by Sophie Oak
“Bron’s ready. We have to go.” He took a long breath. She was ready and he was miles and miles away.
“Uhm, we’re two days march from the palace. She better stay ready for a while.” Dellacourt looked around. “Or we can hope Roan brings back an army of bikes. Do you understand how much easier warfare is on my plane? We all sit in our rooms and fire at each other remotely. Seriously, I have snacks and drinks during wars. I always get my face fucked up on Faery planes. It’s barbaric.”
Shim had begun to notice the vampire talked really fast when he was getting emotional. It had annoyed him greatly at first until he’d realized that for all Dellacourt’s complaints, he’d walked away from his whole world.
Dante Dellacourt fought the good fight.
“I shall try to preserve your beauty,” Shim replied.
Dellacourt flushed a bit. “Sorry. It’s just I’ve been waiting for this fight for what seems like most of my life and now that it’s here, I worry about the cost. I won’t back down, you understand. I will pay it, but I worry.”
He looked back at his wife. Kaja wouldn’t stand in the background. She wouldn’t allow herself to be locked away. She would fight beside her husband because that was what husbands and wives did.
But Shim needed to consider other things now. He had a war to stage and the most important piece was in place. “How do we get everyone to the palace and quickly?”
“We ride the winds.” Beckett Finn strode up the road, his voice ringing out.
Shim sighed because he could feel his brother again. Lach walked slightly behind the Kings of the Seelie Fae.
Beckett and Cian Finn strode into the square with their wife between them. Not a one wore a crown on their head, but everyone in the village dropped to one knee.
Shim was happy to see the kings, but happier to see his brother. He rushed to Lach. “Did you hear her?”
Lach nodded, his whole face beaming, looking more vibrant than he could ever remember his brother looking. “I did. And we were hurrying.” His smile grew vibrant. “Father worked while we were gone. He found a witch. She tore open a huge fucking hole in the door. Torin is going to know we’re here now. Take a look at what I brought, brother.”
Shim looked behind Lach and felt his mouth drop open. An army walked behind Lach. Shim couldn’t count them. They seemed endless. He saw Maon, his father’s chief advisor and the whole council dressed for war. And then he saw Gillian, flying, her feet working so hard they barely touched the ground. His sister ran and flung herself at their father.
“When I got home, they were all waiting. Vampires. Our people. Beck and Cian’s people. They wouldn’t be left behind. Our father most of all.”
“Dad?” Dellacourt shouted out and ran toward a big man in boots and a hat.
But Shim was concentrating on his father.
King Fergus of the Unseelie Fae kept his arm around his daughter as he walked to meet his sons. “Shim, I’m so proud of you, son.”
Shim felt his heart clench. How long had he waited to hear those words? Lach stood beside him, his big brother, lending him strength. “Thank you, father.”
His father looked him in the eye, as though trying to send his will into his son. “I mean it, Shim. You were steadfast. You knew the truth and you and Lach held it and despite everything I threw at you, you brought back your sister and you…you honored your brother.” Fergus stopped, emotion choking him. “When this is all done, we’re finding Duffy and bringing him home. He belongs in the family crypt with his mother and his ancestors. He did us all proud.”
Roan walked up behind their father. “Your Highnesses, we stand ready to fight. We are a small force compared to what we’re up against, but we’re strong. Julian Lodge and his business partner, Stefan Talbot, paid to have us outfitted with the finest in weaponry and they’ve come along.”
Cousin Julian gave him a broad smile. “You know I never miss the chance to shed a little blood.”
They were here. His whole family. His whole kingdom. The ones who’d thought he was defective now stood behind him. Something opened wide in Shim and was full for the first time in his life—pride.
That feeling was quickly replaced with panic. “It’s good to have an army, but we need to get them moving. Bron is ready.”
Beckett and Cian stood in the middle of the square, speaking to the villagers. Meg was hugging Kaja and Dante. Beckett looked to Shim. “I told you, we’ll ride the winds. This war will be won today, thanks to my sister. I hear she is well.”
Shim moved closer. “She was. She’s been shielding. I worry she’s hiding from us.”
“I know she’s hiding. I saw what the hag wanted from her.” Lach shuddered a little. “She won’t kill Bron for a day or two, but she’ll torture her. I can’t imagine what Bron’s been through. We’ve waited. She’s ready. I’m not willing to leave her there one moment more. I’ll sprint all the way if I have to.”
Cian put a hand on Lach’s shoulder. “You won’t have to sprint. We have a plan. Beck’s been practicing. But you have to listen. He’s been working on his speech.”
Beck slapped at his brother’s shoulder. “It’s not a speech.”
Cian smirked back at him. “It’s a speech.”
Beck hopped onto the fountain and looked over the crowd. A great cheer went up as Cian joined him and reached out to help his wife up. Queen Meg stood in between her husbands, her face beaming out at the crowd. She was ready just like Bron was ready.
Shim was ready. He’d only just realized it. He was ready to fight and to win because he wasn’t about to lose at this point.
Beck held a hand up and all talking ceased. His voice rang out over the courtyard and beyond. “I want to thank you all for being with us on this day. ’Tis a long time coming. You, my people, have suffered much since my uncle stole my father’s crown, but I am here to tell you, you are not alone. There are others waiting to join us. Today we march on the palace and we take back what belongs to me, to my brother and my wife, and most importantly we take back what belongs to you. Your kingdom, your rights, your lives, and if blood spills, then it will be righteous. We will be outnumbered and we will win.”
A long shout went up, threatening to shake the ground.
“That was a speech,” Lach said with a shake of his head as though he couldn’t think of anything worse for a king to do.
It appeared Shim would have the speechmaking duties in their future kingdom. But for that kingdom to work, they needed their queen. “We’re a day’s march from her. What if the hags kill her?”
Beck leapt down and walked to Shim. “We aren’t more than an hour from our sweet sister. I told you. We will ride the winds.”
An eddy wind would be the fastest way to travel, but first Beck would have to find one and catch it, and finding one big enough would be a huge challenge. This army was at least a thousand men and women. They would need more than one eddy cloud. “King Beckett, shouldn’t we begin the march and try to find eddy clouds along the way?”
Beck grinned broadly. “I don’t have to find an eddy cloud, my brother. I will simply make one. I am the master of storms and I can bring a cloud to carry us all.”
Beck opened his arms and the sky clouded over, the largest eddy cloud Shim had ever seen coalescing right above them.
“Show-off,” Queen Meg said. She grimaced. “I’ve only tried this once before and it was worse than anything Six Flags had to offer.”
Kaja was brimming with excitement. “I enjoy it. Except that my mate tends to get a bit ill.”
Dellacourt held up a small bag. “I have barf bags for everyone!”
Beck looked at his brother, a long moment passing between them. “Let us go and see our sister once more.”
Cian nodded, his hand on his heart.
Cian and Meg disappeared, pulled up by the eddy cloud, and all around him the warriors of their ragtag army were pulled up by the cloud and the will of the Storm Lord.
“Let’s go and claim our wife,�
�� Shim said, reaching a hand to his brother.
Lach took it, their wills as one now.
The cloud scooped them up and they were ready for battle.
* * * *
Torin watched out over the balcony, a sinking feeling in his gut. His kingdom. When Seamus was king and their father before them, Tir na nÓg was a place of stunning beauty, a calm pastoral paradise.
He could see the fires from far-off villages and masses of peasants coming for his head.
One single day. ’Twas all it had taken. A day and a meeting on the road with vagrant monsters. That gang of trolls and goblins had taught him everything he needed to know about the world. It didn’t matter whether a man was a prince or a pauper, death and violence and brokenness came for everyone unless a man took power.
Why couldn’t his people see he was trying to save them? He was smarter than them all. It was why he was king. He hadn’t simply been born to the part. He was ruthless enough to fight and kill for the crown.
“And it’s mine. It will remain mine.” He said the words out loud even as his guard formed a phalanx around the palace.
“My sons will win this day.”
Damn him. The last thing he wanted was to see his brother. His sluagh brother. When this day was over and he remained king, he would force the hags to rid him of all sluagh, all monsters. He would slaughter them all, everyone. Their blood would make the Seelie fields fertile, and then he would dispose of the vampires and the Unseelie and he would rule over all the planes.
Seamus shook his non-corporeal head. “You always were ambitious. It’s too bad I didn’t see how far you would go.”
“You read minds now, brother?” Torin forced his attention to the battlefield. It was a waiting game now. He wasn’t sure if they would march in today or the day after, but he had word that his nephews were on the plane, and that meant they would attack.
“It’s almost a sure thing what you were thinking.” Seamus floated around the room, the act almost a mirror image of the pacing his brother used to do while thinking through a problem. “Why don’t you let Bronwyn go? Can’t you see the hags lied about her?”
The fact that Bronwyn Finn was here in his palace and still breathing made him sick to death. She was here, the one woman who could kill him. Her throat should have been slit the moment the hags found her, but his wife had pleaded their case. “The hags think they can pull power from the girl’s soul. Enough power to defeat the true triad.”
“Which one?” Seamus asked, his voice nonchalant as though he was politely asking about the weather.
Torin turned to his brother. “What do you mean? It’s only a rumor that those idiot boys of yours managed to find a bondmate and create a true triad. I think it’s just a story the villagers tell to give them hope.”
Seamus sighed. “Do you even hear yourself speak? The fact that your own people would even be forced to make up tales to bring themselves hope that one day your reign will end should tell you everything you need to know.”
“They are stupid. I’m protecting them.”
“You are a fool, Torin. You’re justifying your own immorality, but it doesn’t matter, because it isn’t a story. Beck and Cian have come into their powers, but they aren’t the only true triad. My Bron has formed one with the Unseelies. So I ask again, which true triad do they seek to kill, and why didn’t your own hags tell you of this news? I assure you, they knew.”
And yet they had only mentioned that the idiot Unseelie had some small magic. They had not mentioned the triad. Why had they not mentioned the triad?
“Who are you talking to?” Maris asked, walking into the room. If she was upset about the battle about to take place, she didn’t show it, but then his wife was a block of ice that nothing seemed to penetrate.
But he didn’t need anyone to know he saw his brother’s ghost. “I was just musing about why my hags might keep something from me.” He felt his eyes narrow on his lovely bride. So beautiful. So fucking vapid. Could she be in league with the hags? Was it possible?
She huffed a little and crossed to the mirror, smoothing back her already perfect hair. “Well, they are hags, darling. You have to think that at some point in time they will turn on you. I thought you had a plan to take them out when we no longer need those nasty bitches. If you like, you can start it now.”
He was mollified a bit. Seamus huddled in the corner, exactly where he should be, hidden and unseen. “I thought you wanted to keep the Finn girl alive because the hags needed her.”
She sighed, a long-suffering sound. “Well, Torin, there’s a reason you’re the king. I don’t know anything about this. I have no idea why I would say such a thing. Why would I sincerely wish to keep your niece alive? I hate that whole family.” She put a hand to her head. “I actually don’t remember very much about the last few days. Ever since that Finn girl was brought here, my mind has been a bit cloudy. Do you think it’s something I ate? I shall have a long talk with cook just before I have him strung up. So sad to have to find another cook. Good help is so hard to find these days, but there’s nothing for it. I should probably execute the entire kitchen staff.”
She really was an empty, dull vessel, her only contents being pure malice. And she was stupid. “It wasn’t the food. It was the hags.”
Maris’s face twisted a bit. “Why ever should the hags be preparing food? I thought they spent all their time with the Finn girl. One of my maids walked by the room they had her in. She thought she heard some ritual of pulling power.”
“Yes, they said they needed to pull the power in case my nephews have formed a true triad.” The power would be necessary to block whatever they had ascended into.
“See, this is why you’re smarter. I heard that and wondered if we really should allow it. After all when they’re more powerful than all of our armies, what is to stop them from taking the crown?” Maris smiled brightly. “But, of course, it’s surely the very helpful thing you were talking about. You’re never wrong, after all.”
Oh, he wanted to slap the bitch, but she was right. He hadn’t seen. He’d been too arrogant thinking he had power over them. Long ago they had made a deal, bonded and signed by a Planeswalker demon. They would help him ascend and he would hold them at his right hand. The deal was only struck down by death and neither party could kill the other, but if the hags simply allowed him to die, they could take over his kingdom. If the hags used his niece and her power, they could rule with no retribution.
He had to kill his niece and take the power back from the hags.
A loud crack took him out of his thoughts. The sky outside turned black as night, the sun sinking behind an enormous cloud.
“What is that?” Maris asked.
He had only to look at the smirk on his dead brother’s face to know the truth. “It’s an eddy cloud. The rebels are here.”
They began descending from the clouds, their numbers far more than he’d expected. Immediately there were the sounds of metal against metal and a sonic boom as the vampires proved to be terrible allies.
Still, he glanced down, his guard had more numbers and they weren’t without their own weapons.
And none of it would matter if the hags took him out.
Torin ran for the dungeon with only one thought on his mind. Bronwyn’s time had come.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lach fell to the ground, bodies falling all around him, and realized he hadn’t known the true meaning of the word chaos. The sounds and smells of battle assaulted him.
Clanging from swords striking swords rang out across the field. In the distance he could see the White Palace, a gleaming pearl amidst the gloom of afternoon. The cloud they had ridden made it seem more like twilight, but they had hours to go before night.
Dellacourt brushed past him, Kaja in her wolf form at his side and the queen’s hand clutched in his. “Good luck to you, Your Highness. Kaja and I are on Meg duty. We’re getting clear of the field, but I can talk to you through the implants. I’ll look
for a way past the guard and into the palace so you can get to Bron.”
Lach clutched his sword and with his instincts guiding him, brought it down on a guard trying to cut through the queen’s torso. First blood and the first corpse of the day. The soldier fell and then almost immediately got back up and bowed to his new master.
Queen Meg’s eyes went wide as the moon. “Holy crap. That is so freaking cool.”
Dellacourt shook his head and hurried her along. “No time for cool shit, Meg. Time for hiding and keeping your head on your body.”
As she was hustled away, Lach could still hear her. “But that was awesome.”
“You have a fan,” Shim said with a grin.
He looked at his brother who held Duffy’s axe in his hand. He’d been so weak for so long.
Shim proved his weakness was gone by hefting his axe and neatly decapitating a guard. He grinned at his brother. “I thought the head was the best way to go since you can use arms and legs without the head.”
That was his brother. Always a giver. Lach pulled at his new soldier and sent him into battle.
Lach heard a long scream and was shocked to see the guards who had been foolish enough to get near the tree line were being pulled up into them. The trees themselves seemed to bend, their branches working like arms and claiming the guards. The guard Lach watched screamed and attempted to hack at the branches that held him, but a vine wound around his neck and his scream was cut short. The guard disappeared into the foliage, sucked up in clawing green arms.
A short distance away, Cian Finn held his hands up, controlling the trees. The Green Man had his own army.
Lach gave himself over to the fight. He saw the Seelie Warrior King in the midst of battle. He obviously preferred to fight over using his power, but Lach knew he would use it if he had to. In such close quarters any weather the Storm Lord brought down on the enemy would come down on their own heads, too. Shim was the same. He would start a fire, but it could engulf their own troops. Shim’s power would be used for another purpose.
As long as the hags lived, no one would be safe. Torin could fall, but if the hags somehow got away, there would be no peace for any of them.