As I ran down the stairs from the king’s chamber, I felt like Cinderella fleeing the ball. Except I’d seen through his disguise, rather than the other way around.

  No.

  I was reading too much into the interaction with the wolf.

  But how were they connected? Why had the wolf appeared?

  It seemed like they were friends. No one could ever own the thorn wolf, but if the creature liked you, surely it would appear to you. And the king had been concerned about it.

  I reached the landing at the base of the stairs that led to the king’s tower. As with most of the castle, there were huge windows there. No glass, just a perfect endless view of the beautiful city and the river and mountains beyond. A breeze blew, cool and refreshing.

  This place had to have great weather all the time if they never put glass in their windows.

  I was both jealous of that and bored by the idea.

  The sound of ladies laughing echoed from the hall to my left. My heart rate jumped, and I looked over. I couldn’t see them, but they’d be turning the corner any moment.

  Shit.

  This was my chance. I’d managed to distract the king enough that he’d let me leave without a chaperone—I could probably thank the wolf for that—and now I had my opportunity.

  I hurried down the next flight of stairs, then slipped into the first dark corner I could find. I crowded in behind a statue of an enormous stag—these Fae really loved their stags—and held my breath.

  The ladies from above trooped down the stairs and continued onward, their flowing dresses trailing behind them in sweeps of jewel-toned silk.

  The Court.

  A Court with nothing to do, probably. He definitely didn’t seem like your normal Seelie Fae, ready to make merry and party with his admirers.

  This all had to do with the demon energy. It had to. Something was deeply wrong in this wonderland, and I needed to figure it out.

  I closed my eyes and called upon my seeker sense. It was the weakest of my powers, but if I combined it with my amplification magic, I might get enough magical juice that I could find the source of this darkness. Because it had to be coming from somewhere.

  I hadn’t sensed it on the king—at least not in great enough quantities that I could consider him to be the source—so it had to be coming from somewhere else.

  Power sparked deep in my soul. I focused on it, fanning it to life with my will.

  Come on. Come on.

  I imagined being able to find what I sought—the source of this dark magic that the Seelie Fae were too naive to even sense in their own realm. Because if they knew something was wrong, I got no sense of it. They hadn’t even connected the deaths with it.

  Though perhaps they were being enchanted? There could be something at work that kept them from noticing.

  I drew in a deep breath and combined my amplification magic with my seeker sense. I envisioned them as red and yellow mists mixing together. Tricks like these often helped me manipulate my power.

  Where is the source of this dark energy?

  After a moment of sheer, terrifying nothing, I got a hint. There was a slight tug at my middle as my seeker sense ignited. It pulled me down and to the back of the castle.

  It had to be there.

  Once I was sure the coast was clear, I darted out from my hiding space. Silent as a thief, I slipped through the castle, going down stairs and across halls, my way illuminated by sparkling fairy light. In one room, there were tables laden with delicious foods. The fruit gleamed invitingly, and my stomach growled. There was probably a bacon sandwich in there somewhere…

  No.

  I’d eaten after the competition, but it called to me even so.

  No.

  I must not. There were stories about the Fae fruit. Eat the wrong one and you might stay forever. Not that I’d be going for the fruit, necessarily.

  But still, whatever ball or party these tables were for, they would remain untouched by me. I hurried past, resisting the urge to have a snack, and kept going through a room where diaphanous pale blue silk hung in front of the windows. It waved in the breeze, moonlight shining through it, and it was perhaps the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  This Seelie realm was a trip, all right.

  I wished for Aerie. For her crotchety hellcat Wally. For my friends from Magic’s Bend.

  For anything that would remind me of my world at home and not this crazy one of Fae beauty and a reluctant king with a dark and terrifying past.

  This place was messing with my head.

  Finally, I reached the back of the castle. I slipped through a quiet side door and out into the fresh air. I sucked in a deep breath, then pressed myself against the wall, taking stock of my seeker sense.

  It continued to pull me back toward the rear of the castle. The curtain wall that surrounded the massive structure was huge. There had to be acres and acres inside of this place. At the very rear, there was a forest.

  The trees were big, but not huge. Only a hundred feet tall, as opposed to the three or four hundred feet of the trees that surrounded the castle compound.

  Dark energy seemed to seep from them, a slimy, snaky mist that crept along the ground. Could the Fae really not see this?

  Probably not, or they’d do something about it.

  I was particularly good at sensing this kind of thing, after all. A natural born talent combined with my job as a demon slayer.

  “Mari? What are you doing here?”

  I nearly leapt out of my skin at the sound of the voice.

  I turned to see Luna, the Fae from earlier. She stood to the left, partially behind me. She had a knack for showing up. In her hands, she held a jug and a bowl.

  I sucked in a breath to calm my breathing. “Taking a walk. You?”

  “Getting a snack.”

  My gaze darted to the trees. I pointed. “What is that place?”

  “The King’s Grove.”

  “Like, the king’s trees?”

  “Basically. No one is allowed to go there. It is for him alone.”

  Huh. And the dark magic was coming from there.

  “Cool.” I glanced at the ground near the trees in the distance. I could definitely see the dark mist of black magic. A similar substance to the grime that covered Darklane, though we had our evil shit under control.

  She clearly didn’t sense anything, and I didn’t want her to see me go toward the grove.

  “Headed back to our quarters?” I asked. “I’ll walk with you.”

  I’d have to find a way to slip away before we entered, but I didn’t want this to be the last place she saw me.

  “I can go partway with you. But I want to get some more cereal.”

  “Great.”

  We walked together for a few minutes, discussing the competition earlier that day. When she veered off for the kitchen, I kept going. Once I was sure she wasn’t looking, I looped back around and raced toward the grove.

  When I reached it, I hurried on, heading toward the wood. When I stepped through the trees, it was darker inside. The repellent magic that prickled against my skin was likely the king’s protection charm to keep his grove private.

  Or it could be the demon magic I was hunting.

  As I made it deeper into the woods, I spotted a sturdy stone wall built between the trees. They looked like oaks, and they grew up through the stone wall, entwined with the structure. It contained an area of unknown size, but it was totally blocked off.

  As I neared the wall, my steps slowed. There was a gate, and beyond the gate, a roiling stench of dark magic that turned my stomach. Brimstone and putrid night lilies.

  9

  Slowly, I crept toward the gate. My slippers crunched on leaves, and a single sliver of moonlight shined through the canopy of leaves high above. The beam of light highlighted the big metal lock.

  I stopped in front of it, dark magic crawling across my skin. In addition to the smell that was so similar to my mother’s, it felt like huge spiders and tasted like rotten eggs. I shuddered from the strength of it.

  Shit. Oh, double shit.

  I’d expected to find something tonight.

  But maybe not this.

  Whatever was beyond this gate…it was bad.

  I raised a hand to the gate and touched the lock, a shiver racing up my arm. Magic sparked from the lock, a protective charm that would be hard to break.

  For anyone but me.

  I drew in a steady breath and sliced my thumb with my nail. Pain flared and blood welled.

  Time to make some magic.

  I called upon my Dragon Blood power, envisioning the gift of spell breaking. It was a rare and difficult magic, and it took a lot of energy to create. By the time I felt the power tingling at my fingertips, my breath was coming short and my muscles were weak.

  I funneled more magic into the power, crafting it from nothing. This would be a valuable skill to have if I were willing to create it permanently.

  But I wasn’t. I couldn’t risk it. Too much magic and my signature would change forever. Each new skill made it grow, and if I had too many skills, it’d be obvious to anyone what I was.

  Not worth it.

  Once I felt the power of the spell breaker flowing through my veins, I fed it into the lock. Black mist swirled around the complex metal structure, until finally, the sparking pain of the protective charm faded away. There was a pop in the air, and it was done.

  Now that the repelling charm was gone, I could get to work on the lock. I drew two pins from my hair and knelt, sticking the little pieces of metal into the hole. It took a few minutes—the king had spared no expense on this sucker—but the lock finally clicked open.

  I shoved the pins back into my hair and slipped through the gate, entering a forest that was so full of dark magic I nearly stumbled.

  The walls had done a lot to contain it, which meant they were probably imbued with another spell.

  I raised my skirt to my mouth and nose, breathing shallowly through the cloth to avoid the stink. Dread chilled my skin as I started through the forest. I drew my dagger from the ether and crept on silent feet, muscles tensed for whatever was ahead.

  Oh fates, what would I find?

  No way my mother would just be sitting in these woods, if she was even involved with this, but perhaps a clue?

  When I stumbled on the clearing, I blinked in confusion.

  A massive crystal obelisk jutted from the earth. The rock was roughly rectangular, but extremely thin and very tall. Around it, the ground was cracked and blackened.

  The dark magic seemed to seep from it, curling over the ground like mist.

  What the hell was it?

  I’d expected something more than this.

  But a rock?

  Why a rock?

  Standing stones were vitally important to the Fae. Was that what this was?

  But there was only one, and it was so evil it felt like the devil himself had put it there.

  My steps slowed as I approached, and the magic grew stronger. The stench was so powerful that I almost couldn’t breathe, and the feeling of repulsive prickling became one of daggers stabbing me in the chest. Pain surged through me, and my eyes pricked with tears. My limbs grew heavy and reluctant to continue, but I forced myself onward.

  How could I destroy this?

  Because it had to be destroyed. This was what was polluting the Fae realm. And somehow it had caused the deaths of all those people.

  I kept going, nearly there. Only twenty feet to go. But every step grew more difficult, every breath more painful.

  No. I have to stop.

  If I continued, I would die. The crystal obelisk would suck the life right from me. Worse, the desire to kill was starting to filter into my mind.

  It was so strange and sudden that I nearly gasped. Or I would have, if I weren’t nearly frozen solid by the dark magic that was twisting around me. Only now did I see the black mist. It had hovered around my feet, nearly invisible in the dark.

  It crept up my legs, up my waist.

  My heart thundered as horror swelled inside my chest.

  No, no, no.

  I tried to turn, to run. I clawed at my hair, trying to drive away the visions of me sacrificing people to this dark stone. Blood flowed through my mind, screams echoed.

  I collapsed, no longer able to move. To think.

  I was a creature of the crystal obelisk, fully victim to its whims. A tool.

  Tears poured down my cheeks as consciousness began to fade.

  Something clamped around my ankle. Pain flared briefly, panic following. Something had bitten me. It dragged me through the forest, away from the stone. Fear made me want to fight, but I was too weak.

  By the time the creature dragged me through the gate, the worst of the mind-fogging evil had faded from my head. I gasped, sitting upright, muscles aching and breaths heaving. My limbs were weak and my head fuzzy.

  The thorn wolf sat in front of me, his one good eye glued to me.

  “You saved me.”

  The wolf just looked at me. Then he disappeared.

  “Holy fates.” I drew a shaking hand over my sweaty brow, then turned to the gate.

  It was still open.

  I staggered upright and stumbled toward it, then shut it as quickly as I could. It took longer to re-lock it without the key. My hairpins kept shaking in my trembling hands.

  Finally, it clicked back into place. I leaned my head against the gate, panting. That would have to be good enough. I couldn’t redo the charm. But I’d have to find a way to destroy that stone before it destroyed this place.

  I just had no idea how.

  The next morning came early. It was probably my exhaustion from the night before, along with the dreams that had haunted me, but I was still aching the next day. When the hobgoblin woke me with a clanging bell and a tray of food, I wanted to cry.

  Instead, I ate.

  I would need my strength. If I could keep going in this competition, I could win the prize and wish for the evil crystal obelisk to be destroyed. Though I’d wanted the prize for my own, to figure out what my other bloodline really was, I couldn’t use it that way now.

  Because whatever the stone really was, it needed to be destroyed. By any means possible. That evil couldn’t be allowed to take over the Fae realm and then earth. If my mother was involved in this, I might figure out her identity anyway.

  And the king needed to be dealt with. He’d locked it up—to protect it, or to protect others from it?

  Impossible to say. But I didn’t want to question him until I knew more. If he were actually evil, he could throw me right out of the kingdom or, more likely, into a Fae dungeon.

  I finished my breakfast and turned my mind to the competition ahead. Fortunately, my clean clothes had been delivered, and I dressed quickly. Again, I felt naked without my makeup and hair, but it was my best disguise here. I’d already updated Aeri last night about what I’d found, and she would be telling the Council of Demon Slayers. They’d arrange backup if I determined that I needed it.

  For now, my only job was to try to beat the other competitors and win this damned prize. On the way, I’d figure out what the king’s role was.

  As with yesterday, we met in the arena. Though it was morning, the stands were full and the crowd cheering. Tarron stood in his usual box, staring down at me.

  Did he know what I’d done last night?

  No. He couldn’t.

  The Fae announcer landed in front of the four of us. Today, her dress was a molten gold that matched her hair, which had changed color overnight. She swept out her arms, her voice booming. “Contestants! Welcome! You are here to compete in the second round. The most exciting round. It will be longer, and more difficult, but at the end, one of you will reach the prize—the coveted Wish Stone that will grant you one thing you truly desire.”

  The crowd cheered, roaring.

  The announcer continued. “Today you will be returning to the earthly realm. To the sacred glen of Kilmartin. This area, enormous in size, is the home of more ancient, sacred Fae monuments than anywhere in the world. It is the gateway to our realm, and here, you will continue to compete amongst the shadows of history.”

  Okay, that was cool but all very vague.

  “Each of you will begin a treasure hunt, full of riddles and mysteries that you must solve to reach the final prize. There are particular parts of this journey that are the most entertaining. There, magic will project your image into this arena so that the spectators may watch you. When that happens, you will feel it. Now, it is time to depart!” With a flourish of her hands, four beautiful carriages appeared. Each was pulled by a pair of winged stags.

  We each climbed into a carriage under the expectant gaze of the crowed. The stags took off, cantering through the arena. The crowd cheered and screamed, and I couldn’t help but smile.

  I didn’t hate being adored.

  I was going to assume that’s what the cheers were about.

  When the stags reached the edge of the arena, they took off into the air, their powerful wings carrying us high. I gasped and gripped the side of my carriage. The wind tore at my hair and the sun shined brightly as we traveled over the city.

  It sprawled out below us, beautiful and pristine. I couldn’t see the King’s Grove because the obelisk was shielded by the trees.

  By the time we reached the portal to the human realm, I was windblown and ready to get on with the challenge. The stags trotted right through the portal and into the other side.

  When they appeared in Kilmartin, their wings disappeared. The glow that surrounded their bodies faded as well. It was as if earth was dampening their magic. This was the border between the Fae world and the human one, but it was still earth.

  The carriages split up at that point, the stags taking us each in different directions. I watched the carriage carrying Luna disappear to the east, toward the rising sun, while the lion went west.

  Before mine could move, I leaned forward. “Wait here a minute, will you?”

  The two stags stopped, quivering. The Fae announcer had said that I’d feel it if I were being watched. I couldn’t feel anything.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17