by E. A. Copen
Power exploded out of Finn in all directions, bathing the world in prismatic white light. It slammed into Mask who didn’t even have time to raise his hands before the light burned him to nothing, not even leaving ash behind.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“There it is.” Sir Foxglove peeked out from behind the large boulder where he, Remy, and Declan had taken cover.
The Shadow Palace loomed in the distance. Between their hiding place and the entrance to the palace, a large empty field yawned like an open grave, patrolled by six Nightclaws and countless infected fae. They milled about with blank faces, staggering like aimless zombies on patrol.
He lowered his head and turned to his queen. “Are you certain you want to do this? You don’t have to.”
She nodded. “Finn is in there. We can’t let him do this alone. The whole reason we came with him was to protect him.”
“Yes, but we’ve got no way of taking down those things.” Declan shifted his bow and frowned with worry. “Isn’t Finn the only one who can kill them?”
Remy started to answer but Foxglove cut her off. “We don’t have to kill them. Our objective is to get inside the palace, right? Then all we have to do is get past them. We know they don’t like fire. According to Adrix, they’re creatures of darkness, so perhaps they also don’t like the light.”
“I can make a light,” Remy said. “But we’re risking our lives on a maybe. How certain are you?”
Foxglove sighed, pressed his back to the stone and peered around it one more time. There might be a clear path if they came up the right flank. So long as they were careful, they might not be detected with the right spell. “Could you make us invisible?”
“What?”
“Invisible,” he repeated looking back at her. “Or at least something to discourage them from noticing us. I know Titania had that sort of magic. Did she pass it to you?”
Remy pressed her lips together in thought. “I can do it, but only over a small area, and only if we don’t touch anyone or anything, and it won’t mask the sound. We’ll have to be absolutely silent and move in a tight formation.”
“Then that’s our plan A. If the spell fails, you make as bright a light as you can, run for the doors, and Declan and I will follow. Understand?”
Foxglove didn’t like the idea of storming the Shadow Palace with just the three of them, but what else could they do? They couldn’t go home, and they were almost out of clean water. If Finn did his part and took out Mask, then perhaps they could hold the palace and get a message to Summer to send reinforcements. With a proper army and Finn’s powers at their backs, they could hold the castle indefinitely.
Without the castle, they had no access to drinking water and they were dangerously low on food. It was also the only defensible structure for miles. Taking the castle was the only chance they had of survival for the long-term, even if it meant risking everything.
Remy nodded and began to weave her spell.
“Be honest with me,” Declan said, looking to Foxglove. “You’ve been in plenty of battles. Tell me what the odds are that we’ll all walk away from this alive.”
Foxglove glanced at Remy. “Extremely unlikely. We are relying on Finn.”
“He’ll come through,” Remy promised.
“I don’t doubt he’ll try, but he’s alone in there. Against Mask and all his entourage. Armed only with a stolen dagger, Remy.” He swallowed. “If we don’t make it through this...”
She stopped working her magic to give him a warning glare. “We will.”
“Yes, but if we don’t... I don’t want either of us to die leaving things where they are.” Foxglove touched the side of her face. “I care about you. Too much to let this go unsaid.”
She sighed and put her hand over his. “I know how you feel about me, Ethan.”
“No, you don’t. Until I came out here with you, I didn’t either. Remy, I love you.”
“Ethan...”
He shook his head and cut her off before she could continue. “Even if you don’t return those feelings. It doesn’t matter. It’s because I care so much about you that I haven’t asked to be released from my vows of service to your father.”
She stared at him a moment before pulling away. “What?”
Foxglove swallowed. “If I had come back, you would have made me your Knight. As much as I want to be by your side, I cannot serve you or protect you in a way that would let you be happy. In my attempts to protect you, I would’ve just been a replacement for Titania’s controlling and oppressive nature. I want you to be happy more than I want to be with you.” He gripped her face and tipped her head down to kiss her forehead. “I will never stop loving you, but you cannot be the best version of yourself if I’m by your side. You need to be happy. You need to be free to choose whomever you want. And I should have no part in that unless you want me to.”
Remy blinked and a tear trailed down her cheek. “Thank you for telling me.”
Declan leaned in. “I hate to interrupt, but the patrols seem to be dispersing. If we go now, we have a better chance of making it than if we wait.”
Foxglove let her go and nodded. He cleared his throat. “Are you ready with that spell, Remy?”
She nodded and cupped her hands together, quickly pulling them apart. An invisible dome of pressure settled over the three of them. “We’ll have to stand back to back. There’ll be no more room than that.”
The three of them rose slowly, each one making sure to keep the other two at their back. Declan nocked an arrow and kept his bow at the ready while Foxglove kept his sword drawn.
“On three,” Foxglove whispered. “One, two...”
They stepped out from behind the rock. The journey from their rock to the palace door couldn’t have been more than two hundred meters, but it might as well have been two miles with how slow they had to move. With every footfall, Foxglove feared they would attract the attention of one of the Nightclaws. They were his biggest worry. All the other creatures were dangerous, but he’d seen what the Nightclaws could do, and that would not be an easy way to go.
The first Nightclaw passed within feet of them, trudging loudly. They paused to let it pass, but the Nightclaw must’ve sensed something was wrong. The creature stopped, thrust its face into the air and sniffed loudly before staring straight at them. Or it would’ve been staring straight at them if the thing had eyes. Its large nostrils flared and it leaned in as they tipped back. It let out a painful screech, large jaw parting to splash spittle over Foxglove’s face. He bit his lip and tried to calm his pounding heart, worried the Nightclaw might hear his drumming pulse.
The Nightclaw turned and stomped away.
Foxglove let out a silent sigh of relief and they started on their way again.
About halfway to the palace door Declan, who had been walking the entire distance backward, hit a rock with the heel of his shoe and lost his balance. He fell into Remy who bumped Foxglove and the three of them tumbled to the ground.
Every head in the field snapped to attention, focused on them as Remy’s spell failed.
Foxglove shifted his sword. Declan scampered to his feet and readied an arrow and Remy drew her weapon.
The infected fae phased out of existence on their rounds and reappeared closer, forming an inescapable ring that trapped them with the Nightclaws. No way out, no matter how hard they fought. The only thing left to do now was die on his feet. Foxglove turned and charged the nearest Nightclaw with a shout. If he could keep it busy and draw the attention of the infected, maybe one of the others could make it through.
The Nightclaw raised its fist high, ready to slash him in half with the first blow.
A blinding white light exploded from the castle in a pulse. Foxglove paused and held a hand up to try and block out the light, but that was impossible. He had to shut his eyes tight. If only he could close his ears to the shrieks of the army closing in on them.
Light touched his skin, warm like the sunrise on a summer day. It craw
led over him as if it were alive, lightly brushing his face.
When it faded, Foxglove chanced squinting out at the field. The Nightclaw, which had only been a few feet from him when the light erupted, was gone along with all the black vines and dead earth. Everything had been bleached white by the intensity of the light, burning a permanent Nighclaw shadow into the fine white sand left behind. Everything except for the infected fae. They stood around, wide-eyed, rubbing their faces and turning in confused circles.
Foxglove lowered his sword and looked toward the castle where the black bricks had been bleached white. “He did it. Finn actually did it.”
“Come on.” Remy touched his shoulder as she ran past, headed for the castle. “We have to get to him!”
Declan tucked his bow away and ran after her.
Foxglove sheathed his sword and followed. There would be no more need for killing here. If Finn had succeeded, it was time to focus on rebuilding. He just hoped Finn had survived. Having a king would make it much easier for the survivors to cope.
They burst through the palace doors and into a large room where several strange shadows had burned into the stone. Everything there had turned white too.
While Remy worked to open the barred throne room doors, Declan walked up to one of the shadows and ran his hand over it. “What do you suppose happened?”
“Darkness can’t exist in the presence of light,” Foxglove said. “The Fomorians are creatures that belong to the dark. In the presence of pure light, they couldn’t continue to be. They burned away. Nothing but their shadows remain now. Let’s hope there’s more than that left of Finn.”
Remy finally got the door open and rushed inside.
Foxglove raced after her. By the time he made it through the door, Remy was already at Finn’s side. Finn lay near the wall, pale and unresponsive.
“No, no,” Remy said, lifting Finn’s head into her lap. “Please don’t be dead.”
Moving Finn nudged a small, cracked blue stone from the pile of rubble next to him. It rolled across the floor and bumped against Foxglove’s shoe. The Royal Stone.
He looked from the stone to Remy just as she pulled Finn’s head to her chest. It was an innocent move that meant nothing, but still, it lit the fire of jealousy in his chest. Why him? Why Finn? He didn’t care about Remy, not the way Foxglove did, yet the two of them would almost certainly wind up together. It was a perfect match, a marriage to heal the damage done and to unite the two kingdoms against the remaining darkness. But that wouldn’t be true if Finn wasn’t the bastard son of the former queen. She would only marry him because of his royal blood, not because he was a good choice.
That’s it, isn't it? Foxglove thought bitterly. Had I been born a little higher, had I been a king instead of some lesser noble’s middle child, she might look at me that way. The lack of royal blood was the only thing keeping them apart.
And that was a small matter, easy enough to remedy. Foxglove knelt and picked up the stone, slipping it discreetly into his pocket. “Is he alive?” he called to Remy once that was done.
“He’s breathing,” Remy confirmed. “Help me move him.”
A pity, Foxglove thought as he hoisted Finn up, though the whisper in his head sounded strange. Foreign. Almost sinister. This one will be hard to kill.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Finn woke to the sound of mourning doves cooing. He turned his head and saw two of them perched on the windowsill with a bright dawn behind them. It was as close to daylight as he’d ever seen in Shadow, if indeed he was still in Shadow.
He’d dreamt of Earth and the little trailer park in Alabama where he’d rented a two-bedroom single-wide for him and Auryn. In the dream, Auryn laughed and played in the yard with the other kids while he cooked pancakes and watched her from the kitchen window. That would never happen now. Mask had burned their trailer and all the others to the ground, and now he ruled Summer, Winter, and the High Court too. Though they’d dealt a blow to his power by taking back Shadow, they stood no chance of freeing the other courts.
Maybe with all three Speaking Stones, he thought. If they’d survived the powerful magic that seized him when he put on the crown. Finn wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, only that the light that poured out of him was the most painful thing he’d ever experienced. Still, he’d gladly do it again if it meant Auryn—and all the other fae—could be free of Mask.
“You’re awake.” Remy’s hand came down on his and squeezed.
Finn turned back the other way and pretended to yawn. “Good nap. Say, what have we got to eat around here? I’m starved.”
“I’d say that’s a good sign,” Declan said stepping into view next to Remy. He offered Finn a glass of water.
Finn didn’t realize how thirsty he was until he took his first sip. Then he couldn’t stop.
“Easy,” Remy urged. “You’ve been out for quite a while.”
He lowered the cup and wiped a sleeve over his mouth. “How long?”
“Seven days.”
That’s not so long. He scanned the room. “Where’s Foxglove?” The old man should’ve been there to make a dry joke about Finn being lazy or unmotivated. It was almost no fun waking up without having Foxglove around to rile up.
Remy shifted her weight and withdrew her hand. “Missing. He helped me carry you here, then he seems to have just vanished afterward. We’ve looked everywhere in the palace, but there’s no sign of him. It’s almost as if he just left.”
“Maybe he went back to Earth,” Declan suggested hopefully, though from the look on Remy’s face it wasn’t the first time he’d suggested that.
“Maybe,” Remy agreed. She didn’t sound hopeful. “If we can get a message to the Court of Miracles, perhaps King Lazarus will help us look for him.”
“A lot of uncertainty in that statement.” Finn sipped at his water again and set it aside. “Why the grim faces? We just won. Kicked Mask to the curb and liberated Shadow. The blight should be abating, yet you two look like you’ve just come from a funeral.”
Declan fidgeted with his fingers. “The blight is fading from Shadow and Summer as far as we can tell, but...”
“But Summer has fallen,” Finn finished.
Remy blinked. “How did you know?”
“Mask told me. He said Sir Braes, Sir Malcom, and Queen Noelle were his avatars and that even if we took back Shadow and destroyed his avatar here, he wouldn’t be beaten.”
Remy turned her head. “Declan, can you go to the kitchen and see what we have for King Finnegan to eat?”
Declan nodded and left the room.
“King Finnegan is it now?” Finn said, crossing his arms. “I must’ve missed the coronation.”
“You were wearing the crown when we found you.”
He sighed. “Is there even anyone from Shadow left?”
“All the infected returned to normal when you destroyed Mask’s avatar here,” Remy said with a nod. “As far as we’ve been able to determine, they don’t remember their time under the blight’s control. It’s just a blank space in their memories. I thought we would have trouble with them. I was worried it might look like Summer is here trying to put a puppet on the throne, but the people were ecstatic about being freed. They were ready to call you their king before they even knew who you were, Finn.”
“I guess there’s no escaping it, is there? I have to do this whole king...thing.”
She smiled. “I don’t think you’re getting out of it, but you might be able to sneak away on occasion.” Her face darkened. “Not that there’s anywhere to sneak away to. If what you say is true, then the rest of Faerie is under Mask’s control.”
“Not just Faerie. He has plans to conquer Earth, too.” Finn sat up straighter. “But we’re not going to let him. He can’t keep Summer, or Winter, or the High Court either. I kicked his ass here and that was all by myself. Imagine what all of us together can do. Hell, the Pale Horseman owes me a favor, and he’s got friends. Mask picked a fight with the wrong fae mo
narchs.”
“Are you proposing an alliance, King Finn?” Remy’s eyes sparkled with the promise of a smile.
He took her hands and winked. “It’s us against the world, baby. This world and the next. I mean Earth. I don’t plan on taking on the afterlife. Not my department.”
“Oh!” Remy jumped up suddenly and stepped aside. “I almost forgot. Summer may have fallen, but at least one person made it out. You’ll want to see her.” She opened the door.
A little girl with a tangle of dirty blonde hair rushed into the room and jumped onto the bed. “Finn!” Auryn screeched and hugged him so tight it hurt.
“Hey, kid.” He hugged her back just as tight before holding her at arm’s length. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
She shook her head. “The queen found me and told me to climb over the wall. Some knights brought me here.” Auryn glanced at Remy. “Although I guess she wasn’t the real queen. I heard the Summer Knight put her in jail.”
“He’s not really the Summer Knight. He’s a bad man, Auryn. A monster in disguise.”
Auryn frowned. “So let me get this straight. The queen wasn’t the queen, the knight wasn’t a knight, and you’re secretly a king. Are there any other secrets anybody wants to tell me? I’m starting to get confused.”
Finn chuckled and pulled her into another hug.
She wriggled free, beaming. “Queen Remy said I could pick out what kind of flowers to plant in the gardens! I’m going to go pick some roses!” And just like that, she was gone, skipping out the door to pick out some flowers.
“She told me you promised her a big house with big windows and an even bigger backyard,” Remy gestured around her. “Looks like you delivered on that, and you didn’t even have to steal anything.”
“Well, I did steal the crown from Mask.”
