“Dad,” I whispered in his ear. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and turned before he could see how watery my eyes had gotten. Bryn and I were on the run. There wasn’t time for long, teary good-byes. I bit my lip and grabbed Bryn’s hand. “You ready?”
“If you are,” Bryn said.
I swallowed hard. “Gotta be.” I walked fast toward to the door.
Behind us, Caedrin said, “No, you stay here for now.”
“I’m going,” Crux said, and the sounds of a scuffle began.
“No,” Caedrin said. It was the last thing I heard as we went outside.
27
WE RUSHED AWAY from the house, following the tree line to the path Momma had taken to bring me there.
When we’d walked for about a mile, the whispers of the trees faded to silence. My shoulders hunched, and I jogged away from the forest.
“These trees are loyal to that Colis guy. Let’s get away from them,” I said.
Bryn changed direction with me, but then he cocked his head and paused. “How about the water, Tamara? I can hear a creek calling to me.”
“Yeah, absolutely. Colis is the tree keeper, not the river keeper. Water should be okay, I think. Lead the way.”
Bryn pointed, and we started to jog.
“Faster,” I said, my skin prickling like static rode the air and would shock us any minute.
“Do you feel that?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, and then a wave of some kind of sharp magic rolled over me, making my breath catch. Because I was already panting from sprinting, it nearly knocked me over. I stumbled to my knees.
Hoofbeats pounded the ground in the distance. Bryn crouched next to me, putting a hand on my back.
“I’m okay,” I said, my palms resting on the ground. Fae power flowed through my hands, and I immediately felt better. “How much farther?” I looked up at him. “Till we get to the water?”
He closed his eyes and tipped his head, assessing the water’s call, I guessed. “I can’t tell exactly,” he said.
“They’re racing toward us.” I rose and started walking. “Let’s go as fast as we can.”
We jogged through a field of tall wildflowers.
“Almost there,” he said, but I knew we wouldn’t make it.
Insects or tiny fae buzzed by us. I grabbed Bryn’s arm and yanked him down so we were hidden by the grass.
“She only wants me. You stay here. If you get the chance to get out of the Never, you go. I’ll follow you as soon as I can,” I said.
“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving you here.”
“Yes, you are,” I urged, giving him a shove. He didn’t budge. “I got you into this, and now I want you out of it.”
“No way.”
“Yes, because I don’t want her to see you.”
“Listen, whatever happens, we’re together. That oath we made, we’re connected—for life or longer,” he said, grabbing my hands so our rings clinked against each other.
“That doesn’t count in here. These are just rings. Can’t you feel the difference?”
“I feel a difference, but nothing’s changed. Wherever you go in this world or any world, I go as well. I will never leave you anywhere. How can you expect me to? You know if the situation were reversed, you wouldn’t leave me.”
I bit my lip and tried to lie. “I might.”
He laughed. “Be serious.”
“Hey, I am very, very serious. I don’t want her seeing you. If you won’t leave the Never without me, okay. You stay in the water. I’ll come find you when I escape again.” I pushed his shoulder, but he just quirked a brow. “Listen,” I said, changing tactics. “What if I can’t figure out a way to escape? If you don’t get captured, you can make a plan to rescue me. How about that?”
He smiled, and put his arms out in surrender.
“They’re almost here!” I whispered frantically. “Get away from me. Go!”
Bryn backed up, whispering, “Be careful.”
“Yep,” I said, crawling forward to put some distance between us. When the horses stopped at the edge of the field, I marched out. I shoved my tangled hair back from my sweaty face.
“Hi,” I said, waving. “I’m lost. Which way to the castle?”
A group of blond faeries, male and female, jumped down from their horses and surrounded me. Some had bows loaded with arrows, others swords. They pointed their weapons at me.
“Okay, gotcha,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender. “Didn’t anybody tell you guys that my memory got lost? I’m not fixin’ to fight even one of you, let alone all of you at once like I’m in a Jason Statham movie.”
Ghislaine rode up on a white horse. She wore a crown of white roses and a shimmering peach dress that flowed around her bare legs. She pointed at three of the fae and then nodded toward the flowers.
“Hey, where are you going?” They disappeared among the blooms. I looked up at the queen. “Where are they going?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.
She ignored the question.
Moments later, they emerged with Bryn. Despite being captured, he looked completely relaxed. I, on the other hand, felt like a jack-in-the-box that was fully wound up. I darted forward and jumped in front of him.
“He’s mine,” I announced, reaching back to grab his arms. As he tried to move right, so did I. When he tried to move left, I was there before him. He sighed and stopped trying to get around me.
“What do you think you’re accomplishing?” Bryn murmured.
I didn’t answer Bryn or acknowledge him. “He’s mine,” I repeated firmly.
“Your what?” Ghislaine asked, looking down at us from the top of her big white steed.
“My everything. My lawyer. My friend. And my . . . my husband.”
“Pardon me?” she asked, her lovely almond-shaped eyes narrowing.
“Yep, I married him. We did that in Las Vegas. It’s a place with a lot of big casinos and hotels that are based on other places. Sometimes you win six hundred and forty dollars there, and then the next day you lose fifteen hundred, like my friend Kenny. And, boy, is your wife mad, since you swore you were just going to Vegas so she could see Celine Dion sing.”
“What are you saying? Are you speaking English?”
“Of course. What else would I be speaking? Anyway, what I was explaining is that sometimes you come home broke. But other times you hit the jackpot. Instead of money, I got this handsome lawyer. And if you get engaged in Las Vegas, you don’t have to drag things out. They’ve got these little chapels where everything’s all set. Photographer, witnesses, even Elvis Presley sometimes.”
“Your speech is incomprehensible,” Ghislaine said.
“Well, I’m—”
“Stop talking,” she ordered. “Step aside. Let me look at him.”
I didn’t move an inch. “He’s mine.”
“So you’ve said. But you’re not free to marry. You’re first assassin of the realm. No member of court can marry without my permission.”
“Yeah, she can. If she’s had a couple babies. Like I did.”
“You haven’t—What are you talking about?”
“Time moves way different out there. As I’m sure you’ve heard.”
She stared at me. “I don’t believe you. You don’t behave like a mother.”
“Well, I’m not very good at it. Maybe if I’d had a mother of my own instead of getting trained to be an assassin, I would’ve been better.”
“What are their names? Your children?”
I faltered for half a second, then heard myself blurt, “Tamara and Josephine. They’re real cute, but they get in all sorts of trouble.”
“You never know what they’ll say or do in a given situation,” Bryn said mildly. “Shakespeare was less creative.”
I turn
ed my head slightly and said, “Shhh! I’m handling this.”
“Are you?” he asked.
“Shakespeare, we’ve heard of him. We have his plays. All of them. In the royal library. I enjoy them, but he’s not my favorite.”
“Who is?” I asked, tilting my head. I would’ve talked about anything to get away from the subject of my marriage and children.
“Agatha Christie, Oscar Wilde, and Cary Grant.”
“Um, Cary Grant was in movies. You’ve got movies here?”
The queen studied me thoughtfully.
“I thought it was like Excalibur times here,” I said.
“Our acting troupes have performed Mr. Grant’s plays. I’ve heard that plays are performed differently humanside now, but I don’t know why they’ve made that change.”
“Did Cary Grant write those movies he starred in?” I asked Bryn.
“No.”
“Didn’t think so,” I whispered. “I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
“You seem to remember a lot about the human world,” Ghislaine said.
“Well, I lived there for a while. Married to him,” I said, nodding toward Bryn, whom I was still shielding from view.
“Did you see a lot of plays and movies?” the queen asked.
“Um, sure. Quite a few.”
“You never liked plays.”
“I didn’t say I liked ’em all. But what are you going to do all weekend? Sometimes you see a movie,” I said.
“I’ve had some of the pastries you made. You’ve become exceptionally talented at baking since you left.”
“Families get hungry. Gotta learn to make stuff for them to eat,” I said, shrugging.
“Separate them,” Ghislaine said.
“Hang on,” I said, trying to keep them from moving me. I kicked at them, but not all that effectively, since I was trying to stay close to Bryn. When they dragged me away from him, he stood casually still while I struggled until my hair hung half in my eyes and they’d pinned my arms behind me.
“All right,” I growled. “I’m done.” I settled down and glared at the guy holding a dagger to my throat.
Ghislaine wasn’t paying attention to us. She had eyes only for Bryn. Her gaze started at Bryn’s hair and finished at his feet, then went the other way.
“You look a little like the portrait we have of Cary Grant.”
“Except Bryn is better-looking.”
“You also look like a selkie.”
“What’s a selkie?” I asked, trying to get her to stop looking at him. I’d been afraid of this from the moment I started having visions of visiting Ireland and the Never: This queen would see Bryn and want him for herself. Honestly, I’d been more worried about that than anything. Even getting killed hadn’t been as big a concern, which was silly, but there you have it. Faeries are notoriously possessive. Apparently I’d gotten more than my fair share of that fae trait.
Ghislaine’s gaze finally shifted to me. “I know everything about Kismet. She does sometimes speak with the accents she hears humanside. She does sometimes seem like a different person for a few days when she returns from a mission. But at her core, she’s never been so altered. If she loved a human, she wouldn’t bring him into the Never and then try so desperately and feebly to conceal him. Also, she wouldn’t love him the way you do. You love the way humans love.”
“I’m half human,” I said.
“To be sure, you are at least half human. Maybe more. But one thing you’re not is first assassin of the Seelie court. Where is she? Where’s Kismet?”
“Gone,” I said, letting the tension flow out of me. I folded my arms across my chest. No more games. No more fidgeting or posturing. Just one lie that I would tell without flinching. One lie told without hesitation, because it mattered more than any lie I’d ever told in my life.
I locked eyes with the Seelie queen and unblinkingly said, “Kismet’s dead.”
28
GHISLAINE PALED, HER golden skin fading to ivory as she swayed on her horse. Several faeries darted forward, but she steadied herself.
I glanced at Bryn. He hadn’t reacted to my announcement. I’d never been so grateful for his unflappability under pressure.
“Maybe you’re telling the truth. But perhaps not. Humans lie. They’re notorious for it,” she said, dismounting. She flowed forward; it’s the only way to describe the way she moved. Her energy reached me a second before her body; it was warm and buzzed like a honeybee. Her feet didn’t touch the ground. She grabbed my throat in a supernaturally strong grip. “Where and when and how did she die? If you lie to me, you’ll regret it till your last breath.”
I knocked her hand away, and everyone gasped. “I don’t know who killed her. We were fighting wizards and werewolves in the middle of a rainstorm. She was badly wounded.”
“By iron? Was she shot with iron?”
“I guess so. I didn’t stop to inspect the ammunition.”
Ghislaine exhaled, and the stinging sensation from her essence melted away. Only warmth and light flowed from her in her relief. “She’s not dead. You surely mistook her condition. She’s very good at surviving. Exceptional at it.” Ghislaine said the last line with such conviction, no one would have dared to contradict her.
“She wasn’t breathing. She didn’t have a pulse,” I said. I wanted to go farther to protect my sister. I wanted to claim she’d had an iron bullet or arrow through her heart. Or that her throat had been too badly torn. Anything to convince them that she’d died for sure. If I’d known she wouldn’t come to the Never again, I’d have sworn she was dead. But Crux had been so convinced she would turn up. If she did, what would I say? That I’d buried her alive? My own sister?
“Her heart’s beating might have been too faint for you to feel. We’re not as fragile as humans. Even when there are no signs of life, a faery body can live on, healing wounds that would kill a human, or even a werewolf.”
“She’s half human. She can die from wounds that weren’t made by iron,” I said. I’d nearly died from a few wounds that weren’t. Of course, I’d also survived and healed things no normal person could have.
“Enough,” she said, waving her elegant hand. Her color had returned and heightened. Her flushed skin glowed, creating a halo of light like the sun. She turned and leaped so high it was as if she’d sprung from a trampoline. She landed on her horse without so much as a thump.
My jaw dropped. She could’ve made a million dollars playing ladies’ basketball or as a prima ballerina.
“Bring them,” she said.
“Hold your horses,” I exclaimed. “I’m not yours to bring anywhere. I’m not Seelie fae. I’m human.”
“You’re a half-breed, like her.”
“Not like her. I’m second-born.”
Her eyes flashed furiously, the gold flecks sparkling. The other fae looked at her in confusion. They didn’t know the old laws.
“You came into my territory and deceived us. You’re half-blooded Seelie fae. I may claim you for the Never as one of us. Or I may declare you a spy from humanside. Either way, you won’t roam free in these lands unless I give you leave to.” She looked at her subjects and issued her commands. “Shackle the Halfling. And her lover. Put them behind iron doors and under guard.”
They didn’t hesitate, and she didn’t look back. She turned her horse and galloped away.
I knew one thing for sure: Ghislaine wasn’t just angry that her best killer had disappeared. Kismet meant more than that. Did the queen care about her? In a messed-up faery way, had she even loved the Halfling child she’d been given as tribute?
I frowned thoughtfully. Even if the queen did feel bad at the prospect of Kismet being killed, Ghislaine hadn’t taken care of my sister when she was little; she hadn’t raised her in the castle. She’d put her in foster homes and treated her like a second-class
citizen. She’d also had Kismet’s own boyfriend whip her for making a mistake on a mission.
My spine stiffened as my blood cooled. I didn’t care how Ghislaine felt about Kismet deep down. She’d mistreated Kis her whole life. If I could convince them Kismet was dead and keep her out of their hands forever, that’s exactly what I would do. And I wouldn’t regret it for a minute.
* * *
THE TREES THAT lined the path back to the castle had begun to whisper, which I found comforting. In my experience, silence from trees never meant anything good. I wondered if the spells or magical pact the tree keeper had made with the trees was wearing off. If so, the exits out of the Never might open. Not that it would do us any good at the moment. But I didn’t plan to be a prisoner forever.
My wrists were locked together in metal cuffs in front of me, and I sat astride a horse with a fae warrior at my back, who occasionally put an arm around my waist.
“Cut it out,” I said, pushing his hand away.
Bryn’s cobalt eyes darkened to the color of stormy skies. His hands were bound, too, but behind his back. He was alone on a mount that was being led along the path. I had an intense longing to be on his horse, pressed against him. The black stallion, prompted by Bryn’s knee in his left flank, came alongside us. Without hesitation, I swung my left leg up and over, so both legs were on my horse’s right side. I popped down to the ground, and grabbed Bryn’s thigh to steady myself as I pushed his foot from the stirrup. I shoved my foot in and sprang up. I swung my leg over, sitting behind Bryn and gripping his hands with mine. The whole horse swap took only seconds, which I knew was my body being influenced by the Never and by my sister’s skills. I couldn’t have moved so smoothly or quickly in the human world. I’m sure if I’d tried, I’d have landed with my butt in the dirt. I hoped that outside the Never, Kismet was getting the benefit of my talents, knowing by instinct how to make friends and how to make pastries and pies. I hoped she was happy.
The knight whose horse I’d been on grabbed the reins of Bryn’s horse to keep us from galloping away I guessed.
Bryn leaned back into me, and I rested my chin on his shoulder.
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