Glamour of Midnight

by Casey L. Bond

  “Your father must have been terrified.”

  “He was. We all were. We’d seen and felt what she was capable of,” I recounted quietly. “She always assumed the rulers of the four Seasonal Courts knew who had hidden you and where. In the end, it didn’t matter that Father tried to help her and had forsaken the other fae rulers to do so. She wanted to wipe the courts off the map and build her own world. That was her goal all along, since she consumed her sisters.”

  “Why couldn’t Nemain get into Ironton?”

  “She couldn’t get into any of the cities with the magical dome walls. Finean may have taken you there and glamoured you, but you hid yourself. Your magic created the dome. The smoke that swirls inside came from you, Karis, and yours is the only magic Nemain has never been able to take. She can’t break through your magic because you’re stronger than she is. That’s how I know – how we all know – that you’re our only hope.”

  Water pooled in her eyes, threatening to spill. “What about before the wall? What did the humans do?”

  “Nemain didn’t unleash the Unseelie until after you were taken away from her. She used them to try to hunt you down, and against anyone who stood in her way,” I elaborated.

  She glanced at the ceiling, contemplating. “What do you know about Finean?”

  “Finean’s power lies in reflections, like mirrors. He can make identical images, multiplying them. He created the illusion of a magical dome over each of the human cities so Nemain wouldn’t see Ironton as an anomaly. But your power was so intense, each wall was as strong as the rest. Your power brought his illusions to life.”

  “He told me that.”

  “It was wicked, but brilliant. He multiplied your power, kept the human populations safe from Nemain, and at the same time, made a safe haven for what Seelie he could save. Ones he could rule. I don’t know if he told you this, but there’s a hidden city. From Faery, it just looks like another human village, but inside there are Seelie who managed to escape Nemain’s wrath. Some fled before she attacked, and others merely managed to survive or weren’t present when she came for them.”

  “The Court of Reflections,” she declared, the tears falling onto her cheeks and running down to her chin.

  I nodded. “The Court of Reflections, where Finean has made himself King. He’s only ever wanted power, Karis. Not unlike your mother. That’s why I said he was – is – dangerous.”

  “And he’s also cruel. I know you don’t see it, but he is. We knew Nemain was coming, but didn’t know when she would strike. I’d reached out to Finean, but he refused to let anyone from Autumn enter the Court of Reflections. My father shattered his trust and the trust of every fae from the other courts.”

  “It wasn’t your people’s fault,” she argued.

  “No, it wasn’t, but the damage was done. Tension and emotions were high, and Finean couldn’t risk another betrayal. I understand why he refused to open the door, Karis.”

  She pressed her palm against her chest. “How’d you escape?”

  “Against my father’s orders, I led a group to the city to try to beg Finean to let my people in. He refused to even hear me out. Eventually, we had no choice but to turn back. The attack occurred while we were gone.”

  Her eyes widened. “You found your court torn apart and your father…dead, but not dead?”

  “Yes,” I replied softly. “Nemain slowly hunted every Seelie fae she could find who’d escaped her. Most were from Autumn. I never knew she’d turned them into Unseelie beasts. I thought she killed them. There were a few of us who lived in the woods, constantly moving. Other hunters. As the land died, it became more and more difficult to survive. There was a bounty on your head the moment she found out you were missing, and every one of us searched for you in the hope that if she got you back, she’d stop tearing Faery apart.

  “Every midsummer, we waited for the humans to leave the cities, just in case one time, you would step out of the safety. But without a bargain struck with her, there wasn’t a guarantee Nemain would even let the hunter who found you walk free. It was common knowledge that she would make bargains with anyone brave enough to suffer her wrath if they failed. I think most of the hunters before me had given up. They tried to find you, but in the end, they weren’t really searching for the lost princess. They were searching for death.”

  She was quiet for a moment. When her eyes flicked to mine, I thought I might crumble. “Did you go to her looking for the same thing?” she asked tentatively.

  “No. One of her Banshees found me in the Winter Court. I couldn’t feel her chill and she caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting it, but had no choice but to search for you. I sure as hell didn’t expect to find you.”

  “But you did,” she wailed, tears welling again. “You were never helping me, and now Iric is probably dead because of it.”

  My betrayal rocked her to the core, and the reverberation clanged through my own heart and soul.

  “If it makes any difference, I didn’t have a choice. Her Banshee caught me and dragged me to Nemain. My only hope was that she’d make a deal, and since it was a one in a billion chance I’d find you, I made it just in case. I’m sorry.”

  I knew it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.

  “If he dies, I’ll never forgive you or myself for trusting you.”

  “I understand if you don’t, but please believe me when I say that you shouldn’t trust Finean either. He’s as deadly as the Asper on your arm and twice as sly.”

  With pain glistening in her eyes, she entered the catacombs and didn’t look back.

  20

  KARIS

  I took a wrong turn in the darkness, somewhere between the ruined palace where I left Loftin behind and where I thought my chamber was. The weight of the rock above me, lined with the bones of the dead, seemed too heavy. I was in a dark chamber, water sloshing over my boots, when the ceiling began to creep lower.

  My fingers danced over the sharp rock beside me, but the walls only closed in. I tried to retrace my steps, but came to another wall, and in every direction I turned, there was another, and another.

  “I need light,” I screamed, my voice echoing in the tiny space. The ceiling twinkled like starlight, a vast galaxy spreading across the darkness. Strands of tiny blue orbs stretched from everywhere on the ceiling, a web of calm, blue-green tendrils hanging down. With my forefinger, I reached for one of the glowing orbs closest to me.

  “Glow worms.” Finean rose from the water, standing in front of me, droplets sluicing down his face and dropping from his clothes. “Did you make them?”

  I thought I did, but I wasn’t telling him. “I’m lost,” I admitted.

  His lips tipped up on one side. “I can see you back. Where is Loftin?”

  Tears welled in my eyes at the mention of his name.

  “He told you everything,” Finean admitted knowingly.

  “I think I could live in Faery a thousand years and never know the entire truth. Lies are the mortar that holds this world together,” I answered bitterly.

  Did Finean know what else I might be capable of? Or was that something else they would keep from me until I was so afraid or angry, the power exploded out of me?

  “What can Nemain do? I want to know all about her powers, including the ones she claimed.”

  He straightened, holding his hands behind his back. “She is destruction, decay, and terror itself.”

  “I know that!” I exclaimed, a hysterical laugh tearing from my chest.

  He tilted his head to the side.

  “I can turn things into ash,” I offered.

  “Did Loftin see this?”

  “Of course he did. He was the one who suggested I try it.”

  Finean’s jaw ticked in rhythm with his heart. “He was never one to waste time.”

  “According to you, we have little time to waste.” I found myself defending him.

  Finean walked a circle around me. “I have a theory, Karis. I’ve already told
you that Nemain is destruction. She takes, steals, absorbs, and consumes. While I think you’ve inherited these dark powers, I think there is something else in you. Something that battles the darkness.”

  I swallowed. “What’s that?”

  He reached up, plucked a dried leaf out of my hair, and placed it in my palm. “Bring it back to life.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t tried. You finally figured out how to will the Asper to life. Bring the leaf back as well.”

  Wait… He wasn’t with me and Loftin when the Banshee attacked, so how did he know the Asper protected us? Did he feel it beneath my skin even now?

  “Have you found Iric?”

  Finean shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m looking. I won’t stop until I find him, Karis. No matter the outcome.”

  No matter the outcome. I pressed my eyes closed. If Iric was already dead and Finean found him… If I could bring back this leaf, who was to say I couldn’t bring Iric back, too?

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my palm around the leaf and felt the crisped edges rake against my skin. I imagined them softening, a rush of water flowing into the veins, filling in the dryness. I imagined the leaf as supple, young, and full of life.

  “Karis?” Finean asked, waking me from the daze I’d fallen into.

  I opened my palm, and there, where the dried leaf once sat, rested a freshly plucked one. Strong, vibrant, and green.

  He took my hand and closed my fingers once more. “Don’t think of yourself as a monster. You aren’t your mother.”

  “But I can hurt things, too.” I opened my palm to show him the ashes that remained now, tilting it and letting them float down and land on the water’s surface.

  “Yes, but you have the choice. You alone govern your actions. Every fae and every human has the ability to choose to harm or do good with what they have. Choose the good.”

  He made it sound so simple, but he, I, and the silence stretching between us knew this situation was anything but.

  “Learn to control the darkness before it tries to take control of you. Cling to the light.”

  I glanced around us; at the glow worms still clinging to the roof of the cavern, at the way their blue-green luminescence glittered across the water’s surface, and then at him. “There’s precious little light in this world.”

  Finean smiled. “It’s gotten significantly brighter since you’ve returned.” He stepped closer, the water sloshing around us, so close that the tips of our boots met beneath the water.

  “Why did you do it?” I whispered.

  His hand feathered over my hair. “Because I didn’t want her to hurt you.”

  “How did you even know I existed?”

  “You still don’t remember?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “The mirrors,” he admitted. “I was there with you.”

  From deep inside my mind, a flash of an image surfaced. A boy, my age, with translucent hair and pointed ears. We sit cross-legged on the floor; he, on his side of the reflection, and me, on mine. Our palms touch, rippling the glass between us.

  “Why did she think she needed an heir at all?” I asked, disconcerted. Nemain was all powerful, yet always hungered for more. Surely, she didn’t plan to share her position?

  “She was lonely.” Such a simple statement, a simple emotion. Nemain wanted a companion. Someone she could confide in, teach, and inspire.

  “I wasn’t what she expected,” I mused.

  “No, you weren’t,” he admitted.

  I’d never been an asset to anyone, only a hindrance. Even when I was fae, a princess—royalty—I was a disappointment. Finean’s hand raked down my arm.

  “You were so much more than that,” he said softly, sensing my mood. “You had power she didn’t possess and couldn’t understand. As you grew and it became apparent that she couldn’t force or manipulate you into doing her bidding, you became a threat.”

  “A threat she had to remove,” I added. My throat was raw.

  “Yes.”

  “So you made a haven for the fae who could escape her?”

  He stared into my eyes. “I did.”

  “And you wouldn’t let the fae of the Autumn Court inside?”

  “You don’t understand—”

  “I sure as hell don’t, Finean. You tell me to be the good, the light in this world, yet you had the power to help the innocent and chose not to use it.”

  His nostrils flared.

  “Can you please take me back to my room now? I’m… tired.” I wanted to curl up in bed, throw the covers over my head, and disappear. It was a cowardly thing to do, but right now I needed the brief comfort it would provide.

  “Of course,” he expressed tersely, turning on his heel and striding away.

  I jogged to keep up with him. When we came to my room, he held the door open for me.

  “Finean?” I asked as he turned to leave.

  “Yes?”

  “Can you tell Loftin I’m here?”

  He clasped his hands in front of him, his knuckles whitening. “He shouldn’t have stayed in here last night.”

  “He was ill.”

  “His scent is on your bed sheets,” he growled.

  “Because we were both exhausted, Finean. Besides, the bed is big enough for ten people! You know what – just tell him I’m okay and that I made it back.”

  “I’ll tell him if you agree to him staying in his own room.”

  Bets and bargains. The favorite pastime of children and pompous fae males.

  “If it’s next to mine, I agree.”

  His teeth scraped against one another.

  Males were exasperating, no matter the species.

  “I’ll have Bryony come to you before dinner.” With this, he spun around on his heel and stalked down the dark corridor, his shadow lengthening in his wake, stretching across the walls in the torchlight.

  I slipped out behind him and followed him down the dark corridor, keeping a safe distance.

  He slid into a room and shut the door behind him, but I could hear through the door. It was dangerous to eavesdrop, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t going to hurt me if he thought I was the only one who could kill Nemain.

  Alistair was in the room. “Did you tell her what we found?” he asked, his voice muffled through the door.

  “Of course not,” Finean answered snidely. “She’d run off into the woods after him.”

  “With all due respect,” concluded the Leancan King, “if you don’t tell her and she finds out, she might implode my lair.”

  “It was a shred of cloth,” Finean countered. “We aren’t even sure if it was the boy’s.”

  Iric. My heart thundered.

  “You should take her to your city and show her what you’ve done for the fae. See if you can find him from there,” Alistair suggested.

  “I can’t take her there.”

  “Why not?”

  Finean sighed. “Two reasons. One, some of the fae would want her dead just because of her parentage. Two, she’s dangerous.”

  “You don’t trust her,” Alistair assumed.

  “I don’t know her now. I knew her as a girl. Her heart was good then, but she’s been through a lot since and she’s changed. I need to know for sure that she’s not going to get angry and bring the wall down.”

  A chair squeaked. “Does she know about the Asper? Or about your link with her?”

  “No, and it’ll stay that way for now if you know what’s good for you.”

  Footsteps approached from inside the room. I sank back against the stone walls and closed my eyes, chanting in my mind that I was invisible. I could smell his scent as Finean exited the room and walked away as if I wasn’t there. Magic stung my fingertips.

  When he was gone, I let the magic fade away, finally noticing Alistair lounging against the door jamb. I jumped at the sight of him.

  “He would be livid if he knew you were spying on him.”

 
Ignoring his comment, I asked, “What were you talking about? What should I know about the Asper?”

  “That’s for Finean to tell you,” he answered diplomatically.

  “Well he obviously isn’t planning to,” I argued. “And did I hear that you found a piece of Iric’s shirt? Where?”

  Alistair sighed before answering, “In what used to be a Wirry camp, but the Wirry had all been slaughtered. Iric wasn’t among the dead.”

  “What killed them?” I asked, fingers trembling with rage.

  “Banshee.”

  Oh no. “She has him, doesn’t she?” I concluded.

  He stared at me unblinkingly. “She won’t kill him yet. Not if she can use him to draw you out.”

  “Why are you telling me this? Finean seems happy enough to keep me in the dark.”

  He grinned. “I don’t answer to Finean.”

  “It looked like you did last night.”

  “He’s powerful, but the King I answer to is even more powerful than he. Finean will be reminded of that soon enough. But, like most things, the timing should be right.”

  I ran back to my room, passing a Leancan who was feeding on something in the darkness; something shaped like a large hog, but scaled with a long, thick tail.

  I had to think, had to find a way out of here. A pitcher and bowl of water sat in the corner. I splashed my face in it, remembering the Washer woman and how she pointed at me. A vision appeared in the liquid.

  “Karis,” Vivica purrs. “Have you found my sons?”

  I blink my eyes, clearing my vision. A woman sits at a vanity, the wooden legs mismatched and rough. The surface is covered with hair combs, brushes, and perfume bottles. In the mirror, she watches me. There is a hole in her pink, silken robe at the seam on her shoulder. I can’t help but glance between her dark eyes and that hole, unable to look at either for long. Both are desperate.

  “Vivica?”

  Her hair is black like the sky in the middle of the night. Her lips are lush and stained red with the berries that sit in a small bowl to her right.

  “Have you found Iric and Gregoire?”

  “No,” I breathe. “I was looking for them…”