Angry words exploded onto my tongue. “Then, by all means, run away. Just like you’re running from Etaina. You never wanted a relationship with me, did you? You just wanted an excuse to get away from that miserable shithole she calls a kingdom without confronting her directly.”
That wasn’t it. I knew it wasn’t it, but the words poured out like a faucet and I was powerless to stop them. Darrow’s mouth opened, then closed. “That isn’t it at all, Hazel.”
He turned and walked away. I could have followed, but in an instant, he was gone, through the gate and back into Faerie.
10
“Way to go, Hazel.” Suppressing a sigh, I turned to the house and saw my sister approaching.
“Hazel?” Ilsa caught up to me. “I thought I heard your voice outside. I was in the shower. Was that Darrow?”
“I told him about the curse,” I muttered to the grass. “The you have to volunteer your future offspring part. I thought he would have already worked it out, but I guess not.”
“Damn.” Ilsa winced. “What was he doing here, anyway? Is the trial over? It’s been more than a day here, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I wanted him under my eyes because of Etaina and her trickery.” I pushed to my feet and told her about the trial in the forest as we walked back to the house and into the living room.
“So let me get this straight,” said Ilsa, moving a stack of notes from the sofa so she could sit down. “The Seelie Queen isn’t the only person trying to interfere in the contest over the Erlking’s throne. Now Etaina wants in on it, too?”
“Not sure she does,” I said. “Her assassins didn’t attack any of the Sidhe except for the ones who were conspiring with the Seelie Queen. Then they tried to kill us both, and frankly, I’ve no idea if they were aiming for Darrow because they saw us together or because Etaina knows he’s defected.”
“Damn.” Ilsa shook her head. “He’s playing a dangerous game if he’s still planning to pretend to be working for her after this.”
“So am I, considering I helped him destroy the bodies instead of reporting them to Lady Aiten.” I twisted my hands together. “If I hadn’t, the Summer Court would have found out and might have put Darrow on trial for treason. After all, on paper, he’s still working for Etaina. Hence why I wanted him to stay here at our house, before I screwed it all up.”
“No kidding,” she said. “I mean, you didn’t screw it up, you told him the truth.”
“What do you expect?” I said. “He doesn’t think we have a future, but he’s honourable enough not to want to risk bringing a child into the world who might end up enslaved to a Court. But he doesn’t think I can break the curse, or he doesn’t want to risk it anyway. Can’t really blame him for that.”
How could I contemplate any kind of a future with Darrow, if I remained tied to the Gatekeeper’s curse and he belonged to a Court that wanted me dead? I’d never expected to be in with a shot at a normal relationship, and until now, I’d been fine with short-term flings. None of them had made my chest ache as though someone had pressed a heavy boot against my ribcage. The idea of cutting Darrow out of my life felt like carving a chunk out of my own chest.
Ilsa’s lips pursed. “He’ll see sense. Want me to call for takeout?”
I arched a brow. “Whatever happened to avoiding Mum’s wrath by not ordering delivery people to come to the house?”
“You look like you need it.” She rose to her feet and made the call.
My mood improved substantially at the arrival of the Chinese takeout, due in no small part to the delivery man’s confusion at being called to an address in the literal middle of nowhere. Ilsa and I returned to the house to find Mum sitting in the living room. She gave the cartons of takeout a disapproving look, but all she said was, “Glad you’re back in one piece, Hazel. How did the trial go?”
“Knocked out of the running.” I opened the carton and dug in. “I bloody hope so, anyway, since I spent more time killing Aes Sidhe assassins instead of looking for tokens.”
“Aes Sidhe assassins?” said Mum. “Now Etaina’s after the throne?”
“Nah, she’s after the Seelie Queen.” I chewed a mouthful of lemon chicken and rice. “Oh, and me. The assassins were armed with some kind of magical marks that made them immune to my talisman.”
“Shit, Hazel,” said Ilsa. “You didn’t mention that. What marks?”
“I can’t draw them from memory, but they looked like the ones on my talisman.”
“Invocations.” Ilsa laid down the carton and pulled her Gatekeeper’s book. “I did wonder… look at this.”
I peered over her shoulder at the page, which gleamed with similar symbols. The text inside the book changed depending on what Ilsa’s talisman wanted her to know, so it must have thought she’d need to see those symbols.
“Looks similar,” I murmured. “It was like a protective spell, drawn onto their bare skin like a tattoo.”
Ilsa’s hand clenched. “I’ve seen humans with the same marks. There was an epidemic in Edinburgh not long ago among the witches.”
“The Aes Sidhe can’t be working with humans,” I said. “Etaina lived in the time of the gods herself. She probably learned how to write in their language at school or something.”
Mum’s expression shadowed. “I would have thought someone who lived in the times of the gods would not use their language lightly.”
“We’re talking about the same person who wants to steal this.” I tapped the staff, which leant against the end of the sofa. “We already knew Etaina has those stones which make her people immune to my weapons. Shouldn’t really be a surprise that she has another way to make my life difficult.”
“How did they get into the Court, anyway?” asked Ilsa. “The Aes Sidhe’s realm is supposed to be outside Faerie, right?”
“I think they must have followed the Seelie Queen’s trail when her insider opened the doorway into the Vale,” I said. “The Seelie Queen’s wraiths already found her realm once, so there might be a way underground from the Vale, too.”
“Makes sense.” Ilsa picked up her takeout carton again. “It seems odd that Etaina would risk exposing her Court at a time like this.”
“Yeah, I still don’t get that part.” I laid down my carton. “Only the Seelie Queen knows the Aes Sidhe exist. Nobody else in the Court does. Either Etaina had absolute faith in her people not to show themselves in public, or…”
“Or she wants the Courts to know,” finished Mum.
Unease skittered down my spine. “Why would she? The Aes Sidhe’s Court is a fraction of the size of Summer. I’ve seen them assembled in one room.”
On the other hand, what better time to stir up trouble than during a leadership changeover? Without a monarch on the throne, there’d be no better time to try to grab some of the power she’d lost to the Erlking. All she needed was my talisman.
Ilsa and Mum exchanged glances that told me they’d shared the same thought.
“If she wanted the throne, she’d have to go through the trials in person,” Ilsa said. “Right?”
“Yes, she would,” I said. “I don’t think that’s her goal. Maybe it’s a revenge thing. She and the Erlking weren’t fans of one another, from what I gather. And the Seelie Queen is her sister, so there’s some definite bitterness there.”
“What does Darrow think?” Mum looked at me. “I saw you two on the lawn.”
I dug into my food again to avoid making eye contact. “He went back to Faerie.”
“And he doesn’t think he might be attacked by more of those assassins?” she said.
Anger sparked, then fizzled out just as instantly. “According to him, dealing with assassins can’t be worse than spending time in the same house as someone who’s under a lifelong family curse.”
Mum frowned. “I thought he knew about the curse.”
“He does.” I addressed the takeout cartons. “The implications took a while to sink in, that’s all.”
“That sounds familiar.
” Mum’s gaze travelled between Ilsa and me. “I never told you how your father took the news, did I?”
Well… no. “How did you and Dad handle it? When the truth came out, I mean?”
“We didn’t,” she said. “He fell in love with me while we were at school, thinking I was an ordinary human. Back then, supernaturals didn’t live out in the open, so I had to decide how and when to reveal the truth to him. I decided to start with Foxwood. A town with a mostly supernatural population seemed a safer introduction than taking him into the Summer Court.”
“You aren’t wrong,” said Ilsa. “So how’d he react to Foxwood?”
“He was fascinated, of course,” she said. “Your grandmother encouraged our relationship, for obvious reasons. I liked him, I enjoyed his company, and I thought my misgivings were due to the worry about revealing my identity as Gatekeeper.”
“Did it go badly?” I asked.
“Not at all,” she said. “I kept our interactions to the Lynn house and did my best to shield him from the rest. The fae at the house and in the garden annoyed him a little, but he didn’t have the Sight, so he couldn’t see the worst of it. After Morgan was born, we hit a rough patch, but we got through it. And then, two years after I gave birth to you and Ilsa…”
“The invasion happened,” said Ilsa. “The faeries attacked earth.”
She dipped her head. “He left at once to find his family in Ireland and make sure they were safe. And he never came back. He reasoned that it would be easier for the three of you to grow up closer to Faerie than torn between two worlds like he would have been if he’d stayed.”
I blinked, my eyes burning. “So you don’t mind…”
“It’s easier that way.” She smiled. “You needn’t pity me, Hazel. I didn’t love him, not in the way he wanted. It would have inevitably come out sooner if I hadn’t wanted so badly to make it work. I think part of him always knew that what he felt for me would never be reciprocated, but he let his love blind him to the inevitable. I don’t want for companionship, not when I have you three. You’re the one good thing that came out of this curse.”
“And I thought we annoyed the hell out of you.” Ilsa shot me a grin, her eyes as damp as mine. “Guess we can’t be worse than the Sidhe are, huh.”
“Definitely not.” I stole Ilsa’s abandoned takeout container, feeling a little better despite my growing suspicion that the only two people who might know how to undo the curse were the two Sidhe who hated me most in the world.
Despite my bone-deep exhaustion, sleep eluded me until dawn, and I woke up restless and irritable and wishing I’d stayed in Faerie after all. Dread knotted my chest as I walked through the gates, crossing my fingers behind my back that no more of Etaina’s assassins had attacked Darrow on the other side. It’d only be an hour or two at most since the trial in Faerie, but that didn’t mean he’d be any safer.
At least with the Seelie Queen’s insider dead and my name removed from the list of contenders, I was officially out of the running and free to do some more meddling in my own way. Once I found Darrow and apologised to him, that is.
The Erlking’s sprite flew over to me as I approached the palace, his semi-transparent wings beating frantically. “You must come, quickly!”
“What’s going on?” I readied my talisman, one hand on the knife at my waist. “It can’t be time for the third trial already?”
I climbed the steps into the palace two at a time, bracing myself to fight. Instead, I found a considerably smaller group of Sidhe than yesterday gathering in front of Lady Aiten. I halted, lowering the staff, as she strode over to meet me. “Two participants were disqualified for cheating when we examined the results of the second trial, which leaves a gap. The magic of the trials dictates that you should return to the contest, Gatekeeper.”
“What?” I looked between her and Swift, disbelieving. “That can’t be right. Cheating? In what way?”
“Lord Anther saw fit to try to poison another candidate.”
“Lord Anther? As in the guy with the wing-patterned armour?” The Sidhe who’d helped me in the maze? He’d come across as one of the few decent contenders, but with the pressure mounting, it might have got the best of him. “Look, I can’t be in the running. I split my only token with Darrow.”
“A number of the other Sidhe found no tokens,” she said. “Two were also found dead, which I wished to discuss with you, Hazel. The bodies we found inside the second trial did not bear the marks of your talisman. How did they die?”
Crap. What was my cover story again? “The first guy—the one we found in the poisonous bushes—was killed by the Seelie Queen’s people, hidden in the bushes to conceal the cause of death. Further in, we found the body of a Seelie knight beside a fallen troll and a partly open doorway into the Vale. I assumed the troll trampled him to death.”
“We found marks of weaponry on the bodies, including the troll, but not the cause.” Her sharp gaze skimmed over me. “None of the other Sidhe claimed to have seen either of them.”
Oh, hell. I should have tried harder to hide the cause of death. “I can only tell you what I saw. I closed the doorway. Perhaps the first Sidhe who the Seelie Queen’s people killed was the one who slaughtered the troll.”
“If I see any act of sabotage in the trials, I must question it, Hazel,” she said. “Now we’re almost at the final round, which will be the Seelie Queen’s last chance to intervene before the new monarch takes the throne.”
My heart gave an uneasy flip. I shouldn’t be in the running at this stage, but that wasn’t the reason a mounting sense of foreboding lay over me. This wasn’t just the Seelie Queen’s last chance to intervene, but Etaina’s, too. Even the iron I carried didn’t soothe my suspicion that I’d overlooked some obvious error.
“Should I fetch Darrow?” I asked. “I assume he doesn’t know he’s back in the running, and he’s on the Seelie Queen’s hit list, too.”
“I sent a messenger to Half-Blood Territory, so he should be on his way here now,” she said. “The trial begins at dawn.”
That gave me a few hours to find Darrow… assuming he’d made it to Half-Blood Territory at all. Dammit, why did I drive him off yesterday? I should have kept my mouth shut and let him sleep on the sofa.
Cursing under my breath, I followed the path to the meadow where Lord Raivan hung out, close to the one path in Faerie that connected Winter and the borderlands with Summer.
Up close, I was sure it was the same meadow I’d seen in Darrow’s memory, formed of bright green strands of grass swaying in a gentle breeze. Lord Raivan wasn’t there, but the sound of voices drifted from further down the path bordering Half-Blood Territory. Shoulders tensing, I pulled out one of the iron knives I wore strapped to my belt and advanced down the path.
A circle of Aes Sidhe surrounded Darrow, at least five of them, all wearing the same black-green armour.
“You will come back to Etaina to stand trial for your crimes,” said a male warrior with silver hair. “Do not deny that you have forsaken your vows and brought the former Queen of Summer on our tail.”
“I have not,” said Darrow. “The Seelie Queen was alive in the days before the Aes Sidhe split from Summer, and I assume that is how she tracked our people down. Rest assured, I am doing everything in my power to find and kill her.”
“Then why are you participating in the trials of the Erlking?” asked a second Aes Sidhe soldier, this one female. They’re not the same clones as yesterday. While they might wear the same uniform, they weren’t identical.
“That was a mistake, and it is now rectified,” he said in calm tones. “However, several of your kin tried to kill me during the second trial. Did Etaina give the order?”
“Everyone knows you turned traitor,” said the silver-haired male Sidhe. “You gave us all up for a pathetic mortal who stole our magic and made a mockery of our Court. I suppose it’s fitting for one who betrayed us once before. I always knew Etaina was wrong to trust you, Darrow.”
Okay, enough games. I raised the talisman above the speaker’s head. “This pathetic mortal thinks you ought to work harder on your stealth skills. Knock it off. Darrow doesn’t need to join your creepy league of clones, and he doesn’t want to go back to the boring underground hole you call a kingdom. Etaina might call herself a leader and not a queen, but as far as I’m concerned, if it quacks like a duck, it sure as hell isn’t a monkey.”
The assassins gave me blank looks, as though they couldn’t fathom what the hell I was talking about. “If you’re insulting our leader—” the male Aes Sidhe began heatedly.
I jabbed my knife in his direction. “Go on. Either attack or get out of here. Do you want the whole of Summer to know your Court exists? Is that what Etaina asked you to do?”
“Etaina told us to bring the traitor back to her,” said a third Aes Sidhe, a male with glittering silver hair and darker green eyes suggesting he had human heritage somewhere.
Darrow gave them a contemptuous look. “The only traitors I see before me are yourselves. I am here on my mission from Etaina, and I have not betrayed her trust.”
“Why did the human suggest otherwise?” said the first Aes Sidhe.
“Because that’s what I do,” I said. “Say shit I don’t mean and jump to conclusions.”
Hey, I had to get an apology in there somewhere.
“At dawn, the final trial to select a leader of the Summer Court will begin, and I will be there to ambush the Seelie Queen if she tries anything,” Darrow added. “Which I’m sure she will do. What I would like to know is why Etaina risked compromising our secrecy at a time like this.”
“Because she wants the throne herself?” I interjected.
“Be careful of the accusations you make, Gatekeeper,” said the silver-haired assassin in soft tones. “The Lady of Light has been generous in sparing your life so far.”
“Yeah, right,” I said. “Several of your people tried to kill me during the last trial. I bet if I look closer, I’ll find you’re all marked with the same symbols which make you immune to my talisman’s magic. And you should know, if you’re wondering why none of your pals came back yesterday, those marks of yours aren’t enough to stave off death. If your Lady of Light told you they were, she lied to you.”
The Gatekeeper's Trials: The Complete Trilogy Page 54
