by L. V Russell
“Luthien has no idea you have Glamour now, Teya. Take her by surprise.” Laphaniel squeezed my hand, drawing me close in a quick embrace. “You might only have the one chance.”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry and parched. Held tight against Laphaniel, I breathed in his scent, memorised the spice and liquorice and the woodsmoke that now clung to him. I memorised his heartbeat, the song it played, the chorus to my own.
I memorised it all.
The grand doors made no sound as we passed through them, no faeries lounged upon the steps or lingered in the halls. The Raven knights walked ahead, braced and alert, casting quick glances at one another.
Our footsteps echoed on the pristine floor of the long hallway, the tall windows allowing the winter light to flood through, banishing the shadows. Vases stood upon ornate tables, overflowing with winter blooms and curling ivy that trailed down to coil at the floor. An illusion of softness, of comfort. Nothing more.
I stepped inside the great hall, where once I had bowed and scraped and begged. The armchairs had all gone, the overstuffed velvet cushions too. Heavy brocade curtains covered the back wall, the mirrors upon the other walls all remained untouched, so no matter where I looked, I could see everything, all of it.
Luthien rose from the single chair in the room, the sheer fabric of her pale gown rippling around her feet. The smile on her lovely face was abhorrent. She raised an arm, fingers splayed as she gestured to the horror before her.
“Behold your followers.”
They hung from the vaulted ceiling like grotesque marionettes, swaying with the breeze Luthien made as she swept her hand at them. Dull eyes watched back, the life that had once danced behind them leeched out, snuffed away for the unforgivable crime of choosing me.
Amongst the swinging corpses, gilded cages dangled from the ceiling, glittering in the bright winter light. The fey held inside were thin and filthy, haunted eyes not daring to meet mine as they cowered against the polished bars. I saw no sign of Oonagh or Nefina.
“What have you done?” I uttered, my breath catching, noting the scent of death in the air, almost masked by the overpowering incense that burned around the hall. Laphaniel stepped close, Raven knights circling the both of us.
I grappled for the Glamour that just moments before had been flaring beneath my skin, to find nothing. Not even a spark. There was only a deep well of darkness that went on and on as if it had sensed Luthien and fled.
Laphaniel felt the emptiness too. I knew he did because he stepped in front of me.
“I am eliminating a threat,” Luthien replied. She took a step closer, the gossamer of her dress sighing around her. It clung to her like winter mist, pale and cold.
If the arrival of the Raven knights concerned her, she hid it well.
“I thought I wasn’t a threat to you.”
I reached and reached. Knowing it was there. I knew it was there.
Luthien smiled, beautiful and dark. “Oh, Teya, my sweet, I will not underestimate you again.”
Luthien angled her head, stretching out her hands, so she disturbed the bodies while she stalked closer. A small whimper bled from one of the cages, muffled and terrified. Luthien turned her head, her lips stretching out in a delighted smile.
“Don’t!” I cried.
With a lazy stretch of her hand, she severed the chain holding the cage up, turning to face me as it smashed upon the marble below. A soft sigh blew past her lips when the cries within silenced.
“You’re mad.” The words tumbled from my lips, unable to tear my eyes away from the carnage she had created, at the fey that bobbed and swayed above me. “This is madness, Luthien.”
“Do you think?” She smoothed the folds of her dress, frowning at the speckles of blood that mottled the skirts. “Some would say the same about allying with that filth.”
Beside me, the knights tensed, hands tight on their weapons, ready to strike. They had taken in the horror with blank faces, utterly unmoved by the amount of death within Luthien’s home.
It was a bitter reminder that we were not on the same team, not truly.
“I did what I had to do.”
“Indeed,” Luthien drawled, unfathomable eyes trailing over each of the knights. “Like a cockroach.”
“You are alone, Lady,” Cole began. “Surrender now, before the full force of the Unseelie crashes down upon you…”
Luthien struck, quick as an asp, and plunged her hand deep within Cole’s chest. His eyes went wide, words dying at his lips as she dragged her hand back, fingers curled tight around his heart.
She dropped it beside his body like it were nothing, streaking the blood from her hands down her already ruined gown.
“The Unseelie are a plague,” Luthien snarled. “One, I plan on erasing from this earth.”
With a snarl rumbling up his throat, Oliver lunged forwards with his sword high, face twisted with rage and hate and loss as he made to strike Luthien down.
My shout went unheard, my warning unheeded, my voice a lost echo sounding around the elegant hall.
Oliver was dead before he hit the floor, his face forever a mask of horror. From where I stood, I couldn’t see a mark upon him. I heard the sound his neck had made, though, like a dry twig.
The Raven knights backed up, their Glamour swirling around them, ruffling the feathers on their inky cloaks. Candles guttered, the cages above swayed.
Luthien didn’t move, didn’t blink. The hall went black, the skies outside darkening until no light filtered through. Chains snapped and fell. The sound of broken bones filled the silence.
“You were sent as cannon fodder,” Luthien sang from the shadows. “The trees whisper to me of a new king, a mad king. Perhaps one day, I would like to meet him upon some distant screaming battlefield and tear this world to shreds.”
“Do something,” Fell hissed beside me, his fingers straining at the hilt of his sword. “Do something, you useless girl.”
I stared at the two bodies lying in front of me, searching deep inside for the sparks of Glamour I knew…I knew were there. Warmth bristled at my fingertips, a suggestion of something bigger, but nothing more.
I had killed us all.
One by one, the candles flared to life, catching the twisted gold bars of the cages Luthien had sent crashing down. Nothing moved within. At my side, Laphaniel stared at the carnage before glancing up at the cages still swaying. I noted his gaze didn’t linger upon the bodies strung beside them.
“Looking for something?” Luthien swept up to Laphaniel and placed her hand upon his cheek, streaking it with Cole’s blood. “Or, perhaps, someone?”
“What have you done with her?” he demanded, pulling away in an act of defiance that curled the edges of Luthien’s mouth.
With a small gesture, the curtain at the far end of the room dropped to the floor, the heavy red fabric pooling to the floor like old blood.
“Take her down!” Laphaniel hissed, grabbing at Luthien’s hand when she made to walk away. My heart lurched, fearing Luthien would tear it off.
Luthien didn’t react, but only slid her almost black eyes to Laphaniel’s hand before turning them to his sister.
Nefina was alive, I could see that. See the breaths she took, her bare chest heaving as she strained on her tiptoes, hands bound tight above her head. Bruises snaked over her skin like a tattoo.
“Take her down!” Laphaniel demanded again, the words echoing around the bated quiet of the room.
Luthien stared down at the hand still upon her wrist, twisting it slowly, so her fingers entwined with his. “I don’t think I will.”
“You cannot win this, Luthien,” Laphaniel began, shooting me a quick desperate look. “If you kill us, more will come.”
“Then let them.”
My heart froze within my chest as she pulled him to her, stealing a lingering kiss that made me want to rip her in two. Glamour pulsed through me, finally awakening.
At last.
With a hiss, Luthien pulle
d away from Laphaniel, her teeth bloodied where she had bitten through his lip. She grabbed him again, hands either side of his head, forcing him to his knees with a hard thud.
For a moment, disbelief flashed across her face, quickly replaced with disgust. “What have you done to yourself?”
“What I had to.”
“You’re an abomination,” Luthien whispered, and Laphaniel flinched. “A mongrel, you have no place here.”
“I don’t belong at your side, Luthien. I never did.”
The resounding crack rattled my teeth. I heard bones break in Laphaniel’s cheek as Luthien backhanded him so hard her fingers snapped back.
“Stop!” The single word erupted from me, my Glamour fuelled with weeks and weeks of rage, hunger, and fear. It shrouded me like mist, pouring from me in waves as, at last, at long last, it finally surfaced.
The edge of my vision darkened, shadowing everything but Luthien. Lightning forked outside, thunder rumbling in answer to the storm I was creating. It all beat to the booming rhythm of my heart.
Another Raven knight fell by Luthien’s hand, neck twisting to the side, eyes wide and mouth gaping. Ferdia. A hollow cry echoed behind me, raw and broken.
The windows exploded in a burst of feral power. Luthien threw her head back and laughed.
“This is different,” she began, treading carefully through the shards of glass. “Are you controlling it, or is it controlling you?”
I knelt on the floor beside Laphaniel, his hand cradling the side of his face. More lightning crackled as I stared Luthien down. “Come closer and see.”
She did, not because I compelled her but because she chose to. I was pushing hard, but she didn’t even flinch.
“I think I should have killed you a long time ago, Teya Jenkins.”
With glass breaking beneath my feet, I stood. My hands splayed at my side, and the marble floor began to crack. Creepers rose from the fractures, snaking up the walls, around the beams high above us.
“We only ever wanted to be left alone.”
“No,” Luthien uttered with a tilt of her head. “No, Teya. That is not what you wanted. Not what you asked for. If you had kept your word, then this would not have happened. Those that lie dead are because of you. Their blood stains your hands, taints your soul.” Luthien paused before waving a hand to make the bodies above us dance again. “Perhaps they would all still live if not for your deception?”
She waited, daring me to contradict her. “I...”
“A hundred years alone in that castle, in return for your sister. Was that not our bargain?”
“Yes…but…”
“I gave you back that wretched girl, and in return, you stole him and ruined him!” Luthien thrust her hand towards Laphaniel, and in her fury sent him slamming against the wall, the mirrors shattered. “You broke our bargain; everything you have suffered since is your own doing.”
“That’s not...” I spluttered, feeling a painful burn creep up my throat. I choked, tasting blood.
“Lies hurt, don’t they?”
Laphaniel forced himself up, blood trickling down his face. He made to storm towards Luthien, fury in his eyes. Fell and Faolan stalked closer, teeth gritted, eyes as black as the cloaks they wore.
I pushed them down, wrapping Glamour around each of them to force them to the ground. They snarled in outrage; Laphaniel’s wide eyes met mine, and he shook his head.
I didn’t let him go. Too many had already died because of me.
Glamour trembled at my hands, stirring up the storm outside. The ground rumbled, shaking the cages so the chains holding them up creaked, threatening to send those trapped inside plummeting to the ground. Some cried out, weak moans filling the room with the sound of desperation and fear.
“Do you think you can save them now?” Luthien said, lifting a hand to tempt my storm to her.
I moved quicker, fear fuelling the magic inside me. I sent her to the floor in a reel of shattered glass and screeching wind, flinging her across the marble. Fury, hot and wild, surged through me, taking over the fear that had almost overwhelmed me. Without thought, I picked her back up again, only to send her crashing back down with all the force I could summon. If she had been human, I would have killed her.
With blood at her mouth, Luthien rose, her dark hair a wild mass around her shoulders, her eyes black. She pushed back with surprising force, a scream leaving her lips to sway my storm.
Lightning struck a breath away from me, scorching the floor, so it cracked further. Great forks of power ploughed down from above, hitting the ground with frantic booms that tore the great hall in two.
I flung my Glamour out to snatch at Faolan before he slipped through the divide, not caring that I heard his shoulder snap when I hauled him back.
Above me, three of the chains gave way, sending the fey trapped behind bars crashing to the floor. The noise broke through everything else, the screams and the crack of bodies silenced the sound of our war, until it was all I could hear.
“Give me your life, Teya,” Luthien called over the chaos. “Your life, for everyone in this room.”
“I am not here to bargain with you,” I replied, standing on the very edge of the scar she had created.
“You are not fit to be queen,” Luthien snarled, the storm teasing the wild strands of her hair. “You are not made for difficult choices.”
“You have no idea what choices I’ve had to make.”
A laugh rang out over the ruins, a musical sound that was grotesque, given the circumstances. “Would you choose love over duty, Teya?”
She moved before I could answer, spinning around like a deranged ballet dancer until all the cages above us swayed and rocked, their chains creaking with the motion. The ceiling began to crack, allowing the chains to slip down just a little, teasing and testing.
I started forwards, reaching out to steady the cages, while Luthien’s Glamour looped around Laphaniel, forcing him upright until he stood on his tiptoes. He gasped, clutching at his throat as Luthien choked him from the other side of the room.
“Stop!”
Luthien heard my panic and grinned, madness twisting her beauty into something monstrous.
“Stop what?” she asked, “Do I cease trying to crush these traitorous creatures, or cease strangling your mongrel?”
With a wave of her hand, she sent the cages rocking, flinging the terrified fey against the bars. The chains creaked further, dust from the ceiling raining down to the floor. Inside they reached out for each other, hands grasping through bars to touch those just out of reach.
My fey.
Not Luthien’s.
Mine.
“Keep dawdling, and you’ll lose them all,” Luthien sang, lifting her other hand to jerk Laphaniel’s head back. “Choose wisely.”
Laphaniel twitched, one foot scraping along the marble. He had resisted me, fought against me when I had tried to Glamour him, and almost won. If he could break away from Luthien…
With a breath and a silent prayer, I sent a wave of Glamour up towards the swinging cages, severing each chain with a screech of wind and rain. They plummeted to the ground in a cacophony of screams and grating metal before thick vines shot through the ruined floor and knotted through each one, stopping them all mere inches away from the marble.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Laphaniel lurch forwards, blood streaming from his nose. Luthien’s hold on him was undone.
From the other side of the divide, Fell launched himself at Luthien, sword raised to slam through her chest, a scream at his lips. She howled in pain and surprise, tossing him aside with a furious sweep of Glamour. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt, and she tugged the blade, so it slid out with a squelch.
The blade sang through the air, sailing through the empty space where the Raven knight had stood a heartbeat before. Laphaniel collided with Fell, sending them both slamming to the ground, the blade missing by a breath. It hit the wall behind with enough force it shattered.
Luthien’s hand lingered at the wound to her chest, lifting the tattered fragments of her gown to watch the blood seep through.
“You gave up everything for a human girl,” she said to Laphaniel, a softness creeping into her voice, “And now you risk your life for that filth?”
“Jealous?”
The storm around us stilled, the world hushed as Luthien strode through the ruins to Laphaniel.
“You once offered up your soul for her,” she said, crouching low, while I fought to regain control over the storm. “Would you still?”
“In a heartbeat,” Laphaniel said, wincing as she cupped his face in her hand and squeezed. She began to laugh, her body shaking with it.
“But you no longer have one.”
Laphaniel jerked his head away, eyes wide while she continued to laugh at him. “What?”
“There is nothing there,” she grinned, blood on her teeth. “You know what awaits faeries without souls, what you’ll become when death at last claims you.” A nasty pause, that grin widening. “Again. There is nothing for you but endless dark and eternal hunger.”
“You’re wrong,” Laphaniel said, but I could feel the fight seep away from him.
“And you will always be my greatest disappointment.”
Her hands tightened against his neck, and I felt him tense, heard the sudden intake of breath when she began to twist.
My hand shot out, bile rising in my throat as I forced her fingers away and poured all I had into dragging her away from him. Something popped in my eye, turning my vision red.
Anger, wild and frantic, coursed through me and set every nerve in my body on fire. It was something I couldn’t stop, didn’t want to stop. There was nothing left of me but a desperate need to sever her head from her body and watch her die.
I dragged her kicking and screaming across the broken marble and forced her to her knees. I held her there and turned to Laphaniel, sensing his fury—I could taste it, but stayed silent, quietly pushing Luthien to the filthy ground. She could wait. I made her wait.
There was an eerie quiet while everyone watched Laphaniel, his footsteps mingling with the hushed sound of sobs coming from the cages.