The Last Faerie Queen (8 page)

I started to shiver a little with all this talk of death. I mean, yes, I wanted to defend myself, and defend Elora, but I wouldn't kill for fun. There was nothing fun about it. I remembered that from the graveyard. I'd only slammed the branch into
Naeve's head to save Elora.

Well, that, and you wanted to see his blood run over your hands.
Wanted to see him slumped on the ground.
Until it actually happened.

I took a step back, because now I could see another version of myself. Not Taylor the hero. Taylor the bloodthirsty warlord. I mean, honestly, how many people entered into battle thinking they were the former, only to wind up the latter? How could you ever really tell if hacking someone up was justified? Because that guy, on the other side, wanting to hack you up? He thinks he's the good guy too.

I mean, he must.

“You didn't do this because I'm a mortal boy,” I said, the gravity of my thoughts centering me in reality. “You did it because I said I wanted to fight. Last night, at dinner.”

“Do you still want to?” she asked, green eyes glistening. They were lighter than mine, a bright, golden-green, and that soothed me somehow. When my eyes were too much like a faerie's, it freaked me out.

“What about the Queen?” I asked. “I'm pretty sure she doesn't want me to.”

“The Queen is distracted. Each night, she holes herself up in her bower, blocking out every possible sound, to practice the spell that will bind the Dark Lady.” Maya de Lyre smiled. “Besides, if my investigation goes well … ”

“It won't matter if she wants me to fight.” Finally, I smiled back. “But I'm doing something different now. Something Elora wants me to do.”

“Ah yes, the little pictures.”

“It's what Elora wants.”

“Well, aren't you obedient?” She sashayed over to the swords. Her dress went swish, swish, swish around her legs. “And here I thought the
bright
faeries had a reputation for making humans into pets.”

“I'm not her pet,” I snapped. “I'm her … ”

“Lover?”

“That's none of your business.”

“Fair enough. Boyfriend, then?”

“We haven't discussed … I mean, she hasn't explicitly said—”

“Much of anything, has she?”

“I know how she feels.”

“Tell me.” And she waited, expectantly, while I tried to pull something out of thin air.

“I know that she cares about me,” I said.

“We all care about you. We all want you to be happy.”

“It's more than that.”

“What is it, then? I'd truly love to know.”

“It's … ”

Love?
Elora had never said that word, never admitted to loving anyone. Now she was gone, and I didn't even know when she was coming back.

Days, if all goes well …

“What if I want to practice fighting?” I said, taking a single step. “I mean, no promises. No deals. No caveats. No tricks.”

The faerie nodded, but she didn't speak.

I knew there was a significance in that, but I'd already started. “I'll still paint during the day. But at night, after everyone goes to sleep, we can sneak away here and practice. All of us can. Just in case we decide to fight in the revolution.”

“If you're allowed to fight,” Maya de Lyre said solemnly.

I felt a flash of anger, and picked up a sword. It felt heavy in my hand. It felt
right
. “I'll be the judge of that.”

8

E
l
o
r
A

The forest grew darker before my eyes. Trees reached out long, gnarled branches and clasped hands. Trunks grew wider until there were no spaces between them. Surely, a faerie with wings could crest those branches easily, but I could climb for days and never reach the top. I could climb until my limbs gave out and I fell, uselessly, to the ground.

So here I stood, watching the Unseelie Forest block me out. Once the trees had finished their dirty work, they slid their roots back into the ground, and were silent.

“What is the meaning of this?” I called. “Why are you keeping me out?”

“Not us,” said a voice, and Illya peered out of the darkness. She sat on a branch just above my head. “Your mother.”

“My mother?” Her words knocked the breath from me. “Surely, she doesn't know … ”

“What you've been up to? Well, yes and no.” Illya skittered down the branch, finally climbing onto my shoulder, so we could talk privately. “Naeve spun his yarn. Painted you as the human-loving harlot. Made quite a show, actually—”

“Illya, please. I need you to focus. Does she know of the revolution?”

“No, nor of your deal with the Seelie Queen. She doesn't even know where you are. Not for certain.”

“What, then?”

“She knows you were spotted with humans. She knows they put their hands on you—”

“To carry me to safety. To save my life!”

“Not as Naeve tells it. He believes you have chosen
them
over
us
.”

“So I'm banished, then?” I asked, trying to still the fluttering in my chest. Trying to still the fear and the chill and the panic.

“No, not banished. The Dark Lady believes we can bring you back. Believes we can …
cleanse
you of the human filth on your skin.”

Good luck
, I thought and snorted. But to Illya, I said, “What do I have to do?”

She paused, kneading my hair with her hands. “Something you will not do.”

“Meaning?”

“Pr
ovide your mother with a proper offering. Bring the mortals to her, to show your allegiance. If you hand over the people who helped you, the people
you
helped in the graveyard, she'll kno
w you don't care for them, and she'll welcome you back into the fold.”

“Oh, is that all?” I said with a laugh.

Illya was not amused.

“Oh, come now,” I said, softening my voice. “This doesn't change everything. It doesn't have to change anything. Come the Solstice, she'll be weakened, and you can smuggle me in through the tunnels running under the court. We'll use glamour to make me look like a servant. The revolution will go as planned, and you can—”

“I'm sorry, Lady. That isn't going to happen.”

“I know you're scared,” I said, reaching up to touch her hand. She didn't reach back. “But I will protect you. I will fight for you, if we're caught. I will go down swinging—”

“I cannot let you enter!” she shrieked. This close to me, the sound reverberated in my ear.

I fell silent.

“Have you rejoined her, then?” I said after a moment. The thought was worse than anything I'd imagined. But the Dark Lady could be very convincing, and if Illya believed I'd fallen prey to the wasteland …

The human world
, I reminded myself.

“It isn't that,” Illya broke in. “We would love nothing more than to follow you into battle and overthrow your mother's court.”

“But?”

“
We
are beginning to doubt your loyalties. And your mother's edict is clever … ” Illya looked away, into the darkness. “What better way to prove you don't care for humans than to hand—”

“Four of them over to you? To torture for sport? Illya, you cannot be serious.”

“Don't be silly, princess. We do not want four humans.”

The breath rushed back into me. “You don't? Oh, thank Darkness. I thought—”

“We only want one.”

“
What?
”

“The boy whose life you saved.”

“The boy who—why
him?
”

“Because your actions indicate that he means something to you.”

He means everything to me.

But I couldn't say it. I would lose everything if I said it.

“Illya, what do they believe?” I asked, studying the forest. Searching for the faces of my followers. My friends. “Do they think I went traipsing off to the wasteland for a vacation?”

“They believe what I told them. You went in search of something that would help strengthen our cause.”

“Then what am I missing?”

She turned, speaking softly. “They believe something happened
while
you were there, something that changed you.”

It did.

“But if you hand over the mortal, it will prove that you are still the same,” Illya finished. “That he hasn't corrupted you.”

“Illya,” I whispered. “He hasn't corrupted me.”

He has saved my life.

“Please, you have to believe me,” I begged.

“I'm sorry, princess. We cannot let you pass. Not without proof.”

“And if I bring him to you, you will … sacrifice him? Spill his blood on my mother's court?”

“Perhaps if we had time, a ritual could be performed,” she said casually. “Something to strengthen our revolution.”

“But?” I asked, feeling sicker than I'd ever felt. These were my
people
. My family. They were supposed to be.

“But, as it is, we have much to accomplish, and very little time to do it,” she said. “So—”

“You'd let him roam, then? Wander the forests unharmed?”

“We are busy, princess. We are not fools.”

“So you'd lash him to a tree somewhere and forget about him? Forever?”

She paused, and I turned to look at her, resting on the edge of my shoulder. Her eyes were alight with fire, as if hungry. “Have you truly forgotten the ways of the world? The natural order of things—”

“Just say it, Illya. Say what you're going to say, and be gone from here. I have to think.”

“Humans don't live forever. A blink of an eye, and they're gone.” 

Thankfully
, we used to say. But I did not say that anymore. “How much time do I have to decide? The Summer Solstice is over a month away—”

“We are not waiting until the Solstice to strike,” Illya said. “We attack on the seventeenth of this month, the morning after the full moon. You'd need to be here by the fifteenth, to give yourself time to reach the castle.”

“
The fifteenth?
No, no, no. That's less than—”

“Two weeks away. I know.”

“It isn't enough time! By the time I return to the mortal—”

“It's plenty of time,” Illya said. “You infiltrated the wasteland, befriended a host of mortals, and lured them into the Seelie Court in a matter of weeks.”

“I didn't
lure
them. They saved my life—”

“Lady, please.” She stepped closer, speaking into my ear. “We will not last until the Solstice. The Dark Queen is going through us one by one, trying to get to you. She is torturing us. We have to attack soon.”

“But the full moon … ”

“It's the brightest night of the month,” Illya said. “The courtiers will sleep poorly, and your mother is already growing weak, with summer fast approaching.”

“Faster and faster it comes, each year,” I murmured, looking back toward the Seelie Court. Looking toward
him
. “What if I fail the test? What if I cannot bring you a human sacrifice?”

“We will carry out your plans without you.”

I laughed, but there was no joy in it. “You cannot take on the Dark Lady yourselves. She will obliterate a third of your army.”

“It's a risk we are willing to take.”

“Do you really hate me so?” I reached up, as if to draw her into my hand. She scuttled away, climbing onto an overhanging branch. “Would you really forget everything we have been through?”

“I never forget,” she said fiercely. “I can never forget. That is why it breaks my heart to think you've fallen.”

“I … ” I began, but I couldn't finish the thought. The truth of it was, I'd fallen many times. Fallen from the sky's loving embrace. Fallen to the dirt. Fallen for a human. Now, with so much at stake, would I fall back into my old beliefs, or fall away from my mother's court forever? My home?

“This is a riddle I cannot solve,” I said softly. The darkness responded to me. Reaching out its tendrils, it brushed the hair from my face and kissed my cheeks.

It wants you back
, a voice whispered, and I leaned in, letting it soothe me.
All it needs is one little offering.

Offering?
I thought.
They asked for a sacrifice.
But those words weren't so different, were they? It all depended on how the offer was made.

“Illya,” I said, a fluttery feeling in my chest. My guts were clenching, but what choice did I have? “Suppose I could bring you the mortal. Wouldn't he be better suited to fight alongside us in battle? We could use the bodies.”

Oh, Darkness
. I hadn't meant it that way. Hadn't meant to speak of him as a body. A corpse. But Illya heard the offering the way she wanted to, and it piqued her interest.

“What human would offer that?” she asked.

“A human who wants to be a hero.” I glanced at the Seelie Forest. “A human who is already painting pictures for me.” Lowering my voice, I told her of my plans to glamour the battlefield to look like a human city. “If we all work together, we can create a fantastical illusion and turn reality on its head.”

For a moment, Illya looked impressed. Then, as always, she began to pick at the details, making sure my plan was foolproof. “Relying on glamour is risky,” she said. “What if Naeve suspects your illusion and tries to pull it away?”

“Ah, but I've thought of that. You see, after we apply the first glamour, a second glamour will be used, which he
can
pull away, and—”

“Dual glamours. Crafty,” she said with a grin. “But what of the other senses?”

“The other senses?”

“Well, yes. This glamour will only cover sight,” she reminded me. “Scent is easy enough, if you're bringing the mortal. But what of sound?”

“Sound?”

“Yes, sound. If the courtiers wake to birds chirping and leaves rustling, they will suspect they are still in Faerie. But
if we could distract them with some strange and horrible noise … Lady!”

Her voice was so loud, I jumped at the sound of it. “What is it?” I asked, heart racing.

“Remember the device you sent me from the mortal world? The communication device with the horrible shriek?”

“Cell phone,” I said with a laugh. “Yes, the
mortal
gave it to me, so I could stay in contact with
you
while I was away from home.”

“I imagine he thought you were contacting a human. But think of it, Lady. Think of Naeve waking up to that shriek. Then, when he looks around, and sees the world changed—”

“Oh, it's brilliant! You're brilliant.” I clapped my hands. “Sweet Illya. I knew you would understand.”

“I don't,” she said, surprising me. “No human will offer himself up. No human will
sacrifice
himself. None of this is going to happen.”

“And if you're wrong?”

Illya turned, facing the darkness. I could've sworn I heard someone whispering. Finally, she turned back to me, her face solemn. “You'll have to bring him across the border yourself,” she said. “The Dark Lady has enchanted these woods to snatch up any mortal who enters unattended.”

“I understand.”

“It is decided then.” Illya skittered backward, into the trees. “You bring us the mortal, and we will welcome you back into the darkness,” she called.

Then she was gone. I was alone, grappling with the realization that I had solved her riddle after all. Taylor would have his moment in the sun. The dark faeries would have their offering. Everyone would get exactly what they wanted.

Except me.