The Gatekeeper's Trials: The Complete Trilogy

by Emma L. Adams

  Her mouth thinned. “My daughter is half-blood. The other Sidhe will destroy her if they find out she’s passing on our secrets to the heir to the Sea Court. It’s safer for her to leave the Court.”

  “I don’t see you falling over yourself to help the other half-bloods.” I shook my head. “Besides, it might have escaped your attention that Willow has found a better home among the half-faeries in the borderlands, and I don’t blame her an inch.”

  “My family is none of your business, Gatekeeper.” Her melodic voice trembled with rage, and then her gaze fixed at a point over my shoulder. “There is the other contender. I was beginning to wonder if he intended to shirk his duty.”

  I looked up as Darrow walked in. He had his weapons sheathed, but droplets of blood stained the hilt of his blade. Had one of the other Sidhe attacked him before he even reached the trials?

  “Are you going to make a public example of him?” I asked. “Or is it just me?”

  “If I hadn’t drawn attention to you, the Sidhe would have done so themselves,” she said. “As it is, they believe you’re there to keep the Seelie Queen from disrupting the trials.”

  “Which is true,” I added, for Swift’s benefit as much as hers. “I’d like to keep the murder attempts to a minimum, thanks.”

  “If your presence distracts the other Sidhe, it would be a useful way in which to distinguish those who are not fit to rule,” she said. “If the presence of a human is enough to stop them from concentrating on the task at hand, they cannot be trusted to take care of an entire Court.”

  “Oh, so I’m there to act as a walking target so you can figure out which Sidhe are more likely to take shots at humans instead of concentrating on the important stuff?” I rolled my eyes. “Great.”

  “One last thing,” she said. “You will not be permitted to carry any iron, and you must leave your talisman behind.”

  Even better. “The iron, I understand, but the talisman is kind of a necessity if you want me to get rid of any wraiths,” I said. “I’ve got it under control. Aren’t you allowing the other Sidhe to bring their talismans into the maze?”

  “Their talismans do not destroy magic,” she said.

  “Let her bring the talisman,” said Darrow, halting beside us. “The other Sidhe have their own advantages, and the rules don’t disqualify Hazel from bringing hers.”

  “He is correct,” said the sprite. “Furthermore, it is against the rules for any of the Sidhe to turn against the contestants. If they do so, they will be disqualified.”

  “I’ll try not to turn anyone else to ashes.” Unless they attacked me first, that is. “Promise.”

  “I will hold you to that, Gatekeeper.” Her flinty eyes travelled from me to Darrow, and to the other Sidhe gathering expectantly in the room’s centre. “Come with me.”

  Darrow and I walked behind her, remaining at a safe distance from the other contenders. Several of them whispered derogatory comments, but Lady Aiten had one thing right—if my presence distracted them that badly, they didn’t have the patience to rule a Court. I’d lay bets on the other Sidhe making trouble before the Seelie Queen did, though.

  “The second of the tasks will begin in the garden,” Lady Aiten said. “A number of tokens have been scattered outside. You must search for as many as possible. At the end, you will be ranked according to the number of tokens you acquire.”

  “So it’s like capture the flag, except with magical tokens,” I said.

  Blank stares followed. No surprise there. Darrow didn’t look at me, either, and he stood too far away for me to ask how he’d ended up covered in blood, or if he was hurt. It was hardly fair for him to take part in the trial if he was, but nobody expected fairness from the Sidhe. I fell into step with him as we headed for the oak doors leading into the back garden.

  “I bet it’s not that simple,” I said to Darrow. “There’ll be trickery to stop us from getting the tokens. Spells, monsters, the works.”

  He dipped his head but didn’t speak, his silver hair gleaming in the sunlight streaming through the doors.

  Outside, the field had transformed into a vast forest. Towering trees formed a barrier between us and the world beyond the palace grounds, turning them into a stretch of woodland seemingly without end. I should have figured finding those tokens wouldn’t be as easy as picking them up off the ground.

  “The last round had man-eating hedges. I can hardly wait for this one.” I held my staff in one hand, the other resting on a knife at my waist. I wasn’t too worried about magical traps, but if I let the talisman’s magic go too far out of control, it might bring the whole forest crashing down.

  “Let the task begin,” Lady Aiten said.

  A bell rang through the air, and the Sidhe surged into the forest, disappearing among the towering trees. I let them, waiting for the crowd to die down before giving the lawn a cursory scan. No traces remained of yesterday’s fight, but since the forest covered almost the entire back garden, I’d have a job and a half tracking any death fae. Especially if someone opened a doorway into the Vale in the forest’s midst like they’d done in the maze yesterday. How did Lady Aiten expect me to find it without using my talisman?

  Darrow tilted his head at me. “What are you doing?”

  “Giving them a head start,” I said. “I’m not actually trying to take part in the challenge. It’s our job to watch out for threats, not find magical tokens, and we’re more likely to be able to see wraiths from the outside.”

  Unlike during the first challenge, however, we stood on the same level as the other trees, preventing us from seeing into the vast forest. I scanned the palace and saw Lady Aiten watching, a disapproving expression on her face.

  “Anyone would think she wanted us to steal the Erlking’s throne.” I rolled my eyes at Darrow. “Are you okay? You’re bleeding.”

  “It isn’t my blood,” he said. “A group of outcasts set upon me this morning.”

  “You mean those cultists? Or the Seelie Queen’s people?”

  “No,” he said. “They were half-blood.”

  “Half-bloods? Why would they want to attack you?”

  “Perhaps they heard I’m a contender.” He rested the heel of his foot on a raised tree root at the edge of the forest. “Or the Seelie Queen got to them.”

  “Like she doesn’t already have enough of an army.” Now all we needed was the Unseelie Queen to send an army of redcaps to ruin our day.

  “Gatekeeper,” said Lady Aiten. “I command you to enter the forest.”

  Fine. “All right, keep your hair on.”

  The forest devoured the pair of us like the maw of a colossal beast. Stumps of dead trees stuck up like jagged teeth, while patches of wildflowers in improbable colours filled the air with fragrant smells. Beyond the trees, giant mushrooms the size of houses towered overhead, forming a roof that blocked out every trace of natural light. If not for the ever-present glow of magic, we wouldn’t be able to see our own hands in front of us.

  “No wonder she didn’t want me to bring my talisman in here,” I remarked. “I notice she didn’t tell us what the tokens looked like, either.”

  Darrow hissed out a breath. “There’s someone up ahead.”

  I followed his gaze, spotting the limp body of a contender sprawled in a bush peppered with bright purple flowers. I took one step, then halted, a sharp scent tickling my nostrils. The memory of one of Coral’s lessons came back to me. “Poison. He must have touched that plant.”

  “Foolish,” he murmured, leaning over the body.

  I extended my talisman and gave the purple-flowered bushes a prod, and they wilted on the spot, shrivelling into dust.

  “What?” I said, in response to Darrow’s raised eyebrow. “There’s no rule against killing nasty poisonous flowers. Hope he wakes up. The trials aren’t meant to kill people, and I don’t have an antidote on me.”

  “You’d stop the trial to save his life?” he said.

  “I’m not in the trial, and yes, I wou
ld.” Darrow came across as human in so many ways, I kept forgetting he and I had been raised in totally different environments and that he’d been taught to view compassion for one’s enemies as a weakness. “Not being qualified to rule a Court shouldn’t mean instant death.”

  Darrow turned the Sidhe’s body over with his foot, revealing bloodstains darkening his grey armour. Shit. That changes things.

  “He was stabbed,” I murmured. “The killer wanted us to believe he was poisoned.”

  Question was, why had they killed him to begin with? I’d thought the insider was simply here to make trouble, to open doorways into the Vale and make it look like an accident. A stabbing was harder to blame on an insubstantial nightmare creature, and the cover-up wasn’t particularly well done.

  Please tell me there isn’t more than one traitor among the contestants.

  I scanned the surrounding forest for any clues as to which way the killer had gone. Winding trails fanned through the trees and towering mushrooms seemingly at random, and thick undergrowth concealed any footprints. I picked a path at random, and soon, the Sidhe’s dead body disappeared from view.

  “I reckon the killer took off,” I remarked to Darrow. “The forest probably rearranges itself like the rest of Faerie, so the odds of us finding him by accident are slim. Unless there’s a minuscule chance I can pull off the same trick as I can in the Vale and make the forest lead us where we need to go.”

  Darrow gave me a sideways look. “You could try it. You never know.”

  “Nah, they wouldn’t make it that easy.” I strode ahead, below the rims of colossal toadstools, and thought, take me to the killer’s location. Take me to find the traitor.

  I rounded a corner, and the world flipped upside-down. My body flipped along with it, and I grabbed the nearest solid object—the side of a giant toadstool—for balance. The blood rushed to my head, my feet tangling in the undergrowth, and something dark swarmed from beneath the toadstool’s rim.

  Darrow caught his balance. “What is that?”

  The solid dark cloud flowed towards us. Not a regular cloud. It had too many legs, for one thing.

  “Fucking hell,” I said. “Please tell me that isn’t what I think—”

  The cloud flowed over and around us, as a thousand pairs of spider legs brushed against my skin. I held still, gritting my teeth, until the cloud dispersed, leaving my skin itchy but otherwise unharmed.

  “What the hell was that in aid of?” I shuddered.

  “Lady Aiten did imply this task was a test of courage,” he said.

  “Good job I don’t mind spiders.” I flicked a spider off my shoulder. “What’s this for? Picking out random phobias and using them against us? Because those things were miniscule. They didn’t have any weapons, either.”

  The ground trembled. Darrow lifted his head. “I think you spoke too soon, Hazel.”

  Another tremor shook the toadstool in my grip, and then a round, bulbous body crawled into view, its huge hairy legs kicking up the undergrowth.

  “It’s their mother.” I flicked another spider off my arm. “Sorry, I think I trod on a few of your offspring.”

  Darrow conjured magic to his palms, green and blue light intertwining. “Stay back.”

  “I don’t think it’s gonna listen.” I held up the staff. “I’d recommend getting the hell out of here. Go on, Shelob, go and chase the person who left the guy dead back there. How about that?”

  The spider raised its huge head, and a jet of viscous black liquid shot out from its gaping mouth. I threw myself behind a toadstool, while Darrow darted around the other way, blasting the spider with magic. It flailed back, its legs sprawling, and one of them kicked me in the face. I lashed out with my blade, severing it, and the spider let out a screech. Another two swipes had it staggering away into the undergrowth. I advanced forward, raising the staff. “Didn’t your mother teach you manners?”

  “Hazel.” Darrow pointed to the spider’s bulbous head. In place of what I thought had been eyes was a large, glinting coin-like shape.

  That couldn’t be a token, could it?

  “Damn.” If I used the talisman, it might well blow the token away along with the spider. And I wasn’t one to back away from a challenge. “All right, then.”

  I switched my knife to my right hand, hacking and slashing at the spider’s legs. Darrow went on the attack, too, blasting its maw every time it opened to spew venom at us and dealing well-timed strikes with his blade. When it collapsed into a flailing heap, I climbed the nearest toadstool, using the momentum to leap onto the spider’s giant hairy head.

  My knees slammed down on either side of the large coin. With one wrenching motion, I yanked the coin from the beast’s head.

  At once, it vanished. My legs flailed at thin air. I caught hold of the side of a toadstool, my knife driving a track down its side as I skidded to a halt at Darrow’s feet. The coin bounced to a halt beside me.

  “Go ahead and pick it up,” I said, breathless.

  “You earned it,” he said. “I should have known it was an illusion. Its venom left no mark.”

  I turned to look where he pointed, and he flicked the coin with his heel, causing it to fly into my hand. “Now you’re just showing off.” A grin slid onto my mouth. “Good job you gave me so much training at seeing through glamour, huh?”

  “We should leave,” he said. “If anyone didn’t know we were in this part of the forest, they will now.”

  “Better find that killer. I won’t get distracted by the next shiny object.”

  As fun as it’d been to fight alongside Darrow once again, I had a conspirator to catch.

  We resumed our path through the winding tracks, but I didn’t see a soul. Either our battle with the spider had scared off the competition, or the forest’s magic had intentionally split everyone up.

  Darrow’s steps halted in the middle of the path, and he raised his head. “There’s someone close by.”

  I frowned, but I didn’t have a Sidhe’s enhanced senses. Darrow slowly drew his weapon, his ears pricked, his body dropping into a combat stance. I looked ahead, and did a double-take.

  Several pointed-eared figures stood concealed behind the trees. If Darrow hadn’t pointed them out, I’d never have spotted them. They didn’t move as Darrow trod softly towards them through the undergrowth, his weapon at the ready. I didn’t have a hope of being that stealthy, so I held my talisman in both hands and marched into the trees.

  A rustling noise whipped past my face, and I stopped mid-step. Ahead of me, the figures weren’t there anymore, as though they’d never existed.

  Huh? How’d they move so fast?

  Darrow’s eyes narrowed, scanning the undergrowth. Then he pounced.

  A choked noise escaped his target and the body of one of the hidden people fell beneath his blade, blood gushing from his mouth as he crumpled to the earth. I barely had time to register my surprise before the second one was on me, aiming a knife at my back.

  Nice try. I swung the talisman around, deflecting his blow. Threads of shadow washed over him, but when they cleared, he was still standing.

  My talisman didn’t affect him.

  “What the hell are you?” I gave another spin of the talisman, but while I blocked his attack, the magic-eating shadows did him no harm. If he was a creation of glamour, they should have eaten him alive, and even if not, they’d have turned him to dust. They should have.

  Darrow’s hands lit up with magic, blasting a torrent of blue light into the trees. Three more hidden assailants toppled out, their bodies frozen with Winter magic. He lunged and slit one of their throats, while I moved to his side, drawing my blade and stabbing the second assassin in the chest. He finished off the third one, letting his neck bleed out into the undergrowth.

  “Darrow, what the hell are they?” I said.

  “They aren’t from Summer,” he said. “They’re Etaina’s soldiers. They’re Aes Sidhe.”

  8

  The undergrowth rustled
on our right, and I raised my staff to block another assassin’s strike. His blade clattered to the ground, and I kicked him hard in the chest, sending him crashing into the assassin Darrow was duelling. Darrow’s knife swiftly dispatched both targets.

  A final attacker jumped out of the bushes at me. Like the others, he had long silver hair and wore a dark uniform that downplayed his otherwise striking features. My blade swung around, sinking through his chest to his spine.

  The bushes rustled to silence as his body fell, his silvery blond hair splaying over the blood-soaked earth. I shook crimson droplets from my knife and turned to Darrow. “Is that the last of them?”

  “I believe it is.” His dark gaze swept the bushes. “I see no traces of how they got into the challenge without being spotted.”

  “Nor me.” I sheathed my knife and gave the nearest body a prod with my foot. “Wish we’d kept one of them alive to question. Why’d they attack you as well as me? Do they know we’re working together?”

  Did that mean Etaina knew, too?

  Darrow didn’t answer. He reached into the bushes and grabbed one of the assassin’s shoulders, moving the dead Sidhe onto the path. Then he did the same to a second.

  That’s when I noticed the obvious. All of the attackers were male, though their long silvery hair hadn’t made it immediately clear, and were of a similar tall, lean build. I looked from one to another, taking in the angular features, the vibrant green eyes. “Are they related to one another?”

  Even my siblings and I didn’t look that much alike, and back when Ilsa and I were kids, people had frequently confused the two of us. A third Aes Sidhe soldier joined the others, as Darrow moved his body out of the undergrowth. His face looked the same as his companions, down to the last angle and curve of cheekbone.

  “In a way,” he said. “They’re Etaina’s elite unit of assassins.”

  “Not your relations.” No, his aquamarine eyes set him apart. These Aes Sidhe were all Summer, and utterly identical. “Are they clones? As in, copies of the same person?”