It’s not breaking! I cried at Blake.
It will, my love. But you must be ready. A voice that wasn’t Blake’s cut through my head, light and lyrical. Aline. How did she get inside my head?
“You can’t stop me,” Daigh said, his voice dark. “The humans have spoken – the world does not want these witches. The Slaugh will come in three days to scour the earth of anyone who opposes me. They are unstoppable. Under my rule, the fae will have our territories once again. We will tear down the iron fortresses and rebuild our world in earth and leaf and stone.”
Aline tipped her head to the side. “One thing we both know about humans is that they can change their minds on a whim. And as for these fae who still follow you, what will they do when they learn your secret?“
“I have no secrets from my fae,” Daigh said, his chin high.
“I suspected you of planning something the day we spoke through the mirror in the forest. But I knew our daughter wasn’t yet able to trust me, so I had to keep my fears secret from her. When you came back to speak to Maeve, I knew you were lying. I have studied the wards of the castle when I discovered what you’d done to Rob. I know you cannot cross them, not even to speak through a mirror. The only way you could have achieved that was if you are no longer fae.”
What?!
Blake’s voice screeched in my head. Bloody hell!
A gasp rocked through the fae legions. The two soldiers dropped Kelly and glared at Daigh.
I zeroed in on Daigh’s face. His casual grin did not falter, but the firelight caught his eyes. He blinked. That blink – the only sign from Daigh’s chiseled features that anything fazed him – told me everything I needed to know.
Holy shit.
It was true. I didn’t know how or why, but Daigh was no longer a fae.
2
ARTHUR
“…speak through a mirror.” A familiar singsong voice called me back from oblivion. “The only way you could have achieved that was if you are no longer fae.”
My head throbbed as I raised my neck toward the bright fire. Grass tickled my face. It took me a couple of moments to realize where I was. I thought I must’ve accidentally set the meadow alight. Panic caught me as I tried to shrug off my coat so I could smother the flames, but my arms wouldn’t budge.
Thin memories stretched across my mind. Standing on the staircase raining fire down on the compelled villagers. Corbin racing down the stairs, sucking all the air from the room and dropping them like flies as they gasped for breath. Corbin yelling at me to run. Corbin and I sprinting for the meadow and crashing into a phalanx of fae soldiers. My sword clashing against bone blades as arrows flew past my head. Losing sight of Corbin in the fray, my vision blurred with green and red – fae and human blood and the blinding force of my own rage. My feet stomping on the fallen bodies of my enemies as I forced my way across the field, knowing that if I broke through I could run to Raynard Hall for help, or maybe I’d just stand on the crest of the hill and burn them all to dust. My sword plunging into a fae’s stomach. Green blood spurting across its green uniform. The fae collapsing against me, trapping my sword between us. Trying to shove him back so I could yank my blade out, and hearing a crack as something hard slammed into my skull.
Then the pain came, and nothing else.
I spat dirt out of my mouth. Even with the pain throbbing behind my eyes, I got the gist of what had happened since I’d been out. The villagers had tied me up and immobilized me. I lay on my stomach, my hands bound and a heavy weight on my back, holding me down. I kicked out with my leg – my boot made contact with bone. My captor grunted in pain, but didn’t loosen his hold.
A few feet to my right, my sword blade glinted as it reflected the orange flames. If I could get to it…
But any plans for escape were halted as the rest of the situation came into view.
Behind the bright fire, six stakes lined the highest point of the meadow. Just like in Maeve’s vision. I turned my neck to the side, and saw Maeve and Flynn and the others tied up and held down by the villagers. Daigh paced in front of an army of fae that faced up the hill, arrows drawn but not yet loosed. Kelly lay tied up on the ground between two warriors. She curled her body up and tried to wriggle away. They barely seemed to notice her, their attention drawn to a figure on the top of the hill.
Aline.
If it wasn’t for her long hair whipping around her face, I’d have thought it was Maeve. She radiated power, magic pouring off her in waves and rolling down the hill. Behind her, figures remained in shadow, but I swear I heard a cat yowl.
I craned my head toward her. Did she just say what I think she said… that Daigh isn’t a fae anymore?
“Don’t move, witch,” a voice hissed in my ears. I flattened the backs of my hands, palms facing up at my captor, and forced my magic through my body, building a great ball of fire. It wasn’t hard. I was angry enough to torch the world.
I fired the ball.
Instead of leaping through my skin, it slammed against my palm and bounced back, shooting hot fire through my body.
Shite, they’ve blocked our magic again.
I focused on what was going on around me – on Daigh, frozen in position in front of his army. On the villagers, their attention not on the fae but on a gaggle of people on top of the hill. The crowd surged forward. Behind Aline, I recognized Jane, Clara, Corbin’s parents, Gwen and Candice from Avebury, and from his picture in Maeve’s art book, Robert Smithers. Obelix was even sitting by his feet, gazing down the hill with a bored expression only a cat could master in the middle of a massacre.
What’s going on? My vision narrowed in on Aline. She betrayed us. So why is she here, looking like she’s facing off against Daigh? Did she mean what she said about Daigh?
Daigh’s face remained frozen in his ghoulish grin, but I’d been around Blake long enough now to know that the fae would laugh on the way to the guillotine. But Aline’s words shuddered through the army – bows rattled, feet shuffled, fae bent toward each other in whispered conversation. In front of the fire, his two fae generals stepped over Kelly’s prone body. They narrowed their eyes at Daigh. One raised his hand. “Does she speak the truth?” he demanded.
Daigh laughed, the sound ringing clear across the meadow. “You think I’ve lost my powers, Regin? That would be ludicrous,” he said. “I am here, am I not? Just as I am.”
“Robert can’t see my thoughts, Robert can’t do his tricks,” Smithers chanted.
“Shut up,” Daigh snapped.
“The best as I can guess, you gave your powers over to a demon so that you might have the means to speak with Maeve through the castle mirrors,” Aline said. “I gather you intend to return to the underworld with all the fae on your side and get your magic back somehow, perhaps in exchange for the spirits of these witches. Demons do so love the taste of a witch.”
Aline held up her hand. The corner of her mouth curled up into a smile that looked so much like Maeve’s it hurt. Daigh opened his mouth to answer her, but all that came out was two lines of some ghastly pop song. I recognized it as a song Aline had been playing on repeat ever since Flynn showed her how to use the system in the Great Hall.
Daigh snapped his mouth shut, his eyes blazing. He lurched forward, his hands raised as if he intended to choke the life out of Aline. Instead, his hand flew up and he slapped himself across the cheek.
What… the… fuck?
Another shudder rippled through the fae. Behind Aline, Clara stifled a laugh behind her hand.
“You can’t do that,” Daigh gasped, staring at his hand in shock. “That’s fae magic.”
Bloody hell. Aline just used compulsion. That’s… not possible. Blake’s the only witch who can use compulsion, and not on a fae…
“Can’t I?” Aline lifted her hand higher, a serene smile playing across her lips. “It seems that when you made the binding between us, Maeve wasn’t the only one who got a piece of your magic. I’ve been carrying this spark of you with me for twen
ty-one years, and now it will be the spark that is your undoing.”
“Binding?” The fae soldier named Regin growled. “You’re bound with those witches? You told us you mated with her, but not that there was a binding.”
“She’s lying, obviously. She wants to turn you against me!” Daigh yelled. He slapped his other cheek, then kicked his feet out in a merry jig. Clara couldn’t hold in her mirth any longer, and her peals of laughter carried over the meadow.
Regin’s fingers tightened around his bow. “If you are still a fae, then you must show us. Cast a glamour.”
“I do not dance like a trained monkey for my court,” Daigh retorted. Aline waved her hand and Daigh hopped about, scratching his armpits and making monkey noises. He smashed his foot down on Kelly’s shoulder. She screamed and rolled over.
“Kelly, get away!” I yelled.
Sobbing, Kelly caterpillar-crawled across the dirt toward me. I shoved my feet back and dragged my body forward half a foot. My captor grunted in protest as he was carried along with me. Rough hands grabbed me and tried to force me back down, but I shook them off, spurred on by Kelly’s desperate cries.
Regin raised his bow, holding the string beside his cheek. Daigh opened his mouth to say something, but his words turned into a moan as an arrow buried itself into his thigh.
Daigh’s face twisted into an ugly scowl. He gripped the shaft in his leg, his hands shaking as he tugged it. With every movement, his body sagged and he bellowed louder.
“If he were fae, the poison would not hurt him,” Regin cried out. “This is irrefutable. Daigh is no longer a fae.”
How is that even possible?
Kelly wriggled around the bonfire. From where I lay I had a good look at her face. She was petrified, her skin white and covered with cuts and bruises, but there was a grim determination in her eyes that reminded me of her sister. I shoved off the ground and inched forward, sending another fireball at the annoying guy on my back. The fire hit the invisible wall again and slammed back into my body.
Maeve, if you can hear this, I need you. I need your power now.
“I command you to come down here and suck this poison out of meeeee…” Daigh slurred. He gripped his leg above the knee, but the forward movement caught him off-balance. He toppled forwards, his forehead cracking against the dirt.
Regin spat on his head. “He’s no king of mine.”
The second fae removed the bow from his shoulder and threw it at Daigh. The heavy wooden weapon bounced off Daigh’s back, buckling his body. Others stepped out of formation to spit and kick their king. Regin tore the crown of bones and vines from his head.
“No,” Daigh raised a hand to grab the crown. “I’m still… your king…”
Regin wrenched it out of reach. “We will bring this to Liah,” he called, raising the crown above his head. “She will lead us in our triumphant march across the reclaimed earth.”
“Noooooo…” Daigh wheezed. He grabbed Regin’s leg, but the soldier kicked him off.
Regin stared up at the wooden stakes. I noticed a dark shape pierced through on the end one, and a cold fear settled between my shoulder blades. Is that a person? It can’t be, we’re all here…
“This isn’t our work,” Regin said, his words sending a clatter of agreement from the ranks of the fae. “Let the humans have their witch burnings. They have the stomach for it more than I. We’ll be back in three days time to claim the earth for ourselves.”
He tore something from around Daigh’s neck and tossed it into the fire. Daigh howled. The earth cracked and spluttered. A crack split the meadow, running between me and the stakes. Inky tendrils rose from the crack, calling the fae back to the realm of the dead.
“What the fuck?” The guy on my back cried.
“Get back!” The female cop, Officer Judge, yelled. “That’s the same stuff that was at the church!”
The crack split through the meadow, severing the bonfire. Kelly screamed as the ground beneath her buckled and the inky gloom crept over her skin.
“Kelly!” I yelled as her face disappeared behind a wall of darkness. Fear and rage welled up inside me. They are not taking Kelly, too.
A fireball shot out of the end of my hand, blasting the guy off my back. He screamed as he rolled across the grass, pounding his sleeve into the dirt in an attempt to staunch the flames.
Got my powers back.
I roared in triumph as the wall around my magic broke free. I sent a fireball into the ranks of the fae as they raced for the crack. Green-clad soldiers leapt out of the way as one went down screaming, flames devouring his clothes and blackening his skin.
Something heavy jumped on my back. Not this shite again. I flung my body to the side and kicked out with my boot. “Oof!” someone moaned, and a dark shape behind me went down. Light glinted off something on the ground.
My sword.
I used my feet and stomach muscles to shuffle forward like Kelly had done, twisting my body around so I came in sideways. My hand clasped around the hilt of my sword, fingers stroking the leather the way I touched Maeve’s body. I swung around and wrenched my arms back, slamming the hilt into the guy’s cheek. He screamed and went down. I shuffled my body so I could slide the rope over the blade, and just like that, my hands were free.
I stumbled to my feet. For the first time I could properly see the rest of the coven. Flynn shot jets of water into the villagers, sending them cowering toward the blazing castle. Blake had already freed himself, and was working on untying Rowan’s bonds. I couldn’t see Corbin anywhere, but the field hung with thick smoke and black fog, obscuring places not touched by the light of the flames. Aline and her motley army moved across the meadow, firing spells to shake the earth beneath the fae and spray the weapons from their hands. A tiny red fox leapt from behind Clara’s skirts and bit a fae soldier’s face, sending him down.
Maeve rolled onto her back and kicked her legs at Officer Judge. Waves of spirit magic radiated from her body as she her nightmare magic into the cop’s head. Officer Judge dropped to her knees, clutching her temples and screaming for help. But the villagers were too terrified to care about us witches anymore.
“Arthur, get Kelly!” Maeve screamed.
Kelly’s shriek tore through me. The crack formed a barrier between Kelly and I. It was too wide for me to jump now, and even with Aline’s baptism, I didn’t want to risk falling in. I ran along the edge of the crack, ducking and dodging around the black fog. Here, the crack split into smaller fissures, and I leapt between them with all the grace of a ballet-dancing porpoise. My feet landed on the grass on the other side, and I dived into the darkness, led by Kelly’s screams.
Acrid smoke burned my lungs. I bent low, gasping for air, and barreled forward. The fog slid over my skin, leaving burning trails that sucked precious breath from my lumps. My foot caught on one of the stakes and I fell to my knees, my hands brushing something wet. I turned to see what it was, and hot rage rose in my throat as my eyes captured the outline of the body in the gloom.
Corbin.
He lay at the foot of the stake, the wood piercing his chest. Charred skin peeled from his bones, and his head slumped against his shoulder like he was sleeping. Blood smeared the stake where he slid down its smooth surface. A deep wound in his side still trickled with blood – likely the wound that killed him.
At least, I hoped it killed him. I hoped he hadn’t been alive when they did this.
Dead. Corbin’s dead.
The news hit me like a cold shower, shocking my body. Corbin was a force of nature in life – as strong and immovable as the walls of Briarwood – and to see him reduced to this degradation was more than I could bear. I didn’t want to leave him here to suffer further humiliation, but I was out of time. I had to get Kelly away from the fire and the fae, or we’d both be joining him.
I scrambled across the shuddering earth, and made it to where Kelly lay. “Untie me,” she begged. I sliced through her ropes with my sword. Black fog licked my shou
lders, searing my skin with every caress. I threw Kelly over my shoulder and ran up the meadow, looking for a good spot to jump back over the crack. My eyes watered from the smoke and pain, and I stumbled as my foot caught the edge of the fissure.
“I’ll take her,” a voice yelled. Jane crashed into me. Through the fog and smoke all I could make out of her was two eyes blazing. I flung Kelly at Jane, who drew her arms around her limp body and hobbled up the hill toward the circle of witches.
I made to follow her, but fresh rage bubbled inside me. Corbin. Was I just going to leave him there on the battlefield?
Like fuck I was.
I turned back to the carnage. The inky blackness obscured much of the battle, but from the shouts and cries I knew the others also had use of their magic. A fae sprinted from the darkness, falling on me with bone blade raised. I stepped forward and opened a deep wound in his belly. He fell to his knees and collapsed in the dirt as I jerked my blade free.
I plunged into the blackness, ignoring the sting of the fog as it slid over my skin and tried to draw me in. I knew it couldn’t drag me down with it because of Aline’s baptism. I stumbled blindly in the direction of the stakes. I wouldn’t dishonor Corbin’s memory by leaving his body in the hands of the fae. I would give him this last honor, for everything he had given me.
A body brushed against my arm. A fae yelled out. I twisted my body and felt my sword slide home. Fire boiled in my veins as I took another life. Red welts circled in the blackness.
The fae killed Corbin. I wouldn’t rest until I bathed in their blood. I swung wildly, not caring who or what I hit, living for the screams and the acrid scent of their blood in the air. I didn’t even stop to watch them go down. I hacked and slashed and burned my way through their ranks as I fought to reach my friend.
My arm brushed against a hard object. A spike. No longer able to see, I felt down its length, but it was empty. I stepped over it and moved to the next one.
Here he is. My hand brushed Corbin’s head. Cold, dry skin flaked away in my fingers. I lifted his body up, sliding it off the spike. The wood pulled at his flesh, trying to keep him. But I was stronger. I slid his body off the end, lifted it over my shoulder, and ran.
The Castle of Spirit and Sorrow Page 2