by Liz Schulte
I nodded. “It has come to this. After everything we’ve been through together, you want to kill me?”
“I don’t want to kill you, son. Join me. Renounce the half-elf and take your rightful place by my side. She can live if you do that.”
I took a deep breath. “No. This is more important than just Selene. I will not abandon my people to save her life.”
“Then you do not love her. I would have done anything for your mother.”
I shook my head. “That isn’t love. It’s obsession. I do love Selene, which is why I won’t curse her to live with my decision for the rest of her life. She wouldn’t want me to save her at the cost of letting you have the kingdom again.”
“Then you leave me no choice.”
I held out my arms. “So do it. Don’t take the coward’s way out. Do it yourself.”
He placed a gentle hand on my cheek. “If I could, I would. But I cannot harm a hair on your head. I will grieve you for the rest of my life, but you brought this on yourself.”
“Why can you not accept the other races? Selene is a good person. Your other children are good people too—”
He scoffed.
“I don’t wish to hurt you,” I told him.
“You are a fool. How did I raise you as such?”
I smiled, though my heart was sad. “I may be a fool, but you have lost. The elverpige will kill no one else. I have reached Bella. The curse is broken.”
“Impossible.”
I beckoned him to the window that overlooked the garden. Sebastian was still there talking to Bella. Father’s face turned red and his hands shook with rage. “Then I will find another who will not be so easily stopped.”
“No, you won’t.” I put one hand on his shoulder and one on my sword. “Where is Bella’s body? She was not dead. The human didn’t kill her. They were trying to get away from you. Didn’t you wonder why she didn’t disappear?”
He turned to me, his face getting brighter and brighter. “I knew perfectly well what happened.”
My jaw tightened. “And you left her buried.”
“Punished. She needed to be punished.”
“Where is she, Father? Tell me that and I will let you live out your life.”
“Gone. I could not raise an elverpige without extinguishing the life. She is gone.”
I pulled my dagger faster than he could take his next breath and pressed it to his throat, tears stinging my eyes. “After all this time, you killed her. Your own flesh and blood. Look at her,” I yelled, grabbing the back of his neck and forcing him to look. My hand shook as I struggled with myself, blood bubbling up on his neck where I pressed too hard. “Look at her face. Her eyes. Her smile. She looks just like Mother.”
He struggled to turn his head from the window. Then he laughed. “Kill me. Go ahead. Kill me and lose your sister forever. I should have done it centuries ago. She has brought nothing but grief to this family. A plague since the day she was born.”
The sharp burn of a blade entered my side, but I caught Father’s hand before it could twist. He stared at me with cold hatred.
“I didn’t think it could happen, but I curse the day you were born too.”
He pulled the knife from me and backed away, wielding it as if we were about to spar as we had when I was a child. My side burned and warmth spread over my shirt. “I will not let you hurt anyone else.”
“Then by all means stop me.” My father’s supporters came from the closed doors down the hallway. Guards, noblemen, commoners, and in the middle of all of them, Alanna. There weren’t more than thirty, but the odds weren’t in my favor.
“We tried to get you to see reason, Cheney,” Alanna said.
“What exactly do you consider reasonable, Alanna? Change was inevitable. I have saved this kingdom from ruin.”
“Not like this. You cannot force the people to accept the half-elf as their leader. Who is she? Where is she?” Alanna said. “They don’t want her.”
There were too many. There was no way I could fight them all, no matter how I calculated my attack in my head. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it. I’m tired of talking about it.”
“We aren’t going to kill you. We’re here for her,” she said.
I drew my sword, ignoring the pain in my side. “You will have to come through me to do it.”
My father threw his dagger with expert precision and speed. But I moved out of the way just in time, deflecting it with my sword.
“Allow me,” Alanna said. She flicked her wrist and knocked me down the hallway, pinning me against the wall.
As one, they moved down the hallway toward me—but then a hand grabbed me from the shadows and pulled me down, breaking the spell.
“Looked like you needed a little luck,” Lily said, winking.
I moved back to the center of the hallway, my sword in front of me, my newfound sister beside me in Hello Kitty pajama pants. Everyone paused.
“This is your daughter, Father.”
He wouldn’t even look at her. The doors opened behind me. Sy, the coven, and several young guards filed in.
“You’d been gone a while. I thought you might need some assistance.” Sy flashed a wide grin. “I brought reinforcements.”
Anticipation built, both sides waiting for someone to make the first move. Father roared and all hell broke loose. Father and Alanna faded into the crowd. The coven stayed back casting spells, and I pushed through the melee, looking for him. I caught sight of him rounding the corner at the end of the hallway. I took off after him, twisting through hallways and corridors until there was nowhere to go and he vanished.
“Damn it!” I pressed my hands against the walls and looked at the knickknacks on the tables. There had to be a way out.
“You should have chosen me,” Alanna’s said from behind me. “It would have saved you all of this.”
I laughed. “You’re right, Alanna.” I turned to her. “I would have never fought to keep you.”
Her face flushed.
“And don’t kid yourself. My father wouldn’t have been any happier if I had chosen you. You still aren’t an elf. You’re fighting on the wrong side. Do you know how he got out?”
“I’m better than any of those half-bloods you surround yourself with.”
She threw a vase at me and then pulled a blade from her hair and ran toward me. Before she got to me, she crumpled to the ground. Lily stood behind her, a wooden pole in her hand. “Bitch just kept talking.” She smiled at me and I laughed.
Alanna moaned, holding her head. I picked her up by her arms. “You will stand trial, Alanna, for treason. You will kneel before my wife and me and beg for our forgiveness before all of this is over.” I dragged her back to the fight, which was all but finished now. I handed Alanna to a guard to be escorted to the dungeon and headed back to Selene with Lily on my heels. I knocked three times.
“What?” Frost’s irritated voice came through.
“Are you okay?”
“Just me and a dead girl.”
I sighed. Selene didn’t have much time left, but I couldn’t let myself dwell on it. She would either make it back or not. I wasn’t going to fall apart. I wouldn’t let my kingdom down as my father had.
“The dead girl is your wife?”
“Yeah.”
“But you think she is coming back?”
“I hope so.”
“Me too,” Lily said softly.
“You should go back to your room.”
She shook her head. “If I do, you’ll lose your luck. I have to stick with you until this is over.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Lily.”
She blushed and shrugged. “Hey, no problem.”
“How old are you?” I asked on our way down to the garden.
“Twenty.”
I shook my head. She wasn’t even an adult by elf standards. No wonder she seemed so young. Back in the garden, Sebastian and Bella looked at us expectantly.
“Did you find him?” Bella
asked, though she was looking at Lily. “Is this Selene?”
“No. This is our half-sister, Lily.” I sat on the bench in front of her. “I found Father.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Lily.” She refocused on me. “And you can save me?”
I shook my head. “He took your life to turn you into this.”
Flames engulfed her eyes and she vanished before us.
“Where’d she go?”
“No idea. Maybe one of the guards killed Father. We do have a fortuna on our side.”
Sebastian gave Lily a doubtful look. “How did he get away?”
I gave him a helpless gesture. “He must know a secret passage in the old family wing that I don’t. I was behind him. Then I rounded a corner and he was gone.”
A smile slowly spread over his face. “I think I know where it is.” He stood and headed in the other direction.
I smiled at Lily. “And he doubted you.” We jogged to catch up. “How do you know?”
“Your sister told me how she used to sneak out of the house.” He started to run and we stayed with him. He led us into the woods and to an old cabin where Bella used to play when she was a child. Thumping and muttering came from inside. The sun would be setting soon. A shudder went through me. If Selene wasn’t back, she wasn’t going to make it. So much for not letting myself think about it! Sebastian and I waited on either side of the door for Father with Lily staying behind me. At length, he came out of the cabin, and as he did, the elverpige appeared.
“You failed me,” he bellowed, throwing an old jar at her. “You let him live.” Bella flew at him, but he held up a hand, slowing her until she barely moved. “You cannot attack me. I am your master.”
She inched forward, hate filling her eyes. Sebastian gave me a questioning look. I ever-so-slightly shook my head. Father created this. He alone had to pay the price.
“You did this,” she growled.
“You were the only curse our family ever suffered.”
Bella broke through his hold, curling her fingers around his neck. He screeched, his body rigid with pain, before vanishing into nothing. Bella bent her head and wept into her hands. “I’m sorry.” I wanted to touch her but couldn’t. She was already beginning to fade.
She reached a hand toward my face but didn’t connect with my skin. “I’m sorry I won’t get to meet your wife or see your children or ever kiss Sebastian.” She looked back and forth between us. “Take care of each other and be understanding of those you hold most dear. They are what make life worth living.”
“Don’t go,” I said.
“I can’t stay. I would take more from you than you could forgive.” She smiled the same bright, sunny smile she’d always had. “I get to move on now and be with Henry. We have waited long enough. Be happy for me.”
I nodded, holding back tears.
Sebastian didn’t try to hide the streams trailing down his cheeks. “You have a great capacity to love. You just have to let yourself do it,” she told him.
She faded even more. “Tell me a story, Cheney,” she said, her voice weak and childlike.
I swallowed the lump in my aching throat. “There was a boy who thought he was a man until met the woman of his dreams dancing naked in the woods. That woman would become his sun, his moon, his stars, and his air.”
Bella smiled, her voice but a whisper. “I think I’m going to like this story.”
I paused and watched the souls go in front of me. Most limped or climbed aboard unassisted, but a few couldn’t make it, and Charon retrieved them. There was no way I could win a fight against him. Even if I wasn’t injured, the pole was too powerful. And I doubted he’d just give it to me, even if I asked nicely. But if I could catch him off guard, maybe I had a chance.
I hobbled the rest of the way to the dock, collapsed in front of the gondola, and waited. My ankle throbbed, my chest felt like it was collapsing, and my hands were thick and stiff. This had better work or I was screwed.
“This way,” a deep voice boomed.
I closed my eyes, refusing to move. I held my breath and waited. When I felt Charon’s hands touch me, I rolled, blindly grabbing the pole. My fingers curled over the gnarled but surprisingly smooth wood. Energy pulsed through me, knocking Charon backwards—knocking everyone backwards. My teeth chattered together and my arms and legs shook, but this was the strongest I had ever felt. It was like when I lost control and buildings crumbled around me—times one hundred. My skin grew. My bones healed. Everything that had happened to me righted itself.
I stood and even my ankle didn’t hurt. Charon stood across from me. His gaunt face was furious. His thin lips stretched into a grim line. “You know not what you possess. Hand the pole to me.”
“I’m sorry. I need this.”
“The pole must not leave the Underworld.”
Demons of all shapes and sizes crept around me. I could feel them and nearly see them in my mind. The pole was amazing. “I have no choice.”
I turned and ran toward the demons. Some looked like lions, others like flaming people, and still others like hoofed monsters.
“It will destroy you and everyone you love,” Charon called behind me, but I kept going.
I was hit from the left. A lion’s claws sank into me, but I couldn’t feel anything. I jabbed it with the pole. The demon exploded into a million pieces and my wound immediately healed. The others hissed and clawed at me but kept a healthy distance. My watch beeped—only fifteen minutes left. I picked up my pace to a jog, stumbling forward. The pole tapped the ground behind me and the earth shook and crumbled in my wake. I moved faster, leaving the demons to tumble into the canyon opened by the mere touch of the pole to the ground.
The only problem was I had no idea where I was going. There wasn’t time to retrace my steps, and I couldn’t finish the trail. I headed back for the courtyard where I’d left Corbin because I didn’t know what else to do.
“I knew you’d come back.”
I turned to find Corbin, leaning against the building. “Going to try to kill me again?” I asked, ready with the pole.
He scrunched his nose. “I think you might win this fight, pet.”
“What do you want, Corbin?”
“To help.”
He sounded sincere, but—“I don’t need help.”
“Really.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you plan on taking the pole back? You are a spirit who will be put back into a body. If you’re carrying the pole when the reuniting takes place, its power will reside in you. Some people may want that, but I assume you’re not one of them. You need me, the only one crossing over, who is the same—dead—on both sides. ”
I shook my head. “I can’t trust you.”
He reached for me, but I stepped back. “But you can.”
“You tried to kill me.”
He nodded. “I couldn’t do it though, could I? I couldn’t feel anything but pain, Selene, before I met you. I didn’t realize I’d changed because it had been my reality for so long—but I couldn’t have passed my essence to you if I was still bonded to her.” He stepped toward me. “You were right. She was gone. You gave me my life back. I owe you everything.”
I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t forgotten that he’d said he loved me earlier, but I also couldn’t return those feelings.
“I need you,” he said. My watch beeped again. Only five minutes to get back. “And you need to get back now.”
“I don’t know where I’m going.”
“Sure you do. Hand me the pole and transport to where you woke up. I’ll take this home.”
I gripped the pole tighter. “I can’t transport.”
“Of course you can. Try.”
“If you betray me, Corbin, Cheney will never stop hunting you.”
Corbin flashed a wolfish grin. “Trust me, pet.”
I released the pole with great reluctance and then put all the energy I still had from it into transporting. The smell of flowers filled my senses. Then it
was gone.
I opened my eyes to see a pair of dark eyebrows and white hair. Frost. “Where’s Cheney?”
She shrugged. “He’s been in and out. I think he has a minor crisis on his hands.”
There was a knock on the door.
“What?” Frost said.
“Everything okay?” Cheney asked.
She pressed her finger to her lips. “Yep, just me and a dead girl.”
Two sets of footsteps sounded down the hallway.
“Why didn’t you tell him—”
“That you’re back?”
I nodded, sitting up.
“Because he would stop everything he’s doing and”—she sighed—“this is probably something he should finish.”
“What’s happening out there?”
“Nothing good and nothing for you to worry about. You have your own trouble to take care of, do you not?”
She was right. There was another knock on the door, but this time she opened it. Sy came in. He did a double take before he threw his arms around my neck. His eyes glistened. “Took your time.” He smiled and hugged me tight. “I thought I was going to have to come and get you.”
I hugged him back even tighter.
“I don’t mean to break up this touching reunion, but I need to have a little girl chat with her,” Frost said.
Sy didn’t move. “You’ll have to do that later. Cheney will want to know she’s back.”
Frost rolled her eyes. “Good idea. Why don’t you go find him?”
I kept my face passive. What was Frost doing? She’d just sent Cheney away and now she was sending Sy away too? I wasn’t afraid of being alone with Frost. After what I’d been through, I wasn’t afraid of much of anything. Sy glanced at me and I nodded. He left. I looked at Frost. “I think you have a lot of explaining to do.”
She glared. “I have a lot of explaining? What about you? Did you know you were pregnant when you asked me to do this?”
My jaw fell open and my mind went blank. I was…what?
“I take your shocked silence to mean you didn’t know.”
I shook my head. “Are—are you sure? Does Cheney know?”
“I’m sure you were pregnant. You still might be. I tried to hold on to the baby the whole time, but I don’t know if it worked. I couldn’t leave the room for even a moment. Speaking of that”—she jumped up—“I have to go the bathroom.” She went toward my bathroom, undoing her pants but still talking. “You need to see a doctor before you do anything else. I haven’t said anything to the Erlking.”