“Let’s get out of here,” Val said. “Ava’s hurt. We can regroup later.”
With a grim nod, Esther turned, and we all followed. We planned to cut through a large hall, but as soon as we rushed through the doors, they slammed shut behind us, and another rumbling began under our feet.
The opposite doors opened. Fionnuala stepped through with a smug grin.
She wasn’t alone.
Chapter Seventeen
My stomach turned as I took in the sheer number of enemies before us. Fionnuala strolled in next to a tall, pretty brunette who looked vaguely familiar. Both women looked unruffled and clean, haughty and smug. The brunette had to be fae.
Reuben was behind them, his eyes blood-red and crazed, along with Gideon and some vampires I recognised from his coven, but none of them looked quite as confident as their leader. Many were already wounded, although most had bloodstains around their mouths.
Gideon’s smug smile automatically switched my fear to anger. He and Reuben had betrayed our country when the BVA instigated war. Their alliance with Fionnuala spoke volumes and answered many of my questions.
Guardians, hooded assassins, and even some of the older children from the slave markets surrounded Fionnuala. She had finally gotten her wish to use the children as human shields.
My group tightened together, everyone’s hands on their weapons. Except for me. Standing up straight was a problem. I would be the first to die when the fighting began if Fionnuala had any sense.
Fionnuala took a step forward and cocked her head. “I should thank you for being predictable. You make it so easy for me.”
“Finally showing your true colours?” I asked, making an effort to keep my voice steady.
Lucia pushed her way next to me to touch my arm. Images of the tall brunette came to me in a flood. She was the woman who had taken the twins from their mother. Finally, the pieces were fitting together.
“Working for fae?” I directed at the vampires. “Wasn’t enough to screw everyone over with the BVA?”
“The time of being restrained by a quota is long over,” Reuben said. “Ancient and great beings should never answer to anyone.”
“You’re answering to a fae now,” Esther said with a scornful laugh. “Does she make you beg?”
Reuben took two steps before Fionnuala lifted a hand. Reuben froze, his face contorting and his chest heaving until he stepped back, furious.
“Don’t be so ridiculous,” Fionnuala said when he growled in complaint. “Falling for their games. You may as well be newly born.”
“Val,” I said under my breath. “Lead everyone out of here first chance you get. Lorcan, take Lucia and go now.”
“Not a chance,” Lorcan said. Lucia shook her head obstinately. I expected Val to protest and force Lucia out of there, but she held her ground and began shifting into her hellhound form.
Shit. “So what’s the plan, Fionnuala?” I asked, stalling to give my group time to change their minds. “Take over… and what exactly? Working with the British, working with the vampires. Exactly whose side are you on?”
She gave me a chilling smile. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“I’d rather kill you.” She took one step forward.
Gabe, Elathan, and a number of injured and bloody Guardians, including Esther’s Circle, came running into the hall, joining us. Fionnuala didn’t look worried, despite being outnumbered.
Gabe pressed my dagger into my hands. “For a minute there, I thought we missed the fun and games,” he said wryly.
“Right on time,” I said. “Sorry for all those times we secretly suspected you were involved.”
He made a scoffing sound and stepped in front of me to address Fionnuala’s Guardians. “Disarm,” he commanded.
A couple of them exchanged worried glances.
“How lucky,” Fionnuala said. “Almost all of my problems will be removed in one clean sweep.”
“And now it becomes clear,” Gabe said, his hand trembling as he unsheathed a sword. “You didn’t have to murder Koda.”
“But I did,” Fionnuala said, sounding unregretful. “And I had to encourage Erossi to make an absolute fool of himself to the humans. It’ll make the takeover much easier for them to accept. My family are already beloved by our neighbours. The fae are the people’s champions. The media will spread acceptance, or they’ll die.”
“So that’s it?” I tried to look scornful instead of scared. “That’s the big plan?”
She exchanged a smile with the brunette beside her. “The big plan has been in the making for a very long time. I suppose I should thank you. It would have been awkward to explain where all of these talented young humans came from if you hadn’t given me a way to publicly reach out to them.”
“You helped the BVA,” Elathan said. “You could have brought disaster upon us all. But why am I surprised, given how you took over this country the first time? Betrayal is in your blood.”
She gave him a rueful smile. “Most of this takeover went as planned. The fae have been embarrassingly reluctant to stake their true claim over the last few centuries. Letting you live after you were expelled from your exile?” She shook her head. “Once upon a time, we showed no mercy to your kind. Reuben spoke wisely when he said he has been restrained. We’ve all been restrained from showing our true natures. And for what? To suffer half-breeds and mongrels speaking out as if equals and be forced to listen to the concerns of humans.”
“Times have changed,” Gabe said, “but only recently. Your schemes have been in the making for much longer than that.”
“True.” Fionnuala linked arms with the brunette, whose expression was unreadable. “Elaria and I came to an agreement a long time ago. A marriage and a true alliance. The slave markets have helped us build an army, right under the noses of the Irish Council and British Committee. The time became ripe for change, and all it took was a few nudges in the right direction”—she gestured at the brunette—“to eliminate Elaria’s competition: the weaker members of her family.”
“You killed your own family?” I blurted.
Elaria’s gaze passed over me as if I were invisible.
Fionnuala acted as though I hadn’t interrupted. “We’ve been watching and waiting for the right time. Koda had grown so weak, and Brogan practically begged me to lead him into disgrace, detestable little human upstart that he is. Erossi was his perfectly pliable replacement, and you, Gabe, you were so jaded that you didn’t care what happened right under your nose. Your inaction was key.”
Gabe’s hands tensed around the hilt of his weapon. “Don’t expect that to continue.”
She and Elaria exchanged an amused glance. “We’ll see, angel, but we’ve come too far now. There’s no going back for any of us, not after your mongrel revealed all to the humans. You know what’s going to happen, don’t you? The humans will fight and complain and insist on making life unpleasant for us all unless we teach them once again who exactly is in charge. It’s not too late for you, Gabe. There’s room for you in the new world.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he said.
I let out the breath I had been holding.
“How very noble,” Fionnuala sneered. “Luckily, other beings are smarter than you and your whims. Winston was so happy for Elaria’s assistance that I was able to keep my hands… relatively clean. At first, we thought the BVA would wipe out the Council, leaving sympathisers like me in charge while they conquered elsewhere. Once we realised the BVA’s hold was about to crumble, I and my soon-to-be daughter-in-law decided it was time to hasten the process. Winston didn’t even consider the fact that Reuben and Gideon were never his.” She gestured toward us. “And we were able to keep an eye on this crowd by promising a return to fortune for one of the disgraced fae.”
Desmond.
“Why bother with them?” Elathan asked. “They’re no threat to you. Nor was Koda, for that matter.”
“They might have found out the truth t
oo soon. The timing was important,” she said, as if she had been dying to spit out everything so we would know exactly how devious and clever she was. Her scornful gaze turned on me. “Once, I thought she could be trained, but she’s worthless. Her and her followers. Koda, on the other hand, was well-loved and well-informed. He needed to die before people chose a side.”
I focused on the teenage boy Phoenix, Leah, and I had met on our late-night visit to the children. “You sure you’re on the right side?”
He shrugged. “I just want to be free.”
“She’ll never set you free,” I said. “Not like this. You heard the way she talks about people like you and me. This isn’t your fight. Get the kids out of here and get back to the others. Be ready to protect yourselves because this won’t end here. There will always be people who want to use you all.”
Fionnuala had begun to speak over me, still lording over the fact she had outwitted Gabe. The children took their chances and fled. The vampires grew restless.
Fionnuala lifted her hand as if to attack.
Lorcan pushed in front of Gabe. “You’re our grandmother. Yet you stole us from our mother, sent us to the slave market, and took your own son’s memories. What kind of monster are you?”
Fionnuala’s hand shook. She refused to look at Lorcan, but her eyes were wild.
“We have a lot to do,” Gideon said in a low voice.
Fionnuala flinched then held up a finger. She looked toward the doors, and a relieved smile softened her features. “Ah, here he is.”
Phoenix hurried into the room, Icarus trotting by his side. The fae held the whip in his hands, and he didn’t look at us as he strode toward his mother.
“Oh, good,” Fionnuala said. “There’s no need to exert ourselves. Get the dog to take its time with the tainted one. I enjoy her screams more than I can say.”
Lorcan nodded at me. “It’s almost time.”
“Do we make it?” I asked him.
“Lucia sees only darkness.”
I sighed. “Take as many of them down with us as we can then.”
Phoenix reached his mother’s side. “Mother, let them go.”
Fionnuala’s eyebrows rose. “We don’t show our enemies mercy.”
He licked his lips. “Enemies.” His eyes grew cruel. “My children are not our enemies. Look at them.”
“You have no children!” Fionnuala shrieked.
Icarus growled viciously, the hackles on the back of his neck rising. He bared his fangs at Fionnuala. The vampires discreetly stepped back.
“I have two, and you took them from me,” Phoenix said. “Was that part of your plans? Am I of any concern to you at all?”
“You’re my son,” she said in a harsh voice. “Everything you do concerns me. But I warn you not to get in my way this time, you impertinent little boy.”
Elaria stepped toward Phoenix, holding out her hands to her so-called fiancé. “Surely you see this is for the best. We’re uniting our race, making us stronger. After our marriage, we will have a child who will one day rule realms.”
“I already have children,” he spat, rubbing his chest.
“They’re part-human.” Disgust was apparent in her tone. “Blotches on your name. An embarrassment to all of us. Forget the past. I can gloss over your indiscretions, but not until you give up these stupidly human ideas of yours for good.”
“Phoenix, this isn’t the time,” Fionnuala said impatiently. “Turn Icarus on them and end this.”
“Why did you take my memory?” Phoenix asked, sounding childlike. “It’s true, isn’t it, what they’ve told me about you? You’re the monster you’ve always been, the one my own father had to protect me from. No wonder I wanted to get away from you.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “I gave you what you wanted.”
He cracked the whip, and it wrapped around her neck. She made a scoffing sound, and he looked surprised.
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing swirling tattoos covering her arms. “I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. And my own creations can’t harm me. So what are you doing, you spineless boy?”
“Did you meet my son?” he asked. “Look at him. Isn’t he like me?”
She ignored his question. “You have no child. You’re damaged. Your mind was broken. You begged me to take your memories so the nightmares would stop. You’re obviously still deluded if you—”
Icarus’s snarl startled her into silence. The rest of us had frozen into place, but Lorcan inched closer to his blood relatives, fascination written all over his face.
Fionnuala finally looked at her grandson, her lips curving into a sneer. “You call this your son? It’s. Not. Fae.”
“He is my son!” Phoenix bellowed. “And you took him away from me, just as you took my father and my wife. Why? Why did you take everything from me?” He sounded as if he were about to burst into tears.
“Stop embarrassing me.” She glared at him. “You’re still the same. I can’t believe this. After all this time, you go ahead and revert to type with your bad timing. I removed your father for you. For you! And this is what I get. All of the plans I’ve made that you’ve ruined. I got rid of Brogan so you could take his seat, but you ran off with that human worm. I warned you I would find you. I told you what would happen. But did you listen? Never!”
“What happened?” he asked through clenched teeth. “Explain it to me.”
“We found your precious family of half-breeds. And I gave you a chance to come home. You made a deal with me: your memory in exchange for their lives.”
“But they ended up in the slave market.”
“I said they could live. I never specified where. Then you vanished, making plans to protect them before you returned. You boasted to me that you would one day find each other again, that it would be my downfall, you and your so-called rebels. And I… I actually forgave you!”
Fionnuala didn’t notice Reuben slipping away. Gabe nudged me. “Be ready. Phoenix unsettles her. When we attack, keep out of her way. With Reuben gone, the vampires will easily fall.”
Fionnuala kept rambling. “I kept you at home, treated you like a prince, and still… still you found a way to remember them. You escaped, but Elaria tracked you down in the UK, and she destroyed your memories for good. She’s so talented; that’s why you make such a good match. I thought the years you spent with the werewolves would teach you to obey, but you’re still—”
Phoenix yanked on the whip. Fionnuala would have fallen if Elaria hadn’t caught her.
“He’ll always be his father’s son,” Elaria murmured.
Twin pink dots coloured Phoenix’s cheeks. He glared at Elaria. “Good.”
Fionnuala shrugged off Elaria’s hands. “This is ridiculous, Phoenix. You could reign alongside me. Your blood is pure. Royal. Let my soldiers destroy the distractions. You don’t even remember being a father. Let it go.”
He bowed his head. “I might not remember it, but I know it now,” he said in a low voice.
“Kill them all,” Fionnuala ordered her assassins. She yanked at the whip, pulling an unsuspecting Phoenix closer to her. She gripped his throat, but I had to turn my attention to the assassins already leaping at us.
The vampires circled, trying to avoid Icarus, but the werewolf took one down immediately. I tried to hold up the dagger, but I was too weak from the abuse I had taken. Carl stood in front of me, protecting me for a change, but as he beheaded one vampire, another leapt at him and sank her teeth in his neck. Carl fought back, but the vampire clung to him like a limpet.
I sank my dagger into the vampire’s back, burning her heart. Another vampire kicked the dagger out of my hand, and Gideon jumped on me. As I landed on the floor with Gideon on top of me, I felt a brief pang of disappointment that he would be the one to end my life. Then, I remembered that I wasn’t completely defenceless. I stuck my fingers into his mouth as he aimed for my neck. I barely felt the sharp slice of his fangs on my fingers. I bit a chunk out o
f his neck then turned and spit out the chunk of flesh. His blood was vile, but it was life to him, so I drank.
When he tried to break free, I wrapped my legs around his waist and clung for dear life, biting and sucking. He weakened in my arms, and a nearby vampire gave a cry of alarm and tried to pull Gideon out of my reach. But I was determined to take Gideon down with me. He had tortured me once. I owed him.
Carl shouted my name. I continued to drink until I felt Gideon freeze in my grip, and I sensed the burn of the dagger destroying him from the inside out. I pushed him away before I burned with him.
Carl reached out a hand and yanked me to my feet. He held out my dagger.
I took it and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. “Thanks.”
Carl jumped back into the fray, and a hooded assassin slammed into me, pinning me to the floor. I caught a quick glance of the twins edging toward Fionnuala. She and Elaria were still struggling with Phoenix, combining their strengths to hurt him and force him to his knees.
I shoved at the assassin and spotted my hellhound friend a few feet away. “Val, a little help here,” I called as I kicked the assassin back again. I tried to get to my feet, but I slipped in a pool of blood.
With a loud crunch, Val crushed the assassin’s skull with her foot. I tried to stand, but the pill Phoenix had given me made me drowsy, and I fell again. The effects of the whip were wearing off, but I still felt weary. Gideon’s blood hadn’t helped me, so I was forced to crawl toward the twins. Lorcan didn’t hesitate to get to his father’s side, but Lucia kept her distance. An assassin kicked me in the side and leapt over me, raising two daggers as he rushed at Lucia.
I cried out a warning, but an arrow flew through the air and caught the assassin in the throat. Blood sprayed across Lucia’s back, marring her snow-white hair, but she didn’t seem to notice. I got to my knees and turned to thank Ry, but his answering grin faltered as a sword was driven through his chest.
His eyes widened, his smile turning bloody, and he sank to his knees. With a whimper, I made my way over to him. Elathan decapitated the assassin, so all I could do was hold Ry as his life slipped away.