by Marie Hall
Still clinging to Frenzy’s shirt, Mila nodded. “Why did The Morrigan betray us?”
“She didn’t, dear. As she views it, the betrayal was on your end. Had you stayed at the cabin, she would have sent the shadow as she’d mentioned. But one thing I can say for the queen of war is that she’s always prepared for any eventuality. If you fled, she’d catch you. You see, the queen always gets what she wants.”
“But you said—” Frenzy cut in.
“Ah”—Lise raised a quieting hand—“I said not to go to the queen until it was time.”
It hadn’t made sense to him then; he remembered thinking how odd the wording was, but with everything that’d happened since, he hadn’t given her words much thought. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, death, that the queen had to see she was out of options. For so long the queen has expected to control everyone and anything.” Her smile was smug. “I alone am her Achilles heel, and she hates me for it. What she did tonight, it wasn’t for you. It was for me.”
His brows dropped.
“It was to see whether I’d fight for you.” She jerked her chin toward Mila, who was starting to finally relax in his arms. “She was drawing me out. I’m out.” She shrugged with her arms outstretched.
He grinned. “So now the field is level.”
She touched the tip of her nose with a “now you’ve got it” expression.
“What do we do now?” Mila asked.
“You’re not going to like what I say.” Lise cocked her head, tightening her lips.
The truth was so obvious it was almost as if it’d been written on the wall in front of him. “Do as she initially intended.”
Nodding slowly, Lise sighed. “Aye. The queen would never admit it, but she does actually need your help. When she created the shadow it was with the express purpose of using it as a scent hound, if you will. To help the queen draw out a seer. As you know, you’re all quite valuable.”
“Anyone that controls the future, controls the war,” he mumbled.
“Exactly.”
Mila shook her head. “She’s whittled us down to near extinction. I’m the last of my line.”
“Yes.” Lise toed the shoulder of the fallen man, frowning slightly at the body. “As I said, her intention was merely to track you down. To compel you to fight for the light court. But the shadow evolved over time…”
“And desired that which she was created to find,” Frenzy finished for her. “It is a case of absolute power corrupting absolutely; the shadow grew too strong and wanted more than she should.”
“Indeed.” Lise twirled, smiling benevolently at them. “Ergo, the queen now finds herself in an unenviable position.”
Mila snorted. “So she does need me? Then why did she send her goon squad to kill me?”
Lise’s laughter rippled like a gentle wave around them. “They weren’t sent to kill you, dear, merely to take you forcibly away from your protector. Though if you ask me, the queen forgot just who Frenzy is, what he is capable of when fighting for a thing he loves.”
Uncomfortable, and not sure he was ready to talk about things like feelings with Mila, he cleared his throat, quickly switching the subject.
“Taking Mila onto fae soil is too dangerous. She knows that. She’d have every breed of fae banging down her gates to get at her.”
“Again, true.” Lise twirled the tasseled end of her belt. “But she is desperate, and desperation makes one do strange things. However”—her smile was full of sharp teeth—“we now have the upper hand, as well she knows it.”
“Then what do we do about it?” Mila wrapped her arms around his waist again, and Frenzy could no longer deny that the feel of her in his arms felt right in a way that nothing had before.
“We call her to us.”
He scoffed. “We can’t just call the queen of darkness. She is not one to be commanded.”
A mischievous twinkle sparkled in the depths of Lise’s shimmering white eyes. “Ah, you just leave that part up to me, death.”
Staring at the faces peering around the edge of the doorway, the hungry, lecherous looks on their hauntingly beautiful fae faces, Frenzy realized just how close Mila had come. If The Morrigan had gotten her hands on his woman, he would never have seen her again. The queen would have taken her to a hidden realm that only she knew how to find. He’d have lost her forever.
It was like a fist to the gut thinking it. Made him furious. She’d double-crossed them, it didn’t matter what Lise said. The Morrigan was petty to resort to such trickery, regardless if she thought they weren’t planning to keep to their end of her deal. He gripped Mila’s waist tighter, clinging to her as if by will alone he could make it so that the queen never attempted to take her from him.
In the time they’d spent together he’d learned one ridiculously simple truth. She was his and he’d be damned if he lost her again.
As if sensing his disquiet, Mila ran her fingers along the scruff of his jaw. “I’m right here, Frenzy. I’m right here.”
In that moment he didn’t think about Lise being in the room, or the nearly dead body frozen in stasis beside them, or even the suspended bodies attempting to rush through the door to get their hands on her, because there were truths that needed to be spoken.
Brushing his knuckles along her cheekbones, he gazed into her eyes and smiled.
“You make my life better, woman,” he said, voice gruffer than he’d intended.
Her nostrils flared, but she didn’t turn aside or blink.
“I could not stand to lose you. Do you understand?”
“I think I do,” she admitted in a near whisper.
Lise sighed. “Isn’t love grand?”
When they looked up, startled, Lise winked and then clapped her hands. The land, which was still very much suspended in time, rumbled, shook so violently for a second, Frenzy feared Dagda might be making an appearance.
Outside the rattling windows, twin forks of lightning struck the ground, filling the room with the electric stench of ozone. Then his skin was crawling with the sensation of eyes watching. A second later Mila gasped, but rather than cower, she walked out from Frenzy’s arms and lifted her chin high.
“You tried to kidnap me!” she accused the queen.
The Morrigan wasn’t standing; she floated several inches off the ground, causing her silken dress of shadow and moonbeams to undulate like a wave beneath her feet. She’d left her inky black hair down to swirl around her head like a charmed cobra. Coming in all her pomp and glory, it was all a show. Glorious and beautiful, but this time Frenzy saw right through it and sneered in her direction.
Her eyes immediately latched on to his, ignoring Mila as she said to him, “And yet another death defies me.” The husky quality of her voice shivered with contempt and the faint strains of fury.
“I did not defy you. You came to my woman, glamoured me so that I’d remain in the cabin, unaware of your true intentions.”
Her aquiline nose curled. “True intentions? You speak to me so. How dare you!”
The lifting of her voice caused the rafters above their heads to tremor.
Rolling her eyes, Lise clapped her hands. “Queen, I’ve told you time and again that death belongs to me.”
The way the queen’s hair waved and the hissing sound that emanated from between her lips, she was Medusa incarnate. “Death is mine.” She lifted her fist. “Since the moment of its creation—”
“Goddess sakes.” Lise held her hand up. Frenzy saw no magic but he felt it quicken raw and powerful around them, making the air feel ten times denser. “Enough with the theatrics.”
Like a powerful hand had shoved the queen to the ground, she fell to the floor, eyes bugging in her head as she stared at the Ancient One with undisguised venom.
Lise shook her head. “I did not want to believe that we’d been forgotten, did not want to step in, be forced to flex my will against my own creation, but you’ve left me no choice.”
“What the hell are you
talking about?” The Morrigan’s upper lip curled back.
“You’ve grown too old, too full of yourself, Queen.” The last came out as a sarcastic inflection. “Have you forgotten fate so easily?”
Fate.
Lise was one of the fates. Frenzy had already suspected it, but hadn’t been sure.
“We create the strands of time, creation, destruction; it is all ours, Your Highness.” She paused, walking a tight circle around the suddenly still queen.
“Ah yes.” Lise smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, each step causing the bells tied to her sash to toll. “Have you begun to remember now?”
Mila’s hand gripped onto his, but Frenzy couldn’t turn his eyes away from the petite woman circling his queen like a predator coming in for the kill.
The Morrigan bristled, and it was obvious by the strain in her neck and shoulders that what she really wanted to do was not stand still under the fate’s scrutiny, but rather rip the vocal box out of Lise’s throat.
Tapping an elegant finger against the corner of her mouth, Lise laughed. “This just kills you, doesn’t it?”
“You bi—”
“Uh-uh.” Lise waved her finger, tsking. “Not in front of the baby hybrid.”
Frenzy had never seen Lise so viscous, nor his queen so helpless. It was a disturbing, but still somewhat fascinating, experience.
He wasn’t fooled into thinking his queen weak, though. He’d not laugh at her predicament, because while she may not be able to hurt Lise, she was still more than powerful enough to hurt him, or worse, Mila.
She hissed, turning her eyes on Frenzy. Her gaze was full of hate and contempt and he knew if he ever found himself alone with the queen he’d live to regret it. Her capacity to bear a grudge was legendary.
He stroked Mila’s back, not sure if it was more for her or him.
“So this is what we’re gonna do.” Lise smiled sharply. “We will help rid you of the shadow problem.”
Narrowing flinty, dark eyes, the queen quirked her left brow. “I do not need your assistance, Lise. I’m fully capable—”
The Ancient One made a sound between a scoff and a chuckle, then ran her palm down the queen’s bare arm.
For a moment Frenzy held his breath, expecting an all-out war to brew between the two of them. But she merely glanced down at the hand resting on hers and sighed.
“Nothing that gets spoken of in this room will ever leave this room,” Lise said, but Frenzy knew the words were for more his and Mila’s benefit; the Ancient One was telling them to never speak of this.
He nodded his head, as did Mila. “You have our word,” Mila replied solemnly.
The heart in his chest beat a little faster, a little harder. She was amazing in so many ways. He ran his fingers along the base of her spine, just to touch her, just to let her somehow know what he felt. Words were sometimes hard, but the truth of a person, he was convinced, could be seen in the actions they took.
She leaned into his touch, turning a sweet but tempting smile on him.
Lifting her chin, looking as regal as any queen should, The Morrigan spoke. “When I created the shadow, it was with the hope of acquiring a seer. I knew the lines were rare and delicate thanks to all the wars and skirmishes fought. She was simply supposed to find you. But she became greedy, and at first, it was of no concern to me.”
Mila tensed beneath his hand. “So you say the shadow became greedy, which can only lead me to believe she was killing us off. How was that an effective method of tracking us?”
“Because, little hybrid,” The Morrigan sneered, “the shadow developed your powers. For each soul she took, she became a little stronger. A little better at deciphering the secrets of the universe.”
Figuring that Mila was seconds away from throwing a punch at her face, Frenzy wrapped his arm around her trembling shoulder, hauling her tight to his side. “So why hadn’t she seen the kiss I’d given her?” he asked.
Clenching her fists and jaw tight, it seemed the queen wouldn’t answer.
“Morrigan.” Lise licked her lips. “Tell them.”
As if she’d been asked to choke down her own bile, the queen turned her face to the side with a furious grimace. “Because the powers do not last.”
“So you didn’t care how you gained the power, then—all those things you’d told me in the woods, all lies?” Mila spat. “My gran and mum must have seen right through you.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that why you had them killed?”
“No,” the dark-haired queen snapped, then, taking a deep breath, said in a softer tone, “I did not want either one killed. To get my hands on all three of you, there was much I would have given up to acquire you. I wanted you whole. The shadow could not retain the skill for long, which is why her cravings are so fierce. It’s like a drug for her. She will always need more and when she’s finished you off, there will be none left.”
At that statement, Mila seemed honestly shocked. Her mouth parted and she inhaled a sharp breath. “What…there’s…it cannot be…”
Lise nodded slowly. “Aye, dear. In this the queen speaks truth. You are the last of the seers and what the queen won’t say is that once the shadow takes you, she will then turn her dark power against the queen herself.”
The tendons in The Morrigan’s neck were strained and taut. “It is not just me she’ll come after, but all of faedom. Her thirst for power will not stop.”
Mila’s smile was anything but kind. “So that’s the real reason why you came to me, and yet you still tried to blackmail me, even knowing your back was against the wall.”
A dark glint glowed in the queen’s eyes. “My back is never against the wall.”
“Then why don’t you take the shadow out yourself?” Frenzy growled, forcing the queen’s ire to shift from Mila to himself. “Open the box and destroy it.”
“Because she can’t. She is not strong enough.” Lise’s words were soft, but running with an undercurrent of irony.
Curling her lip, The Morrigan jerked her chin in the direction of the Ancient One. “Then why don’t you do it?”
“Because a fate’s duty is to make the strands of time align as they should have always been. It is not my destiny to destroy the shadow.” She turned to Mila. “It is yours.”
“And when we kill the shadow, what happens to the souls trapped within?” he asked. Hadn’t Mila told him her mother and grandmother had been devoured by the creature?
A beatific expression crossed Lise’s face. “They are to be harvested.”
Mila sucked in a sharp breath, because to her it must have felt like watching them die all over again.
“If I do this,” she spoke slowly, but surely, “will it end?”
The queen shrugged. “For you.” She clenched her jaw, and a hot feeling spread through Frenzy’s gut.
“What does that mean?” Mila asked quickly, glancing first at the queen then at Lise.
“It means,” The Morrigan sniffed, “that he is still mine.”
“Lise?” Mila pleaded with the Ancient One, who was now strangely silent, looking at none of them.
Heart sinking to his knees, he knew what he had to do. “It’s okay, O’Fallen. At least you’ll be safe.” He petted her shoulder, biting down on his tongue because the thought of never seeing her again made his head reel.
The queen would never allow him within her presence again. It would be her form of punishment to him, taking away that which he most wanted. It would be the only way for her to feel like she’d regained her power.
Wringing her hands, Mila stepped forward. “Give him to me,” she spoke directly to The Morrigan, and it made his chest warm.
He was crazy about this fierce, tiny, shrewish woman. Proud to have known her, proud to realize he’d been so very wrong. Because if she was the face of humanity, then humanity was well worth saving. Mila may never know it, but she’d healed his soul and restored his faith. He wanted to hug her, to whisper his adoration in her ear as he slipp
ed within the slick folds of her luscious body. Just one more time.
“And in return, I’ll give you ten years of service.”
Realizing what she was doing, Frenzy shook his head. “Don’t do this, Mila. You do not have to do this. You’re free; stay away from civilization and you’ll never be found again. You’re strong, you won’t have to run again. I’m not worth this.”
Turning, she pulled his hands to her chest, laying them against her heart. “You’re so worth this, reaper. You’re worth every sacrifice.”
“Fifteen and you live in my court.” The queen’s excitement was palpable, like the flutters of a moth’s wings.
Wrapping his arm around her waist, she turned back to the queen. “Fifteen, I do not live in your court, and he remains with me in a place of my choosing.”
Nostrils flaring, The Morrigan looked from death to his madcap woman. Heart pounding, Frenzy couldn’t even speak.
Why was she fighting so hard to keep him? He’d been cruel to her, called her names, mocked and laughed at her. It was humbling and made him feel the full weight of his shame for treating her so cruelly in the beginning.
Mila cocked her head. “Do we have a deal, Queen? Fifteen, my choice, you can reach me at any time?” She held out her hand.
They waited for what seemed an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes before she shook Mila’s hand. A rush of power rolled like a tidal wave through the room, as a blinding light emanated from their clasped hands.
Lise clapped her own. “It is binding. Neither of you may break this oath. We will be in touch, Morrigan.”
The moment she’d finished speaking, the queen disappeared, sucked back into the darkness from which she’d come.
“Now, about this body.” Lise looked down at the man lying on the ground. “Keep a better eye on her next time, Frenzy; the girl does not need the strain of being a mass murderer on top of everything else. Do not fear, little hybrid, I will bring him back, none the wiser for the experience he went through. And, reaper”—she looked Frenzy dead in the eye—“it must be her. Do you understand? I’ve undone the damage the queen did to time. Now go.”