by Eva Sloan
But again the faerie queen was too fast, and she clamped her far hand on Min’s wrist, and the other rose dramatically, the perfect flesh turning to a cold, crystalline claw, which slashed down and cut into Min’s palm.
Good god it hurt. It wasn’t just the wound though, Min knew. It was the fact that Sliva was gouging out the power of Summer from her as well. And even though it was only borrowed power, it had been wrapped around her very soul, rooted deep into her very being. It felt as if the faerie were scraping out her very life force with that diamond like claw.
Min screamed and trashed against the faerie queen, but it didn’t even make the queen wobble in the slightest. She felt herself fading as the queen’s icy fingers found what they had been looking for, and clasped around it.
She knew in that moment that if the queen pried the power of Summer from her like that, it would most certainly kill her. And in that moment she knew, just knew—she had failed her sister completely.
Chapter 30
Andy pulled with all her strength against the bonds that held her to the spot, but to no avail. She would not be able to help her sister at all. The Summer Queen’s words, that she was the only thing that could stop Sliva, had been a crock. Tears ran down her face as she listened to Min’s agonized cries. The Winter Queen was tearing the very life out of her. And there wasn’t a thing she could…
Then something hit her in the face: one very interesting fact. The Winter Queen had had her in her possession for what seemed like hours, and yet she hadn’t consumed her.
Why not?
She could hurt her, but she hadn’t just devoured her as Andy had imagined her doing. If anything, the queen had…she had been trying to force Andy into allowing her to do so. She’d been doing nothing but trying to make Andy give up.
And hadn’t she been so very close to doing that? To giving in to the heartless, evil bitch. But that was until she’d laid eyes on her sister; her sister who was going to die at the Winter Queens hand. Who was going to die any moment.
But what had the Summer Queen said? That this had all been a trick. To make her cousin want her in the worst way, to make her want her so much that…
That she forgot I was a being of light.
Adrenalin rushed through her veins and she screamed her next word with such intensity, the walls of the throne-room all but shook. “Stop!”
Every set of eyes in the chamber turned toward her, including the winter queen’s. That’s all this had been, more trickery. Sliva was using Min to push her into giving up.
Was there no freaking end to Faerie treachery?
Andy let her emotions flow. She was very much afraid for her sister’s life. And she allowed all that fear and worry to choke her now, to make her words as pathetic as possible.
“I give up…I give up. Please, you can do whatever you want with me…just d-don’t hurt her!”
~*~
Sliva closed her eyes as Andy spoke, as if she were listening to the most divine music. Satisfaction filled the chilling beauty of her face. Min shuddered as she realized what she’d done. The queen hadn’t been able to eat Andy’s power. That’s why she’d been torturing her, to make her give in. And now…
And now her sister was going to give her exactly what she’d wanted.
To save me…
No…
Min tried to tell her sister not to give up, to not let the faerie bitch touch her. But Sliva twisted her fingers into Min’s hand all the harder, and all that escaped Min’s lips were agonized screams. The words in her head liquefied into those feral cries.
“You give yourself to me to do as I wish?” Sliva’s voice was hard, and sharp as a scalpel.
“Yes,” Andy blurted, breathing hard, her voice cracked and hoarse. “Anything you want. Just let my sister live.”
Sliva looked down upon Min, for she was a limp weight now, held up only by the faerie queen’s arm, and the hand that was magically penetrating her own.
“Your offer is most satisfactory…I accept.”
Sliva released her hold on Min, extracting her hand from hers. Min fell to the floor, at the feet of her frozen vampire, and she tried pulling in breath enough to call out to her sister, but when she rolled over she saw the Winter Queen was already by Andy’s side.
Andy stood, the silver manacles that had held her to the floor now gone, she stood staring into the Sliva’s eyes as the faerie queen crept closer. Like a great snake that has captured a mouse with its gaze.
Sliva reached out and touched Andy’s shoulder, the serpentine smile on her face widened, her eyes bulged with excitement.
No, no, no…Run Andy, run! But the pain the faerie queen had caused her had sapped so much of Min’s strength, she could hardly pull in breath—speaking was out of her grasp.
As if she could read Min’s mind, Andy turned and glanced at her, all fear gone, a knowing grin spreading across her pretty pink lips.
And she winked.
~*~
Andy knew the moment Sliva touched her that this insane plan of hers was going to work. Unlike before, when the faerie queen touched her, she could feel a dark power begin to bite down on her, it was painful and smothering.
And it was exactly what she needed: a way in.
Before Andy had felt nothing but fear and hopelessness. But now she was filled with heart-stopping hope, and with joy. Joy that her sister had truly loved her after all. And joy that she was about to save both of their lives.
She turned toward the dark faerie queen and slapped her hands up on either side of her face. Gleefully she pressed her lips to the ice cold lips of the winter queen, and everything turned blindingly bright.
Chapter 31
Min gasped. She could feel the sudden reaction the moment her sister laid her lips on the winter queen. It was as if water had splashed against a red skillet, but a million times stronger. She heard a scream of agony, so alien and blood curdling she had to cover her ears. As did every fae in the huge chamber. The next thing she knew the room exploded with the most brilliant, retina burning light, a light so powerful, that came in such thunderous waves, Min felt it like a scorching wind over her skin.
Min rolled away, for the light was so bright that even closing her eyes wasn’t enough. Oh god, Am I going to die anyway? Is this the price for saving my sister?
If it was, then she would embrace it with open arms.
A moment later the light receded. There wasn’t a sound, only Min’s labored breathing and her heart pounding in her ears. She blinked her eyes open. They hurt, and she had one hell of a head ache, but the sight she saw made her gasp and try to pull herself up from the ground. Luca was knelt by her side, alive, and no longer frozen like a statue.
But her arms and legs weren’t cooperating. They were still weak from the brutal pain she’d withstood at the faerie queens hand. Luca scooped her up and pulled her to him, and to her feet in the blink of an eye. She kissed him. And it felt so right. He was hers and always would be.
And then she felt a stab of the most horrifying angst. Andy…
She whirled around, wishing suddenly she had a sword in her hand, or the Bellini.
Andy stood all alone before the great ice throne, black dust floated in moats through the still air. Andy glowed still, and her face was radiant with joy. Min had never seen her look so happy.
Of course no one else in that chamber looked happy in the least; the fae who weren’t reaching for silver swords, were moving back from the glowing form of her sister, cowering.
Andy’s expression slowly changed; the joyousness in her turned into a hard little smile. She turned from Min and looked around her at the assembled sidhe lords. And as she did the glow about her intensified, and the fae with their swords drawn backed away quickly. They held arms and literal shields up to protect their eyes. And there was a strange smoldering, a pitch black smoke, roiling off of every single faerie in the room. There were agonized moans, and some dropped to the ground, rolling in on themselves like a ball.
/> The radiance around Andy rose to a crescendo, and then slowly subsided until she was merely glowing again. Min had never seen a god or goddess before—at least not one in the glory of their power—but the anger powered glower her little sister was casting down from the throne dais was as close to one as she ever wanted to witness again. The icy throne at her back shimmered with multiple rainbows and cascading lights like the Aurora borealis.
Andy stalked from the throne, glaring viciously at every sidhe she saw. They—every single one of them—looked down in submission as she passed them. Min’s sister had obviously made her point. Don’t screw with me.
Andy’s smile returned when she was about a yard away from her sister, as radiant as ever.
“Wow.” Min mouthed to her.
Andy suddenly froze in place, her eyes going wide, and then filling with a faraway look. Min could practically see the gears in her head turning, and a gleam flared in her eyes. Or more precisely, her irises turned to glittering diamonds, imbued with their own light.
She turned and glared once more at the sidhe lords. They all seemed to shrink under her scrutiny.
“Your queen’s power is not lost to you. I’m sure you can feel it in the air.”
A few brave souls nodded in agreement.
“Soon that power will choose one of you as the next ruler of the Unseelie Court. So let me make this perfectly clear right here and now.” Andy moved slowly toward the mass of faeries like a predator, and the herd scattered and shifted position in reflexive response.
“I have no plans to ever set foot in Faerie again, or to interfere in the affairs of either courts.” She stopped in the dead center of the room and looked about her with a ferocious intensity. When she spoke again the power of her voice made the ancient stone of the chamber walls shake and dust and pieces of rubble fell from the vaulted ceiling. “But if any of you bitches comes anywhere near me and mine again, I’ll come back here and burn every single one of you to a fucking cinder!”
The fae just stood there, frozen in fear, staring at Min’s little sister like she was the devil herself.
Andy cocked her head to the side, a haughty expression making her face look mean as hell. “I’m sorry, I’m not looking for silent fear here. What I want right here and now is for all accounted to swear that they will never come near or bother in any way me or mine again.” She rubbed her hands together and sizzling flashes of light hissed between her touching flesh.
A long moment of silence stretched out. “Swear it!” Andy snarled.
The sidhe lords fell into a bowing stance before Andy, and they all said, in a frightened murmur of English and fae, that they so swore it.
Min could feel the thrum of magic as so many powerful beings made a promise. The energies that washed over the room were intoxicating and rich. It made her swoon, and made the warm power of Summer that still lay within her stand up and take notice. She thought she could almost hear the tinkling laughter of the Summer Queen.
That almost sound sobered Min up fast.
That Bitch!
They were so going to have a talk after this all was over…but on second thought, looking at her sister, healthy and whole, and Luca…maybe she would just let it go. If storming the stronghold of a faerie queen had taught her nothing else, it was that she was egregiously outmatched.
Andy turned to Min and smiled. “I don’t think any of these guys will cause us anymore trouble.”
Luca snorted. “You think?”
“Yeah, sister mine.” Min said as she pulled Andy to her in a fierce embrace. “You stomped on them real good.” She laughed. “I can’t wait to see mom’s face when you tell her what you did.”
Andy’s face suddenly turned serious. “Where is she? Is she alright?”
“She’s fine,” Min said, holding onto Andy’s hand. “She got possessed by the Summer Queen for a minute, opened a gateway here, and has been holding it open from the other side.”
“Oh.” Andy looked surprised, and then leered at Min. “I bet she just loved the being possessed part.”
“I imagine it was the highlight of this whole operation for her.”
Min and Andy broke-out in full throated laughter. Luca looked on with just a hint of an impatient scowl. “Speaking of the port hole, Katarina said she wouldn’t be able to hold it open forever. And I doubt anyone will want to go back the way we came.”
Min looked behind her at the anteroom they’d entered through. It was empty, except for some charred mounds of faerie, and the glowing, empty net of moonlight that the shadow cat had been imprisoned in.
Graysyn had apparently escaped.
She groaned at the thought of crossing over that damn invisible bridge again. And then the cool, collected voice of the Summer Queen spoke in Min’s head.
If you will forgive, I know a much easier, quicker rout you could take to get back to your world…
Min rolled her eyes and tapped her foot impatiently.
Is there an extra price for this favor?
Min could practically sense the evil bitch smile.
Shall we call this even? You did me a great service, and now I’m returning that favor.
Not even close to even…But I really don’t want to go over that bridge again. Fine! Even.
Min felt a sudden warming in her chest, and then in her head. Somehow she just knew that if she turned and walked out of the throne room, and down a hall that only opened when you touched the hand of the mermaid frozen in the wall, that at the end of that corridor was a balcony.
Min opened the silver and glass door that lead out to the balcony, and there, swirling in lurid, living color was a porthole. The swirling stopped for a moment and showed an image of Katarina sitting in a chair facing the porthole, effort making creases in her face.
“Mom!” Andy and Min blurted at the same time. They grabbed each other’s hand, and then Min reached back and took hold of Luca’s hand. They moved to the porthole and stepped through.
~*~
Just passing back into their own world felt like the weight off the world had fallen off Min’s shoulders. She sighed and drew in a giant breath.
Katarina’s eyes shot open, and she laughed one perfect “Ha!” and then flung herself up out of the chair and toward her daughters. She looked weak, and older than she had when they had left, but that didn’t stop her from getting to her daughters.
“Oh my precious girls…I was so…” Her voice cracked from strain, and began to sob uncontrollably. But, to Min’s immense relief, they were sobs of joy. “I can’t believe you did it.” She kissed Min on the cheek. “You brought her back to us.”
“Well,” Min said, pushing back her own tears. “Your little girl did most of the heavy lifting. You should have seen her. Really scary.”
Andy laughed. “Yeah right! You should have seen this one storm into the stronghold of the Winter Queen, the fires of hell blazing out of her freaking hands. It was amazing.”
“But you should have seen yourself—”
“Ladies?” Luca interrupted. “There will be plenty of time to tell the whole tale, but for now I suggest we move this to your house, and to those nifty wards you’ve told me about.”
Min smiled, and was about to pull her vampire into a deep, rhapsodic kiss, when she abruptly realized that there was an object in her hand—the silver fae dagger from the Summer Queen. She opened her hand and looked down upon it, just as one of the Summer Queen’s huge hounds appeared from under the veil it had been hiding under.
The hound’s eyes glowed a sinister red, and it opened its great, fanged mouth and stared silently at Min.
“R-right,” Min stammered, and very slowly set the dagger into the hounds gapping maw. And just like that, the beast disappeared behind the veil again. There were no sounds of it moving across the tiled floor of the diner, but the door to the outside banged open, the bell over it ringing harshly.
Min reached out and kissed her vampire, breathless and exhilarated, and exhausted. He tasted so ve
ry good. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 32
They talked for hours. Not much came from Andy’s lips about what happened to her before Min showed up at Winter’s Keep, but what she did talk about came in excited bursts. She’d been so unbelievably happy to see Min. She had given up, but just seeing her sister, knowing how much she had to have gone through just to get there—it had ironed her flagging will. It was the reason why she could have done what she’d done.
“So how did you know…know that you could destroy her like that?” Katarina asked, shaking her head.
“I knew Min needed help…and I remembered the Summer Queen telling me how hard she had worked to make the Winter Queen want to have me. And she had said that it had worked so well that the Winter Queen had forgotten that I was a being of light.
“Plus the queen couldn’t feed on me until I allowed her to. That had to mean something. So I just rolled the dice.”
“It was amazing.” Min yawned. She felt happy. The tension in her shoulders had relaxed away as her vampire held her close. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep there and then, in her lover’s arms.
Andy cleared her throat and winked at Katarina. Their mother didn’t look thrilled to have a vampire in the house, but since he had just helped save both of her daughter’s lives, it seemed she was going to work around it.
“Looks like we could all use a little shut eye.” She caught Min in the crosshairs of her mighty gaze. “I think we all need sleep.”
In other words, Min translated, no fooling around. She nodded her head. “Yes ma’am.” There would be plenty of time in the morning to blow her mother’s mind with tales of hot vampire sex. She led the way upstairs, pulling Luca along. When they were finally alone in her room, he helped Min undress, kissing her sore flesh at every visible bruise, and before she knew it she was lying in bed, the covers pulled up around her, her vampire naked beside her, pulling her up against him as she fell fast into sleep.
