The Iron Warrior

So, Keirran had really done it. Sided with the Lady and the Forgotten, marched right into the heart of Tir Na Nog and declared war on the entire Nevernever. I clenched my jaw, remembering Meghan’s face, the look in her eyes when she was forced to exile her own son.

Dammit, Keirran! What the hell was he doing? How had he fallen so far, to switch sides and declare war against his own family? I truly did not understand him, why he thought he had no other choice. What did he think he was saving? Had he reached the screw it point, where he thought nothing he did would matter anymore, or was there something else?

I was certain of one thing: if Keirran and I did cross paths again, all bets were off. I couldn’t think of him as family. He was my enemy, and I couldn’t hold back or I’d find myself with another sword through my insides.

When the carriages finally stopped, I glanced out the window, surprised to find myself in Mag Tuiredh. I’d half expected Meghan to send me back to the mortal world straight from Tir Na Nog. Now that war with the Forgotten was a sure thing, I wondered how much time would pass before she ordered me to go home.

Slowly, I climbed out of the carriage and made my way into the palace. Meghan and Ash stood in the vestibule, the Iron Queen deep in conversation with Fix, the packrat. I tiptoed past, hoping she wouldn’t notice me, but she straightened quickly and turned.

“Ethan.”

I winced. This was it; Meghan was sending me back to the mortal world. And, for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to go back. Not now. I knew my parents were probably frantic. I couldn’t even think of Kenzie for fear of breaking down. But this was my fight, too. I was partially responsible for everything that happened with Keirran. I couldn’t go home to one family knowing I had abandoned the other.

I turned, ready to protest, to find the words to convince my sister that I was in this, too. But Meghan had a strange look of resignation and amusement on her face as she gave me a faint smile.

“There is...someone waiting in your room,” she said, making me frown in confusion. And before I could ask what she meant, she took Ash’s arm and turned away, though the shadow of a smile lingered on her face. “Go see what they want, and I’ll speak to you later tonight. Try to take it easy for the rest of the evening.”

She tugged Ash’s arm, and they walked down the hall, though Ash gave her a brief, questioning look. I saw Meghan lean up and whisper something in his ear, and he pulled back, raising his eyebrows. They turned a corner and were out of sight before I could see more of his reaction, leaving me alone in the corridor.

With a shrug, I made my way back to my quarters, hoping my guest wasn’t another healer fey, waiting to pounce the second I walked through the door. My middle was aching again, a low, constant throb, but it wasn’t too bad. I could walk, at least. Still, the thought of lying down for a few minutes became more tempting with every step. If there was a healer faery lurking in my room right now, I wouldn’t say no to a painkiller.

Wearily, I pushed back the door, bracing myself to be set upon by a swarm of small faeries in long white coats.

And Mackenzie St. James looked up from my bed.

* * *

“Hey, tough guy.”

I stared at the girl on my bed, unable to do more than blink. That was her voice, her straight black hair and brown eyes, her smile breaking across her face. She was here. How she’d accomplished it, given how impossible it was to travel through the Nevernever alone, I couldn’t comprehend. Just that she had, completely unexpectedly and unexplained, shown up in my room in the middle of the Iron Realm.

“Kenzie?”

Kenzie leaped off the mattress and, in the two seconds it took for my brain to unfreeze from shock, crossed the room and threw herself at me.

Pain shot through my stomach as the girl collided with my chest, throwing her arms around me and squeezing tight. The stab through my gut was instant and breathtaking. I yelped and staggered back, and she immediately let go.

“Oh, God! I’m so sorry, Ethan, I didn’t realize—”

Recovering, I grabbed her wrist, yanked her forward, and covered her mouth with mine.

She gasped, before kissing me back with just as much fervor. Her hands clutched the front of my shirt, though she kept her touch light, probably not wanting to hurt me again. But I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close, wanting to feel her body against mine, the heart beating wildly in her chest. Her hands climbed my shoulders and buried themselves in my hair, and I held her tighter, not caring about the pain. Kenzie was alive, and...here. In the Iron Realm, though, truthfully, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course Mackenzie St. James had made her way through the Nevernever to find me. Once she set her mind to something, there was no force on earth that could stop her.

Her eyes were suspiciously bright as we pulled back, though she gazed up at me with a wry smile. “Well,” she whispered, “I was wondering if you’d be happy to see me when I finally got here. Guess that answers my question.”

I stroked her cheek, just taking her in. Her straight black hair was shorter now, just brushing the tops of her shoulders, and the neon blue streaks were gone. Crazily enough, I missed them; they’d seemed part of her, part of who she was. But other than that, she was the same small, stubborn, brown-eyed girl I’d fallen head over heels for. “How did you get here?” I finally asked.

“Razor showed me the way,” Kenzie replied, nodding to the far corner. I looked up, and the spindly, bat-eared gremlin buzzed and waved maniacally from the dresser. Unable to help myself, I grinned back, absurdly happy to see the hyper thing.

“Hey, Razor. Good to see you, too. Have you been taking care of Kenzie?”

He nodded vigorously. “Razor help,” he stated, more serious than I’d ever heard him before. “Razor here. Take care of pretty girl.” His glowing eyes narrowed sharply. “Funny boy died,” he accused, making my heart skip a beat. “Funny boy made pretty girl sad. Razor take care of her. Bring her here. Not sad anymore, right, pretty girl?”

I swallowed hard. Abruptly, Kenzie shivered and ran her hands down my chest, making my stomach knot. “You’re here,” she whispered, her voice catching a little. “You’re really okay. I wasn’t sure if... I thought—”

She shuddered, and my heart gave a violent lurch as the girl leaned forward, pressing her face to my shirt, and began to shake with sobs. Not knowing what to say, I wrapped my arms around her, while Razor flattened his ears and glared at me from the dresser.

“I thought you were dead,” Kenzie whispered. “I waited for you in the hospital, and when you didn’t come back, I was afraid something awful had happened. I tried to convince myself that it was nothing, but I knew deep down that something had gone really wrong. So I sent Razor to find you. When he came back...” She shivered again. “He told me you were dead. That you had been killed in Ireland.”

“I’m okay,” I told her, because that was all I could think to say. “I’m fine, Kenzie. I’m not going anywhere.”

She sniffed and took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. “What...happened in Ireland, Ethan?” she asked, gazing up at me with tear-glazed eyes. “I tried to get the whole story out of Razor, but he kept saying that Keirran stabbed you.” She blinked, looking grief stricken, incredulous and furious all at once. “Keirran was the one? Is that true?”

I hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Yeah,” I muttered. “Yeah, he did.”

“Why?”

“Because I was a sacrifice,” I went on. “The Lady told him as much. My blood was supposed to tear away the Veil, so that the human world could see the fey, and all the Forgotten and exiles would be saved. That’s what Keirran wanted, more than anything else, I guess.” My eyes narrowed. “So he stabbed me and left me there to die.”

Kenzie’s face went white. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “That’s where it started. Why everything went crazy that night.”

My blood chilled. “What happened?”

She licked her lips. “I knew something was up when the nurse came in and started screaming at Razor like she could really see him. So I turned on the news, and there were all these live reports about weird creatures and crazy circumstances. People were talking about ghosts, vampires, aliens, you name it. That’s when I knew something big had happened in Faery.” Her brow furrowed, and she wiped her eyes. “It was weird, though. Maybe ten, fifteen minutes after it started, it just...stopped. I couldn’t find any more information, the news reports stopped talking about it, and it was never mentioned again. Everyone just forgot about it.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “When the Veil re-formed, the fey became invisible again, so people forgot they ever saw them.”

“Re-formed?”

“When I...um...revived, it came back.” At her incredulous look, I shrugged. “I wasn’t quite as dead as Keirran thought.”

Kenzie blinked rapidly, laying her head on my chest again. “I thought I lost you,” she whispered. “When Razor said you had died, the only thing I could think was...that I had killed you. I told you to go with Keirran. I insisted, and the next thing I knew, you were dead.”

I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m so sorry.”

She choked a tiny laugh through the tears. “Don’t...apologize for dying, tough guy,” she whispered. “I’m sure you didn’t plan it that way.” She took a ragged breath, ducking her head. “If anything, you should be angry with me. I was the one who sent you to the Lady. If you hadn’t left with Keirran—”

“Kenzie.” I put a hand on her cheek. She blinked and peered up at me, and I shook my head. “You couldn’t have known what would happen,” I told her softly. “None of us could. Maybe if we’d known about the prophecy or what was really going on—but no one was telling us anything.” I raised one shoulder helplessly. “This whole thing with Keirran just...spiraled out of control, and we got caught in the middle. I don’t blame you for what he did.” I ran my fingers through her now shorter hair. “In fact, you probably saved my life.” She blinked, frowning in confusion, and I smiled. “The amulet you gave me right before Keirran and I went to see the Lady—I think it protected me one last time.”

“Guro’s amulet?”

I nodded. “Sadly, I won’t be able to return it like I said I would. When Keirran stabbed me, it broke. Snapped right in two. I think it’s safe to say the magic is completely gone now.”

She gave a soft chuckle and pressed closer. “I’d rather have you than a magic necklace any day of the week,” she murmured, winding her arms around my waist. Holding her tight, I closed my eyes, just feeling her heartbeat against mine, and Kenzie sighed, relaxing into me. “I missed you, tough guy,” she whispered. “It’s been a pretty sucky four months.”

Four months. Had I really been gone that long? And what had Kenzie been going through in that time? “Are you all right?” I asked, gazing down in concern. The last time I’d seen my girlfriend, she had been in the hospital. “You know I don’t want to bring it up, but...what about your illness? Have you recovered? Is it okay for you to be here now?”

She smirked. “No, Ethan, I’m on Death’s doorstep as we speak, having gone through Faeryland on a wish and a prayer.” Her grin was wicked, but a flicker of something dark went through her eyes, though it was gone in the next heartbeat. “I just trekked across the wyldwood and Mag Tuiredh to find you, tough guy. Do I look like I’m gonna keel over?”

“Okay, okay.” I held up my hands. “Point taken. I was going to say that I can’t believe you traveled all the way to Mag Tuiredh by yourself, but...it’s you, after all.” She gazed up at me warily, and I smiled. “I’m glad you came, Kenzie,” I told her, lowering my head. “I missed you, too.”

Our lips met, and I let my eyes slide shut. Razor buzzed something from the dresser, probably mocking us, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was Kenzie, that she was all right, that she had found a way to Mag Tuiredh, and that suddenly, I wasn’t so alone anymore.

A sharp rap on the door made us pause. Irritated, I waited a few heartbeats, and when nothing happened, leaned forward to kiss Kenzie again. The knocking resumed immediately, accompanied by a squeaky “Prince Ethan? Are you awake, sire?”

Sighing, Kenzie drew back and gave the door a half annoyed, half resigned look. “Guess you’d better see who that is,” she said, smiling ruefully as she wiped her eyes. “If I remember anything about the Nevernever, it’s that the fey don’t understand the concept of privacy. And they have the worst timing possible.”

Yes, they do. Stalking to the door, I yanked it open and glowered at the wire nymph on the other side. “What?”

The small faery cringed. “Forgive me, Prince Ethan,” it squeaked, looking so cowed I felt guilty for snarling at it, “but I was instructed to give this to you posthaste.”

It held up a note between long, glimmering fingers. I took it, and the nymph instantly scampered off before I could say anything else, skittering around a corner and vanishing in a flash of wire and steel. Vowing to be a little nicer to Meghan’s subjects in the future, I closed the door and turned around, meeting Kenzie’s curious gaze.

“Who is that from?”

“I don’t know.” I looked down at the note and flipped it open. The handwriting was simple and elegant, but I didn’t know if it was Meghan’s. The message was also short, direct and to the point.

Come to the library, it read. That was it.

“That’s weird,” I muttered and handed the paper to Kenzie. She skimmed the note with a frown, then looked back at me.

“Do you think it’s from your sister?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well.” Kenzie shrugged and handed it back. “Whoever it is, I guess we should go see what they want. Come on, Razor.”

She raised her arm, and the gremlin leaped from the dresser with a cackle to land on her back. Turning, Kenzie bent down and picked up a full backpack from the floor, then swung it to her shoulders. It rattled as it settled into place, and the gremlin hopped to perch on top of it.

I blinked. “What do you have in there?”

She grinned. “Remember a while back, when I mentioned something about putting together a survival kit for the Nevernever? This time, I came prepared.”

“I’m almost afraid to see what’s in there.”

She laughed, walked up to me and took my hand. “Don’t worry about it, tough guy. I got us covered.” Lacing our fingers together, she squeezed once and bumped her arm against mine, as Razor snickered at us from her shoulder. “You just worry about stabbing things, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Really.”

“Yup.”

I pulled open the door of my room, gazed down one of the many, many hallways of the Iron Palace and sighed. “Well, if that’s the case, then maybe you can find us a map,” I said, “because I have no idea where the library is.”

Kenzie grinned. “Oh, I’ve got something better than a map,” she returned, and raised her head. “Razor,” she called, and the gremlin bounced upright, huge ears perked and quivering. Kenzie smiled at him pointed with a finger. “To the library, Razor, stat!”

The gremlin gave a buzz of excitement. Leaping off her shoulders, he scurried up the wall and to the ceiling, where he hung upside down like a huge spider. Beckoning us with a claw, he scampered away, then paused and glanced back to see if we were coming. Kenzie gave me a smug grin.

“You were saying?”

“You’re cute when you’re bossy,” I told her, and grunted when she poked me in the ribs. Raising my free hand, I pushed her hair back from her cheek. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

An annoyed crackle came from the ceiling, and Razor skittered a few feet toward us. “Funny boy!” the gremlin called, bouncing in impatience. “Pretty girl, this way! Library this way, follow Razor!”

Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she sighed, tugging me forward. “We’d better hurry, before Razor gets bored and leaves us. Then we would need a map.”

Keeping an eye on the gremlin, we walked down a long corridor, through several chambers, up a spiraling set of stairs and down another hall until we came to a pair of large double doors. Razor crawled up to Kenzie’s shoulder and pointed with a claw.

“Quiet room! Lots of books, bleck. Gremlins not allowed.”

“Good boy,” Kenzie said, and the gremlin grinned manically. We pushed open the doors with a faint creak and stepped through.

Inside, it looked like a normal library, albeit bigger than the ones I had seen before. Rows of books lined the walls to the ceiling, and more shelves were arranged in narrow aisles throughout the room. It was quieter here than in the rest of the Iron Palace, the air musty and cool. Warily, I gazed around, searching for the one who’d called us here, but with the maze of aisles and the shadows that clung to the corners of the room, it was difficult to see if we were alone or not.

Kenzie turned in a slow circle, the glow from Razor’s teeth piercing some of the gloom. “I don’t see anyone,” she murmured. “Do you think your sister is here?”

“No,” said a deep voice from the shadows. I spun as Ash stepped out of the darkness, his expression grave as he came into the light. “Meghan didn’t call you here,” the dark faery explained, fixing us with his piercing silver glare. “I did.”

CHAPTER FIVE

ASH’S REQUEST

I stiffened, fighting the urge to step in front of Kenzie and drop a hand to my sword. Old resentment bubbled up, filling me with a long-familiar hate. I shoved it down. Ash was not my enemy, I reminded myself. He was not responsible for my sister’s disappearance, all those years ago. Meghan had chosen to be with him, to become a queen of Faery, and from the small interactions I’d seen between them, if my sister ever decided to return to the mortal world, Ash wouldn’t stop her. Follow her, sure; I doubted anything short of an act of God would keep him away, and maybe not even that. But I couldn’t keep blaming Ash for my sister’s decisions, my abandonment hang-ups or for Meghan falling in love. Like it or not, he was family, too. It was time I grew up and accepted that.

“Ash,” I greeted, as the faery regarded us solemnly. “You sent that message? Why?”

“I want to talk to you about Keirran.” Ash settled against one of the shelves, long black coat falling around him. “There are some things I need to understand. And I...” For the first time I’d ever known him, his voice faltered. “I have a favor to ask of you, Ethan.”

Stunned, I could only stare and try to keep my mouth from dropping open. Ash sighed, looking away for a moment, his gaze distant. For just a heartbeat, he wasn’t the cold, emotionless Winter faery I had always seen. He was, like Meghan, someone whose world had been torn apart by Keirran’s betrayal, and was struggling to understand what had happened.

“You were with Keirran at the very end,” Ash finally said. “You knew him, before and after he met the Forgotten Queen. Both of you fought side by side, and I know he considered you a friend—one of his only friends.” His expression darkened, and he shook his head. “The Keirran at the war council today...I didn’t recognize him. He’s changed so much, nothing about him made sense. I refuse to believe that was my son.”

I swallowed at the underlying pain in Ash’s voice. The faery paused, a flicker of anguish breaking his perfect composure, before he was himself again. “Keirran didn’t just change into that overnight,” the dark faery went on, looking at me. “Something must have happened to him, someone must have done something, to turn him against his own court. Ethan, you mentioned an amulet. Can you tell me what it does, what type of magic we’re dealing with?”

The amulet.

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. Dammit, how could I have forgotten? Maybe the shock of being killed and the worry for Kenzie, my parents and the war with the Forgotten had driven it from my brain, but I felt like an idiot for just remembering it now.

You do not know, do you? He is mostly human. It is taking his soul.

Ash noticed my reaction, and his eyes narrowed. “Tell me,” he said, and pushed himself away from the shelf. “Everything, Ethan. Everything that led up to that night. What happened to you and Keirran before you went to see the Lady?”

Reluctantly, I nodded. I didn’t want to, didn’t want to reveal my part in all this, but Ash deserved to know. “When Keirran disappeared that first time,” I began, thinking back to that night and the chain of events leading up to it, “Annwyl came to me at home. She was Fading. Whatever the Forgotten did to her had accelerated the process. Keirran was desperate to stop it. We—Annwyl, Kenzie and I—tracked him to a goblin market, where he was trying to find a cure for the Fade. That’s when you caught up to us,” I added, remembering that night, following the Iron Prince through the New Orleans streets, trying to outrun the faery before us now. “We got away because Keirran had figured out how to go Between—that’s why you couldn’t find us. The Lady had taught him how to open the Veil.”

Ash didn’t give any indication of surprise, just nodded for me to go on. I hesitated, steeling myself for what came next. For the decision that had cost me a friend, a family member and, ultimately, my life.

“I decided to take him to Guro,” I said quietly. “My kali instructor, back in the real world. He’s...I guess he’s kind of a shaman, a faith healer, though I didn’t know that part of him until recently. Guro was the one who crafted that protection amulet, the one I was wearing when Keirran...” I trailed off, not wanting to say it, and Ash gave a stiff nod of understanding.

“We went to see him,” I continued, “because it was the only thing left I could think of. Annwyl was dying; she didn’t have much time left. It was our last hope. But, when we explained what was happening, Guro said that he couldn’t save her. That there was nothing in the light arts that would help.” I paused, then added, “That’s when Keirran...asked about the dark arts.”

“Black magic,” Ash muttered, sounding grim. “I know there are still those in the mortal realm that are capable of real power. It is not something to be trifled with, Ethan.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I sort of got that. But Keirran wouldn’t let it go. He begged Guro to save Annwyl, no matter the cost. Guro told him what would happen. He told him the dangers of black magic, laid it out word for word. But Keirran was determined to do it anyway. And I...agreed to let him do it. I knew it was a bad idea, and I didn’t stop him.”

Ash shook his head with a weary smile. “I don’t think you could have,” he murmured. “Once Keirran puts his mind to something, he won’t let it go. He’s always been that way. Too much of his father in him.” He sighed, all traces of amusement fading as he nodded for me to go on. “What happened after that?”

“There was a ritual,” I continued. “Dark magic, blood magic, whatever you want to call it. It got pretty intense.” I repressed a shiver, remembering that night. The drums, the chanting, the rage and hatred surging up in me. Rage toward Keirran, for taking my sister away, for being the cause of her abandonment. “Keirran and I both had to participate,” I confessed, wishing I had never agreed to do it. I still didn’t like what had been revealed, what I’d discovered about myself that night. “And when it was done, we had this amulet that would steal Keirran’s strength and his glamour and give it to Annwyl. It would keep her alive, keep her from Fading, but at the cost of Keirran’s own life. Eventually...it would kill them both.”

There was a moment of grim silence. I felt the chill emanating from Ash’s direction and shivered, wondering if he would blame me for the ultimate death of his son. If he did, he would be right. I had nothing to say in my defense.