by Melissa Marr
The wolves around her growled in agreement, as did Barry.
“Your what?” Sorcha asked.
Devlin turned to face the High Queen. Her knife pressed against his throat as he moved, leaving a trailing cut there.
“Our king.” Rae moved so she stood to his right. Her hand, though not solid, appeared to rest on Devlin’s forearm.
“The King of Shadows.” His gaze was only on Sorcha, but Devlin spoke loudly enough that the assembled faeries could all hear. “The king to balance the High Queen in Faerie. Faerie was never meant to be ruled by only one court. Our faeries were not meant to have only one choice.”
“You cannot.” Sorcha stared at him. She lowered her knife. “Brother… Devlin…”
Seth came behind her and put a supporting arm around her. He did not speak, but the expression on his face was not one of surprise. He’d known what was coming long before Devlin had.
“I am neither son nor brother to you, Sorcha. I am that which stands as your opposite within Faerie. I am that which balances your court.” Devlin spoke softly, wishing he could say the words to his queen-no-more in private, but she had removed that option by appearing here with her knife to his throat. He clung to the hope that she would see the rightness of his actions. “Bananach cannot come here. She cannot touch you, your son, or the faeries of your court or mine.”
Sorcha stared at him. Her expression shifted to a familiar one of objective observation as she felt the change within Faerie, as she became more herself again. Devlin hoped that she understood: what he did, he did to balance her; what he did, he did to keep his sisters from killing each other; what he did was the right answer for all of them.
This was the inevitable next step for them all. Every emotion he’d repressed for all of the long millennia behind him felt like it was rising up inside of him. His would be a court of passions, of emotions, of the very things that he’d fought to hide.
As such, he didn’t hide his relief or his sorrow as he told the faeries, “To prevent Bananach from coming here, our worlds are divided. None among you can cross the veil to the mortal world without the aid of both the Shadow Court and the High Court.”
Sorcha’s spine was stiff; the emotional instability she’d been falling prey to of late was no longer present in her visage or her posture. She nodded at him, and then turned away.
“Those of you who belong not to me, who would choose the… Shadow Court, know that I understand your actions. They are—as this was—inevitable,” she told them.
Then with a regal air that had been missing since the day Seth had left Sorcha to return to the mortal world, the High Queen turned her gaze to her son. “My advisor and heir, my son, your prince, will be liaison to the Shadow Court.”
With not another word, Sorcha left, attendants and many faeries in tow.
But not all.
In front of Devlin, Ani, and Rae were faeries, several score, who looked to them expectantly.
This is ours. Our world.
A twinge of grief washed over him that he’d lost both of his mother-sisters. To keep them safe from one another—to keep everyone safe from the conflict between the twins— he’d betrayed both of his mother-sisters.
“This has always been the next step,” Rae whispered.
“It’s the right choice,” Ani agreed. “You know that.”
Devlin nodded, and together they crossed the expanse of Faerie.
As they walked, new vistas sprang into existence, filling in voids that were meant to be something more but hadn’t had the chance.
Until now.
Epilogue
Devlin stared through the veil. He raised one hand to touch the tenuous fabric that divided the two worlds, that divided the twins.
“Have you thought about the consequences?” Seth asked.
Devlin turned to face his brother, his replacement in the High Court.
“For them”—Seth gestured to the other side of the gate— “now that Faerie is closed?”
“They are not my concern.” Devlin let his hand drop, putting his sgian dubh in easy reach. “The good of Faerie is my concern.”
“I’m not here to fight you, Brother.” Seth held his hands up disarmingly. “I will fight Bananach though.”
“And if Bananach’s death still kills your mother? Why should I let you cross over there, knowing that it could bring disaster on us?”
Seth looked away, almost quickly enough to hide the fear in his gaze, but it was only a flash. He smiled then. “You cannot keep me here. The terms of her remaking me were that I can return to the mortal world. Even you cannot negate her vow.”
“If they came home, if the other courts returned here…” Devlin had thought of it, all of Faerie returned home once more, away from the mortal world, no longer divided into factions and seasonal courts.
Seth laughed. “Do you think that Keenan would give up the Summer Court? That Donia would give up her court? That Niall would become a subject to you or to our mother? Pipe dreams, man.”
“They would be safe here now that Bananach cannot enter.”
Seth shrugged. “Some things are worth more than safety.”
“I cannot speak of what would happen to our… to your queen if you died.” Devlin stared through the veil, wishing that he had the ability to see the future in the mortal world. “I would come with you, but protecting Faerie comes first. I cannot risk Faerie for the mortal world.”
“And I can’t abandon Ash or Niall.”
Devlin paused. “Tell me what you see.”
“Nothing. Over here, I’m mortal. I see nothing until I go back….” Seth bit his lip ring, rolling the ball of it into his mouth as he weighed his thoughts. “I don’t see anything, but I’m worried…. Ash is dealing with her court alone. Sorcha was to balance Niall, but now you balance her. What will that mean for him? Irial was stabbed. Gabe was outnumbered. Bananach is murderous and only getting stronger…. Nothing there makes me think everything is going to be all right.”
They stood silently staring through the veil. “When you are ready…”
Seth stared at him for a moment. “If… you know… I die, she’ll need you. She doesn’t like admitting it, but she will.”
Devlin put his hand on the veil; Seth did the same. Together, they pushed their fingers through the fabric and parted it.
Devlin put a hand on Seth’s forearm. “It will not open for you to return unless you call to me to be here also.”
“I know.” Seth stepped into the mortal world, leaving Faerie.
Devlin thought about their recent reentry to Faerie, about fleeing while he was injured, about the danger of Faerie being locked to the other regents and to Seth. He looked through the veil at Seth’s departing figure and said, “Try not to die, Brother.”
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