by A and E Kirk
“Maybe later. We need to get moving.” Kiara threw the duffle bag over her head, twisted her fingers in the mare’s mane, and swung up onto her back. The unicorn reared and whinnied and took off with Kiara shouting, “Hi-ho kryptonite and away!”
Leontes and Jaeger mounted steeds and followed quickly, but not quickly enough. With snow both falling from the sky and being flung up by the racing hooves, they lost sight of her. When they arrived at the edge of the forest overlooking Mab’s castle, Kiara was gone, the mare riderless. The duffle bag rested on the ground beside her, two iron swords sitting on top.
A few of the unicorns had remained back in the clearing with the young foals, but the majority of the herd had come along and now stood behind them, bodies shuffling with anxious energy, their heavy breathing easy to hear now that the wind had died down.
The drawbridge to the castle was closed. Four sentries stood at the top of the tower above it. Several more patrolled along the top of the parapet wall.
“Where is she?” Jaeger asked.
Leontes pointed to one of the massive chunks of ice floating in the moat. A figure climbed up the iceberg on the side that was turned away from the castle and out of sight of the guards. When Kiara made it nearly to the top, almost level with the parapet, she stopped. Then, when the ice she clung to floated around the corner, far away from the guards, she scrambled to the top and leapt into the air. But she did not leap far enough.
Kiara’s stomach hit the lip, and she slipped off the wall.
CHAPTER 93
Kiara’s fingers caught the edge, and she hung by one hand for several seconds, legs dangling, her body swinging over the moat far below.
She reached up and grasped the ledge, which left her hanging by two hands as her feet struggled for purchase. They slipped again, and then again on the smooth walls of ice. She frantically stabbed her toe hard into the ice until she finally chipped away enough to create a foothold. She pushed off with one leg, swung the other up and over, then disappeared out of sight.
Seconds later, she jumped up and waved her arms, and did a little victory dance that included punching and fist bumping the air.
Jaeger let out the breath he had been holding. “Couldn’t she have just flown?”
A small smile flitted over Leontes’ mouth. “Certainly. But that would be too simple, and something Mab would expect.”
Jaeger eyed him. “You seem awfully calm. Usually when she’s doing dangerous stuff you freak out.”
“I do not ever ‘freak out,’ ” Leontes said. “However, my usual and very valid concern is uncalled for in this instance. When it comes to rescuing children, Kiara is at her best.”
“But she killed kids, so the story goes,” Jaeger said.
Leontes clenched his jaw and took a moment to respond. “Once she found a shred of humanity, she would go to any lengths to keep a child safe. Some called it her only weakness.” He cocked his head and looked thoughtful. “Which begs the question…”
When he did not finish the sentence, Jaeger asked, “What?”
Leontes shook his head. “Nothing. Giselle is our only concern.” He leaned down and grabbed the duffle bag and swords. “Stay close and grab Giselle the first chance you get.”
“You’re that sure she’ll get us in?”
“With Kiara, getting in is always easy. It is the getting out that can prove a challenge.” Leontes tossed one of the swords to Jaeger, who caught it easily. “Do you know how to use one of those?”
“I think I can manage.” Jaeger tested the grip and sliced the blade through the air a few times. “By the way, I’m glad to see you’ve calmed down over the whole Kiara and me thing.”
The tip of Leontes’ sword was suddenly under Jaeger’s chin. The point dug into his throat, just short of drawing blood. Jaeger froze.
Leontes’ eyes narrowed at the werewolf prince and his voice rumbled from a dark and dangerous place. “Do not misconstrue my service to Giselle’s liberation as in any way an acceptance of your behavior. There is no you and Kiara, and there never will be.”
Jaeger swallowed hard. “Okay. My mistake then.”
“Once this mission is over, you will be gone from our lives, never to see or touch her again.” With one last murderous look, Leontes dropped the sword and pointed it straight ahead. “Now, be ready. The fun and games are not far from commencement.”
At the top of the castle, Mab’s soldiers started flying over the wall as Kiara fought through them, moving down the parapet toward the guardhouse. Some made a clean fall into the water, others took the more painful path of bouncing off and rolling down the unforgiving icebergs, leaving trails of blood in their wake before they splashed into the moat. The few that resurfaced and tried to swim to the edge were eaten by large, reptilian creatures with endless rows of sharp teeth.
After the last guard plunged to his doom, Leontes and Jaeger heard giant gears turning in the distance, and the drawbridge began its descent across the moat. At Kiara’s familiar whistle, the unicorns leapt into action, like bullets firing from a gun.
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The drawbridge did not even make it down all the way before the beasts leapt onto it and galloped across. Inside the castle walls, fairies screamed and scattered, but the unicorns showed no mercy. They took as many of them out as they possibly could, and in the most violent ways.
Kiara jumped onto the mare’s back and steered her through the maze of streets, then finally inside the castle itself, the thundering roar echoing off the walls. Riding with the mob of magical and maniacal creatures, Leontes and Jaeger followed, using their swords to cut a path through anyone who tried to stop them.
Reaching the end of one long corridor, the lavender mare reared up. Kiara leaned forward and grasped her purple mane as the mare drove her iron-spiked hooves into the large, arched doorway. The entry burst open with a shattering crash and the stampede barreled through.
Towering walls of frosted iceberg-blue reached to a high ceiling made of interwoven puzzle pieces of clear glittering ice. Elegant furniture gleamed pure white. Crystal vases spilled over with an array of blooms, the petals’ bright colors paled by a layer of frost. Chamber music played a haunting tune. A dozen icicle chandeliers floated above the crowd, tethered to nothing, floating gracefully in the air and lit with candles of blue flame that haloed the room in a wintry glow.
Goblins, elves, hags, brownies, satyrs, and fairies of all kinds, decked out in varying centuries of fashion—from swirling gowns to miniskirts, pantaloons to jeans—all filled Mab’s grand throne room. Most creatures were inhumanly gorgeous, others looked torn from the grimmest of Grimm fairy tales. Regardless, at the sight of the unicorns, every last one of them shrieked and ran.
Doors materialized from thin air. Fairies disappeared at dizzying speed until only a reluctant few servants remained with the guards, who, with a viper’s hiss and brittle twang, unsheathed their swords of ice.
Blood spatter twinkled like rubies on the unicorns’ coats. The silver of their horns and hooves no longer shined since it was covered with the flesh and guts of those who had dared stand in their way. Those who had been trampled, gored, eaten alive—or all three.
Kiara swung off her lavender mare.
“Oh. My. God.” Jaeger skidded off his mount. “Giselle is never getting a unicorn-themed room now.”
Leontes slipped to the floor. “Their wrath is extreme, but effective.”
Kiara picked a severed finger out of the mare’s mane and held it out. The unicorn devoured it greedily with crunchy slurps. Kiara noticed their horrified looks.
“What?” she shrugged. “They like dead things.”
“Yeah,” Jaeger agreed. “And they like making things dead.”
Kiara patted the glossy neck and watched the mare join the rest of the herd, which arranged themselves as a blockade in front of the busted doors.
“Well, well, well…” A cold voice drifted through the court like a snowflake on the wind. Cold. Delicate. Mesmeri
zing. “I do so enjoy surprises, but only when I am perpetrating them.”
Seemingly unperturbed by the chaos, Mab, a perfection of the female form, rose from her throne of black ice. Fringed by frosty lashes, her narrowed eyes shifted like northern lights, swirling from glacial green to icy blue to chilled violet. Atop her head, an intricately carved crown sat rimmed with precious gems and icicles. Her long white hair floated and rippled like dry ice.
Flowing fabric sparkling like the arctic tundra, her pearl gown clung to every perfect curve and angle of her provocative body and blended seamlessly into the icy ground. Jewelry of silver, ice, and diamonds encircled her wrists like twisted branches bare from winter’s torment. Pale gems caressed her throat, dangling into the swell of her breasts. Her lips shimmered the shade of frosted cherries. The cruel curve of her smile was about as comforting as cracks underfoot while standing on a frozen lake.
Mab descended the steps of her throne with imperious grace. “Kiara, this is all so barbaric and thoroughly unnecessary. I had thought the years of…solitude might have taught you some manners. I lost one of my favorites to your wretched curse and that shifter mutt.”
Kiara smirked. “We’ll call it even since you framed me for murder.”
“Me?” Mab placed a hand to her bosom. “I am flattered, but alas, I can muster only partial credit. Honestly, I thought you would be grateful that we kept them from conspiring behind your back.”
“Grateful?” Kiara said. “For slaughtering innocent people? No thanks.”
“What did I tell you, Your Majesty? I wasn’t lying when I said she be going all sensitive and squeamish on us.” Callahan leaned against a frozen pillar of ice and offered the new group a smile and friendly wave. “Cheers, mates.”
“How dreadfully boring of you, Kiara,” Mab said with a disappointed frown. “I assure you, the assassin was only employed to, shall we say, eliminate with prejudice, a chosen few in order to disrupt the lease agreement upon you. The one those tiny peons so rudely negotiated without me. But then he severed all contact and took things to an entirely other level.”
“So you not only let loose a rabid dog, but you then lost it?” Leontes said.
“My dear Leontes, do not speak as though that has never happened to you, of all people.” Mab looked pointedly from him to Kiara. “I could almost forgive the slayer for his impertinence, as it turned out to be a brilliant strategy. The massacres. Framing Oleander. It even brought the elusive Leontes and Kiara out of hiding. The sheer chaos that resulted is so…sumptuous.” Mab sighed dreamily and bit her lower lip as a blush pinked her cheeks.
“So framing me wasn’t your idea?” Kiara said.
“Alas, no,” Mab said. “But when I found that he wanted the werewolf child, I realized his intent and decided to procure her first. So at the Institute, Callahan bravely rescued the tiny mutt from the ruthless imposter and now you are here at my written invitation.” She spread her hands and smiled. “How lovely that it all worked out so well.”
“What written invitation?” Leontes asked.
Mab turned livid eyes on Callahan, who quickly lost his relaxed pose, saying, “I left it in their rooms! I swear!”
Mab rippled her shoulders in a delicate shrug. “No wonder it took you so long to arrive. Ah, well. I forgive you. As I always have.” Mab drifted closer, her pale eyes sliding hungrily over Leontes. “How is it possible that you are even more handsome than I remember? You mustn’t let Kiara hide you away again.”
When she raised a hand to caress his cheek, Leontes casually knocked it away and said in a bored tone, “Still not interested.”
A sound from Jaeger’s throat brought Mab’s lecherous gaze upon him.
“And the dashing werewolf prince. How you have grown. A veritable feast for the eyes. And a delicious pleasure for my body, I am sure.” A shimmering jewel-encrusted goblet materialized in her hand. She fluttered her lashes and dropped her voice to a silky thread. “Perhaps you would like a refreshing libation after your exertions. I promise you will find it intimately satisfying.”
Jaeger’s eyes started to glaze over. He slowly lifted his hand to take the cup. Kiara kicked out, shattering the goblet and splashing its contents on Mab, earning her a brief, venomous look from the queen.
Jaeger shook his head to clear it.
“Don’t eat or drink. Or you’ll end up like them.” Kiara nodded toward the walls.
Embedded in the thick ice were numerous bodies. They ranged in appearance. Some so pristine they might be merely sleeping, others in varying levels of decay of rotting flesh. The rest were simply skeletons.
Kiara continued, “And don’t dance with anyone, or make a bargain or—”
“Hey.” Jaeger’s impatient eyes were sun-kissed clear. “I get it.”
“We have no time to play your games, Your Majesty.” Leontes put on his diplomat’s voice. “You have wreaked your havoc. The leaders will decide your punishment. We simply want the werewolf child.”
“But of course.” Mab slapped away the servants who had raced to clean the liquid Kiara had spilled. She snapped her fingers and a square space in the floor opened up, revealing a staircase.
A young girl the color of seaweed, wearing long dreadlocks and a white tunic, stepped out holding a sleeping Giselle in human form, wrapped in a blanket of shimmering pastels. The girl handed the baby to Jaeger.
“I wish your niece and you a long and happy life,” Mab said pleasantly. “She is in a fairy slumber, completely innocuous to her health, from which she will awake as soon as you leave my realm. You may go, handsome prince. And give Alpha my finest regards.” She gave Jaeger a shooing gesture.
Kiara and Leontes set up a protective stance around Jaeger and Giselle, who yawned and snuggled against Jaeger’s chest, cocooned in a deep sleep, and apparently unharmed.
Hands on her hips, Kiara faced Mab. “That’s it? The Queen of Mean goes to all this trouble and now you’re handing her over without a fight?” Her green eyes shifted warily around the room.
Mab’s languid gaze rolled over Kiara, eyes devoid of pupils, just the swirling white of a dead-of-winter blizzard. “The child never held my interest, other than as a means to an end.”
“Which is?” Kiara asked.
“Oh no,” Leontes muttered.
“It was but a simple and effective ruse.” Mab’s lips peeled back into a shark smile. “To lure you here.”
The hairs on the back of Kiara’s neck rose as though Mab had stroked one of her icicle fingernails down her spine. She took a cautious step back.
After shooting an anxious look from Kiara to Mab, Leontes grabbed the queen and held his sword to her throat. The knife didn’t touch skin, but the nearness of the iron reddened the flesh below. The queen did not flinch.
“What did you do?” Leontes growled.
Mab disintegrated into a swirl of snowflakes, leaving Leontes holding air. She reappeared, lounging on her throne, and clapped her hands together like a delighted child.
“I made a bargain,” she said.
A giggle echoed, soft and distant, gentle as wind chimes. Fear hit Kiara like a freight train. Her pulse thundered, trembling her fingers, as sweat oozed in waterfall proportions. She turned a frantic circle, ragged breaths fogging the air.
That laugh. It frosted her veins. The laugh of death. Her death. The laugh she had heard the night she died.
Frigid energy pierced like needles through her brain, stabbing away her consciousness…
CHAPTER 95
Heart beating frantically in her ears, Kiara threw a satchel to a dark figure. “Da Vinci, do not stand there! Run!”
She struggled to sit up, but a sword pierced through her belly and into the dirt underneath, pinning her to the ground. Her body, already so beaten down and mangled, barely felt the hot throb and sting of pain. Blood oozed from the wound and joined the rest covering her body.
The bearded man hesitated only briefly before he slung the bag over his shoulder and melted into the
shadows of the moonlit forest.
Kiara’s attacker stalked forward, the hood of a heavy cloak keeping the woman’s face in darkness.
Teeth gritted, Kiara yanked the sword free from her gut and swung with every ounce of power left in her broken body. The woman vanished. The blade passed through air. Kiara fumbled to her feet, only to take a kick to the face. Her body spun and slapped back down with a painful thud. She tasted dirt. Leaves and pine needles scratched her cheek.
“You are weak,” the woman spat. Then a giggle bubbled from her lips. An obscene maniacal sound. “What a bitter disappointment. Your precious master would not hold you in such high regard if he could see you now.”
Kiara rolled onto her back and tried to conjure magic into her hands, but the woman stomped on her wrists. Bones crunched. Kiara clenched her jaw against a scream.
“Give me the Midnight Poison now and you have my word, when I find da Vinci, I will let him live.”
Blood bubbled from Kiara’s lips, hot and salty. She curled onto her side, away from the attacker, and battled for consciousness as she yanked off her necklace. Her other hand unsheathed the knife hidden in her boot.
The woman moved closer. The prickling started in Kiara’s head, like insects scurrying through her brain, devouring her thoughts, stealing her secrets, and leaving her empty. Kiara pushed back the deadly magic and splashed her blade with the liquid concealed in the necklace.
“Do not fight it.” The woman squatted and leaned her face close, her breath a sour stench of rot. “Let me in and reveal all. You no longer have the power to resist.”
With blurred speed, Kiara slashed the knife. It sliced a deep gash down the woman’s face. Blood spilled in slow drips. Kiara struck again.
The woman caught the blade in her hand with barely a wince even as it cut to the bone. Red spurted through the knuckles of her clenched fist.
She chuckled. “A few bits of broken flesh? You think that will stop me? Your magic was always pathetic, but this—”