’d sized the three of them up and given Fen a quick nod.
Anna held her breath as Fen slipped up behind Meren, who was nearly obscured by the mist at this point. It took only seconds, but she might have been waiting an eternity for the steel blade to part through the sickly orange shield. An iron-based metal had to react differently than the guard’s peresten blade, right? When the sword passed through unhindered, though, she exhaled in a worried hiss.
Wasn’t iron supposed to dispel fae magic? It hadn’t dissolved on contact, but the metal wasn’t making a difference otherwise.
She could just make out the tip of the sword connecting with Meren’s back. “Stop this crap,” Fen said. “Or I’ll stop it for you.”
Meren glanced over his shoulder. “Your metal doesn’t affect me, boy. Care to see a demonstration of my magic as proof?”
The droplets of mist solidified into something firmer—a globe of water that pitched and waved around Meren. Unlike the blue of a crystalline sea, the liquid was a murky brown-orange-green, a stream polluted with foul magic. The metal blade hissed as the caustic stuff wrapped around it, and as the poison lapped closer to Fen’s hand, Anna knew she couldn’t wait.
She called upon her magic.
The intensity of Meren’s magic almost blinded her inner sight, but Anna let herself flow with it instead of resisting. As soon as she adapted to the strength, the components of the spell began to clarify. The water was bound into a sickly syrup of acid and…disease? Poison?
Large flecks of something like the magic she’d seen in Sparrow’s blood danced through the water, but these bits were darker. Harsher and more deadly. No living being could survive this, not in this form.
And it had to be destroyed.
“Not again,” Maddy muttered beneath her breath as Anna’s eyes glazed over.
The last time she’d seen that expression on her mate, it had been just before Anna sucked in enough power to blast Meren through the air with a ball of water. And while Maddy held no love for any of the Sidhe in this room, she was sure messing with Meren’s spell would be bad for all of them. Water shouldn’t pulse with the same ochre-and-moss color scheme of her grandmother’s old couch.
Without stopping to think, Maddy grabbed Anna’s left hand and reached for the connection between them, one begun even before they’d mated. They’d rarely spoken telepathically before Anna and Fen had contacted Maddy during her imprisonment, but the link waited as though they’d used it a thousand times.
“What are you doing?” Maddy sent.
Anna tightened her grip. “Look at Fen’s sword.”
Squinting against the glow of magic, Maddy gasped. Gods above. The water was corrosive, eating into the metal as it worked its way closer to Fen’s hand. Why didn’t Fen let go of the damned hilt? Instead, he stared steadily at Meren as though waiting for the perfect moment to do…something. Hell if Maddy could guess what.
“This is related to the poison inside Sparrow,” Anna said, her mental voice blank with concentration. “I’m going to untangle the water. You see if you can do something about the ick.”
Anna’s ring warmed against her finger, helping Maddy solidify their connection. She linked her power to Anna’s, hoping she could act quickly enough. Maybe it wouldn’t work, but she had to try. Her mate was already attempting to suck the water from Meren’s spell without waiting for confirmation.
The liquid began to slow its frenetic circles around Meren, and a few water droplets broke away to float toward Anna. Meren spun to face them, fury lighting his face as he caught sight of them. Anna had bested him once, but he had centuries of experience with water. It wouldn’t be easy for her to defeat him again.
Queen Lera took a step forward, wind whipping around her with increasing fury as she stared at Anna and then Maddy. Instead of bowing with respect, Maddy met her eyes directly, praying that her resolve would shine through as she tipped her head toward her mates. Let us, she thought, but she had no time to consider whether the queen would actually hear her.
Maddy had only that moment before she was forced to focus on containing the poison streaming toward Anna as it broke away from the water. No time for doubts, either. Like it was a true disease, she wrapped her power around each flake, quarantining it with her healing magic.
At least it was easy to focus her magic on one definite goal: purify.
Meren snarled, his hands twisting in unfamiliar patterns as he attempted to reclaim control of his spell. Beside her, Anna stiffened as the water fought against her, and Maddy cursed as her containment began to fail beneath the force of his power.
Suddenly, Fen dropped the remains of his half-eaten sword, and the clatter as it broke on the stone caused more than one shocked cry—and caught Meren’s attention. But it couldn’t have been intended to distract Meren from Maddy and Anna, because Fen stepped backward, gaze on his adversary, until he could take hold of Anna’s other hand.
His thoughts—and magic—merged with theirs in a quick rush. “There’s peresten, copper, and now iron in that maelstrom. Keep grabbing the water, and I’ll take care of the earth.”
“What about me?” Maddy asked. “I don’t think I can purify all of this.”
“Continue making sure we don’t die.”
Maddy almost choked on the laugh bubbling up her throat. “I’m not the best at healing yet. Lial would have this shit gone already.”
Anna gave her a quick smile. “Forget being the best. We need you.”
The statement could have
been insulting, but instead, it filled Maddy with peace. She didn’t have to be perfect. Not at all. As Lial had said, her power was fueled by her will, and there was no way in hell she would let her mates die. Her magic could use what it wanted of her, but she would not yield. If some of the sickness escaped, she would figure it out later.
“Let’s do this.”
As Anna increased her pull on the water, Maddy closed her eyes and focused on the poison-disease combo. She couldn’t manage to nullify the stuff closest to Meren, but the water coalescing in the air between him and Anna was pure. If they could gather it all, maybe…
Then Fen froze the metal particles in the air and forced them toward Meren with a loud crack of energy.
“No!” Queen Lera shouted. “Don’t kill him. Capture, but don’t—”
Meren’s spell cut off, so abruptly the water around Meren dropped to the floor with a splash. She opened her eyes in time to see Fen’s bundle of metal condense around nothing. The red-gold-gray lump clanged against the floor before rolling to a stop near the queen’s feet.
Meren was gone.
Chapter 35
Fen stared at the ball of metal in disbelief. He’d been so close to slicing those fragments into Meren’s body, but the asshole had disappeared before Fen could spring the trap. The shift had been so abrupt that he hadn’t had time to halt the momentum entirely. Instead, he’d pushed the fragments together to make the misshapen lump.
“Hell,” Fen grumbled. They had to figure out how he kept doing that.
For a moment, everyone in the room stood so still they might have been shaped into blocks, the disbelief so heavy it defied motion. Only the water Anna still held aloft showed any sign of movement. Then the queen’s general advanced on the spot where Meren had stood as she barked out orders to the other guards. A new magic filled the room as several warriors scanned for invisibility spells, but Fen had a feeling it would do no good.
Which Anna confirmed after she dispelled the cleansed water. “He’s gone. I can’t sense his water magic now, and he seems to have taken his icky spell with him.”
“Well, let’s not volunteer for clean-up duty,” Maddy interjected. “I don’t sense any more of the poison, either, but I’d rather not touch anything he left behind. Let their water mages figure it out.”
Fen grinned over Anna’s shoulder at Maddy. “Who’s wanting to ditch now?”
“There’s only so much help I’m going to give after they almost locked me in the prison tower,” she answered, scowling. “Which technically isn’t off the table.”
His humor dropped like the ball of metal. “Over their dead bodies.”
“Fen.” Anna squeezed his hand until he looked at her. “Don’t kill anyone. I don’t want to talk you down from the angst for the next month or two.”
Her words surprised a laugh out of him, which earned an immediate reaction from the queen. Guards on each side, she picked her way around the water puddles until she could deliver her glare up close and personal. He didn’t attempt to look repentant. Why bother when he didn’t give a fuck?
“You find something amusing about the escape of a deadly traitor?” Queen Lera demanded.
Fen lifted his shoulder. “Not particularly. I was having a private discussion with my mates, one I’d be happy to continue back in the Unseelie court.”
Okay, that was a bit of a stretch. Even if the three of them did return to his mother’s realm, he had no plans to stand around joking in the middle of a bunch of nobles. But it was the principle of the thing.
Her lips thinned in displeasure. “Maddy has not been given leave to depart. Her claims have yet to be proven, and—”
“Are you fucking kidding—”
“Forgive my mate, Your Majesty,” Anna said, her nails pinching the outside of his hand until he shut up. “I imagine his emotions are still high after our enemy escaped, and he is worried for our mate.”
That was one way of putting it.
The queen gave him a disdainful glance, but her expression softened as she turned back to Anna. “I should expect no better from the Unseelie, especially one whom rumor has placed in Vek’s company. As to Maddy, I’m afraid there are laws I must uphold, whether I wish to or not. She might not have intentionally entered the inner palace, but she did declare herself to be part of the noble house of Cairdai. I must determine if that is false.”
Despite another warning squeeze from Anna, Fen couldn’t stay silent. “How many centuries of peace with the Unseelie are you willing to risk?”
“You want to begin your time as crown prince with war and death?” Queen Lera asked in turn, her eyebrow lifting.
“It wasn’t on my to-do list, but I’ll happily wreck your world to save one of my mates.” The queen’s closest guard lifted his sword, but Fen gave a wide, fang-revealing smile in return. “It’s not exactly a threat. Just a fact. Rumor should also tell you I’ve done worse with less cause.”
Queen Lera gestured, and the guard eased back. “An interesting fact to bring up at this delicate time.”
Hell, it probably was shit timing. Kien’s poisoned energy spell hadn’t affected the Unseelie alone, and there was no telling how many here had suffered because of it. If the queen realized how involved Fen had been, she would be less inclined to take it easy on Maddy.
Anna tugged her left hand free from Maddy’s and held it out toward the queen. Once again, the guards snapped to greater attention, but Queen Lera ignored them. Instead, her gaze fell upon the ring Anna wore—their gift from Shayan. Her eyes widened, and she stepped close enough that she could have held Anna’s hand if she reached out. Fen almost felt sorry for the poor, tense bodyguards.
“I see that you have been granted the favor of a Cairdai.”
Maddy and Fen were quick to extend their own left hands. “My father made these in honor of our mating,” Maddy said softly.
A new voice rang out behind them. “Yes, I did.”
Fen glanced over his shoulder, and relief filled him at the sight of Shayan standing beside an imperious, auburn-haired Sidhe man who bore a slight resemblance to Maddy. Both men were dressed in court-style clothing, though Shayan appeared a touch less at ease than his companion. But then, the last time Fen had seen Maddy’s father, he’d been dressed in casual Earth clothes.
Just one of many reasons to prefer life on Earth to one in some stuffy court.
“Why has my kin come under suspicion, Your Majesty?” the other man asked.
Curiously, a flush lit across the queen’s cheeks as she explained what had happened. All the while, the other Sidhe lord stared impassively at her, only a slight flaring of his nostrils displaying displeasure. Who was he that the queen was almost deferential? Based on appearance, he and Shayan were likely close relations. A brother or uncle, maybe.
“How powerful is your family?” Fen sent to Maddy.
“Distantly noble. I thought.” Confusion echoed in her mental voice as she studied the newcomer. “My father doesn’t talk about them much.”
“Maddy a Shayan is a daughter of the Cairdai. I trust my assurances will be sufficient to secure her claim?” the man asked.
Queen Lera smiled. “Of course, Lord Senolai. The royal family holds the greatest respect for you and your clan. Your word is more than sufficient to assure me of Lady Maddy’s trustworthiness.”
“Good.” The Sidhe lord gave Maddy a sharp nod and bowed to the queen. “Then I will return to my forge. My brother will speak for me in this matter.”
Before Fen had time to blink, the man had spun away and walked back out the door. Well, then. Either the family had a higher rank than Maddy realized or artisans held more influence here than he was used to. Maybe both? The stranger had mentioned a forge, which could mean he worked with weapons or armor. That sort of thing awarded a power of its own.
Queen Lera faced the rest of the room, and when she spoke, her voice rang through the huge space. “Maddy a Shayan has been claimed by Clan Cairdai and should be no stranger to th
e inner palace. For their attempts to defeat Meren a Nuall, Maddy and her mates are considered friends of this court. Now. Audience hours are over, and I invite you to depart until tomorrow.”
She didn’t address Meren’s claims except to name him as Nuall’s son. Maybe she was hoping that if she didn’t make a big deal out of it, her courtiers wouldn’t give his claim to the throne credence. Hah. That seemed like a mistake, but what did Fen know about this stuff?
“We will say goodbye, then,” Fen offered, as politely as he could when what he wanted to do was haul ass out of there. “Princess Dria told me to assure you that your emissary will be safely returned to you in all haste. Although I guess you’ll have to talk it over now that Meren’s on the loose again.”
But the queen shook her head. “I will speak with all four of you in my private chambers.”
He should have known they wouldn’t get out so easily.
“Is that an invitation or an order?” Fen asked.
Queen Lera smiled almost sweetly. “Which would be most likely to gain your cooperation? Although I do suppose you could remain out here while Lady Maddy and Lord Shayan comply with my request.”
Fen ran his hand through his hair and sighed. After confirming both mates’ consent, he nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”
Her body a weird combination of both aching and numb, Maddy plodded behind the queen and her guards without paying much attention to where they walked. She was too stunned by all that had happened to give the lavish palace much regard. Had her uncle really come to claim her? Why had no one else in the family spoken up when the queen first asked? Shivering, she folded her arms beneath her breasts for warmth. Maybe comfort, too. She’d been so close to being locked up again.
Her father sped up until he walked at her left side. “Maddy?”
“I thought they’d disavowed me entirely,” she whispered.
“Sen hadn’t made a formal declaration before,” Shayan explained gently. “He has been so engrossed in his latest creation that I haven’t pushed the matter, especially since I was still waiting for your formal audience. I’m sorry.”
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