The fresh cloth we’d wrapped around the wound that morning was already soaked with tar-like blood. The skin around it was black as well, and dark, thick veins covered his foot. I pushed his breeches up to his knee to see where they stopped, but they kept going. A quick lift of the bottom of his tunic revealed that the infection had traveled to his hip.
I winced at the thought of how much pain he must have been in. Each time I pushed back the poison, it came back faster and faster.
It was a good thing we had the cure.
It better work.
Bryan retrieved a bowl of warm water and a cloth from the kitchen, and got to work cleaning Julian’s wound. He was gentle, despite Julian being so knocked out that he wouldn’t have felt a thing.
Once the wound was clean, no more black blood spilled back over the surface. That had to be a good sign.
“What should we expect next?” I asked Lavinia.
She stopped pacing and smiled sweetly. “Get the mage to release me from this dome, and I’ll tell you.”
“You realize that with the Holy Wand, I’m strong enough to remove the dome myself, right?” I asked.
“Really?” She faked disbelief. “Then show me.”
“Nice try. But no.”
“Figured.” She shrugged. “Anyway, this is the first time anyone’s ever taken the antidote. I have no idea what to expect. So, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
I glared at her again.
Thomas walked to Torrence’s side, opened the sack she’d brought back with her, and inspected the contents. “They’re all here?” he asked.
“Yep,” she said. “All fifty of them.”
“Good.”
She left the sack with Thomas, and picked up her sleeping roll. “Can I bring this inside?” she asked Bryan. “It’s too light to sleep out here.”
“Of course,” he said. “Follow me, and I’ll show you to the guest room.”
“Wait,” I said, and Torrence turned to face me.
“What?” She yawned, as if telling me to hurry up. And she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Something was bothering her. But she was so exhausted that she clearly wasn’t up to talking about it yet.
In the meantime, there was one thing that couldn’t wait.
“You saw my mom, right?” I asked. “Back on Avalon?”
“I did.”
“And…”
She glanced down at the ground, and then finally met my eyes. “She was relieved to hear that you’re still alive,” she said, and I nodded, since obviously I’d expected that. “She sat with me in the apothecary while I made the potion, and I told her everything. Afterward, she called Skylar in to look into the cards.”
Anxiety pooled in my chest, and I prayed the prophetess’s reading was a good one. “What’d she see?”
“She can’t see into the Otherworld. But she saw us returning to Earth.”
My heart leaped—that was one of the best answers I could have hoped for. “When?” I asked.
“She said I looked similar to how I look now. So… soon.”
“Good,” I said, and I shook my head, hardly able to believe it. The future could always change, but Skylar’s vision meant we needed to stay on our current course. Which meant our plan was a good one. “That’s fantastic.”
“It is.” She smiled, although her eyes still looked sad. “Your mom’s proud of you. She told me to tell you how much she loves you, how much she believes in you, and that she can’t wait to see you again soon.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I wiped them away. “How’s she holding up?” I asked. “With both me and my dad gone, I can’t imagine…” I trailed off, since it hurt to think how alone she must feel. Even though it had only been a few days for her, I bet it felt like a lifetime.
“As expected,” she said. “But hearing from me—and from Skylar—gave her hope.”
“I’m glad,” I said, and then I tried to put some humor into my tone. “I can’t believe you were about to go to sleep without telling me all that.”
“I’m tired.” She yawned again and rubbed at her eyes. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said, even though I still couldn’t get rid of that nagging feeling that something was off. “Go get some sleep.”
She nodded, pulled her sleeping roll closer, and followed Bryan inside.
26
SELENA
“IS IT JUST ME, or was Torrence acting strange?” I asked Sage once Torrence was gone.
“She always acts strange,” Reed said from the table off to the corner, where he was setting up a solo game of backgammon.
“Shut up.” I narrowed my eyes at him, and then refocused on Sage.
She looked at where Torrence had left the courtyard, and then back to me. “It wasn’t just you,” she said.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on with her?”
“It could be anything,” she said. “I’m sorry. I wish I had a better answer.”
“It’s okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t.
There was nothing more to say, so I pulled my sleeping roll up next to Julian’s and made myself comfortable. Thomas and Finn brought some of the board games over, and they set them up on the sleeping rolls. Sage joined us, as did Bryan when he returned.
It was like one strange sleepover—especially with Lavinia sulking in her prison dome.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Julian. With each passing hour, the black veins retreated closer to his wound. It was similar to when I’d used my magic to push back the progression of the infection, but slower. By nightfall, the veins only spread from his ankle up to right below his knee.
Torrence still hadn’t returned. I quickly left to check on her, but she was sound asleep, so I went straight back to the courtyard.
“She’s still sleeping,” I told the others, and then I settled back next to Julian’s side.
He hadn’t moved since falling asleep. If I hadn’t been constantly checking his pulse to make sure he was alive, I would have thought he was dead.
But he’s not dead, I reminded myself. Once he wakes up, the poison will be gone, and he’ll be cured.
I held onto that belief with everything I had, and did the only thing I could do—I stayed by his side and waited.
I fell asleep before Torrence woke up.
The next thing I knew, someone stirred by my side.
Julian.
I was awake in a second, and I sat up, my eyes instantly going to the wound.
Except there was no wound.
My breath caught in my chest. But just to make sure I wasn’t getting excited too soon, I brushed my fingers over the smooth skin above his ankle.
I couldn’t believe it.
Yesterday, it had been a mess of black pus.
Now… he was cured.
“Told you.” Lavinia smirked from where she was sitting inside the dome.
Julian stirred again and slowly opened his eyes. He smiled when he saw me.
“It worked,” I said, and he sat up to see for himself.
He touched the spot where the wound had been, and he stared at it, his eyes wide as he soaked it in.
He’d spent all that time thinking the plague was going to kill him. Now, his entire life was ahead of him again.
I wasn’t going to lose my soulmate before we had time to relax and enjoy our lives together. Of course, we still had a long way to go until truly being able to relax, but the peaceful, happy future I imagined for us felt closer than ever.
“You’re okay.” I scooted closer to him, wrapped my arms around his waist, and rested my head on his shoulder. “You’re going to be okay.”
He draped one arm around me and leaned into me. “I love you,” he said softly, for only me to hear.
The others woke up, too—including Torrence. Apparently, she’d moved back into the courtyard after I’d fallen asleep.
They all took turns looking at Julian’s ankle. Sage gasped, Bryan spun around in excitement, and Thomas
told Julian congratulations. Even Reed nodded at Torrence in respect.
“Good job,” he told her.
“Potions are one of my specialties,” she said, although she shrugged, her normal confidence gone from her tone. “I’m glad it worked.”
“Of course it worked.” I smiled, trying to lift her spirits. “I never doubted you for a second.”
“Thanks.” She managed a small smile back. But then she looked away and gazed at the fountain, her eyes far off.
Something’s wrong.
Maybe she was just impatient to get home. If there was one thing Torrence didn’t have much of, it was patience.
Julian stood up, and I did, too. His steel-colored wings sparkled with brightness I hadn’t seen since we fought that first horde of zombies, and his cheeks were flushed and alive.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Great.” He bounced on his toes, like he was testing out how his leg worked. “Incredible.”
I was so relieved about his recovery that I couldn’t stop smiling at him. I must have looked like a total airhead, but I didn’t care.
Julian was better. He was alive.
And he was going to stay that way.
“Now, for the next part of the show.” Finn strode into the courtyard, and all eyes were on him. “Getting the witch home.”
Lavinia stood up in her prison dome and smiled wickedly. “I’m assuming you have a plan,” she said, and he nodded. “Tell me what it is.”
Finn walked up to her prison dome and stood right in front of her. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black velvet pouch—the same one he’d given to Torrence yesterday. “I’m giving you my token,” he said.
She crossed her arms and studied him. “In exchange for what?”
“In exchange for you promising that you’ll leave the Otherworld immediately after I hand it over, and that once you leave the Otherworld, you’ll never return again.”
“Deal,” she said, and she pressed her palm to the inside of the prison dome. “Now, free me from this thing and hand over the token.”
But Finn made no effort to move. “Once you leave, I’ll be draining this fountain,” he continued. “Without an anchor point, the portal will be closed off, and the token will no longer be functional.”
Smart. Not only would Lavinia be unable to enter the Otherworld again, but she also wouldn’t be able to give the token to someone else to use.
“Understood,” she said, and she looked to Reed. “Time to let me out.” Then she paused, focused on me, and smiled. “Unless you want to do it, given how you boasted about your abilities earlier?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” I said, and I picked up the Holy Wand. “I’d love to do it.”
I reached for my electricity, raised my hand, and shot a bolt of lightning out of my palm. It hit the dome, and the electricity spread out along it in dancing, humming webs.
It ate away the dome, and then both the electricity and the dome disappeared in a flash. Tendrils of smoke drifted up out of the courtyard. I inhaled, loving the burnt smell left behind.
Lavinia stepped over the line where the dome had been and smiled. “Very good,” she said, and she held out her hand to Finn. “Now, the token.”
He removed it from the pouch and pressed it into her palm. “You’ll give the people in Sienna quite the fright when you arrive.”
I looked over her dirtied, blood-stained dress and smirked.
“Let them stare.” She snatched her hand away from his and clenched the token in her fist. “That is, if they can. I’ll be gone before they can blink.”
“I’m sure you will.” Sage stepped in front of the fountain, blocking Lavinia’s path. “But I promise you that someday—hopefully in the near future—I’m going to find you. And once I do, I will kill you in the most drawn-out, painful way possible.”
Lavinia smirked, not breaking Sage’s gaze. “Move out of my way,” she said. “I told the fae that I’d leave immediately after he gave me the token, and I intend on following through on that promise.”
Sage stayed there for a moment, staring down the witch like she was challenging her to a duel. Then she snarled and moved to Thomas’s side.
Lavinia stepped up to the fountain and smoothed her hands over her dirtied dress. “It was nice working with you all for the past few days,” she said. “I assure you, it won’t happen again.”
“Good riddance for that,” I said.
Finn held out his hand and shot a beam of sparkling orange magic toward Lavinia.
Against her will, one of her feet moved to climb onto the flat ledge of the fountain. The other one followed. She wobbled, then steadied herself.
“Like you said, you promised to leave immediately after I gave you the token,” Finn said. “Now, leave.”
“My pleasure.”
She tossed the token into the fountain, jumped in, and finally, she was gone.
27
SELENA
NOT WANTING to go into the next part of the plan hungry, we scarfed down a breakfast of fruit, bread, and cheese. Then we returned to the courtyard, said bye to Finn and Bryan, and I lightning-traveled us to the Empress’s house.
We landed in her public courtyard, in front of the temple where I’d presented the Holy Wand to Juno. The tall, marble building looked just like it had the first time I’d seen it, before I’d destroyed it with my magic.
Four fae stood at the bottom of the steps.
The Empress, Aeliana, Ryanne, and Prince Devyn.
None of them appeared fazed by our flashy arrival.
“Welcome back,” Prince Devyn said, and he bowed his head in what looked like respect.
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, and I tried unsuccessfully to swallow them down. Because with his omniscient sight, Prince Devyn could ruin everything. He was the biggest wild card in any possible plan.
But the future wasn’t set in stone. Even his omniscient sight couldn’t change that. And at the end of the day, we were the only ones who could brew the antidote.
Which meant we were the ones in control.
Sorcha eyed the sack that Torrence carried on her back. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked.
Torrence marched forward and dropped the sack to the ground in front of Sorcha’s feet. A shiny, metal blade stuck out from the top of it. “Holy weapons,” she said. “Fifty of them, as promised.”
Sorcha glanced down at the sack, but made no effort to move closer to it. “Once we’re done here, Aeliana will bring the weapons inside the temple,” she said. “After they’re verified as true holy weapons, I’ll tell Nessa to release Prince Jacen and Bella from the Crossroads.”
“How will you be verifying them?” Julian asked.
“I’ll gather fifty half-bloods, arm them, and send them outside the dome. If the weapons slay the infected, then they’re verified.”
I nodded, since she wasn’t going to be disappointed.
But she wasn’t looking at me.
Her eyes were locked on Julian, like a cat ready to pounce. “You look healthy,” she said. “I trust Selena has been pushing back the progress of the plague?”
I stiffened in place.
She knew he’d been bitten?
Had I been the last to find out?
“She did, for a bit,” he said. “But she doesn’t need to anymore. Because yesterday morning, I was cured.”
Sorcha’s lips parted, and hunger danced in her eyes. “Show me,” she said.
Julian removed his boot and sock, and showed her the spot where the wound had been.
She lowered herself down to her knees and ran her fingers across his clear, smooth skin. “Incredible,” she murmured, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away, composed herself, and stood back up. “Tell me the cure,” she said. “Tell me, and I’ll let you all return to Earth.”
My mouth dropped open. I knew she’d want the cure… but I’d expected her to drive a harder bargain.
&nbs
p; Apparently, even the serene Empress would do anything to save her daughter. And I certainly wasn’t going to refuse.
“We’ll need to clarify the details of that offer,” I said, and she nodded. “Plus, there’s one more thing I want, too.”
“I’m listening.”
This is it.
I tightened my grip around the wand, needing all the support I could get, and said, “I want you to permanently end the Faerie Games.”
28
SELENA
SORCHA LOOKED TO PRINCE DEVYN. “I assume you want to take over from here?”
“I do.” He cleared his throat, focused on me, and said, “The main purpose of the Games has always been so you could eventually play in them and rise to save the Otherworld.”
The world felt like it stilled around me. Because the magnanimity of that was… overwhelming, to say the least.
“So you’ve been behind the Games this entire time,” I said. “They were your idea.”
“They were Bacchus’s idea,” he said. “He came to the Empress. She didn’t have to accept his proposition.”
“I actually didn’t want to accept it,” Sorcha continued. “Sending so many half-bloods to their deaths in such a brutal way was unnecessarily cruel, even for us. But then your father told me that the Otherworld would most likely be destroyed if we didn’t agree to host the Games. So I sought out a compromise.”
Julian stiffened and clenched his fists. “Thousands of half-bloods have died in the Games since their inception,” he said. “I see no evidence of a compromise.”
“Look closer,” Sorcha said. “Because despite the many horrors that those thousands of half-bloods inflicted upon others before or during the Games, they all skipped judgment in the Underworld and were sent straight to Elysium. Why do you think that is?”
“That’s thanks to the gods,” I said. “Not you.”
“Wrong.” She smiled. “You’re not the only one who’s used the Golden Bough to journey to the Underworld. Centuries ago, I did the same.”
The Faerie Plague (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 5) Page 13
