by K. M. Shea
What the—he’s criticizing us in the middle of a fight?! Is he nuts?
A shot rang, and Solis grunted as red spread across the sleeve of his robe. He gripped the bullet wound and shifted his ward, protecting his side as Chase—his gun still aimed at the Day King—crept closer to him.
Chase moved in, low to the ground, stopping when he was roughly the same distance from Solis as we were.
Directly across from him, guards swarmed the driveway. Some of my shades and glooms stood intermixed with them, snarling as the guards wracked their guns or activated their artifacts which glowed with magic.
Against all logic, Solis’s shoulders relaxed, and the darkness in his eyes lessened.
What? Why would he relax after seeing everyone?
“It would seem we’ve found one of the parties responsible for the attacks.” Chase—usually controlled to the point of stiffness—snarled, and his eyes glittered dangerously. “I assume he’s somehow tied to the organization the Paragon warned us of.”
Chase glanced at Rigel.
Rigel looked angry enough to bite through iron as he loaded a magazine into a handgun and wracked the weapon.
I, however, was still trying to solve the mystery—it was the only thing that kept me from melting in a puddle of my own misery.
Solis, the one monarch I had trusted had betrayed—
Focus! If he’s tied to the organization that means he has a contact. They sent fae who weren’t from the Midwest to kidnap Amaranth and draw me out…
“It’s Manith and Angstra,” I shouted. “The fae staying with Solis—he said he owes them a favor.”
I thought Solis might try to deny it, but inexplicably he drew his magic back to himself and merely refocused on his wards.
“A deal?” Linus strolled across the lawn with small throwing knives pinched between his fingers. He stopped at Chase’s side and studied the Day King with a solemn expression. “Solis…what hell did you bring down on your Court?”
Before Solis could respond, a white light shimmered behind the Day King. Manith and Angstra emerged, throwing off the illusion that had kept them hidden.
“You are incapable as you have always been, Day King. Such a disappointment.” Manith sighed as he lowered the massive spear he was holding, pointing it in my direction. Though the spear was easily twice his height, he wielded it as if it weighed nothing. Based on the weird symbols inscribed on it—and the egg sized gem encrusted in the base of the spear—I was guessing it was elf made.
Angstra held a weapon of her own, a white bow with gold swirls that seemed to actively move up and down the length of the bow.
They muttered activation words, and their weapons glowed with magic.
Is it shadow magic? Because those have to be elf-forged artifacts.
Angstra drew an arrow from the quiver that hung from her belt and shot it at the night mares pressing around Solis.
The night mares retreated, falling back with the shades and glooms to rally around me.
“After all your failures, Solis, all we asked for was a simple task. Just draw the Night Queen out away from her defenders. But you can’t even do that?” Angstra smiled cruelly as she and Manith strolled up to the Day King. “It’s no wonder you needed our help. You’re terribly incompetent.”
Layers, I thought. There was a lot of fae wordsmithing, but there are so many layers I don’t know what to even take from that!
Manith pointed his spear at me. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t quietly kill you, Night Queen, but it seems like a public confrontation is unavoidable.”
“You could just stop attacking me,” I felt obliged to point out.
“Impossible.” Angstra nocked another arrow in her bow as the Night Court guards shifted into a half moon circle around her, Solis, and Manith. Angstra ignored them and swiveled to face me. “We calculated for your death to sink the Night Court. Instead, you’ve reversed the progress we’ve made.” She loosened the arrow, which hit my shield and disappeared in a black whirl of shadow magic.
When the darkness faded, my heart sputtered.
The arrow was gone, but despite all my practice and all the power I’d put into my shield, it had cracked at the impact point. Even as I tried to pour more magic into the fractured shield, I felt the sharp and ancient brush of elf shadow magic—which, for the record, I really hated.
It ate away at my shield, consuming some of the magic I poured into the ward to try to restore it.
Oohhh, this is not good.
Manith stabbed the ground. Magic curled around him like a mist, and shadowy figures peeled off the ground and scrabbled toward my people. They crawled forward in a variety of shapes and forms—some looked like the shadow snakes from the theaters, others were creepily humanoid.
Chase whistled three sharp notes, and the Night Court countered.
A rune flickered around the gardens, and a massive ward sprouted over the mansion.
Indigo, Chrysanthe, and Skye stood on the steps with a few other staff members, throwing orbs of light, illusions, and whatever magic they could handle at Angstra and Manith.
The shades, night mares, and glooms stalked through my guards, moving so they were evenly spaced in a clearly practiced pattern.
The animals attacked the shadow magic that stalked toward the guards, ripping, clawing, and stomping it to pieces while guards shot at the trio, or launched magical attacks of their own.
“My Sovereign!” A faun guard crouched at my side. “We need to get you into the mansion—under the protection of the wards.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “I’m not leaving now!”
“Your safety is most important,” the faun said.
But should it be? a nasty part of me wondered. I can’t save the Night Realm…and even if Rigel is king, a full power transfer won’t happen until I die.
I mentally kicked the defeatist thought away. Nope, nope! It’s fine. Especially because if Angstra and Manith have gone through all of this to try to kill me, it obviously means I’m doing something right.
“I’m staying!” I declared.
Overhead, the clouds drifted away, and a purple-blue sky emerged, dotted with twinkling stars as the full moon drifted into place.
I was bringing the Night Realm to my mansion grounds.
“You’re insane,” Rigel growled. He’d used all his bullets to shoot and destroy some of the shadows closing in on our people and was in the process of switching to using a sword as Fax ignited a shadow that stalked up to us and turned it into a blazing inferno, and then ash.
I ignored Rigel’s observation. “I’m guessing you can’t harm Angstra or Manith?” I asked.
Rigel grimly slammed his sword through the chest cavity of a shadow creature.
“That would be a yes,” I said.
I’d finished patching the crack in my ward, when Angstra released another arrow. It slammed against my barrier with the darkness of a black hole, producing another crack.
I gritted my teeth as I poured more magic into my ward.
Since I was being forced to not only keep the ward up—something that came easily to me after my endless hours of practice—but also measure out my magic and feed it in so the shadow magic Angstra’s arrows left behind didn’t consume the ward itself, it was a tedious process—one that consumed more concentration than magic.
I risked glancing at Solis. He’d taken up a fortified position near us and was crouched down, funneling all of his magic and attention into keeping his barrier up and running.
Linus was taking a crack at attacking Manith and Angstra—he raised a ward between the pair to separate them. Manith hefted his spear—which writhed with shadows and darkness—and stabbed it into the ward, instantly collapsing it as Angstra nocked another one of her terrible arrows.
How are we going to beat them? I have power, but I’ve only learned wards—which it seems like they’re prepared for. Rigel would be our best shot, but he can’t directly attack them. And what
do we do about Solis?
My heart twisted at the Day King’s betrayal, and I stared at him as magic roared around us.
My pets continued to ravage the shadow creatures that closed in on us—with some help from Skye, Indigo, and the staff who flung light orbs from the sidelines.
It had continued to grow darker as I unconsciously dragged the Night Realm into our world as I pulled more magic through my staff.
Chase and the guards were slowly closing in on the pair, who stood half hidden behind Solis’s shield. Whenever Angstra had an arrow ready she’d spring out from behind the shield and shoot at me before darting back in, while Manith attacked everyone else.
Chase must have been prepared for something like this because all of the guards had already fired at least double what we’d used on the spiders, and they still had magazines left.
“Solis!” Angstra snarled.
Solis raised a double layered golden ward at their backs, protecting them from bullets.
Manith sneered as he twirled his spear, gathering more shadow magic. “You can’t think you’ll win with petty human trinkets—”
Bang!
Manith snarled with pain and gripped his bleeding hand—one of the guards had shot him. Seething, he slammed his spear into the ground, making a wave of shadows that encircled him and rippled out, moving the ground underneath the guards’ feet and tossing them backwards.
He swung around at Chase and flung a spear formed of shadows at him.
“No!” Chrysanthe tackled Chase, and the duo barely avoided getting hit.
This is bad. Very bad. There are three of them, but Manith and Angstra can hold us back with their shadow magic. How can we counter them? Do we just try to hold out and hope the Paragon will show soon? Should I try doing something?
Angstra shot another arrow at my ward—which I patched. Some of the guards were starting to toss their sidearms aside and were moving on to magic attacks—which Solis blocked with his wards.
If only Rigel didn’t have that stupid contract with its fancy fae wordsmithing! Wait—fae wordsmithing.
“Rigel!” I yipped when another arrow shot through the frayed edge of my ward, surprising me when it streaked past. I impatiently collapsed the ward—making Indigo scream—and raised a brand new one that was perfect and strong—and a lot easier to hold while I tried to think. “Is the magic in your contracts like the magic hold I have over my Court, or is it something different?”
I was very careful to ask about his contracts in general—not the specific one he had with Solis, which he wouldn’t be able to answer.
Rigel’s silver hair gleamed in the light produced by all the magic attacks bouncing around the mucky lawn. “What?”
“Does the magic in your contracts keep you from at all hurting whoever hires you, or only from purposely hurting them, like the magic that binds my Court?” I asked.
Rigel sliced through a humanoid shadow. “Purposely hurting.”
“Okay.” I clutched my staff and kept on funneling magic as Angstra shot another arrow at me. This one didn’t just crack my ward, it punched all the way through.
Chrysanthe screamed, but I just slapped more magic into my barrier.
That means he can harm them, as long as it’s an accident. How could I make that happen?
I glanced at the starry sky—which almost seemed to mock me that I had enough power to do that but I didn’t know how to form an attack! Then I locked eyes with Solis, standing behind his double shield, and an idea tickled my mind.
“What are you planning?” Chase demanded.
“It’s fine!” I said.
“No, it’s never fine when you say it’s fine!” Indigo screamed from the porch of the mansion.
“Rigel, we’re going to move forward,” I said. “I want to get up to Solis.”
Rigel’s eyes flicked to the Day King.
Angstra and Manith still stood behind him—even more protected by the two sets of shields Solis was powering, but Angstra still had to step out of the ward to shoot at me.
When she goes back in—that’s when I have to move.
Angstra lunged out from behind the shield, shooting another dark arrow at me. She unfortunately had perfect aim, so like all the ones before it, it hit my shield.
Since I wasn’t funneling as much magic into my ward the arrow shot through, barely missing me.
“Leila!” Chase snarled in warning.
I dropped my ward again and sprinted forward, tracing out runes in my mind and prepping magic. I stopped when I was close enough to Solis’s shield that I could reach out and touch it.
Slamming my staff into the ground, I unfolded the ward which bloomed into the barrier, raising just in time before Angstra managed to get a shot at me from this new, awkward angle.
“Whew!” I tucked my staff into the corner of my arm so I could wipe my sweaty hands off on my shirt and jeans. “That was close!”
“That was idiotic!” Chase barked.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” I adjusted my hold on my staff and glanced through my barrier. “Hello, Solis,” I said, some of my hurt and anger seeping through in my voice.
“Leila.” Solis raised an eyebrow. “Making your move?”
“Always,” I sweetly said.
This was part of my plan—to make Manith and Angstra think I was distracted and weakened. I was going to play like a fae and set a trap for them.
I hope. If I can pull this off—if Rigel can pull it off.
“Why’d you do this, Solis?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” A harsh laugh escaped from the Day King’s throat as he held his double-thick ward strong. “I’ve been trying to kill you since before the night mares bound you to your Court.”
My heart spasmed—the one monarch I’d counted on for months had always been plotting against me?
“You said we were friends.” I didn’t have to fake my emotions for this—my fingers tightened convulsively around my staff, and I narrowed my eyes.
Solis shrugged. “Being friends meant it was easier to get close to you. Easier to plot against you.”
“Even if you were exceptionally bad at it?” I sarcastically asked.
Solis sneered at me. “You lived in fear, didn’t you? Too paranoid to eat, too frightened to sleep.”
I was so mad I barely noticed when Angstra shot a hole in my ward. I threaded my barrier with magic—fixing the break—then dropped the ward I’d been prepping, attempting to slice vertically through Solis’s shield.
Sparks popped and lightning danced where my new ward struggled to grow, but Solis’s double barrier held.
“Can’t save your realm, and you can’t counter me, can you, Night Queen?” Solis taunted above the clashing hiss of our magic.
I wanted to scream like one of my night mares, but dimly I realized he was up to something.
He’s trying to rile me up…but why?
“Chrys,” I shouted.
“What do you want?” the fae lady snarled as she gutted a shadow monster.
“If you would please.” I waited until she was looking my way before I tapped my arm and glanced at Solis.
She nodded and formed an orb of light in her hands.
Solis’s shields were open on the sides, but Manith and Angstra had been able to counter everything tossed at them.
What they hadn’t counted on was Chrys. She tapped Twilight’s shoulder—he was the closest night mare to her—and the two rushed Manith, Angstra, and Solis.
Once close enough, Chrysanthe chucked the orb of light and ran back to Chase and the others—Twilight covering her.
Solis shouted in pain when the orb smacked his arm, right where Chase had shot him—the light itself probably did zero damage to him, but chucking anything at a bullet wound was bound to hurt.
He dropped to his knees, and I gathered as much magic as I could, preparing to forcibly crack both of his barriers open while he was distracted.
“This was all my own doing.”
Solis’s voice was hoarse with pain. “The Day Court had nothing to do with it. My people are too innocent to bloody their hands with your death.”
I paused, barely holding my magic in check. “What, you just personally hate half fae, then?”
Solis laughed darkly. “I’d say all of my attacks against you speak loud enough, don’t they?” He smirked at me through the haze of our wards and managed to look arrogant, even though he was still clutching his arm, on his knees, and gritting his teeth in pain. “And I’ll never stop, Leila. If I survive this I’ll come for you again and again. There would be repercussions to letting me live.”
Repercussions. The day we’d gone sledding, Solis had told me he was still dealing with repercussions from Nyte flinging the Night Court into a downward spiral.
He’s warning me, I realized. That wasn’t a threat, but a warning. He’s being forced to do this against his will!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leila
I stared at Solis and made some rapid last moment changes to my plan.
I switched my staff to a one-handed hold. “Solis, stand up.”
Magic whirled around us as my people attacked Manith and Angstra, and they shot off their horrible shadow magic. But time seemed to slow as Solis struggled to stand.
My staff gleamed with my purple magic—which I continued to hoard.
When Solis was finally standing, I extended my hand. Narrowing my eyes as the moon and stars cast a soft light on the fight, I ordered, “Lower your shield.”
For the first time since he’d revealed himself, something sad twitched across the Day King’s face. “Help the next Day King if you don’t want this to happen again.” He paused, and the wrinkles around his eyes tightened with anguish. “Please.”
“No,” I said. “Drop the ward.”
Solis briefly closed his eyes, but when he opened them again his expression was steady. He held up his hand so it was directly across from mine…and dropped his barrier. “I’m sorry.”