by Nissa Leder
Although he was outnumbered, two redcaps weren’t enough to overpower him. As Raith flung a dagger into one’s heart, he somersaulted toward the other and drove his last dagger into its forehead.
As he used his magic to retrieve the other dagger, Raith glanced back at Cade.
In his brother’s emotional state, Raith worried he might be too distracted to sense if any of their enemies got too close.
Now, Cade was standing, Poppy’s body still in his arms, and facing the Summer Army, none of whom had moved since Kassandra fell to the ground.
“My mother stole the crown from me, using my love for her as a weakness. But I am your king, and I ask you to fight with me against the Fates and their creatures. We will not be ruled by anyone else, especially an outsider like Morta.”
Jaser stepped forward and lifted a sword high in the sky. “I follow my king.”
Like an echo in a canyon, the rest of the soldiers repeated Jaser’s words.
After they had all pledged their allegiance to Cade, movement from behind their line caught Raith’s attention.
Nevina, dressed in white armor, stood on a platform of ice as she faced the Winter Guard. “The Winter Court fights for no cause but its own. The Darkland is our enemy and we will attack those who stand with it.”
With this, the Winter Guard turned against the Darkland creatures behind them.
On Cade’s order, the Summer Army did the same.
The two armies, who not even a century ago had faced each other on the battlefield, fought side-by-side, easily slicing through the Morta’s army.
Loud shrieks boomed to Raith’s side as Sage led the Woodland Tribe toward him. Behind her, the Autumn Army attacked the Darkland creatures.
All three of the Faerie realm courts had joined their side, leaving Morta’s army completely outnumbered.
Soon, all of her creatures would be killed, which left only her and her sister.
If Scarlett could defeat them, then maybe they would win this war.
Chapter Twenty
Kaelem grabbed Scarlett’s hand as they watched the Faerie court armies turn on the Darkland creatures on every side. Somehow, they’d found a way to shift the odds in their favor. With all the fae armies at the battle on the same side, Morta’s army didn’t stand a chance. But they still had Morta herself to contend with, along with her sister Nona. To underestimate the two remaining Fates now could still spell their doom.
Beside him, Scarlett tensed.
“What’s wrong?” Kaelem asked. “We’re winning.”
Scarlett turned toward him. “We can’t win unless we defeat Morta. As long as she’s alive, she will keep trying. She won’t be happy that those she thought were on her side turned their backs on her. Unless she is stopped, no one is safe.”
Kaelem saw the creatures fall by the second. Scarlett was right. The edimmu and redcaps weren’t the threat. Morta was. “So, what do we do?”
“I show myself.” Scarlett pulled her hand from Kaelem’s. “If I evanesce out there, Morta and Nona will come. She knows if Nona takes my power, it won’t matter how many of her creatures we’ve killed.”
“Exactly.” Kaelem would always let Scarlett make her own choices, but he didn’t like this one and he had to at least try to stop her. “With more time, we can come up with a better strategy. They have the dagger. And unless we can get it from them, we don’t have a clue how to defeat them.”
Scarlett’s chest swelled as she took a deep breath. “I have to try.”
Kaelem wanted to beg her to reconsider, but he recognized the look in her eye. Her mind was made up. So instead, he leaned in and crashed his lips into hers. His hands tangled in her hair as he inhaled everything about her.
When he stepped back, he said, “You’re strong and kind and beautiful, and your people need you. I need you.”
She smiled and cupped her hand on his cheek. “I can do this.”
Kaelem reached out his hand and grabbed hers. “You’re not doing this alone. You need me to stab Morta if you get the dagger.”
If they somehow succeeded in their shaky plan, Kaelem would become King of the Darkland. He would no longer be able to live in the Unseelie Court and rule its people. Darkness would fill him more than it ever had. He would become the opposite of Scarlett.
Would it make him her enemy?
It could make an epic storyline on his soap opera, a dark king in love with a light queen, the laws of the universe standing in their way. As much as he enjoyed the drama on TV, he didn’t want anything to ruin what he’d found with Scarlett.
But he would do what he needed to keep her and everyone else he cared for safe, even if it meant leaving his old life behind.
Scarlett closed her eyes. “Here we go.”
Kaelem felt the tickle of evanescing, and within a blink, they appeared in the middle of the battlefield, dead bodies scattered around them. The majority were Darkland creatures, but some were fae and Sidhe. Both sides had lost soldiers.
A few seconds later, Morta and Nona appeared.
“I wondered if you were brave enough to show your face.” Morta wore all black armor, a circle of feathers sticking up from her collar with everything but her face and hands covered.
Behind her, Nona waited, also was dressed in black armor, though hers was much simpler with almost no detail.
“People will never follow you.” Scarlett, nearly the complete opposite of Morta in every way, stood tall in her silver fighting leathers.
Kaelem had tried to convince her to wear more traditional armor, but she had refused. She claimed that what she wore wouldn’t determine who won, and he couldn’t argue.
Nona tilted her head and turned her leg at an odd angle, drawing Kaelem’s attention while revealing the dagger sticking out of her boot.
He knocked on Scarlett’s mental wall in four consecutive taps as if he were knocking on a door. It was their pre-planned code, knowing that accidentally letting Morta in could prove deadly.
Scarlett’s mental wall lifted just enough to let Kaelem in.
Dagger in Nona’s boot, Kaelem said quickly before Scarlett kicked him back out.
She glanced toward the ground at Nona’s feet. Then a rope of light grew from her hand. Without any warning, she threw it at Nona’s ankle, and as soon as it had twirled around it, Scarlett pulled.
Kaelem needed to distract Morta so Scarlett could get the dagger. If he could keep Morta busy for long enough—while also staying alive himself—they could get the weapon and follow their plan.
Quickly, he pulled the necklace he’d let Cade borrow out from his pocket and slipped it around his neck. It would keep Morta out of his head. Normally, he trusted the strength of his mental shield, but after learning that Scarlett could push right through it with her magic, he didn’t want to take any chances.
As Morta saw what was happening, Kaelem created a large ball of shadow and threw it at her face.
She blocked it easily, as he knew she would, but it kept her from stopping Scarlett from dragging Nona toward her.
Kaelem evanesced behind Morta and did the same thing.
He couldn’t outmaneuver her for long, but he would keep her distracted as long as he could. This was their only shot, and he was committed to doing what needed to be done.
He just hoped Scarlett would hurry.
Chapter Twenty-One
As Kaelem diverted Morta’s attention, Scarlett focused on Nona.
She just needed to get the dagger. She’d tried pulling it to herself with magic, but there must have been a spell to prevent that from happening because it didn’t budge.
Scarlett dragged Nona toward her with her rope of light around her ankle, but as she flung another one toward her wrists, Nona turned.
“Wait,” Nona said.
Scarlett ignored her. Nona had chosen her side, and any plea to be spared now was pointless and most likely a trick.
Nona escaped from Scarlett’s band of light and pulled out the dagger.
This was the risk Scarlett had to take. If Nona stabbed her, she would become the Otherworld Queen and Scarlett would die.
But Nona’s magic shouldn’t be as strong as Scarlett’s, so if Scarlett was smart, she could get the weapon.
She created a ball of light and broke it into ten pieces. This strategy had worked on Sage.
Scarlett threw the fragments toward Nona, who dodged out of the way missing all but one.
Nona cried out as the orb of light struck her hip. With a grimace, she looked at Scarlett. “Please, just listen.”
Something in her voice caused Scarlett to hesitate.
Before she realized what was happening, Nona disappeared and evanesced behind her
Scarlett prepared herself to be stabbed in the heart through her back. She’d been naive and fell for Nona’s sincere tone. It was an amateur mistake and it would cost her everything.
But a stab didn’t come. Instead, a cold hand gripped her wrist and the world around her faded away.
Scarlett watched a moment she’d already seen.
Nona was on her knees, pleading. “Please, father, let him go.”
“I’m sorry, Nona, you know I can’t.” Ankou stared at her, no emotion on his face.
“What good is being King of the Darkland if you don’t even have the power to save him?” Nona spat.
Morta approached Nona. “Come, sister, it’s too late.”
“But I love him, Morta.”
“Love is for the weak.”
“Decuma?” Nona asked her other sister. “Do you not want more from your life than being his slaves?”
“We are not father’s slaves.” Decuma looked at her father as if wanting assurance that her words were true. “He must do his job.”
Nona dropped her face into her upturned palms and bawled.
The vision shifted.
A warm glow of sunset shined in through the windows as Nona walked into the Otherworld library.
She glanced downward at the black leather book in her hand.
It was the book Scarlett had found her first days of being queen. The one that showed her how to get to the Darkland. The one that caused the darkness within her to stir.
Nona walked to the back of the room and put the book on the bottom shelf of a bookcase.
Another new vision appeared. This time Nona spoke to the Spring people.
“I am not your enemy. I do not want the same world my sister wants. She cannot know this, but I don’t want you to fear me as you fear her.” Her gaze traveled across the room of Spring fae, all cowered together with tear-stricken faces. “I must pretend to follow her for now, until the time is right. But I do not condone what she’s done. She is a monster and must be stopped.”
Next, a different vision appeared, this one hazier than the others, with blurry edges.
It was of Scarlett and Morta.
Scarlett held the dagger and shoved it through Morta’s armor and into her chest.
Scarlett said, “Dana created the magic in your father, and I can take away the magic in you.”
A burst of light flashed around them as the dagger began to change. Slowly, its tip grew dark, as magic drained from Morta and into the dagger until the entire dagger was black.
“No,” Morta screamed as she looked at her hands, which no longer held the glow of magic.
As the grip around Scarlett’s wrist released, she processed everything she’d just seen.
Nona was on her side. She’d always been on her side.
She was the one who’d left the book for Scarlett to find. And she’d just shown her exactly what she needed to know to defeat Morta for good, without anyone having to take her place.
She remembered Dana’s words: there is always an opposite, always a reversal.
A reversal. Scarlett could undo what Dana had done by giving Ankou the darkness. She could take the power back.
Scarlett turned to face Nona, still ready for it to be a trick, but Nona held out hilt of the dagger for Scarlett to grab.
“She must be stopped.”
Scarlett took it. As she turned to Morta, hope thrumming in her heart, she heard Kaelem’s scream.
Morta had wrapped him in shadows that were on fire, burning through his armor and into his flesh.
Scarlett threw an orb of light at Morta, breaking her connection.
Kaelem fell to the ground, unmoving.
“I’m afraid your lover just wasn’t strong enough.” A wicked grin flashed on Morta’s face before she saw the dagger in Scarlett’s hand. When she noticed the weapon, she looked at Nona. “What have you done, sister?”
Scarlett wanted to reach out her mind to see if Kaelem’s was still there, but she couldn’t risk it. Not when she was so close.
Morta’s eyes grew wide, and Scarlett realized she might flee.
She couldn’t let that happen, so she closed her eyes and, using her light magic, created a dome around only the two of them. She hoped it was strong enough to keep Morta inside.
“Clever, young girl,” Morta said. “If it’s a fight you want, then a fight you will have. But your lover boy cannot stab me and you’ve locked my sister out, so I’m not sure what you plan to accomplish.”
“I guess you’ll just have to wait to find out.” Scarlett created an orb of light and threw it at Morta, but Morta blocked it with ease.
Scarlett tried a few more times, hoping to find a weakness, but there was none.
Next, she searched for weakness in her mind shield, but as she figured, it was sealed tight.
Morta threw ropes of shadow at Scarlett, but Scarlett’s light cut right through them.
In a battle of light and dark, how would either of them win?
And sometimes the things we fear most are the exact things we need. It was the end of Dana’s cryptic message.
That was it. That was the problem. If Scarlett only used her light, she and Morta would only counteract one another. That’s why Dana never stood a chance. She’d been too afraid of the darkness inside her to use it.
But Scarlett had learned to accept that side of herself. And that by allowing it in instead of fighting it, she could control it.
As Morta tossed another rope of shadow, Scarlett reached out and took control of it, throwing it into the dome around them. As it struck the light, it burned away.
Frustration flared on Morta’s expression as she tried again. This time, Scarlett wrapped it around Morta’s arms instead.
This small attack gave Scarlett the time she needed. The dome prevented evanescing outside of it, but it didn’t stop her from evanescing to Morta.
As Scarlett appeared in front of her, Morta threw the shadow rope off of herself. But she wasn’t ready for Scarlett’s attack.
With as much force as Scarlett had, she thrust the dagger through Morta’s chest as she’d seen in the vision. “Dana created the magic in your father, and I can take away the magic in you.”
Shock flashed in Morta’s eyes as a flash of light burst around them. “No!”
Just as Nona had foreseen, the dagger grew black in Scarlett’s hand. When the entire weapon had grown dark, Scarlett pulled it out.
There was no longer any magic in Morta’s aura.
Scarlett pulled the dome of light back into herself.
As the battlefield appeared around them again, Morta found her sister’s stare. “How could you? I’m your sister.”
Nona’s eyes held a deep sadness. “You became worse than him.”
Morta looked to her right and ran a few feet to a dagger lying on the ground.
Scarlett created a ball of light. Without any magic, Morta was practically harmless in that moment. But Scarlett would stop her from hurting anyone else.
Morta lifted the dagger and, with a look of defiance, she shoved the dagger into her own heart. As she fell to the ground, her aura disappeared completely.
Morta was dead.
Scarlett rushed to Kaelem. His aura still burned, but it was faint.
She rol
led him over, but he didn’t stir.
“He doesn’t have long,” Nona said. “Your dark magic can save him.”
Scarlett didn’t waste any time. She hovered her hands over him and pulled from the darkness within.
Memories of everything she’d lost played in her mind as they always did. She faced the sadness and let it fuel her magic as she moved her hands along Kaelem’s wounds.
Once she was done, she found his face in her mind and let it pull her back.
First, his eyes fluttered from beneath their lids. Then a smirk formed on his face.
“Did we do it, darling? Did we win?”
Scarlett released a long breath, full of all the tension she’d been holding, and pressed her lips into his.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The dagger, full of the magic she’d drained from Morta, felt heavy in Scarlett’s grip as she twirled it in her hand. She stood on the balcony outside her bedroom window, gazing out onto the emptiness outside the castle where two days ago the battle had occurred.
The bodies had been cleaned up and from this far away, everything seemed as it had before. But everything had changed.
The war was over. They’d found a way to defeat Morta without anyone having to take her place. Scarlett should be beaming with happiness. But the memories of the battle still weighed on her heart.
Many of the Otherworld soldiers had given their lives, not to mention the many fae who’d died. The thought of seeing Poppy’s lifeless body in Cade’s arms made Scarlett sick.
But that was war. It was death and destruction, loss and heartache.
There were no winners. Only those who lived to rebuild from the ashes.
Scarlett vowed to make the Sidhe world peaceful again for as long as she could.
According to Nona, if Scarlett stabbed herself with the dagger, the power inside it would merge with hers. She’d be the most powerful supernatural creature to exist. But the darkness inside her still bubbled, and everything the dagger held would only make her darker. She’d found a way to control it without it controlling her. For now. But would it always be that way? What if something horrible happened? Would she lose control again?
