Her digestive muscles tightened, and her arms thrashed at her side, trying to keep us steady, but blind terror powered my movements. I bucked and bent and slammed my lower half into the wall, into doorways and around a floor strewn with torches of molten gold.
Melusina’s groans reverberated through my body, which only drove me to thrash harder. A splinter on the ground caught on my silken casing, and hope surged through my chest. I twisted from side to side, using the broken floor as a saw, until the pressure around my torso loosened, and my arms broke free.
I delved beneath the silk encasing my front and tore through the layers to reach my sword belt. Without thinking, without feeling the pain or the burn or the chill of the iron, I snatched it from my belt and plunged it into her right eye. Her scream reverberated through my hips and thighs and lower legs before her powerful muscles slackened.
With a low groan, Melusina’s body went still.
It was only when the dagger slipped from my fingers that I felt the burn, felt the ache in my leg muscles, the compression of my bones.
Panting breaths heaved through my lungs, and my stomach heaved with disgust. I shoved at her stretched face with the heel of my hands and kicked myself free. Blood and slime soaked the silk encasing my lower half. I slipped it off and scrambled to my hands and knees.
Melusina lay face-down on the ground, an empty, wheezing husk. She was naked, with rib bones that lay flat against the floor like the rungs of a ladder covered in flesh.
I reached for the dagger again but paused. The only way to kill a nathair was at the hands of her parent or child. As she had hidden Queen Pressyne’s skeleton, I had to do it. The last time I used the Sword of Tethra on her, it only opened a rift and swallowed her into another location. This time, I had to make sure she was dead.
A pained voice from behind pierced through my thoughts.
Drayce.
He was out there somewhere and hurt. Hissing through the burn, I picked up the iron dagger and stabbed it through Melusina’s back. She rasped out a cry and stilled.
The moan sounded again, making my heart shudder. Drayce was difficult to kill, but I couldn’t let him suffer. Leaving the dagger embedded in Melusina’s hollow chest, I pulled myself to my feet, snatched a fallen torch, and ran in the direction of the sound.
Batting away cobwebs drifting from the wall, I passed bodies on the ground cocooned in silk. The first was a large figure who could only be Aengus, another that was probably Cathbad, and a slender one that I guessed was Rosalind. Where was Drayce? Melusina had gloated about wanting to keep him alive.
I stumbled over splintered wood lying among the cobwebs. On my left, light glowed from beyond a doorway. It was the room of spider webs cleaved by Drayce’s shadow. One side still glowed with the light of Rosalind’s torch, and a dark shadow moved from inside.
“Where are you?” I snarled.
The spider poked its head out of the silk. “Your Majesty?”
My mouth dried. It probably thought Melusina had finished assimilating my body. “Yes,” I said in her throaty voice. “It is I. Where is King Drayce Salamander? I still have use of him.”
“Oh.” The spider poked its head back into the web.
“What does that mean?” I snapped.
“I already took a bite out of his middle,” the spider said in a small voice. “Don’t be angry.”
Its words hit like a punch to the gut. I jerked forward and held my face in a mask of fury. “You knew I needed him,” I said through clenched teeth. “Bring him out, now!”
Nothing happened for the next few heartbeats, and I wondered if I’d said something wrong. What if the spider decided Drayce was too powerful and delicious to relinquish and dragged him through a hole? If it consumed him, would it become the King of Death?
Anxiety skittered down my spine, tightened my muscles, and made my insides churn. I clenched the Sword of Tethra and readied myself to slash through the curtain of white, when an unconscious Drayce rolled out from the webs. Blood soaked the front of his jacket, and his face took on the shade of diluted milk.
Slow clicks emerged from deep the other side of the room, “It wasn’t my fault. The Fear Dorcha said—”
“Get out of my sight!” I roared.
As its skittering footsteps retreated upwards, I dropped to my knees and wiped the damp sweat off his face. My chest felt as hollow as Melusina, seeing him in this weakened and bleeding condition. I placed both hands on his shoulders and choked back a sob. Would it be fair to wake him when he was in so much pain?
What if he was trapped in a nightmare with the Fear Dorcha and suffering the same amount of agony? At least while awake, he could protect himself with shadows. Reaching down to the hand that held the silver ring, I intertwined our fingers and inhaled a deep breath. The ring pulsed in time with the rapid beat of my heart, and the cornerstone against my chest throbbed in unison. Pulling him out of the dream was the right thing to do.
We were mates now, joined by love and magic. If the Dagda was right, I could wake him with a kiss. I pressed my lips on Drayce’s and drew back. His eyes remained closed without so much as a twitch on those thick lashes.
“Drayce,” I whispered.
His calm features morphed into a rictus of agony.
“I’m sorry.” My voice cracked.
“What’s happening?” he croaked.
“It was the spider,” I murmured. “Remember when it reached into the ceiling for spices?”
He nodded. “A sleep enchantment?”
“Sleep dust.”
Drayce winced and groaned. “I should have known.”
“I’ve got to wake the others before the spider returns to eat them, too. Can you wrap yourself in shadows until I return?”
He grabbed my arm. “I’ll come with you.”
“But you’re hurt—”
“No.” He pulled himself upright, determination hardening his features. Shadows wrapped around Drayce’s middle like a corset, making him hiss. “Help me up.”
I wanted to protest, but the stern look he shot me said that arguing would be futile. As Drayce shoved himself off the ground, I slid myself beneath his shoulder. “Lean on me.”
Drayce grunted, and his weight settled on my side. I wrapped an arm around his back, offering him my full support. Weeks ago, when I was human, I would have stumbled under the weight of his larger body, but somewhere between inhaling the Banshee Queen’s dying breath and now, I’d increased my physical strength.
We hobbled through the walkway between the cobwebs, over rotted, creaking floorboards, and back into the dim hallway, stopping at each cocoon for Drayce’s shadows to tear our companions free. Up ahead lay Melusina’s body on the floor, still impaled by my iron dagger.
“Is that her?” Drayce asked.
I exhaled my disgust and anger in a long breath. “She was trying to swallow me.”
He didn’t respond. Perhaps he already knew how she had assimilated previous bodies.
“Will an iron dagger be enough to kill her?” I pointed the torch down the hallway at Melusina’s prone form.
Her chest no longer rose and fell with breaths. Maybe I didn’t need to tear her apart with claws as Drayce had once directed Queen Pressyne’s skeleton. Maybe my use of iron had fulfilled the requirements for killing a nathair.
“Perhaps not,” he replied. “But we need to deal with the Fear Dorcha.”
Even though I insisted I didn’t need his help, Drayce and I pulled Aengus, Rosalind, and Cathbad together in a tight huddle, but after settling the druid next to Rosalind, Drayce slid down the wall, panting hard.
“Drayce.” I knelt beside him, worry squeezing my chest.
“I need to gather my strength.” Spiderwebs mingled with his dark hair, and sweat poured down his brow.
Having one’s insides eaten by a spider wasn’t something a person could recover from with rest. I would have to make Drayce stay behind and protect the others with his shadows, while I faced the Fear Dorch
a alone.
Something moved in the periphery of my vision, making my gaze snap up. Large, green eyes darted around the corner followed by a yellow tail.
My nostrils flared.
It was Erin, and she had just given me an idea.
Chapter 26
Rising to my feet, I glowered down the darkened hallway after Erin, whose hoof beats sounded as though they were headed downward.
The wretched doe could have warned us about the perils we would face on entering the Summer Court. Instead, she led us to a tree that devoured Aengus and spewed a sap that made us sleep.
A growl reverberated in the back of my throat, and I clutched the glowing torch. When I finished with her, she would regret being loyal to the Fear Dorcha.
Drayce wrapped a hand around my ankle. “What are you doing?”
My heart shattered as I stared down into drooping eyes set within pale, slack features. This was worse than when he got poisoned by the Keeper’s venom. At least then, I’d been able to use my knowledge of herbs to draw out the toxins. There was no cure for having been partially eaten by a spider except perhaps magic.
“Pull your shadows around yourself and the others,” I said. “I’ll be back, soon.”
He shook his head. “You can’t—”
“Drayce.” I reached down and squeezed his shoulder. “Please, trust me.”
With a nod, he spread shadows out from beneath his legs. As they stretched around Aengus and the others, I turned around and raced down the hallway, passing Melusina’s body lying among the cobwebs.
Rotted wood yielded under my boots, at times feeling like the floor would give way and drop me into another dream.
Clenching my fists, I rounded the corner and reminded myself that this was no dream. No dream could be so detailed. No dream could be so horrific as the reality of Melusina’s attempt to take over my body or a spider eating Drayce alive. No dream could ever fill me with such anger and despair.
The next stretch of hallway led to a wide, spiraling staircase of steep, marble treads and silver railings. Erin clamped her mouth around the handrail and made tentative, fumbling steps. A slow smile curved around my lips. She couldn’t negotiate steps in her four-legged form, and I was going to take full advantage.
I padded down the the stairs, making sure to stay several feet away from Erin so as not to let her fall out of fright.
The doe huffed and puffed down the stairs with jerky movements, making the occasional high-pitched whine when her front leg stumbled.
As her front hoof reached the bottom step, I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and clenched her scruff. The muscles underneath the loose skin twitched, and Erin let out an alarmed bleat.
“Take me to the Fear Dorcha,” I snarled into her ear.
Both ears twitched. “Don’t do this, please.”
“Where is he?” I twisted the loose skin.
“They sent for reinforcements.” Erin shuddered under my tight grip. “You’ve got to leave, now.”
Anxiety rippled across my skin. The Fear Dorcha’s ability to trap people within dreams was one of the most dangerous I’d ever encountered. If he and Melusina hadn’t gloated, I might never have known she’d taken my body before it was too late.
But his power wasn’t absolute. If it was, he wouldn’t have needed the giant spider, wild beasts, blood-sucking faeries, carnivorous tree, and the spectral dog with its deadly bark.
What else could they possibly have left to throw at us, and could I defeat it alone?
Erin lurched forward into the dark, nearly escaping my grip. I wrapped the arm holding the torch around her neck and squeezed. She’d probably fabricated these reinforcements to knock me off balance and escape.
“You were happy enough for us to get eaten by that tree.” I twisted her scruff. “You probably watched Melusina and the spider attack my mate and me. Why would you warn us now?”
“Help,” Erin screeched into the dark. “Queen Neara wants to kill me!”
A gentle, whistling wind swept across the hallway. It filled my ears and chilled my bones to the marrow. I raised my head, finally noticing the Summer Court Palace’s downstairs for the first time.
My torch illuminated floors of white marble and arched windows that stretched up to a high ceiling. I held out the torch for signs of the source of the wind but found only empty walls stretching into the gloom.
The muscles underneath the doe’s skin rippled—with fear or disgust or anticipation—I didn’t know.
Ignoring the knot forming in my intestines, I lowered the torch to the ground and placed my hand on the Sword of Tethra’s grip. It was time to act.
“Where is he?” I tried to keep the tremble out of my voice.
“He’s coming,” Erin moaned.
Darkness crept toward us from the gloom, taking the shape of a long shadow that absorbed the light. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and gathered my courage.
My pulse fluttered within my dry throat, and I gulped several times in quick succession. The only light source in this hallway came from the torch at my feet. Unless his power was similar to Drayce’s, how could the Fear Dorcha generate a shadow from within the dark?
“It’s him,” Erin whispered. “Run.”
“No.” I gripped Erin’s neck tighter, using her body as a shield. If the Fear Dorcha wanted to hurt me, I would hurt his precious doe.
“Foolish child.” His voice echoed across the hallway, reminding me of the moan and howling of the wind. “Do you presume to defeat me in my realm of dreams?”
My breath stilled. Was this another of his illusions? Nothing around me apart from the shadow appeared stranger than usual. In every dream realm, someone or something had tried to restrain me, either with plants or persuasion. Here, I was the one holding the doe captive.
“This isn’t a dream,” I said.
The shadow paused.
An excited breath caught in the back of my throat. I was right. Standing straighter, I said in a much clearer voice, “If this was a dream, you’d be up on a stage somewhere, watching me struggle. Instead, you’re making threats down a hallway, and Erin is quaking in her hooves.”
Nobody spoke for several moments, and my ears filled with the roar of my blood, the boom of my heartbeat, urging me to strike out at the creature in the shadows.
Perhaps the Fear Dorcha was powerless without an ability to put his enemies to sleep. After all, he only ever attacked indirectly through monsters, desperate faeries like Erin and the oak sprite, or in dreams.
“I have your doe, your shadow, and your mistress.” I tightened my arm around Erin’s neck for emphasis. “You’ve lost.”
“Queen Melusina is eternal,” he snarled. “And you would be foolish to think I care for a pet.”
“Alright then.” I reached into my belt and pulled out the Sword of Tethra. Dried blood coated its blade, which glinted in the golden light. “Seeing that this doe caused me so much trouble, you can watch me slit her neck.”
Erin bucked and cried, “Help me!”
“Wait,” the Fear Dorcha bellowed with a blast of cold wind.
I poised the blade at Erin’s throat and snarled into her ear. “This is no ordinary sword, so stay still if you don’t want to end up mounted on somebody’s wall.”
The doe stopped struggling.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“End the curse on the Summer Court, leave this place and never attack anyone in my kingdom or the human realm.”
The Fear Dorcha didn’t reply for several moments. Maybe he was thinking of a way to sprinkle sleeping sand on me, maybe he was waiting for reinforcements, maybe he had crept through the shadows and was now standing behind us.
I shook away the paranoid thoughts and inhaled a breath of stale air. His dark form still remained in the middle of the hallway.
Erin trembled under my grip. If the Fear Dorcha called my bluff, I would spill her blood in revenge for Aengus getting swallowed by a tree, for Drayce getting
his insides eaten by a spider, and for me. I brought the blade to her throat, making her release a high-pitched wail.
The Fear Dorcha’s shadow lengthened toward us. “If I do as you ask, will you set her free?”
“Yes,” I said from between clenched teeth.
“Very well,” he replied. “I will—”
Erin threw her head back and screamed.
“What are you doing?” I lowered my sword and turned to find her back leg thrashing. A giant, platinum-haired snake clamped its mouth around the doe’s limb.
My throat released a noisy gasp.
Melusina had survived.
She must have shed her outer layers, slithered down the hallway behind me, and lain in wait. How many lives had this monster consumed in the thousand of years she had forced Father to sire child after child? With a low groan, Erin’s body slumped, a dead weight.
I released the doe, lurched toward Melusina, and plunged the Sword of Tethra between her ribs.
Her serpentine tail lashed my legs. I lost my footing and dropped tailbone-first onto the marble floor. With a sharp cry, she hooked her tail beneath my sword’s guard, and threw it toward the stairs.
Cold terror quickened through my insides. I picked up the glowing torch and stuck the molten gold into her flank. Melusina arched and howled and slammed me against the wall. I stumbled back and fell onto Erin’s prone body.
“Mistress,” the Fear Dorcha’s voice trembled. “Please, don’t—”
“Traitor!” Melusina rose six feet high on her thick tail. “You were supposed to hold the girl steady while I devoured her, yet you let her slip from your dream.”
Erin twitched once, twice, three times, before falling still. I pulled myself off her corpse and glared at Melusina. Her features no longer resembled a faerie. Gone were the full lips and round cheekbones, replaced by skin stretched around a skeleton of dripping fangs.
The wound I made in her back was now a blood blister covered in a transparent veneer. She was either running out of magic to form a glamor or was running out of stolen bodies to hide her true form.
“You killed Erin,” I said, hoping the Fear Dorcha would turn against Melusina.
Mate of the Fae King (Dark Faerie Court Book 2) Page 24
