by Julie Kagawa
“So...what? You’re blaming him as well as yourself?”
“Mostly him,” I muttered, lowering my voice. “But yeah. Myself, too.”
Kenzie shook her head. “You and your guilt issues.” She sighed. “Not everything that happens is your fault, Ethan. Or anyone’s fault. Just because the fey can see you doesn’t mean the trouble they cause is on your head.”
“This is different,” I told her. “I wasn’t forced to do anything. This was a choice.”
“Yes, it was,” Kenzie agreed solemnly. “You chose to help a friend. You chose to go along with this request because it was the only way to save his life. To save both their lives.”
“It could start a war.”
“There’s nothing we can do about that now.” Kenzie’s voice was relentlessly pragmatic. “You can blame and point fingers and brood on what happened, but it’s already in the past, and it won’t help anything.” Her gaze lingered on a dead fox, a shocking red against a patch of snow, and her lip trembled. Razor peeked out of her hair and wrinkled his nose. “It’s over, and we’ll just have to deal with whatever comes of it.” I started to protest, but she cut me off. “Would you have done anything differently if you knew what would happen? Would you have let Keirran go by himself?”
I slumped. “No.”
“Then stop beating yourself up,” Kenzie said gently. “And let’s just get through this as best we can. We’re not out of here yet.”
* * *
Sometime later, but far earlier than I would’ve liked, we stood at the edge of the Seelie throne room, peering through the bramble tunnel at the Summer Queen’s court.
“Well,” Puck said cheerfully, “here we are. And Titania looks like she’s in a good mood today—that’s always a bad sign.” He glanced at Keirran, gazing into the throne room with dark, hooded eyes. “Think I’ll wait out here. Having me around might be too much of a distraction for our lovely queen, seeing how fond she is of me.” He snickered. “I’ll be out here if things get too hairy, or if you need someone turned into a hedgehog.”
His voice was sarcastic, but Keirran only nodded, his mind clearly on something else. He began walking toward the thrones, leaving Kenzie and I scrambling to catch up. I glanced over my shoulder once to see Puck, his eyes dark and troubled, ease back into the thorns until he was lost from view.
“Back again?” Titania regarded us disdainfully as we stopped at the foot of her throne. “That didn’t take long. And here I was hoping at least one of you would die or become frozen for eternity. How very disappointing.”
“We’ve done what you asked,” Keirran said, ignoring that last part. “The spirit of the Frozen Wood is dead. Now please rescind Annwyl’s banishment and let her return to court.”
Titania regarded us for a long moment. Then her lips curled up in a pleased smile.
“No,” she stated clearly. “I don’t think I will.”
I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach. Keirran stared at the Summer Queen in silence, but the air around him was turning cold.
“What the hell?” Kenzie burst out, unable to hold herself back. “You said that if we killed this spirit thing, you’d let Annwyl come back.”
“No, my dear.” Titania settled back on her throne, smiling triumphantly. “I said I would consider it. And I have. And the answer is still no.”
“You can’t be serious! She’ll die!”
Titania shrugged. “That is no concern of mine. All fey must Fade eventually. It is only a matter of when.” She looked over at Keirran, still standing motionless beside me, and smiled. “I would think you’d be grateful, Prince. After all, the Summer girl isn’t who you think she is. Why do you think she was at the river the day you met?” Her smile grew wider, more evil. “Because I told her to be there. I told her to seek you out, to seduce you, win your affections. She was only at those ‘secret’ rendezvous points because I ordered it. It would have been vastly amusing to have the son of the Iron Queen under my thumb, willing to do anything for my loyal little handmaiden.” She chuckled, before her lips curled in distaste and she gestured sharply in contempt. “Of course, the weak-minded girl went and fell in love for real and refused to betray you when the time came. So, naturally, I exiled her for her treason. That is the real reason Annwyl has been banished from the Summer Court, Prince. And that is the reason I will never take her back.”
Titania settled comfortably on her throne, looking down at us smugly. Keirran was breathing hard, fists clenched, the air around him turning cold. The Summer Queen noticed his reaction and smirked. “I’m afraid your efforts have been all for naught, Prince. Though I do appreciate you getting rid of the Frozen Wood for me. I only hope Mab and the Iron Queen are more forgiving than I.”
“Keirran,” I warned in a low voice. “Don’t lose it.”
He lost it.
An explosion of ice, wind and leaves erupted around Keirran, rattling branches and causing everyone to flinch back. The Iron Prince stood with his head bowed, fists clenched at his sides, while magic swirled and snapped around him, whipping at his hair and clothes. I stumbled away as ice spread out from where he stood and iron roots began emerging from the ground like snakes, rising into the air.
“Keirran, don’t!” I called, but my voice was lost in the gale. Keirran raised his head, his eyes glowing blue-white, his face fully transformed into the cold stranger I hated.
Titania was on her feet instantly, a cruel, eager smile stretching her lips, as Summer magic rose around her, as well. The rest of the nobles fell back, abandoning the glade, until it was only Kenzie and myself, watching the Iron Prince and the Queen of the Summer Court get ready to duke it out.
“Come, then, Iron Prince,” Titania said, raising her hand, and lightning flickered overhead, slashing the sky. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you turned on all of Faery, and your betrayal will not go unpunished. I have been waiting to do this for years.”
Keirran thrust out a hand, and the iron roots surged forward, stabbing at the Summer Queen. I tensed, but Titania made a casual gesture, and the ground before her surged forth with plants and vegetation, a virtual wall of vines and roots that swallowed the iron coils and dragged them down again.
“Your horrid Iron glamour has no power here,” Titania said calmly. “This is the Summer Court, and within Arcadia’s borders, the land bows to me!”
She snapped her fingers, and another tangle of roots surged from the earth, thorny and sharp, wrapping around Keirran. Kenzie gasped as the prince vanished into the crushing branches, but there was a burst of cold, and the roots turned to ice. They shattered, breaking apart like china, and Keirran stepped out unharmed.
Snarling, he sent a flurry of ice spears at the Summer Queen, who laughed and gestured, melting them to nothing. She responded by raising her hand, and a lightning bolt seared across the glade, right for Keirran, who raised his sword just in time. The white-hot beam struck the blade, sending him back a few steps, but he recovered quickly and lashed out again. A screaming gale of ice rushed toward the queen, who raised her arms, and her own whirlwind spun into existence around her, dispersing the wind and sending frozen shards ripping through the trees.
I staggered back, shielding my face as ice pelted my arms, tearing through my shirt. This was crazy. I had to do something before Keirran and Titania tore the court—and everything in it—to pieces. Glancing at the queen, my blood ran cold. She was smiling, her lips twisted into an amused, eager smirk as the wind shrieked around her. She was just playing with Keirran, with all of us. Dammit, I had to get him out of here before she got bored and turned the whole forest against us.
“Keirran!” I lunged forward, grabbing his arm. He spun on me furiously, eyes blazing. Wind and ice shards whirled around us, shredding my clothes and making his cloak snap furiously. “Keirran, enough! This is insane! We have to get out of—”
He threw me backward. I stumbled, but Kenzie darted past me, racing toward Keirran and the gale swirling around him. Titani
a raised her arm toward the prince, just as Kenzie lunged at Keirran, stepping in front of him and grabbing his shirt.
“Keirran, stop—”
Titania released a bolt of lightning, and in the space of a blink the deadly chain sizzled across the glade, turning everything white for a split second, and slammed into Kenzie’s back. My heart stopped as she arched back with a cry, then collapsed against Keirran.
“Kenzie!”
I couldn’t think. I didn’t even see Titania anymore. I lunged across the clearing and threw myself at Kenzie and the prince. Keirran was gently lowering her limp body to the grass, his face white, as Razor screeched and bounced around in utter terror.
“Oh, God,” I heard Keirran whisper as I reached them. “What have I done?”
“Get away from her!” Shoving him away, I knelt and gathered Kenzie to me, cradling her gently. Her head lolled to my chest, and my hands shook as I stroked her face. “Kenzie, wake up,” I whispered, feeling my heart lodge somewhere in my throat. “Dammit, don’t do this to me. Open your eyes.”
She didn’t move, and I forced down my panic, trying to think. My trembling fingers touched the skin below her jaw, searching for a pulse, a beat of life. My heart eased slightly. It was there—rapid and frantic, but alive.
“Ethan,” Keirran whispered, but Titania’s voice rang across the glade, ruthless and unmerciful.
“We are not finished, Iron Prince!” The Seelie monarch still stood in a whirlwind of Summer magic, her hair whipping about and her eyes, scary and cold. “If you dare attack me in my own court, you and your friends will pay the consequences. Turn and face me!”
Keirran looked back at the Summer Queen, but all the fight had gone out of him. The cold stranger had disappeared; the Iron Prince looked pale and grief-stricken now, beaten. But Titania smiled, gathering her magic for another assault; she wasn’t going to let him go.
However, as she raised her arm, a flock of screaming ravens suddenly descended from nowhere, flapping around her. At the same time, Puck appeared beside me, dragging me upright with Kenzie still in my arms.
“You know, I thought it was obvious that there are certain things you just don’t do!” he shouted, glaring at Keirran. “Things that are too ludicrous for even me to think of! Like, oh, I don’t know, picking a fight with the freaking Queen of the Seelie Court! What the hell are you thinking, princeling?”
The cloud of ravens around Titania exploded in a burst of fire and feathers. Puck grimaced and pushed me toward the exit as the Summer Queen’s furious gaze found us again.
“Go!” he ordered, giving me a shove. “We have to get out of Arcadia before things get really hairy.”
“You will not help them escape, Robin Goodfellow!” Titania called, raising both her arms. Power rippled out from the Summer Queen, causing the very ground to shudder and churn like ocean waves. “I will send all of Arcadia after you if I must! The Iron Prince is mine!”
We ran from the throne room with Puck at our backs. Roars rang out behind us, and when I glanced back, I saw several huge creatures claw their way up from the forest floor. They were vaguely wolf-shaped, but their bodies were made of roots, vines and thorny brambles. Their eyes blazed with green light as they howled and loped forward, following us into the tunnel.
“Oh, goody, she’s called in the hounds,” Puck remarked as the first of the wolf-creatures stuck its thorny head around a corner and snarled at us. “She’s only done that twice for me. You’ve really pissed her off, princeling.”
The wolf leaped forward, and Puck waved a hand, causing part of the bramble tunnel to grow together, blocking its path. It roared and smashed into the barrier, snapping twigs and branches, trying to push through. The Summer prankster glanced back at us.
“You three get out of here,” he snapped, nodding down another passage that snaked off into the shadows. “There’s a trod to the mortal realm through there. I’ll stay back to lead them off the trail. Get going!”
The things on the other side of the bramble wall roared and shook the branches, nearly through. We ducked down the tunnel, following the narrow passage through twists and turns, hearing the howls of the wolf pack and the shouts of pursuing Summer fey echo behind us. I held Kenzie tightly, almost frantic to get her out, to get her back to the real world, where there were no ice spirits or wolf monsters or angry faery queens. She was still limp and unresponsive, her body light and frail in my arms.
Finally, we came to the end of the tunnel, where a small wooden door sat entangled in vines and thorns. They curled protectively around the wood as we approached, but Keirran waved a hand, and they retreated, coiling back and allowing him to yank the door open.
“Go,” he said, waving me through. “I’ll be right behind you.”
I went, holding Kenzie to me as I did. The madness, noise and chaos of Faery was shut out as soon as I crossed the threshold, and the real world finally took its place.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE CALM BEFORE
We were back.
Where the hell were we?
Trees surrounded us, dark and tangled. We stood in the middle of a forest, and not the well-groomed woods of a park or even a reserve. This felt like vast, untamed wilderness. Except for the moon and stars through the branches, there was no light and barely any sound. Behind us, a black, narrow hole cut into a rocky shelf, the cave that marked the entrance to the Nevernever and the Seelie Court.
Still panting, I knelt in the dirt, carefully lowering Kenzie to the ground. With trembling fingers, I checked her vitals again, making sure that heartbeat was still there, the pulse that told me she was alive. She didn’t open her eyes, however, and dread squeezed my chest with icy talons.
Keirran stood behind me, casting a dark shadow over the girl’s slack face. “How is she?” he whispered, his voice subdued. “Will she be all right?”
My vision went red. Lunging to my feet, I spun and drove my fist into Keirran’s jaw, knocking him back. He staggered, and I went for him again, yanking him upright and slamming my fist into his stomach, doubling him over with a gasp.
Ramming him into a tree, I hauled back and hit him several times, barely aware of what I was striking. Keirran raised his arms to shield his head, but didn’t fight back, which pissed me off even more. I pounded at his face, slamming him several times into the tree trunk. Razor screeched, landing on my shoulder and chomping my ear with sharp little fangs. With a curse, I slapped the gremlin away and slugged Keirran one more time, this time knocking him off his feet. He landed on his knees in the dirt, and I fought back the urge to kick him, repeatedly. But hitting someone while they were down was going a bit far, even now.
“Damn you!” I snarled as Keirran slowly regained his feet and slumped against the trunk. Blood streamed from his nose and mouth, spattering the front of his shirt, and the prince didn’t look at me, staring at the ground between us. “That’s it, Keirran! No more help, no more bargains, no more agreeing to kill ancient spirits! We’re done! I don’t know you, you don’t know me and you sure as hell don’t know Kenzie. I don’t care what you do now, but you are a fucking train wreck. And I’m done watching everything around you go up in flames, do you hear me?”
Keirran wiped blood from his mouth and nodded silently. He looked tired, defeated, but I refused to feel sorry for him. Not when Mackenzie lay motionless several feet away, struck down by Titania for trying to stop him.
“Ethan?”
The soft gasp pierced my heart, and my anger vanished. I whirled and flung myself down beside Kenzie, gently taking her hand. Her eyes were open, though they were glazed and glassy, and her face was tight with pain.
“I’m here,” I murmured. Keirran came up to stand behind me, out of punching range, I noticed, but I ignored him. “Can you move?”
“I don’t know,” Kenzie gasped, squeezing my hand. “Everything hurts.”
“We have to get you home.” As gently as I could, I shifted my arms beneath her and lifted her as I rose. She w
himpered and clutched at my shirt, making my insides twist into near-panicked knots. She needed a doctor, but we were in no-man’s-land. How were we going to get back to civilization?
“Here.” Keirran stepped away, one hand raised as if sensing the breeze. Stopping beneath a thick pine, he pushed his fingers into empty air and parted the real world like a curtain, revealing the darkness of the Between through the gap. I stiffened, and he turned to me with bleak, haunted eyes.
“I’ll take you home, one last time.”
* * *
The rest of the trip was a blur. I was vaguely aware that we left the Between and took a cab or something to the hospital. Several doctors and nurses surrounded me, asking questions. I answered in a daze and watched them wheel Kenzie away on a gurney, feeling like my chest had been squeezed in a vise. Then she was gone, and I collapsed into a chair, shutting out the world and praying she would be all right.
“Ethan Chase?”
I looked up blearily. A nurse in pink scrubs stood before me, looking kind and sympathetic. How long it had been, I had no idea. “She’s awake,” she said as I quickly stood up. A couple seats down, Keirran raised his head off his chest, watching us. I’d forgotten about him, too. “We’ve stabilized her, and she’s resting now. She sustained some nerve and tissue damage, and we’re keeping her under observation, but she’s a very lucky girl.”
I nearly collapsed in relief. The nurse smiled. “You can see her now, but keep it brief. Five minutes if you can. She really needs to rest. Has her family been contacted?”
“Yes,” Keirran said from the chair, though the nurse didn’t even look at him. I felt a pulse of magic go through the air between us, but I was too worried about Kenzie to think much of it. “They’re on their way now.”
She nodded distractedly, gave me a room number and warned me again to keep it short. As the nurse left, I started down the hall, and Keirran rose from the chair to follow.