My throat tightened. I knew what she was thinking of: that terrible night when Keirran betrayed us all by killing Ethan and destroying the Veil. The moment when the prophecy finally came to a head. In her quest for power, the Lady had discovered that the way to tear down the Veil, which would allow all mortals to see the fey, was to sacrifice a human who possessed blood ties to all three courts of Faery: Summer, Winter, and Iron. Ethan Chase, with his relation to Meghan, Keirran, and myself, was the only human who fit this criteria. At the time, he was also Keirran’s closest friend, but that didn’t stop Fate from playing out that night. Within a site of power, surrounded by Forgotten and urged on by the Lady herself, Keirran stabbed Meghan’s brother in cold blood and left him to die.
Thankfully, destiny did not play out exactly as the Lady envisioned it. Somehow, Ethan was revived, saved by a mysterious magic that baffles me to this day. And though the Veil did fall for a few minutes, causing chaos and panic in the mortal realm, it reformed when Ethan Chase stubbornly refused to stay dead. But that betrayal, that moment when Keirran made the decision to kill his best friend, was the catalyst for the war that came after, and our son turning into the enemy.
Meghan shivered again. I pulled her close and held her tightly, feeling her ragged breathing as she struggled with her fears. Pressing my lips to the top of her head, I closed my eyes, wanting to take that burden she carried onto myself. She was a faery queen with tremendous power, but she was also a human mother whose whole world had been shattered by Keirran’s betrayal. In the war with the Forgotten, she had been forced to hide her grief and heartbreak when dealing with the other courts, or even her own people, but in the quiet moments when we were alone, her walls would come down and she would sob in my arms.
“We’ll find him,” I told her. “Keirran is strong, and he’s trying to make up for everything he’s done in the past. We must have faith that he’ll stay true to himself. And if he does turn on us again...we’ll just have to change him back. There is a way to beat the Monster’s influence—Puck has proven that already.”
Her arms around me tightened. “You never gave up hope, even when Keirran seemed completely lost,” she mused. “You always believed he could be saved.” She paused. “You never let me give up hope, either.”
“You and Keirran,” I said quietly, “are the most important parts of my life. I would do anything to protect you.”
And destroy anything that threatened them. Monster, demon, or Exile Queen. It didn’t matter who they were or how powerful; if they put my family in harm’s way, I would show no mercy whatsoever.
Drawing back, I nodded to the large, four-poster bed against the far wall. “Why don’t you try to get some rest?” I suggested. “We’ve been running around nonstop since we left Mag Tuiredh. Who knows when we’ll get the chance to catch our breath again.”
“What about you?” Her eyes regarded me in a worried fashion. “You took a couple of nasty blows from the Monster. I can’t imagine they’re fully healed yet.”
“They’re not,” I said truthfully, and shrugged. “But I’ll live. I can still fight, anyway.”
Her hand slid down my chest, as if she could sense the bruises below my shirt. I shivered as those soft fingers caressed my skin. “Leanansidhe has healers,” she said.
“And would probably charge us a favor to use them,” I replied. Catching her hand, I trapped it under my own, squeezing gently. “I’m fine, Meghan. I don’t want to put us in her debt, especially now. I don’t want to jeopardize any chance of us finding Keirran.”
She sighed, giving me a faintly exasperated look. “All right,” she said. “No healers. On one condition—that you take your own advice and get some rest while you have the chance. We’re safe enough here—Razor Dan isn’t going to sneak into the room to steal our livers while we sleep.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” I muttered. Razor Dan, the leader of the redcap motley that worked for Leanansidhe, was sneaky, violent, and surprisingly ambitious for a redcap. He was, rightfully so, terrified of the Exile Queen, but that didn’t stop him from trying to take advantage if he thought he could get away with it.
Meghan shook her head, but took my hand and drew me across the room with her. “Humor me, then,” she ordered, sinking gracefully onto the bed. “At least lie down and pretend to rest. I know you’re not going to be able to sleep, but keep me company for a while? I’ll get too wrapped up in my own thoughts otherwise.”
I climbed atop the mattress with her and sat back against the headboard, facing the door. Meghan curled up against me and closed her eyes, and I listened to her breathing as she relaxed.
“I’m afraid, Ash,” she murmured into the silence. Her voice was barely a whisper in the empty room. “This whole situation with Keirran, with the Forgotten, with this new monster...it feels different. Something is out there. What I discovered beneath the roots of the Mother Tree...” She shivered and pressed closer. “I can’t even explain how massive it was. It was almost like encountering a sleeping god. It was ancient. Older than the courts. Possibly older than the Nevernever itself. And it’s starting to wake up.”
She shivered violently. Shifting on the bed, I put my arms around her and held her close, and she fisted a hand against my shirt. Her fear was suddenly palpable, which made my adrenaline spike and my senses sharpen. I wanted to protect her from all threats, to destroy that fear so thoroughly it could never return to shadow her, but there was nothing here to fight.
Instead, I stroked her hair and kept my breaths slow and even, trying to ease some of her worry, to take it onto myself. “We’ve faced threats to Faery before,” I told her softly. “There have been wars where the entire Nevernever has been in danger. How many prophecies have we already been a part of? We’ve fought the Iron King, Machina, the Lady, the Forgotten, even Keirran himself. Faery is still here, and so are we.”
“I know,” Meghan whispered. “And I know this might be dramatic, but it feels like—like this could be the big one, Ash. Evenfall. Dusk settling over the world. The twilight of all living things.”
Evenfall.
A cold resolve settled through me. “Whatever this threat is,” I said, “whatever it plans for the Nevernever, we will fight it, like we’ve always done. You, me, Goodfellow, Grimalkin, and everyone we’ve allied with along the way. And if it really is the end of the Faery, we’ll face it together.”
Though I would not let that happen. No matter what I had to fight, I would protect my home, my family, and my queen with everything I had. I would destroy all that threatened them, and if that meant leaving mountains of bodies behind, so be it. I had been an Unseelie prince. I was the son of Mab, queen of the Winter Court. Despite having a soul, death was still a part of me.