“I’m sorry,” Keirran murmured, steadying us as I stumbled. “I was hoping…it wouldn’t come to this.” He sighed and gave me an earnest look. “Annwyl. Is she all right? Is she safe?”
“I already told you she was.” My leg throbbed, making my temper flare. “No thanks to you! What the hell is wrong with you, Keirran? I thought you cared for Annwyl, or don’t you care that they left her in a cage, all alone, while you were out here having tea with the Lady or whatever the hell you were doing?”
Keirran paled. “Annwyl,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry. Forgive me, I didn’t know....” Opening his eyes, he gave me a pleading look. “They wouldn’t let me see her. I didn’t know where she was. They told me she would be killed if I didn’t cooperate.”
“Well, you were certainly doing that,” I shot back, and pushed him toward one of my fallen weapons. “Don’t leave my swords. I want them in case your wonderful Lady decides to double-cross us.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Keirran said, dragging me over and kneeling to pick up my blade. “She’s more honorable than you think. You just have to understand what’s happened to her, what she’s trying to accomplish—”
I snatched the weapon from him and glared. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”
That tortured look crossed his face again. “Ethan, please…”
“Never mind,” I muttered, wincing as my leg started to throb. “Let’s just get out of here, while I can still walk out.”
We started across the floor again, but hadn’t gone very far when the Lady’s voice rang out again. “Prince Keirran,” she called. “Wait, please. One more thing.”
Keirran paused, but he didn’t look back.
“The killings can stop,” the Lady went on in a quiet but earnest voice. “No more exiles will be sacrificed to keep us alive, and no more half-breeds will be taken. I can order my people to do this, if that is what you want.”
“Yes,” Keirran said immediately, still not looking back. “It is.”
“However,” the Lady went on, “if I do this, you must come and speak with me again. One day soon I will call for you, and you must come to me, of your own free will. Not as a prisoner, but as a guest. An equal. Will you give me that much, at least?”
“Keirran,” I muttered as he paused, “don’t listen to her. She just wants you under her thumb again because you’re the son of the Iron Queen. You know faery bargains never turn out right.”
He didn’t answer, staring straight ahead, at nothing.
“Iron Prince?” The Lady’s voice was low, soothing. “What is your answer?”
“Keirran…” I warned.
His eyes hardened. “Agreed,” he called back. “You have my word.”
I wanted to punch him.
* * *
“Dammit, what is wrong with you?” I seethed as we left the queen’s chamber. “Have you forgotten what she’s done? Did you happen to see all the half-breeds she’s kidnapped? Did you see what they did to them, drained all their magic so they’re just shells of what they were? Have you forgotten all the exiles they’ve killed, just to keep themselves alive?” He didn’t answer, and I narrowed my eyes. “Annwyl could’ve been one of them, or are you so enamored with your new lady friend that you forgot about her, too?”
The last was a low blow, but I wanted to make him angry, get him to argue with me. Or at least to confirm that he hadn’t forgotten the atrocities committed here or what we’d come to do. But his blue eyes only got colder, though his voice remained calm.
“I wouldn’t expect a human to understand.”
“Then explain it to me,” I said through gritted teeth, though hearing him say that sent a chill up my spine.
“I don’t agree with her methods,” Keirran said as two piranha-palm gnomes stepped aside for us, bowing to Keirran. “But she’s only trying to achieve what every good ruler wants—the survival of her people. You don’t know how horrible it is for exiles, for all of them, to face nothingness. Losing pieces of yourself every day, until you cease to exist.”
“And the harm she’s caused so that her people can survive?”
“That was wrong,” Keirran agreed, furrowing his brow. “Others shouldn’t have had to die. But the Forgotten are only trying to live and not fade away, just like the exiles. Just like everyone in Faery.” He sighed and turned down a side tunnel filled with crystals and bone fragments. But the farther we walked, the more the gems and skeletons faded away, until the ground was just normal rock under our feet. Ahead, I could see the end of the tunnel and a small paved path that cut through the trees. The shadows of the cavern fell away. “There has to be a way for them to survive without hurting anyone else,” Keirran muttered at last. I looked at him and frowned.
“And if there isn’t?”
“Then we’re all going to have to choose a side.”
* * *
We left the cave of the Forgotten and stepped into the real world from beneath a stone bridge, emerging in Central Park again. I didn’t know how long we had been in the Between, but the sky overhead blazed with stars, though the air held a stillness that said it was close to dawn. Keirran dragged me to a green bench on the side of the trail, and I collapsed on top of it with a groan.
The prince hovered anxiously on the edge of the path. “How’s the leg?” he asked, sounding faintly guilty. Not guilty enough, I thought sourly. I prodded the gash and winced.
“Hurts like hell,” I muttered, “but at least the bleeding’s slowed down.” Removing my belt, I wrapped it several times around my leg to make a rough bandage, clenching my jaw as I cinched it tight. The gash on my arm was still oozing sluggishly, but I’d have to take care of it later.
“Where to now?” Keirran asked.
“Belvedere Castle,” I replied, desperately hoping Kenzie and the others were already there, waiting for us. “We agreed to meet there, when this was all over.”
Keirran looked around the dense woods and sighed. “Any idea what direction it might be?”
“Not really,” I gritted out and glared at him. “You’re the one with faery blood. Aren’t you supposed to have some innate sense of direction?”
“I’m not a compass,” Keirran said mildly, still gazing around the forest. Finally, he shrugged. “Well, I guess we’ll pick a trail and hope for the best. Can you walk?”
Despite my anger, I felt a tiny twinge of relief. He was starting to sound like his old self again. Maybe all that madness down in the Lady’s throne room was because he’d been glamoured, after all.
“I’ll be fine,” I muttered, struggling to my feet. “But I’m going to have to tell Kenzie that you’re really not at all helpful on camping trips.”
He chuckled, and it sounded relieved, too. “Be sure to break it to her gently,” he said, and took my weight again.
Fifteen minutes later, we still had no idea where we were going. We were wandering up a twisty, narrow path, hoping it would take us someplace familiar, when Keirran suddenly stopped. A troubled look crossed his face, and I glanced around warily, wondering if I should pull my swords. Of course, it was going to be really awkward fighting while hopping around on one leg or leaning against Keirran. I had hoped our fighting was done for the night.
“What is it?” I asked. Keirran sighed.
“They’re here.”
“What? Who?”
“Master!”
A familiar wail rent the night, and Keirran grimaced, bracing himself, as Razor hurled himself at his chest. Scrabbling to his shoulders, the gremlin gibbered and bounced with joy. “Master, master! Master safe!”
“Hey, Razor.” Keirran smiled, wincing helplessly as the gremlin continued to bounce on him. “Yeah, I’m happy to see you, too. Is the court far behind?”
I frowned at him. “Court?”
They emerged from the trees all around us, dozens of sidhe knights in gleaming armor, the symbol of a great iron tree on their breastplates. They slid out of the woods, amazingly silent for an army in plate mail, until they formed a glittering half circle around us. Leading them all was a pair of familiar faces: a dark faery dressed all in black with silver eyes, and a grinning redhead.
Keirran stiffened beside me.
“Well, well,” Puck announced, smirking as he and Ash approached side-by-side. “Look who it is. See, ice-boy, I told you they’d be here.”
Ash’s glittering stare was leveled at Keirran, who quickly bowed his head but, to his credit, didn’t cringe or back away. Which took guts, I had to admit, facing down that icy glare.
“Are you two all right?” From Ash’s tone, I couldn’t tell if he was relieved, secretly amused or completely furious. His gaze swept over me, quietly assessing, and his eyes narrowed. “Ethan, you’re badly wounded. What happened?”
“I’m fine.” A weak claim, I knew, as my shirt and half my pant leg were covered in blood. Beside me, Keirran was rigid, motionless. Razor gave a worried buzz from his neck. What’s the matter? I thought. Afraid I’m going to tell Daddy that you nearly let me be skewered to death? “I got into a fight with a few guards.” I shrugged, then grimaced as the motion tore the dried wound on my shoulder. “Turns out, fighting multiple opponents in armor isn’t a very smart idea.”
“You think?” Puck came forward, shooing Keirran away and pointing me to a nearby rock. “Sit down. Jeez, kid, do I look like a nurse? Why are you always bleeding whenever I see you? You’re worse than ice-boy.”
Ash ignored that comment as Puck briskly started tying bandages around my various cuts and gashes, being not particularly gentle. “Where are they?” the dark faery demanded.
I clenched my teeth as Puck yanked a strip of cloth around my arm. “There’s a trod under a bridge that will take you to their lair,” I said, pointing back down the path. “I’d be careful, though. There’s a lot of them running around.”
“Don’t hurt them,” Keirran burst out, and everyone, even Razor, glanced at him in surprise. “They’re not dangerous,” he pleaded, as I gave him an are-you-crazy look. He ignored me. “They’re just…misguided.”
Puck snorted, looking up from my shoulder. “Sorry, but are we talking about the same creepy little faeries that tried to kill us atop the castle that night? Evil gnomes, toothy hands, tried to suck out everyone’s glamour—this ringing any bells?” He stood, wiping off his hands, and I pushed myself to my feet, gingerly putting weight on my leg. It was just numb now, making me wonder what Puck had done to it. Magic, glamour or something else? Whatever it was, I wasn’t complaining.
“The killings will stop,” Keirran insisted. “The queen promised me they would stop.”
“They have a queen?” Ash’s voice had gone soft and lethal, and even Puck looked concerned. Keirran drew in a sharp breath, realizing his mistake.