by K. M. Shea
“Blame Leila.”
“Is that what you do to make yourself feel better?” Chase asked.
I frowned. “I liked you better when you talked less.”
“And I liked you better when you weren’t breaking our Sovereign’s heart.”
“I didn’t break her heart,” I scoffed. “Hurt her—apparently, yes. But Leila loves those night mares of hers more than she cares for me.”
Chase watched me in a silence that I found disconcerting.
“Regardless, your feeling of pack ties might be strange, but I can’t say it’s shocking. Leila’s accomplished more for the fae over the past six months than anyone has in the last decade,” I said. “I don’t think it’s because of the night mares or her magic, but because of her.”
Chase nodded. “I’m not going to fight it,” he said. “I like my position, and I’ve come to like the Night Court since Queen Leila has tamed them.”
Before I could ask anything more, Chase’s cellphone beeped. He glanced down at it and frowned.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“No,” Chase absently said. “One of my people reported that Leila passed a checkpoint at the start of Night Court land. She should be home shortly. I’m going out to meet her. Are you coming with?”
I thought of Leila and the pain I saw in her eyes, the way she’d looked at me…
“No,” I decided.
Chase nodded. “I’ll find you after, then.” He bowed slightly to me—I was the consort, after all—and trotted from the room.
I was slower to follow, skulking through the enormous mansion.
I briefly considered going upstairs to my bedroom.
But if Leila intends to retire early she’ll go there…and I doubt she’d welcome my presence.
I changed directions, heading for one of the side doors that would let me outside, intending to make my way to the stables.
I’ll visit the night mares. If I am lucky, they won’t try to bite me on sight.
The more I considered the idea the more it pleased me. And if Leila happened to hear of my visit, maybe it would restore me to some of her good graces—she loved those animals dearly.
How did I go from feared assassin, to buttering up my wife’s pets because I somehow hurt her feelings?
I snarled mutely when I remembered the way Chase had stared me down for my confusion—as if I was an idiot.
The whole situation was disconcerting, honestly. Which made me all the more eager to fix things so I could stop…feeling.
I made it outside into the screaming wind and freezing temperatures. The gardens were blanketed with snow—even the rose bushes that had been covered were almost indiscernible among all the snow banks. But the gardeners had shoveled and salted all the sidewalks, including the path that led out to the stables.
I was about halfway there when I felt a flare of magic. I unsheathed my sword. “Ictus,” I muttered as I turned around, making the blade ignite with magic.
Lord Linus stood behind me, the wind ruffling his black hair as he balanced a glowing dagger on his fingertip. “You made her cry.”
I’d never seen Lord Linus use a bladed artifact before. I eased myself into a defensive position and started mentally drawing a rune. “What?”
“Leila,” Lord Linus said. “You made her cry for months. You hurt her.”
“So I’ve been told—though no one has yet explained why.”
“It’s because you don’t understand, that’s the problem,” Lord Linus said. There was no sign of his bright grins and the charms he wore to manipulate others. His expression was stoic. The fae lord before me was forged like I was—sharp, dark, and made with the purpose of killing.
“I didn’t want her to marry you.” Lord Linus’s purple eyes flashed, and he didn’t shiver in the freezing temperatures even though he was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt, trousers, boots, and gloves. “You’re a monster. Useful to her, but not something she should permanently tie herself to.” His dagger flared with his temper, and runes of magic glowed in the blade itself.
This was the true Lord Linus—not the idiot Leila was always despairing over.
I scanned the surroundings—Lord Linus had chosen this spot on purpose. Out here in the snow—with the sun muted by clouds and everything covered by snow—there were no shadows or splashes of darkness for me to jump to using my magic. Conniving—and impressive forethought.
“You’re not going to refute that you’re a monster?” Lord Linus asked.
I switched my grip on my sword, changing from a right-handed position to a left-handed grip—it seemed I would need to be fully aware for this. “We’re fae,” I said. “I can’t deny the truth.”
Lord Linus blinked. “At least you have the decency to admit it.”
He lunged at me, his dagger crackling with magic.
I blocked it with my sword, which was sheathed in shadows.
“I’ve never liked you.” Lord Linus retreated a few steps then tried again, aiming for my left shoulder. “You’re everything I tried to shield her from.” He flicked a second dagger from a scabbard at his back and tried to stab my arm.
I rotated my wrist, deflecting the attack with my metal bracer—though he put enough force behind the strike it made my arm rattle.
I pushed my sword up, throwing his arms into the air, then tried to knee him in the gut.
Lord Linus danced backwards, almost moving fast enough to match my speeds.
I don’t recall hearing he was particularly skilled at fighting—how did he hide this for so long?
“What do you want?” I asked.
“For you to pay for the pain you’ve caused her.” Lord Linus jumped at me, but I was done defending.
I dodged the swipe he made for me with his first dagger. I caught the second strike, and I had enough space to rotate my sword and slam its hilt into Lord Linus’s gut.
I heard the air leak out of him, but he jumped backwards as if he barely felt it.
“Funny. I’d say between the two of us you’ve hurt her more,” I said. “And for far longer.”
“It was unavoidable.”
“Tell that to Leila!”
Lord Linus chucked one of his daggers at me. I raised my sword into a guard position and was nearly blown off my feet by the strength of the magic in his dagger.
I clenched my teeth and weathered the magical blowback, and when the dagger fell I kicked it into a nearby snow bank.
Lord Linus tossed his dagger from one hand to the other, and I slid forward, magic screaming as it flowed across my blade.
Now, it’s my turn.
With a careful thrust, I was able to dig my sword under the hand guard of his dagger. Using my weapon like a lever, I yanked, and Lord Linus’s weapon went flying.
Lord Linus pulled three jewels from a pocket of his trousers—the artifacts glowed with magic as he murmured to them.
Dimly, I heard an alarm sound off near the front of the house—probably set off by our fight. I ignored the noise and focused on the fight.
How shall I end this?
I tested Lord Linus, lashing out with my sword.
He raised a ward that was so strong, when I tried to cut it, it felt as solid as stone, and my hands numbed.
I activated the rune of power I’d been building, and the magic around my sword flared, consuming his ward.
Before I could pull back, Lord Linus launched an attack of his own with an illusion of darkness that swallowed me up. I couldn’t see anything.
Warily, I braced myself—straining my ears to listen for any movement.
Unfortunately, Lord Linus was as silent as me. I couldn’t tell where he was until a magical attack slammed into me.
It hurt, but I’d been through worse before. I gritted my teeth and bore it.
I was still swallowed by darkness, but the pain caused by the magical attack grounded me. Pinpointing the direction of the attack, I twisted oddly and grabbed Lord Linus by the wrist.
I wr
enched him around in front of me and was about to unleash a magic attack of my own, when a scream tore through the air.
“Rigel!” It was faint—coming from the front of the house—but there was no mistaking that voice. It was Leila, and she sounded terrified.
Chapter Six
Leila
Chase and Indigo were waiting at the front of the mansion when I arrived home.
My forehead puckered as I studied them with worry—it wasn’t unusual for Indigo to be waiting for me, but Chase was usually too busy for something like that.
“Thanks for driving, Azure.” I slipped out of the car and smiled at the naiad.
She smiled back—she’d loosened up considerably these past few months. “It was my honor, my Sovereign.”
I wiggled my fingers at her in a wave, then pushed the car door shut and turned to my friends. “Okay, hit me,” I said. “What fresh trouble is waiting for me?”
Chase bowed. “Welcome home, Queen Leila.”
“Yeah, welcome back and whatever,” Indigo said. “Did you have a nice time?”
“I did,” I said. “But it’s freaking me out that Chase is waiting here. What’s up?”
Chase innocently glanced down at his phone. “Nothing big,” he said.
Like an idiot, I relaxed.
“I just received a report from one of my men that Lord Linus and Consort Rigel are fighting in the gardens,” he finished.
“Of course those two would get in a fight.” I groaned. “How bad is it?”
“I don’t think they’ll kill each other,” Chase said. “They’re too skilled for that.”
I pressed my lips together for a moment, weighing Chase’s words.
Lord Linus was an idiot, but I knew from my magic lessons with him that he was incredibly talented at magic. Maybe Chase’s estimation wasn’t too far off?
I don’t want to deal with this. Can’t I let them beat each other up?
The thought of confronting them made my stomach flop.
Maybe I can just go visit the night mares?
It hadn’t started getting dark yet—at least not that I could tell since it was cloudy—but if I wanted to see the night mares before it was pitch black now was the time.
I’d almost settled on taking the coward’s way out, when one of the mansion’s defense wards went off.
An alarm blared; its echoes oddly muted by the thick blanket of snow.
At the far end of the winding driveway, massive gates swung shut, and a ward sprouted around the property. Runes the size of cars that glowed black like night, created the walls of the barrier, guarding the place from any invasion.
Chase was shouting into his Bluetooth ear piece, and Indigo grabbed me by the wrist.
“Get inside, Leila,” Indigo snapped.
“And box myself in? No thanks,” I said.
“It’ll be safer—you don’t have to get involved!”
“I’m not going to make my people fight when I can fight with them,” I snapped. “Where’s my staff?”
“Someone is bringing it,” Chase said. He moved protectively in front of me, his eyes studying the unblemished white of the front lawn. “Ward yourself first before you attack anything,” he told me.
I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I thought of that idea, when the first smear of black appeared on the horizon.
Dozens of enormous spiders scurried toward us. Roughly the size of great danes and possessing a hardened black shell that covered their bodies, the spiders were straight from a kid’s nightmare. Their legs were hairy and had extra joints in them, their eyes glowed a poisonous neon green, and sticky goo coated their fangs.
I was familiar with this kind of spider. They supposedly came from the fae realm, and though I’d never seen them in the wild, I’d beaten them off twice before. Once at my parents’ property, and Rigel had eliminated some at our wedding.
But I’d never seen so many of them before.
“How’d they get past the ward?” I asked. “It’s not broken anywhere.”
“A good question—one we will get to the bottom of.” Chase grimly unholstered his handgun as guards poured out of the house, joining us on the driveway.
Skye burst out of the house with a pair of guards, her gaze darkening when she saw the incoming wave of spiders. “Queen Leila—”
“I’m not going inside.” I watched as the spiders kept coming and coming.
They hadn’t reached us just yet, but the lawn was darkened with their sheer numbers.
My fingers itched to clutch my staff, and I fought the reflex to shout for Rigel. I dug into the deep pockets of my coat, yanking out my charm bracelet—the first magical artifact I’d ever used, which I kept on me since it was easy to carry—and my holstered handgun—a gift from the Drake vampires when I’d first been made queen.
I twined my bracelet through my fingers and wracked my gun, loading a bullet into the chamber before I flicked off the safety.
The spiders were almost to the cleared driveway. They seemed to have trouble moving across the snow—their scurrying was jolted and uneven, and they frequently staggered and rammed into one another, which slowed their progress.
But it was hard to swallow as I stared at the incoming wave. They were packed in so tightly I couldn’t even begin to guess how many there were.
I gave in, and against the pain in my heart, I screamed for the one person I most wanted in a time like this. “Rigel!”
“Fire at will!” Chase shouted to his men.
I joined him and my fae guards in shooting at the closest spiders, aiming for their heads.
The first line of arachnids fell, and the other spiders climbed over their bodies, trampling them as they crawled in our direction.
I shot bullet after bullet, but for every spider I downed, five more seemed to take its place.
My heart pounded in my throat, and when I emptied my gun magazine I activated my charm bracelet. “Flore.” I fumbled in my coat pocket for the one full magazine clip I carried, replacing it with a practiced gesture—courtesy of my practice sessions with the Drake Family—by tilting the gun and releasing my magazine with one hand and smoothly sliding the new magazine in.
The spiders were gaining ground, even though we were mowing them down. There were that many. They were now only about a truck length away from me.
Chase backed up, forcing me to retreat as well.
I emptied my clip and threw my gun—it was useless to me without any ammo anyway—clunking a spider in the head.
Behind me the doors burst open, and I absently recognized the two fae nobles who jumped through the doors as Lady Theodora and Lord Iason. They moved with a raw athleticism despite the fact that they wore a cocktail dress and a tuxedo that was reminiscent of the 1930s.
“Protect the queen!” Chase shouted, his voice turning into a howl at the end.
Lord Iason yanked a cufflink from his suit, yelled an activation word, and shook it out, transforming it into a shield that had serrated edges. He sprang at a spider and hammered his shield at the narrowed spot between the spider’s head and body, beheading it with ease.
Lady Theodora held out her already activated tuning fork artifact and sang. Her eyes glowed, and magic swirled around her as all the spiders in a fifteen-foot radius around her slowed, then froze, held in place by the magic that flowed through her voice.
I was almost spellbound by the sound, but I made myself focus and produce a ward, dropping it to my feet before it bloomed up around me, an iridescent casing of protection.
What can I do to help? My staff is my biggest asset, and no one has brought it out. Should I go get it?
I hurriedly produced about twenty of the twinkling orbs of light that were usually used for lighting purposes, then I flung them away from me so they were strung out where the snow banks met the drive. I sucked in a gulp of air—it tasted rancid from the sour scent of spider blood—then cranked up the power on the orbs, making them small but blinding beacons.
&nb
sp; It slowed the spiders down—they clogged up at the driveway edge instead of moving faster once they were no longer on snow, but it didn’t do much besides that.
A spider scurried past Chase and launched itself at Skye’s back. I gathered raw magic—intending to chuck it at the monster—but Eventide, my shy, faun butler, launched himself at the spider with a blood curdling war cry.
I watched in shock as he ripped a leg off the spider and then beat it over the head with its own severed limb, all without mussing his pristine white dress shirt or black bowtie.
That shows me for making judgments on people’s fighting abilities!
I glanced out at the lawn, hoping the spiders would soon stop coming, but there was still no end to the black sea of them.
“They aren’t stopping, even though we have the ward up,” I shouted to Chase.
Chase pulled a full magazine from his belt and swapped it using the same, dual handed technique I had—the Drakes would approve. “There must be a breach.”
I glanced at the giant runes that still surrounded the property. The barrier didn’t falter—and believe me, after all the land I’d lost in the Night Realm I knew in my soul what a weakened barrier looked like.
“Or someone opened a portal directly into the property,” I said.
Skye let out a string of very un-Skye-like curses. “That’d be the only way to get this many spiders here—the Night Realm citizens would have noticed their presence otherwise!” Using magic, she shoved a spider backwards, straight into Lord Iason who ended it instantly.
“Send a team to look,” I yelled to Chase over the chaos of battle. “We need that portal closed if it’s what they used—”
Screams like shattered glass yanked my attention away.
My night mares—fae horses that were too thin to be healthy, but possessed glowing yellow eyes and jagged teeth that didn’t belong on a horse—galloped across the snow-covered lawn. Their black coats were dull compared to the spiders’ glossy carapaces, and with only six of them they were greatly outnumbered.
But the horses didn’t hesitate as they plowed into the spiders, trampling them under their unnaturally sharp hooves. Unhindered by the snow, they moved like lightning across the lawn.