The Gatekeeper's Trials: The Complete Trilogy

by Emma L. Adams

  I sprang to my feet. A wave of vertigo hit me, and I grabbed the wooden bench to steady myself. Why had she brought me here? Why did this man remind me so much of… no. It was impossible.

  He held up the knife. “I wouldn’t try to escape.”

  “She hasn’t blasted you with glamour,” I said. “Any reason why?”

  “It pleases her to keep me aware of my condition,” he said. “Those she glamours are utterly in her thrall. Thoughts and feelings are irrelevant, for nothing exists to them but her. I am no servant of hers, so she has nothing to gain from turning me into one of her puppets.”

  “Not a servant,” I murmured. “What are you, then?”

  “One who cannot be saved, Hazel Lynn.”

  I staggered against the bench, my heart thundering. There was no sign of anyone—not Etaina, not her Court, and not Darrow. Just this stranger, this stranger who looked too much like a portrait on the wall of the Lynn house.

  “You’re Thomas Lynn.”

  He didn’t look like his portrait exactly, but it was a good enough likeness. This man was my ancestor, who should have died centuries ago.

  He didn’t deny my words, nor did he say anything more.

  “You’re dead,” I went on.

  “Not dead,” he said. “Taken.”

  “You were captured by a faerie queen,” I said, my voice brittle. “It was her. Etaina. Not the Seelie or Unseelie Queens.”

  He inclined his head.

  “How are you still alive?” I said. “It’s been centuries. How the bloody hell does time even work here?”

  “Time works according to the Lady’s wishes,” he said. “A year can pass here while a second passes in the faerie realm, if she wills it.”

  “Seriously?”

  If that was the case, I still had a shot at making it back into the Summer Court in time to warn them of Etaina’s upcoming attack—but I needed to get that talisman away from her first.

  And where was Darrow? She must have brought him here along with me, unless she’d ordered him to kill the Seelie Queen and finish the job. None of that seemed to matter, though, not with a dead man standing in front of me with the answers to every question I’d ever had about the Gatekeeper’s curse, my family’s eternal enslavement, even the Erlking’s role in it all. And I couldn’t stick around to ask a single question without jeopardising the people I cared for.

  Thomas was human. Long-lived, evidently, but still human. I, however, had trained to fight the Sidhe.

  I met his eyes—so much like Mum’s—and said, “I’m sorry about this, Thomas. I really am.”

  I brought my knee up into his crotch and slammed the heel of my palm into the crook of his elbow, forcing his hand to unclench on the knife. Grabbing it in my hand, I swept his legs out from underneath him. His hands snagged my ankle, and I kicked him hard in the face, feeling cartilage give way beneath my heel.

  Thomas’s gasps of pain pursued me to the door, which I kicked open and ran out into the corridor.

  The winding tunnel was an unfamiliar one, and two more snaked in opposite directions. Closing the door behind me, I paced to the left. Dammit, none of this was familiar to me.

  “Hummingbird,” I whispered. The last ally I had, assuming Darrow was still under Etaina’s thrall. His sprite could probably get me out of here—but that would mean giving up both Darrow and the Erlking’s talisman.

  Hummingbird appeared in a flash of light. “You should not be here!”

  “Etaina locked me up,” I said. “Please—show me how to get out.”

  He shook his head frantically. “You cannot get out under your own power. And my master is under her influence entirely.”

  “Please,” I said. “Tell me which direction leads to the hall where Etaina is holding her congregation. I have to find Darrow.”

  He flitted down the left tunnel. “This way, but if she finds us, you’re dead.”

  “Better stick together, then.” I walked behind him on swift feet. “Does she have the talisman with her?”

  “I do not know of any talismans. Darrow locked me in his room, out of harm’s way.”

  Damn. “Okay, I’ll check her office first.”

  Without the talisman, I’d be at a disadvantage, not that I’d be able to make a dent in any of the Aes Sidhe when they all carried protection against its power. All I had was my Gatekeeper’s magic, which Etaina might well know more about than I did. And Thomas Lynn. Dammit. Maybe I should have tried to talk him into taking my side rather than kicking him in the face.

  The tunnel followed a looping spiral to familiar ground, where Etaina’s office lay one corridor down from the main chamber in which I’d landed the last couple of times I’d been in here.

  I rounded a corner and ran into an Aes Sidhe knight. His mouth opened, but I lunged forward and stabbed him in the neck. Blood gushed out onto the tunnel floor. For a glamour, he sure bled like a real person. But he was real, like any clone. Like all of them.

  Etaina’s office was locked, to no surprise, but Hummingbird floated over to the door’s lock and it clicked open a moment later. With a nod of thanks, I entered.

  The first thing that hit me was that the talisman wasn’t here, and the office looked much the same as the last time I’d been here. Did that mean she’d claimed it? With that talisman, she could turn Faerie into a wasteland while doing no harm to her own people as long as they had the means of protecting themselves. I have to stop her.

  Panic seized me as I opened one of the drawers in her claw-footed desk, finding nothing but a tangle of keys. The next drawer contained a collection of gleaming stones which resembled the one which protected the holder from the talisman’s magic. That’s more like it. Grabbing as many stones as I could hold, I stuffed them into my pockets. I might not be able to stop her from using the talisman, but I’d make damned sure I kept my loved ones safe from its magic in the meantime.

  Backing out of the office, I headed for the main chamber. The murmur of voices grew louder as I ducked into the alcove and inched the wooden door open.

  Etaina stood on the high platform at the front of the chamber, holding the Erlking’s talisman in one hand. Towering tree trunks formed pillars connecting floor and ceiling, branches arching above the heads of several hundred soldiers dressed in the same brown and green uniform.

  Darrow stood at Etaina’s side below the high, arched ceiling, his expression as blank and emotionless as the rest.

  “You will bring glory to me,” she was saying to her congregation. “We will force the Courts into submission and kill the false queen before she can take what her husband tried to deny me.”

  The genuine passion in her voice disarmed me. It seemed Etaina truly wanted her people to love her. Yet she hadn’t given them a choice in the matter, and she would never dare to set them free. After all, they might choose to betray her, as Darrow had.

  Etaina lifted her gaze above the crowd. “You can come in, Hazel.”

  I pushed the doors fully open and walked into the hall. Darrow’s gaze went to mine, and the stark horror in his expression tore at me. He wasn’t under her glamour, but it didn’t matter. She had him by the throat all the same.

  Nobody else looked my way. All their attention was riveted on the woman at the centre of the stage. Not all of them were clones either. Maybe half the audience had the same identical features, but the others were as varied as any Sidhe nobles.

  Shadows tingled beneath my skin. The talisman’s power was still mine. Don’t betray me. Don’t serve her. I clenched my fist, willing the shadows to rise, but every person in this room was armed with one of those stones, or worse, the marks. I hadn’t seen which Etaina had, but it was safe to say she was safe from its magic as long as she held the talisman in her grip.

  After all, the talisman was what she’d wanted all along. Everything else was just a distraction, nothing more. The talisman’s magic existed to destroy, and Etaina was offering the Devourer everything I’d denied it.

  “
I wouldn’t try to use my talisman against me, Hazel,” she said. “You cannot harm me.”

  “Wanna bet?” I raised the knife, but a dozen cold hands grabbed at my arms, tugging the instrument from my hand.

  “Let her come,” she said sharply. “Don’t harm her.”

  I found myself propelled towards the stage by a tide of Aes Sidhe until I halted beside her. Darrow tried to catch my eye, but I kept my attention on Etaina. Perhaps I could snatch the talisman from her, but if I fell under the spell of her glamour, it was all over. I had no weapons left, while a whole audience of Aes Sidhe soldiers held unsheathed blades, one order away from obliterating me.

  The iron band pressed against my wrist. Thomas hadn’t removed it. An accidental oversight or a deliberate one, I didn’t know, but it was my last shot. If I could just get the iron to touch her, she’d be weakened. Maybe enough for the talisman’s effects to break through and turn her to dust.

  Etaina beckoned me onto the stage. I held my wrist steady, mentally calculating the distance I needed to move to press the iron to her bare skin.

  Her gaze skimmed me from head to toe. The audience watched me without reacting, waiting for an order from their leader.

  “Such a fuss over a simple human,” she said softly.

  Shadows coiled around my wrists, hiding the iron from view. “If I’m only a simple human and you’re an all-powerful queen, why are you not the one who wields the magic of the Erlking’s talisman? Why am I the one with freedom, while you have to resort to brainwashing an army you created with your own hands to avoid your allies stabbing you in the back?”

  Rage frosted her sharp features. “You know nothing of your station, human.”

  “I know enough.”

  A lie. There was far too much of this whole setup I was clueless about. Why did she have Thomas Lynn held captive here? Why was he even still alive, for that matter? Did that mean I was bound to her, and not the Courts? Surely not—if she had control over my family, she’d have abused it by now—but if none of it mattered. Not with the Erlking’s talisman a heartbeat away from turning its affections over to her. I willed the shadows to remain in my hands. Stay with me. Etaina and her kind betrayed the gods and stole their magic. Wouldn’t you rather serve me?

  No response came from the Devourer, but the shadows stirred around me as though I held the talisman in my own grip. Fury flickered in the depths of her eyes. She could glamour me, turn me into an unwilling servant for life—but she couldn’t make the talisman obey her.

  She held no power over the gods’ magic.

  I lifted my head high, turning up the volume on the circlet. Its glow bathed the cave walls in green, caused Etaina’s eyes to squint. I leaned in closer to her, my hand wrapping around the talisman’s hilt, the other ready with the iron—

  The army surged, weapons pointing at me, but Etaina raised an impatient hand, either oblivious to the iron close to her skin or uncaring of it.

  “I think you misunderstand the situation here, Hazel,” she said. “There’s no doubt you have quite the repertoire of tricks, but you are nothing more than a mortal with no talent. Darrow, kindly remove Hazel’s hands from my talisman.”

  With a curse, I grabbed her free arm, but Darrow moved blindingly fast, his hand seizing my upper arm. I didn’t need to look at his face to know he’d had no control over his actions.

  “I could command him to dispose of you,” she added dispassionately. “But you may be useful yet. Release her, Darrow. I think it’s time Hazel learned the truth of us.”

  Darrow’s grip loosened, and he stepped to my side. I glimpsed his face, shadowed with remorse. She’d deliberately left him free enough to be aware of what he was doing.

  “I know you’re a jealous bitch who couldn’t deal with the fact that the Erlking got the talisman and you didn’t,” I said. “I’m taking a wild guess that’s why you split from Summer and pretended to be dead, too. I bet you’re really pissed at your sister for giving the game away and forcing you to stop running like the coward you really are.”

  Darrow gave a faint head-shake, a warning not to provoke her, but I was too incensed to care. Etaina might scare the living hell out of me, but if she hypnotised Darrow one more time, I’d ram my hand through her chest and rip out her heart.

  “My sister will never get what she desires,” she said, “but her hasty actions have paved the way for me to take back what is mine.”

  Shadows curled around the talisman. My gut tightened. Don’t choose her over me. Please don’t.

  “So you want to take Summer’s throne?” I went on. “You won’t find it as easy to brainwash the other Sidhe as you would your glamoured army. They don’t know you, and they sure as hell won’t respect you. Nor do I.”

  “This army isn’t my finest creation,” she said, turning to Darrow. “He is.”

  The breath caught in my throat. “What?”

  Darrow’s expression froze, as stunned as I was.

  “Oh, you must know I cannot tell an untruth,” said Etaina. “Darrow is mine, and I would prefer not to harm him, but since you’ve taken a liking to him… I have no choice in the matter.”

  Metallic rage coated the back of my throat. “Don’t you dare.”

  “Surrender your magic,” she said, “or I will undo him.”

  19

  Silence filled the cavern. The audience watched, without reacting, as Darrow and I stood frozen on the stage beside their triumphant leader.

  “You’re already holding the talisman,” I forced the words out, addressing Etaina. “If the magic won't choose you, I can't force it to.”

  “You gave up its magic once already,” she said. “I know you did.”

  “I didn’t do it alone,” I said. “The talisman chose me, twice, and I can’t make it choose you instead.”

  “Very well.” She raised her hand to point at Darrow. “I regret this.”

  A blinding flash of light engulfed the room. I glimpsed a small shape flit past. Hummingbird.

  Then Darrow’s hand closed around mine, and we vanished.

  I staggered, disorientated. The army had vanished along with Etaina, to be replaced with the ambassadors’ palace. Noise exploded all around the hall, filled with Sidhe exclaiming and pointing up at the balcony. The body of Lord Talthain lay where it’d fallen on the stage, but Etaina was no longer anywhere in sight.

  “This is the same instant we left,” I murmured. “No time passed at all.”

  Everyone in this room had seen Etaina shoot Summer’s future king dead. They’d seen his bizarre confession, too, and with nobody around to offer an explanation, the ensuing chaos would give one or both of the queens the perfect opportunity to strike.

  I have to do something.

  I scanned the room and caught sight of my sister. Ilsa was trying to cross the room to me, but the tide of panicking Sidhe barred her path. Cursing inwardly, I ran for the stage and jumped up beside the body of Lord Talthain.

  “Hey!” I strode to the front of the stage. “Listen to me!”

  The clamour continued, nobody giving me so much as a second glance.

  Ilsa pushed her way through to the stage and shouted, “Listen.”

  The word rang out—in a language that wasn’t English, but everyone in this room understood anyway—and half the crowd turned our way. Ilsa reached the stage and climbed up to join me, the aftermath of the Invocation rippling through the crowd.

  “Listen to me,” I repeated. “You know the woman you just saw? Her name is Etaina, ruler of the Aes Sidhe, who the Sidhe have believed to be extinct for centuries. The Seelie Queen angered the Aes Sidhe by attacking her domain, and their leader retaliated by killing the pawn the Seelie Queen sent to take the throne on her behalf.”

  The Sidhe stared at me, momentarily dazzled by the Invocation Ilsa had spoken, and I pressed on.

  “Etaina’s kingdom is smaller than Summer, but still formidable,” I said. “If you look at those clones outside, they’re what we’re up against.
She has a whole army of glamour creations, made to obey her.”

  “Like him?” spoke up one of the Sidhe. “The hybrid half-blood who was with you?”

  Darrow. I scanned the room for him, but he was nowhere in sight. He hadn’t gone back to Etaina, had he?

  “No,” Ilsa said, nudging me in the side.

  “She tried to frame him because he turned against her,” I added. “All her clones are created by glamour and look exactly alike. Oh, and she can glamour anyone into doing her bidding, as she does to her entire Court.”

  Noise filled the room, at least half of which seemed to be coming from Lord Niall’s side of the room by the wine barrels. I’d thought Summer had been prepared for a war with the Seelie Queen, but most of them hadn’t expected it, let alone the arrival of a new queen who’d split from the Court before most of the people in this room had been born. I looked for a supportive face and saw none aside from Ilsa and River. As for Lord Raivan and Lady Aiten, they’d been under Darrow’s glamour the last time I’d checked.

  “She killed our rightful king,” shouted the fox-eared Sidhe who’d once been Lord Raivan’s friend. “She brainwashed him and then shot him.”

  “He wasn’t our rightful—” I broke off. What was the difference? There was no monarch, nor anyone waiting in line, however you looked at it. “The point is, there is nobody on the throne of Summer and two angry queens vying to take over. We need to assemble a defensive force, or else they’ll take the Court to pieces.”

  More shouts of dismay rose, drowning out my voice and Ilsa’s, too. She shook her head at me and climbed down from the stage.

  I followed her, exhaustion settling on me like a heavy cloak. “How are we supposed to get them to cooperate? We might as well divide the Court between Etaina and the Seelie Queen here and now.”

  “You did great,” said Ilsa. “Considering the Sidhe now have to adapt to the return of yet another enemy. I suppose our only consolation is that the two of them might decide to go to war with one another rather than with Summer.”