Shadow's Legacy
Date: 2021-01-02 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Young Adult; Fae; Short Stories; Paranormal; Novella; Fiction; Magic; Urban Fantasy; Romance
Description: A new novella set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Iron Fey series! This magical short story is the prelude to a new trilogy in Julie Kagawa’s brilliant faery world, The Iron Fey: Evenfall.A royal wedding, a mysterious assassin, a new threat to all of Faery…Friends and family gather to celebrate the wedding of the Iron Queen Meghan Chase’s brother…but one wedding guest feels more melancholic than the rest. The King of the Forgotten can’t forget his own lost love and slips away from the festivities…only to be attacked by a strange faery who calls him a fraud and a false king. Now
Publisher: Inkyard Press

Shadow’s Legacy

Julie Kagawa

Dedication

To Natashya.

Books by Julie Kagawa
available from Inkyard Press

Each series listed in reading order. Novellas complement the full-length novels but do not need to be read to enjoy the series.

The Iron Fey

The Iron King (special edition includes the “Winter’s Passage”* novella)

The Iron Daughter (special edition includes the “Guide to the Iron Fey”*)

The Iron Queen (special edition includes the “Summer’s Crossing”* novella)

The Iron Knight (special edition includes the “Iron’s Prophecy”* novella)

The Lost Prince

The Iron Traitor

The Iron Warrior

The Iron Fey: Evenfall

Shadow’s Legacy ebook novella

The Iron Raven

Shadow of the Fox

Shadow of the Fox

Soul of the Sword

Night of the Dragon

The Talon Saga

Talon

Rogue

Soldier

Legion

Inferno

Blood of Eden

Dawn of Eden prequel novella+

The Immortal Rules

The Eternity Cure

The Forever Song

*Also available as an ebook and in The Iron Legends anthology

+Available in the ’Til the World Ends anthology by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, and Karen Duvall

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Epilogue

Excerpt from The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa

Chapter 1

“Are you certain you don’t wish to take a carriage to the human world, Your Majesty?”

I gave the faery hovering in my chamber doorway a weary smile. “No, Elaith,” I told my personal attendant and snatched my cloak from its stand in the corner nearest the door. “I’ll be fine. Honestly, I’d rather walk. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the real sun.”

The faery nodded reluctantly—the motion nearly invisible in the dimness of the room. Like all my subjects, Elaith was a Forgotten, a faery who had been unremembered for so long she had nearly faded out of existence. She was slender and wispy, with delicate dragonfly wings and long curly hair. But that’s all anyone knew of her, because, like all the Forgotten in my court, Elaith resembled a living shadow. A silhouette without color, warmth, or features, except for two glowing, yellow eyes in the blank abyss of her face. As a personal attendant, she was unrivaled in making sure I had everything I needed and keeping the household affairs running smoothly. But she wasn’t much of a conversationalist: sometimes I’d think I was discussing the events of the day with her, only to turn around and find that I’d been talking to myself for who knew how long. It wasn’t Elaith’s fault, just something I kept having to remind myself of: take your eyes off a Forgotten, and they probably won’t be there when you look back.

“As you wish, sire. I will call the guards to accompany you.”

“No,” I told her, making those two glowing orbs blink in surprise. “I won’t need them,” I continued. “Not where I’m going. Besides, I promised a friend that it would just be me this afternoon. No extra fey or Forgotten tagging along.”

Elaith hesitated. Obviously, she did not think the King of the Forgotten traipsing out alone was a good idea, but she bowed her head and took a step back. “Yes, my king. If that is your desire. Please excuse me. I will return to my duties.”

I nodded, and with another bow, Elaith turned and departed my chambers, making no noise as she slid into the hall. I swirled my cloak around my shoulders and gave myself a quick check in the mirror. Where I was going today, I had to look presentable. Though, the image staring back at me from the glass still made me want to punch that face into a thousand glittering shards. It had nothing to do with appearance, which I never put much stock in. Not long ago, I had been a faery prince, and I still looked the part. My silver-white hair and blue eyes came from my mother’s side; my athletic build and height came from my father.

But I knew what the soul behind the face in the mirror was capable of. And what it had done—to Faery, to its family, to everyone it had cared for—still made me sick to my stomach.

Today, they call me the Forgotten King. My real name is Keirran, son of Meghan Chase, the Iron Queen. And not long ago, I nearly destroyed the entire Nevernever.

As I slipped out the manor doors into the courtyard, the city of Touchstone was quiet...but it was always quiet. Being made literally of shadows, the Forgotten were a silent group, able to glide up walls and through cracks in the floor without a thought. The city reflected this.

When I was first establishing my court, I had attempted to make it brighter, to add some color and cheeriness to the landscape, but I’d quickly realized that decision made the Forgotten uneasy. They liked the darkness, were comfortable in the gloom and shadows. And so, after a few days of my subjects slinking around like dogs with their tails between their legs, I gave in and let the darkness rule. Touchstone was now a city of mist, rock, and old Gothic buildings, where gargoyles perched on every corner and vampires would not be out of place. For my own sake, I allowed the sun to rise over Touchstone each day, even if only for a few hours. The Forgotten might be faeries of the darkness, but their king occasionally needed to feel the sunlight on his face or he would have a mental breakdown. But the rest of the time, the city existed in perpetual night.

The manor courtyard was empty as I walked across the cobblestones, my footsteps knocking eerily in the stillness. Overhead, the full moon peered down like a glowing silver eye. I reached the center of the courtyard and paused, gazing at a pile of rubble surrounded by a fence. These ruins, only a few stones, were what allowed the city of Touchstone to remain here and not fade into nothing.

My court existed in a place called the Between, a void that separated Faery from the human world. You could find your way into the Between from either Faery or the mortal realm, but those who stumbled through the Veil into this landscape of mist and nothingness often became lost and wandered forever. Within the Between, thoughts and emotions would sometimes manifest as physical things. Anything could erupt around an individual, even whole towns, a representation of their emotional state of mind. Those who could manipulate the Between could create nearly anything they wanted. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on what came into being—these manifestations never lasted and would fade back into mist within hours, minutes, or seconds.

But there was also something called an anchor, an entity that existed in both the mortal world and the Between. Anchors were exceedingly rare—lost creatures could wander the mists for centuries without stumbling upon one—but if you could find an anchor in the Between, everything created around it would become permanent.

I gazed at the pile of stones, Touchstone’s anchor, as painful memories stirred. I was not the first to find this place. I wasn’t even the first to build a world here. I had torn down what I could and built my court on the bones of the previous owner’s domain, but I still saw echoes of her influence wherever I went. A constant reminder of my betrayal.

I shook myself, veering from that train of thought before it consumed me. Now was not the time to dwell. I had somewhere to be, and I did not want to be late. Spinning from the anchor, I walked across the courtyard until I found a place where the Veil was thin. Calling on my magic, I reached into the Veil and parted it like a curtain. Reality shimmered and warped around my hand, and sunlight blossomed through the crack, making me squint and turn away even though I’d been expecting it.

Shading my eyes, I peered back and saw the real world—the human world—through the gap in the Veil. A dappled forest trail cut through the trees, winding between trunks until it was lost from sight. Glancing up at the sun, nearly directly overhead through the branches, I winced.

It’s almost noon. Dammit, Keirran. Kenzie is going to kill you if you’re late.

I ducked through the gap, letting the Veil swoosh shut behind me, and stepped into the sunlit mortal world, leaving Touchstone and the Between behind.

It was pleasant, walking through the mortal realm. Things in the Between lacked authenticity, and no matter how hard I tried to make my kingdom genuine, there was always something missing. Some spark of life that would have kept it from feeling like a photograph, a snapshot of the real thing. In the Between, there was no cool breeze, no scent of roses or rustle of leaves or patter of rain, and even the fabricated sunlight lacked warmth. I stopped and closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the feel of the sun on my skin, before continuing toward my destination. It was springtime in the mortal world, and new leaves and flowers were budding all around me. I could almost hear the plants growing.

A flash of color beside the trail caught my eye, a patch of wildflowers in early bloom, white, yellow, and orange petals waving in the breeze. I paused again, my stomach turning painfully. I was running out of time: a very important event waited for me at the end of this path, and I could not be late. But still, I crouched down, gazing at the riot of color, feeling a prickle in the back of my throat as memories overwhelmed me. Before my betrayal, before I had gotten tangled up with the previous owner of Touchstone, there had been someone else in my life. All the atrocities I’d committed, all the lives I’d taken, and all the unforgivable things I’d done had been for her. She was gone now, and I had only myself to blame, but I didn’t want to forget. Even though it was painful, even though I had failed her many times over, she was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

Yellow flowers had always been her favorite.

“I have something to show you.”

The faery sitting at the edge of the pond turned, the sunlight catching in her auburn hair, shimmering through the strands and the wildflowers woven throughout. Large, mossy-green eyes regarded me with a mix of curiosity and alarm.

“Keirran.” Annwyl of the Summer Court rose, casting a quick glance around the meadow. It was mostly empty, with only a few deer grazing at the edges and a dryad weaving a flower crown under a tree. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, taking a few steps toward me. “We can’t be seen together. If Titania catches you, we’ll both be punished.”

I grinned. I wasn’t afraid of the Seelie Queen. She was like a very grumpy, hibernating bear: as long as you didn’t poke her awake or draw attention to yourself, you’d be fine. “Come with me,” I invited Annwyl, holding out a hand. “Please.”

She hesitated. I could tell she wanted to, but her understandable fear of the queen held her back. As one of Titania’s handmaidens, she couldn’t avoid the Summer monarch for long, and Titania’s fickle temper was legendary. I wasn’t supposed to be here, either. Technically, I needed permission from one of the rulers of Summer to cross the border into Seelie territory, but Oberon wasn’t at court, and there was no way I was asking Titania. I could get in a lot of trouble for this blatant flouting of the rules, but I wasn’t worried. As an infamous prankster once told me, you’re only in trouble if you get caught.

“It’ll be all right, Annwyl,” I said softly, giving her my most reassuring smile. “No one will see us. It won’t take long, I promise.”

She sighed. “You’re going to be the death of me, Keirran,” she muttered but reached out and placed her hand in mine. Her long, elegant fingers curled over my own, making my stomach twist. I smiled and turned away, leading her out of the meadow and deeper into the forest.

“Where are we going?” she asked as we made our way through the trees, following a game trail that snaked its way through the undergrowth. We made little noise. Unlike the dense, eternal gloom of the wyldwood, the forests in Seelie territory were less tangled and far more colorful. Here, the flowers were always in bloom, the trees never bare of leaves or new buds. Birds and animals roamed freely, and vegetation ran rampant, having never known the touch of Winter or the chill of a killer frost.

I squeezed Annwyl’s hand and gave her a brief, wicked smile. “When last we met, you told me I felt cold,” I told her. “That my Winter glamour was overshadowing everything. Do you remember?”

“That was many moons ago, Keirran.” Annwyl’s brow furrowed. “But, yes, I remember. The grass around you was coated with frost, which is generally not a good sign if you’ve ever seen Queen Mab in one of her moods.”

I winced. My grandmother was the very powerful, very unpredictable Queen of the Unseelie and Winter Court. If you thought Titania was scary, she was nothing compared to Queen Mab. The Winter monarch was especially frightening because so often she would appear cold and undisturbed, but a surefire way to know an explosion was coming was to watch the air and ground around her. If the temperature started dropping or ice began spreading out from her feet, that was your signal to run.

I gave Annwyl a rueful look. “Yes, well, I took your words to heart,” I told her. “I’ve been practicing my Summer magic, and I think I’ve gotten it to the point where I won’t unintentionally kill the flowers around me.”

“Oh?” A tiny smile played across one corner of her lips. “So, my flowers aren’t going shrivel up and die every time we meet?”

“I hope not.” I glanced back at her with a smile. “But since you’re the one I want to impress the most, I thought you might appreciate this.”

We stepped from the trees into a small grove, and Annwyl gasped.

Sunlight slanted through the trees, spilling over the carpet of wildflowers stretched before us. Yellow lilies, yellow tulips, and yellow poppies grew so close together it looked like the field was made of gold, interspersed with colorful patterns of stars, hearts, and swirls. Butterflies swarmed the flowers, frantic blips of color in a dazzling sea, and the air was heavy with the perfume of thousands of petals.

I grinned at her stunned expression. “I remember you said your favorite flowers were yellow,” I said, “because they were cheerful and reminded you of the sun. I thought you might enjoy your own field of sunlight. If you’re ever feeling sad or lonely, you can remember this and know that someone wanted very much for you to be happy.”

“Keirran.” Annwyl stepped into the meadow, her green eyes wide as she gazed around. “You did this? This is...” She shook her head in amazement. “It’s beautiful. Even for a Summer faery, this would be difficult.”

I chuckled. “You know me. I tend not to do anything by halves, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“How long did this take you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I stepped close, reaching for her hand again. “It could have taken me a hundred years. Seeing your smile makes it all worth it.”

She blushed. I smiled and leaned in, but one hand came up to rest against my chest, stopping me from coming any closer. “Keirran,” she whispered, sounding pained now. “We can’t. You know I’m fond of you, but...”

“It’s all right.” I stepped back, disappointment and anger churning in my gut. Not at Annwyl but at the courts. At the stupid faery law that kept us apart. It made no sense that fey from opposite courts couldn’t be together romantically, but that had been the law since time immemorial, and if the fey were anything, they were sticklers for tradition.

Of course, my own parents had broken that law, defying all the courts of Faery to be together, and it had somehow worked out for them. I was sure I could find a way to do the same with Annwyl. I just hadn’t thought of it yet.

Reaching down, I plucked a bright yellow flower and placed it gently in her hair, smiling to show I wasn’t angry at her. “I understand, Annwyl,” I told her. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t come here expecting anything. I just wanted to show you something beautiful today.”

She smiled in return, but it was wistful. Leaning in, she placed a kiss on my cheek, making all my nerve endings stand at attention. “I appreciate it, Prince Keirran,” she murmured. “And I wish...”

I caught her hand again and squeezed it gently. “I know,” I whispered. “Me, too.”

I blinked, and the memories faded, leaving me crouched above a patch of wildflowers in the middle of the forest.

Annwyl, I miss you. Wherever you are, I hope you are happy. Someday, I will redeem myself for all the evil I brought to the Nevernever. Watch me, and keep me strong.

“You are going to be late if you continue to stand there, Forgotten King.”

I winced. The slow, bored voice echoing from behind me could belong to only one creature in the entire Nevernever.

“Did Kenzie send you to find me, Grimalkin?” I said as I turned around. In a patch of sunlight on the trail, a large gray cat with golden eyes glanced up from where he had been licking his paw. With a yawn, he rose and stretched, arching his plumed tail over his back.

“Send me to fetch you like a dog? Please.” The infamous cait sith gave me a look of bored disdain before turning away. “I was simply on my way to the event and saw you standing there, gaping at flowers. I thought perhaps you had forgotten where you were going, as your kind is distracted so very easily. In case you have forgotten, the path is this way, and you do not have much time left.”

He yawned again, scratched an ear with a hind leg, and shot me a glance over his shoulder. “The human female seems most anxious today,” he said, almost in warning. “Were I you, I would definitely not be late.”

Chapter 2

I heard the bells a few minutes later.

As I strode down the trail with Grimalkin, the trees opened up, and I came to the edge of a small clearing surrounded by pine and ancient cedar. Over the breeze, the bells chimed softly, their melody coming from the lone building in the center of the clearing near a gently swaying willow.

The small white church with a pointed blue steeple sat in the pool of sun like a contented cat. Despite looking picturesque, as if it had come out of an artist’s painting, the church itself seemed quite normal, considering what was happening in it today. Although, if you had the Sight—the ability to see the hidden world of the fey—you had only to look around to know something very abnormal was taking place. A half dozen sharp-eyed, pointy-eared figures in silvery-green armor were stationed around the edges of the glen. Seelie knights. Which meant the Summer Court had arrived.

As I glanced away from the knights, my stomach prickled. In the church’s adjacent parking lot, a magnificent carriage pulled by a team of clockwork horses stood gleaming in the sun alongside several typical parked vehicles. Of course, the carriage was invisible to the mortal eye. But its presence meant the rulers of the Iron Realm were here, as well.

“I don’t see anyone from Winter,” I murmured to the feline beside me. “Do you know if Mab is supposed to be here, Grim?”

There was no answer. I glanced down and saw that I was alone on the forest trail. Grimalkin was nowhere to be seen.

Typical cat.

Nerves twisted my gut as I walked across the clearing toward the entrance, my apprehension growing with every step. There was no crowd milling in front of the church, which meant everyone had to be inside. So many whom I had betrayed were through those doors. They had forgiven me and moved on, but that couldn’t excuse what I had done. I didn’t belong with them in the light; my place was in the shadows and emptiness of the Between. An outsider always looking in. It was what I deserved.

But I had made a promise, and today wasn’t about me. Swallowing my reluctance, I walked up the steps of the church and ducked through the open front doors.

Inside, a small crowd of humans and fey were scattered in pews throughout the building. I saw a couple of Kenzie’s old classmates huddled together on a bench, unaware of the half phouka sitting at the other end. Near the middle of the space, a wiry man with short black hair sat alone, smiling slightly as he gazed around at the crowd. Ethan’s martial arts instructor, Guro, was a master of Kali, a Filipino weapons art that used twin swords to fight. He was one of the only humans who, while he did not possess the Sight, was not unaware of the fey and the hidden world around him. Guro had helped us greatly in the past, and he was perhaps the only human besides Ethan and Kenzie who knew the depths of my betrayal. While I was happy that he was here, I wasn’t quite ready to speak to him. Maybe I would never be ready.

It wasn’t a large crowd, more like an intimate family gathering, which I knew was intentional. Despite being the Iron Queen’s brother and a faery royal in his own right, Ethan wanted as few fey here as possible. In fact, I knew that the only reason a ceremony was happening at all was that Kenzie wanted one. Ethan would’ve been content to have a judge marry them at a courthouse.

I couldn’t blame him, really. The fey had brought so much chaos into his life, he had earned a wedding free of faery magic and pandemonium.

Speaking of which, I didn’t see a certain red-haired faery anywhere in the room, which was mildly worrisome.

“Keirran.”

I jumped. Even after all these years, though I was a king and had my own court and subjects now, his voice could still make me feel like I was five again, having been caught trying to sneak out of the castle late at night. It wasn’t even loud, just my name, spoken in that low, familiar tone that was both a statement and a question.

My father—commonly referred to as Ash, son of Mab—stood just inside the door, watching me with intense silver eyes. Or rather, he was leaning against the back wall with his hands in the pockets of his black suit, looking supremely nonchalant. A small smile curled one corner of his lips as he studied me.

“Cutting it a little close there, son.” Ash pushed himself off the wall and took a step forward, closing the distance between us in one naturally long stride. His hand gripped my shoulder in a brief, friendly squeeze. “Another few minutes and Kenzie might’ve had us send out the hunting parties.”

“I know.” I offered a smile in return but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “My fault. Time in the Between is even stranger than time in the Nevernever. I came as quickly as I could.”

My father regarded me in that calm, appraising way of his. “Everything all right in Touchstone?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “The Forgotten are keeping with the treaties and staying out of the Nevernever. They’re quite content to remain in the Between.”

My father nodded, and then his eyes flickered to something at my back. I turned and saw that a figure had risen from one of the wooden pews and was walking toward us, her gaze on me. I had seen her in many stunning faery gowns, exuding a presence that could silence an entire room, but today she was dressed in a simple but elegant blue dress, with her long hair pulled back, the usual circlet on her forehead noticeably missing. Still, there was no mistaking that aura of power around her; even though she had glamoured herself to look human, her presence was impossible to ignore.

My mother, Meghan Chase, Queen of the Iron Fey and sovereign of the Iron Kingdom, smiled at me as she approached, then put both arms around me in a tight hug.

“Keirran.” Still smiling, she reached up and brushed a strand of hair from my face, her gaze affectionate. Abruptly, I was no longer a king, no longer the banished ruler of the Forgotten—I was a kid again, basking in the warmth of my parents. “What have you been up to lately?”

“Oh, the usual.” I shrugged. “Improving the city. Making sure the Forgotten stay in the Between. Trying to convince them that a few hours of sunlight every day isn’t going to kill anyone.”

My mother chuckled, but it had a sad undertone, as if she knew exactly what I was going through. She probably did. “If you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask, Keirran,” she told me. “Unexpectedly becoming a ruler of Faery and having to figure everything out on your own isn’t easy. Trust me, I know.”

“Yeah.” I smiled back at her. “I know. But it’s my kingdom, and the Forgotten are my responsibility. I’ll be okay.”

My father shook his head. “Not if Kenzie catches you out here,” he murmured. “The groom is through there,” he said, motioning to a simple wooden door along the right side of the wall toward the front of the church. “He wants to talk to you before the ceremony begins.”

“Before the ceremony? Why?”

“I have no idea. But you have only a few minutes before everything starts. I’d say you’d better get going.”

I gave the door a wary look, hoping my best friend wasn’t going to spring something on me, like wanting to back out. “Well, I guess I should see what he wants. Wish me luck.”

They nodded. I gave them a quick bow, then hurried away to where my father had indicated.

I saw more familiar faces in the scattered crowds in the pews. Ethan’s parents—my human grandmother and her husband—sat close together in the front row. A tall, rather severe-looking man shared the bench with them, a woman and a dark-haired girl sitting on his other side. Kenzie’s father, stepmother, and stepsister. All were dressed for the occasion—Kenzie’s father wore an expensive suit and tie—but they looked strangely human and ordinary compared to the guests on the other side.

Lord Oberon, King of the Summer Court, sovereign of the Seelie fey, and my other grandfather, glanced at me as I passed his pew, the two Summer knights sitting near him giving me a stern look. The Seelie King looked as unearthly and imposing as always, pale long hair and silvery-green armor casting a nimbus of light around him. His antlered crown, resting on his brow, rose into the air and cast spiky shadows on the floor and over the backs of the pews.

The humans on the other side of the aisle did not see the faery lord, not as he was. The mist that separated the human and fey worlds also kept our real nature hidden from mortal sight. Normally, Oberon and his entourage would be invisible to human eyes, but like my parents, they had glamoured themselves to look mortal today. If I let my eyes become unfocused, I could see the overlapping of glamour with reality, like an old photograph with two images. Oberon in his true form, the King of Summer, and Oberon as an extremely tall, distinguished gentleman with a top hat and a cane. Even the glamour couldn’t suppress the Summer King’s power completely, though. From the looks he and his knights were receiving from the other side, he still stood out.

Thankfully, Oberon’s wife, Queen Titania, had opted not to attend, which everyone was grateful for. The Queen of Summer hated my family and me in particular. But she hated everyone, and the feeling was almost universally mutual. I was slightly disappointed that my other faery grandmother had also chosen not to attend, but that might’ve caused more problems than it was worth. The Queen of Winter was not known for having the kindest personality, especially toward humans. It was probably for the best that Mab was not here today.

I reached the door, but as I started to open it, it abruptly flew inward. I blinked and found myself staring at a faery with bright red hair and green eyes.

“Princeling!” Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck, broke into an enormous grin as he saw me. “You’re here. Great!” Grabbing my sleeve, he tugged me through the frame and into a small room with chairs stacked in the corners and a door on the opposite wall.

As the door closed behind me, I gave the infamous prankster a wary frown. “What’s going on, Puck?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Puck rubbed the back of his head in a way that only increased my suspicion. “Are Meghan and ice-boy still out there?”

“Of course they are. Why?”

“Well...”

“Puck!” The shout came from the other side of the door on the far wall. It swung open, and Ethan lunged through, then quickly slammed it behind him.

I stiffened. It was the first time I’d seen Ethan looking so smartly dressed, in a fitted black tuxedo and clean-shaven with his usually longish hair cut short. But his expression was not peaceful, or happy, or even nervous, as I’d expected on this day. Leaning his back against the door, he glared at Puck, his glamour aura shifting from angry to fearful to anxious and back again. As he noticed me, a flash of relief crossed his face, but then he went back to glaring daggers at Puck.

“Dammit, Puck! They keep multiplying. You’d better fix this before the ceremony starts.”

“What’s going on?” I asked again, looking at Ethan this time. My best friend sighed and scrubbed a hand through his much-shortened hair.

“Puck is here. Take a wild guess what happened.” Ethan gestured at Puck in exasperation. “I thought it would be okay. I thought, however stupidly, that inviting Robin Goodfellow to the most important event of my life would be a good thing.”

“I was trying to do something nice,” Puck broke in. “Liven up the ceremony, make it special for you and Kenzie. Things just...um...got out of hand.”

I met Ethan’s gaze, and he shook his head. Moving away from the door, he gestured for me to peek in. “Just don’t open it all the way,” he warned.

I walked up to the door, cracked it open, and peered through.

At first, I didn’t know what I was seeing. The room beyond should have looked normal enough, with a desk along the wall and filing cabinets beside it. But everything was covered in strange white lumps, like an enormous bag of cotton balls had exploded.

Then one of them moved, and I realized they weren’t cotton balls at all. They were birds, small, white birds with short beaks and tiny black eyes. And there were hundreds of them, perched everywhere, covering the desk, the shelves, and the tops of the cabinets.

“Are those...doves?” I said, and Ethan made a disgusted noise behind me.

“I don’t need this,” he growled, sounding like his younger teenage self. “I told him we didn’t need a flock of doves flying around the church. There are no open windows in that room. If these birds get out, it’ll be chaos. My wedding day will turn into the birdpocalypse.”

“There were only supposed to be a couple,” Puck interjected. “A pair of lovebirds, to celebrate our two lovebirds finally tying the knot. But then I thought, well, if two are good, more would be even better! And then...things kinda went downhill from there. Oh, and you want to know the funniest part?” He gave a smile that was half grin, half grimace. “They longer they stay in that room, the more the numbers will...um...multiply. So...yeah. We’re going to have to get them out soonish. Or there’s going to be a very feathery explosion in short order.”

I frowned at the Summer trickster. “Can’t you make them disappear?”

“Well, here’s the thing with Summer magic.” Puck gave a helpless shrug. “It’s all about light and life and growth. Once I create something, I can’t uncreate it. It doesn’t work that way. And doves are...well, turns out they’re not that bright. Not like ravens. And they’re very flighty. I tried corralling them, but it’s like herding wet cats.”

“Herding wet cats?” repeated a slow, indignant voice. “Please. As if any self-respecting cat would allow such a thing.”

I looked up and saw a puffy gray cat sitting on one of the stacks of chairs where nothing had been a moment before. “I heard rumors there might be birds in the church,” he said, staring at the door with a look that was entirely too interested. “How intriguing. I shall stay right here and watch, in case a few of them happen to escape.”

“And now Grimalkin is here.” Ethan covered his face with his hands. “I do not need this,” he groaned again. “What am I going to do? I promised Kenzie there would be no faery madness today. I can’t leave a couple hundred white doves in this church for the next unsuspecting human to find when they open the door.”

“What about Oberon? He could probably make them leave.”

“Uh, let’s not bring the faery rulers into this if we don’t have to,” Puck said with a frown and a sharp look at Grimalkin. “Oberon doesn’t need to know about this, and neither do Meghan and ice-boy. All three of them might’ve warned me that if certain unexpected things happened, they were not going to be happy with me.”

“I agree with Puck,” Ethan said, though he looked annoyed about admitting it. “I want this day to be perfect for Kenzie,” he explained. “No craziness, no faery mayhem, nothing that could ruin this moment for her. I’m sure we’ll laugh about it on our honeymoon, but right now, I want to get through the day without major disasters or royal confrontations.”

I sighed. “All right,” I said and nodded at Ethan, who was giving me a hopeful look. “We’ll see if we can’t take care of this quietly.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, which just showed how stressed he was feeling. The words thank you were shunned in Faery as, for the fey, that phrase could put you into another’s debt. Ethan knew this. Not long ago, he had hated everything about Faery and the Nevernever. Not only was he the Iron Queen’s brother, he had been blessed—or cursed—with the Sight since birth, so from the time he was small, the fey had tormented him. To protect himself, Ethan had learned everything he could about Faery and how to combat it, including the words and phrases that could get you in trouble, with deal, promise, and of course thank you being the worst offenders. For him to thank me meant that he was either feeling overwhelmed, or he trusted that I wouldn’t use it against him.

My insides twisted a little. During the bleakest period of my life, I had betrayed everyone’s trust, but Ethan’s most of all. To this day, I didn’t know how, or why, he had chosen to forgive so easily, but I had made a promise to myself never to abuse that trust again. If he ever needed my help, I would be there to give it.

Starting today.

Crossing my arms, I pondered the closed door. The cooing on the other side had gotten significantly louder, and there was a sudden loud flapping, as if dozens of birds had taken off at once. Puck winced.

“Yep, they’re still multiplying. We need to get them out of here before this wedding turns into the set of The Birds II.”

“If you ask me,” Grimalkin commented, “you could always open the door. Really, there would just be a few minutes of confusion and utter pandemonium, but let us not forget the most important thing: it would make some of us very happy.”

“Yeah, furball, that’s not going to happen.” Puck scowled at the feline, then glanced to me again. “I take it you have a plan in that noggin of yours, princeling?”

I thought about it for a moment more, then nodded.

“Yes. This is what we’re going to do...”

Chapter 3

How do I get myself into these situations? I wondered a few minutes later. Even in Faery, if I told this story to someone, they would have a hard time believing it.

Puck and I stood just inside the door we had slipped through, keeping our backs to the wood and our movements small. Surrounding us, a few hundred white birds stared with beady black eyes and fluttered their wings, ready to launch themselves into the air.

“Are you sure this is gonna work, princeling?” Puck muttered beside me.

“Not really,” I mused back. “But if you have a better idea...”

“Nope” was the cheerful reply. “I just hope we can do this before everyone out there starts to wonder where the heck we are. Or Grimalkin gets bored and starts the birdpocalypse himself.”

“Well, we’d better get started, then.”

“Guess so.” Puck grinned, then pulled something out of his suit pocket: a wooden instrument with eight small tubes bound together in a row. His panpipes. I wasn’t surprised he had brought the instrument with him, even to a wedding.

“Remember,” I said as he brought the flute to his lips. “We need them to go to sleep, Puck, not dance or swoop around in a wild revel.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Puck replied. “Though, that might be just the thing to make this event even more special... I’m kidding, princeling. Don’t have an aneurysm.” After taking a deep breath, he pursed his lips and blew the first note into the pipes.

Music and Summer magic filled the air, rising in tandem to swirl around us. The notes were slow and bittersweet and brought to mind warm beds, the setting sun, and hibernating creatures. I could feel the song tugging at my eyelids, urging them to close, to relax and let myself fall. I bit my lip to stay awake, as all through the room the frantic cooing and fluttering of the doves calmed. The birds settled onto their perches, fluffing out their feathers and tucking their heads into their wings. In only a few seconds, the cooing ceased, the movement stilled, and the birds dropped into a deep, magical slumber.

Puck lowered his arm, and the mournful lullaby faded away. “Well,” he whispered, grinning as he looked around the room. “That was easy. Your turn, princeling.”

I faced the room of silent, sleeping birds and took a slow breath, drawing on my magic. It rose easily to my fingertips, cold and tingling, the glamour of the Unseelie side of my family.

“Ready?” I asked Puck softly.

He nodded, and I breathed out slowly, filling the air with Winter magic.

My breath swirled into the room, crystallizing into ice eddies that danced on the air, throwing off tiny glints of light. The temperature dropped sharply, and a thin sheet of ice formed over the desk and the tops of the filing cabinets. A few doves cooed nervously in their sleep, fluffing out their feathers and huddling down against the cold, but they didn’t wake up. Carefully, I dropped the temperature further, and ice began coating their feathers, creeping over their wings, and spreading up their backs.

“Brrr,” Puck remarked, though his voice remained quiet, as well. He stood with his hands in his armpits, his shoulders hunched against the cold, and his breath coiling in the air before him. “Man, I hate being cold. Not that I’m complaining, but maybe we could speed this up a little, prince? I have ice in places I’d rather not.”

“Almost there,” I murmured. My grandmother, Queen Mab, had taught me this technique for freezing living creatures in ice to preserve them for all time. I didn’t really like using this procedure; it felt rather...evil, but I couldn’t think of anything better.

With a final burst of cold, all the doves in the room iced over, becoming chunks of frozen crystal, with shells that preserved the being within. Slumping as the last of the Winter glamour left my body, I observed my handiwork with distaste.

“All right,” I said, turning my gaze from the frozen birds. “That’s done.”

“Great.” Puck nodded and pulled out a trio of plastic black bags with a grin. I had no idea where he had gotten them, but I wasn’t going to ask questions. “On to phase two.”

Ethan slipped into the room, wrinkling his nose at the mounds of frozen birds. “I talked to the preacher to delay the ceremony for a few minutes,” he said, “but we don’t have a lot of time. I don’t like keeping Kenzie in the dark, either, so we need to do this, now.”

“Well, start grabbing birdsicles, kid,” Puck said and tossed him a plastic bag. Ethan snatched the bag out of the air with a scowl and turned to the desk full of sleeping birds.

“Just once,” he muttered as we all started putting frozen, sleeping doves into the bags, working quickly before they started to thaw, “just once I would like to do something big in my life without the fey and faery magic screwing it up. I’m supposed to be standing at the altar now, marrying the girl of my dreams, and what am I doing instead? Trying to sneak a few hundred frozen doves out of the church before anyone notices, because I lost my mind for a fraction of a second and invited Robin Goodfellow to my wedding.”

I couldn’t help the small smile that crept across my face as I took the other side of the desk and began stuffing birds into the sack. “You’re the Iron Queen’s brother and the champion of the Nevernever,” I told him. “You’re probably the only human alive who has a relative in every single court of Faery. You’re marrying a girl who bargained with a faery queen to get the Sight and who has a gremlin for a pet. How did you ever think your wedding was going to be normal?”

He snorted, shaking his head, but a grin quirked one side of his mouth. “Yeah,” he sighed, giving me a wry look. “When you put it that way, I guess this is actually pretty tame compared to what could happen.”

“That’s right,” Puck chimed in, sweeping a whole group of birds into his bag with faint clinking sounds. “Be grateful, kid. There was one wedding I attended where the bride was kidnapped by centaurs and the groom turned into a jumping mouse.”

Not long afterward, we had three bags bulging with frozen doves. As we stood staring at them, Ethan rubbed his forehead.

“Okay,” he muttered, “so how are we going to sneak these birds out of here without anyone seeing us? There’s no back door; we’ll have to go through the main hall.”

“Leave that to me,” I said. “I’ll get them out, and no one will see a thing.”

“Oh, really?” said a voice behind us.

We spun. A beautiful figure stood in the doorway, watching us with a puzzled smile. Her white satin gown was simple but elegant, far less billowy than some I had seen, which suited her, I thought. Kenzie, even with her wealthy upbringing, had never been one for extravagance.

Ethan stiffened and turned away, hiding his face as the bride stepped into the room, her eyes drawn to the bags sitting between us. “Kenzie, what are you doing here?” he said, keeping his gaze on the opposite wall. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to see you before the ceremony.”

The future Mrs. Chase smiled and shook her head, eyeing us all with wary amusement. “Well, that would be true,” she said, “if this was a normal wedding. But Razor keeps saying strange things, like ‘frozen birdies’ and ‘funny red-haired elf magic,’ so I suspected something might be going on.”

“Razor is here?” I repeated in surprise.

She grinned. “Razor is very polite and well-behaved these days,” she told me. “And having a gremlin around is useful in so many ways. He can go just about anywhere, keep an eye on things, and let me know if there’s something I should worry about. Like if an infamous faery prankster is sneaking around the back rooms of the church on my wedding day.” She gave Puck a pointed glare. “I figured if Puck was involved, I’d better see what was happening before the pandemonium hits. Especially since I passed Grimalkin in the other room, and he said something like ‘If the humans are still unsure of what to do, tell them I could be persuaded to help, for a price.’ And then I swear he licked his chops. So what the heck is going on in here?”

“Nothing to worry about, really,” Puck put in. “Just a...minor miscalculation about how many white doves we needed to make an impression. We’ve got it taken care of.”

“Uh-huh.” Kenzie’s glare shifted to Ethan, though it wasn’t as severe as before. “And when were you going to tell me about this?” she asked. “Before or after the chaos started?”

Ethan groaned. “I’m sorry, Kenzie.” He looked resigned as he turned to face her. “I wanted this day to be perfect for you, without all the faery chaos. I thought if we cleaned up this mess quickly, before anything happened, the two of us could maybe have a normal wedding.”

Kenzie chuckled. “I have a gremlin in my dressing room,” she said. “King Oberon of the Seelie Court is sitting in the front pew of the church. Almost half the congregation is fey. If we wanted a normal wedding, Ethan, we would’ve eloped.”

“Is that still an option?” he asked weakly.

She laughed. “We’ll get through this,” she said, glancing at me with a smile. “Keirran will make sure this day doesn’t explode into complete and utter pandemonium. Right, Keirran?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“See? Nothing to worry about.” She walked forward and placed her hands on Ethan’s shoulders, smoothing his collar. “It will be all right,” she told him. “Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it. And then it’s off to Paris, where hopefully the fey population will be less inclined to bother us.”

Puck scoffed. “Don’t count on it,” he said. “Lutins are especially rude to tourists. Don’t let their cheeky little grins fool you.”

Ethan and Kenzie ignored him. “Yeah,” Ethan sighed, reaching up to grasp Kenzie’s hand. “One more day, and then we’ll finally be on our own.” His expression softened, eyes shining with love as he gazed down at her. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

She smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. “Save it for the honeymoon, tough guy. I’ll see you at the altar. Puck...” She turned a rather scary smile on the Great Prankster. “If my wedding day explodes or is canceled because of faery magic, I will personally have Grimalkin track down the meanest, nastiest witch in all the Nevernever to put twelve lifetimes of curses on you. So, if you don’t want donkey ears or a camel hump for the rest of the millennium, behave.”

Puck gave her a grimace of mock horror, followed by a smile. “Me? I’m on my best behavior, Your Highness.”

She rolled her eyes at him, gave Ethan a look of pure affection, then walked out of the room. Ethan watched her until the door swung shut behind her, then turned on us, his expression fierce. “All right, we need to get rid of these things, now.”

“I’m on it.” Raising my hands, I half closed my eyes, searching for a place where the Veil was thin. If I could find a spot, I could part the Veil, take the sacks into the Between, and exit somewhere else in the real world. Unfortunately, within the small confines of this room, I couldn’t find a place that was sufficiently thin to enter the Between.

“Hmm.” Lowering my arms, I started walking to the door, still probing the air around me.

Ethan’s gaze followed me, anxious and confused. “Keirran? Where are you going?”

“I can’t part the Veil here,” I told him, opening the door. “I have to find a place where the Veil is thin to enter the—”

I stopped. From the other side of the frame, a human stared at me, blinking in confusion. A small man with a white shirt and tie, eyes wide behind his glasses.

“What is going on here?” he asked, as Ethan slipped through and Puck quickly shut the door behind us. From the stacks of chairs along the wall, Grimalkin raised his head to watch us. “I just ran into the bride, who told me the ceremony might be delayed a bit longer,” the small man said, seemingly oblivious to the large gray cat in the room. “Is something wrong?”

“No, Reverend.” Ethan stepped forward quickly. “Nothing is wrong. We just...uh...”

“Had a small pest problem,” Puck said, making me wince. “Nothing to worry about. We’ve got it taken care of.”

“A pest problem?” The human’s face blanched a little. “You mean like a rat? Is there a rat in the church?” His eyes went to the door behind us, and he took a step forward. “Where is it? Is it still in the room?”

Puck smoothly stepped in front of him, his grin disarming. “We told you, Reverend, it’s been taken care of. There are no rats in that room. Scout’s honor.”

As he spoke, a flutter of glamour went through the air, centered on the human in front of us. Barely noticeable, but I still felt it: a small suggestion spell, to convince the minister that what Puck was saying was true, that there was nothing to worry about. I clenched a fist, remembering the time I had used such a spell, and the fallout that had come after. I’d told myself I would never again use magic to alter a human’s thoughts or feelings, even if as in this case it was for the greater good.

The man blinked, then frowned at Puck, not looking the least bit appeased. “What do you mean there are no rats in that room?” he snapped, as Puck’s brows rose in surprise. “You just told me we had a pest problem. I cannot have vermin running loose in my church! Please step aside. I need to inspect where it might have come from.”

“It’s dead,” I said quickly, making him pause. “We...um...already killed it. We just didn’t want to bring it out and upset the guests. It’s wrapped up in a garbage bag right now. When the ceremony is done, we can dispose of it.”

“I didn’t want Kenzie to see it,” Ethan added. “This is her special day, and I didn’t want anything to upset her. Don’t tell her about the rat, please? If she knew we had to kill something on her wedding day...”

He trailed off, but the minister smiled, giving him a sympathetic look. “Of course,” he said in a softer voice, smiling to show that he understood. “I won’t say anything about it. Just...please dispose of it as soon as you are able. I’ll see you out there in a few minutes.”

He patted Ethan on the shoulder, then left the room. When he was gone, Ethan slumped against the wall with a groan, and I let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was close. What happened there, Puck?”

A feline snicker came from the chairs against the wall. “Did you forget you are in a church, Goodfellow?” the cait sith asked. “People of the faith are much more resistant to magic and glamour. You, of all people, should have remembered that.”

“Yeah, I should’ve.” Puck scratched the back of his head. “It’s just been so long since anyone has pointed a crucifix at me...” He paused at Ethan’s raised eyebrows. “Uh, that’s not important right now. Nice save there, kid. But we’d better take care of this quick, before anyone else gets curious.”

Ethan gave me an almost desperate look. I nodded and stretched out my arm, probing the air once more.

This time, I felt it. A sliver of weakness, a spot in reality where the Veil was thin. It was rather unstable, but I hoped it would suffice. Carefully, I pushed my fingers through that crack and felt the instant cold of the Between.

“All right, I found a spot,” I told the others. “Go get the birds. I don’t know how long this will stay.”

They immediately left the room and a few seconds later were back with the three bags. Condensation was starting to form outside the plastic and drip onto the floor, indicating that the birds were starting to thaw. I swept my arm to the side and opened a hole in reality, and the mist of the Between trickled into the room with us.

Puck’s brow furrowed as he and Ethan set the bags of doves in the Between. “So, just out of curiosity, what are you going to do with all those birdies?” he wondered. “Let them fly free in the Between?”

I shook my head. “No, that would be a death sentence. They would never survive out here.” And as bizarre as this day was turning out to be, I didn’t want to kill a bunch of innocent creatures if I didn’t have to. “I’ll go through the Between and find a spot to release them into the mortal realm. It shouldn’t take long.”

I just hoped I would be able to find my way back. The weak spots in the Veil didn’t stay that way for long. If I couldn’t find this exact spot again, I might miss the wedding.

I shook that thought away. Best thing was to get this done as quickly as possible. Stepping through the Veil, I nodded at the pair behind me. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I told them. “But if I’m not back in time, don’t wait for me.”

“Pity,” Grimalkin remarked from the chair. “This day could have been so much more entertaining.”

Ethan scowled and opened his mouth to say something, but I dropped my hand, letting the Veil close and the curtain swoosh shut, cutting them from view.

Chapter 4

Well, this was probably one of the stranger things I’d had to do in my life. I was glad the Between was empty, that there were no Forgotten around to see their king trudge past with three dripping wet bags over his shoulder. Like a younger, disappointing Santa Claus. At least I was alone. As soon as I found a suitable spot to release my burden in the mortal realm, I would be home free.

A warning chill went up my back, making me pause. I thought I was alone, anyway. Raising my head, I peered around, searching for shadows in the mist, listening for muffled footfalls or heavy breathing. I knew how to shield my emotions to avoid the manifestations the Between could produce, but every so often, a faery or some other creature would stumble through the Veil and become lost. When this happened, they often went mad from the years or centuries of wandering the endless expanse of the Between. I had encountered only one of these lost beings in the past, and it had immediately attacked me, all lucidness gone from its eyes. It was an experience I did not wish to repeat.

The mist coiled around me, silent and cold, dampening all sound. But I could feel eyes on me. Not curious or inquisitive; this was not a lost creature wondering what it had stumbled upon. Whatever was watching me did so with intention.

“I know you’re out there.” My voice echoed in the void, and a few tendrils of mist shivered into nothing. “I know you’re watching me. I am not your enemy, nor am I someone you want to fight. Leave this place. I want no trouble from the Between today.”

The shadows around me stayed silent. Nothing moved in the mist. But the feeling of being watched did not fade away. I waited a few seconds longer, then continued on. I didn’t have time to stand around and wait for an unknown entity to make up their mind. If they attacked me, I was confident I could handle it, but right now I had other problems to deal with. I could feel movement and hear faint coos and twitters from within the bags. Unless I wanted to release the birds here in the Between, which I wasn’t going to do, there wasn’t a lot of time left.

I walked a few paces more, then paused as I felt a ripple through the Veil, a spot where the curtain of reality was thin in the mortal realm. Reaching out my hand, I parted the Veil and peered through the crack, blinking as sunlight hit my face.

As I stepped through the Veil, a small cluster of trees greeted me, and a breeze smelling of leaves and bark ruffled my hair. The birds against my back fluttered wildly, as if sensing freedom and open air beyond the confines of the plastic, and I quickly gazed around for a spot to release them.

“Hey, you.”

I froze. Turning around, I saw a human in a police uniform walking toward me, a wary frown on his face. Beyond him, through the trees, I could see buildings and cars, and I realized this wasn’t a remote corner of the wilderness. This was a city park, and I had popped in out of nowhere, carrying three chirping, dripping, fluttering bags, right in front of a cop.

With a sigh, I drew my glamour to me, resigned that this day was going to continue to be strange. As the policeman strode toward me, I put my faery magic on like a cloak, becoming invisible to mortal sight. The human stopped short, mouth open about to speak. As he gazed around in utter confusion, I stepped past him and continued on, knowing he would forget all about me in a few seconds.

The doves were growing even more agitated. More had thawed, and though they felt sluggish, they were clearly not happy about being half-frozen and stuck in a bag with dozens of other frozen birds. I hurriedly made my way to the center of the park and, surrounded by evergreen and oak, set the twitching bags on the ground.

After a cursory glance to make sure there were no humans close by, I tore the bags open and stepped back. With an explosion of feathers, a host of white birds rose into the air with indignant coos and flapping of wings. Like a fluffy cloud, they swooped above the trees and scattered in every direction. I heard gasps and shouts as a few mortals caught sight of hundreds of doves spiraling into the air. A little girl ran forward, pointing at the sky, a huge grin across her face. I felt the ripple of her wonder and awe from where I stood and smiled to myself at her happiness.

Okay, that ridiculous mission is done. I need to get back to the wedding, now.

I jogged to where I had come through the Veil, passing the human cop, who was talking to someone in a parked car. He didn’t notice me, nor did he seem to have any recollection of seeing someone suspicious appear with a trio of wriggling bags thrown over his shoulder. I found the spot where the Veil was thin and quickly slipped back into the Between.

I still have time. Hang on, Ethan. I’m on my way.

I hurried forward, but I hadn’t taken more than a few steps when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my instincts shrieked a warning. Reflexes honed from a lifetime of having my father for a teacher kicked in, and I dodged. Something small and bright zipped past my face, a sliver of razor-thin moonlight, and vanished into the fog behind me.

I drew my sword, glaring into the coils of mist and shadows, searching for an attacker but seeing nothing. The fog parted a little, and I found myself surrounded by ancient-looking stone ruins, pillars, and walls lying crumbled in the mist. I caught only glimpses of them before the fog swallowed them up once more, but I knew something else was out there, hiding in the shadows. Waiting to strike.

“Who are you?” I called, hearing my voice echo in the gloom. “By order of the Forgotten King, show yourself.”

Again, there was no answer. But this time, I wasn’t going to turn my back on an obvious enemy, even if I couldn’t stay there long. “What do you want of me?” I tried again. “You’re obviously not a wanderer, not with that aim. If you are lost, I can take you to the mortal realm, but if you just want blood, I’m afraid you’ve picked the wrong fight. I am Keirran, King of the Forgotten, and I will defend myself if necessary.”

“You are no king.”

The voice drifted out of the mist, low and feminine, curling around me like a predator. I turned slowly, unable to tell which direction it had come from.

“You are a human,” the voice said again, behind me this time. I spun and saw a section of mist curl away, revealing half a stone pillar. A figure crouched atop it, draped in a black cloak and cowl, features hidden. One slender hand gripped a curved, silvery blade that seemed to be made of moonlight.

“Humans cannot become kings of the Nevernever,” my mysterious assailant went on. “Only a few mortals can even see the hidden world. Faery would never accept a human as its king.”

“I am human,” I agreed, shifting around to get a better position should the figure decide to attack. “My human blood is from my mother’s side. But she is Queen of the Iron Court and rules the territory of Iron within the Nevernever. I am a king, as much as Oberon is King of the Summer Court and Mab is Queen of Winter.”

“Iron Court,” the figure repeated and shook its shrouded head. “Summer Court. Winter Court. What are these blasphemous claims I keep hearing? There is only one court in the Nevernever, ruled by one queen. What have you done with the true queen of Faery?”

“The true queen?” I repeated, frowning. “There are three queens of Faery: Queen Meghan, Queen Mab, and Queen Titania. Which one are you—”

My stomach dropped. No, she wasn’t talking about any of them. I knew who she meant, the one who had ruled the Nevernever before any of the courts existed. Before Summer or Winter, before Arcadia or Tir Na Nog or Mag Tuiredh, there had been only one queen of Faery. I had met her. I had fought for her, during the war when I had betrayed everyone.

“The Lady,” I whispered.

Amazement battled disbelief. If this faery thought the Lady still ruled the Nevernever, then that meant it had been a part of her court...before the rise of Summer and Winter. How old was this stranger? Did that mean it was a Forgotten who had faded away and then, somehow, been reborn into this age?

“The true queen,” the figure said again and rose, pointing at me with that curved silver blade. “The only queen. I will not believe these rumors that she is gone or that these strange new courts are ruling the Nevernever. Where is she, human? Tell me, before I cut out your tongue for speaking such lies.”

“I’m sorry,” I said as gently as I could. “What you’ve heard is the truth. The Lady is dead.” I paused, then added in an even softer voice, “I killed her myself.”

“You?”

For a moment, the figure appeared stunned. Slowly, it raised its free hand and pushed the hood of its cowl back.

My brows rose. The face beneath the hood was beautiful: a faery with twilight-colored skin and silver hair like the sheen of a polished blade. Her eyes were huge and golden, not blank and pupilless like the Forgotten’s but luminous in their intensity, the color of the moon hanging low on the horizon. Black leather armor sheathed her from head to toe, and my wariness grew. That was not the outfit of a simple messenger or handmaiden. Whoever this faery was, she was a trained fighter.

“You killed the Lady?” she repeated in a dazed voice. Her brow furrowed, and she shook her head. “Impossible. You are but a human, and the Lady is the most powerful being in the Nevernever.”

“She was very powerful,” I agreed. “I even served her for a time. But she was consumed with what she believed had been stolen from her. She wanted to reclaim her throne and rule the Nevernever again, and she was willing to sacrifice all of Faery to do it. In the end, I couldn’t support her plans of destruction. She died quickly. Even after everything, I didn’t want her to suffer.”

“Enough.” The black-garbed faery tensed, her eyes glowing and furious in the shadows. She gestured, and another silvery blade materialized in her hand as if conjured from moonlight. “I cannot believe a mere human, even one with faery blood, could defeat the queen I served for centuries.” Her eyes narrowed to golden slits as she raised her swords. “You will tell me what really happened, mortal. I will cut the truth from your lips if I must!”

She leaped toward me like a streak of lightning, those deadly swords sweeping down to take my head.

Chapter 5

Well, this was going to kill any hopes of making the wedding on time.

I twisted away on instinct as the faery’s moonblades slashed through the spot where I had been. She was lethally fast. Her blades came at me again, and I barely got my sword up to block. Parrying the moonblades aside, I lashed out at her, and she leaped back, the sword missing her by centimeters. As soon as the blade had passed, she darted forward again, seeking to cut me down. But I had been trained by one of the best warriors in the Nevernever and had been educated in different styles of battle. Strong warriors often used different tactics learned from fast or very skilled fighters. Powerful warriors used their strength and endurance to batter their enemy down. Quick warriors like this one used blinding speed to dart within their enemy’s guard, often timing their strikes to deal a vicious blow and quickly leaping back to avoid the counterstrike. Knowing this, I didn’t carry my swing through but instantly swept the sword back again, cutting at the warrior even as she lunged forward. Immediately, she ducked, rolling under the blow, and coming up on her feet behind me. I spun and took a few steps back, keeping my sword between us as the faery turned and regarded me with appraising gold eyes.

“You’re skilled,” she said, and her tone wasn’t surprised or mocking or angry, just matter-of-fact. “Whoever your teacher was, they were very good. Though, it won’t save you in the end.”

“Do we really have to do this?” I asked as she circled me like a wolf, graceful and dangerous. “Not to be rude, but I have somewhere to be right now. Can we perhaps put this on hold and come back to it in a day or two?”

“Of course.” The black-clad warrior shrugged and leaned back in a way that, oddly enough, reminded me of Puck. “Tell me where the Lady is, and I’ll let you go.”

“I told you,” I said wearily. “You won’t find the Lady in the Nevernever any longer. Her rule over Faery has ended. She’s gone.”

For a moment, the faery’s expression contorted, rage and anguish flashing through her eyes. Just for a moment, before she composed herself with a steely smile.

“Wrong answer,” she told me and lunged, coming in with a series of lightning-quick strikes that sent me scrambling back, desperately trying to avoid them. As I parried, I felt a shiver of glamour go through the air between us and saw an opening. My sword flashed out, cutting through the slender body, which instantly rippled into slivers of light and disappeared.

That’s not the end of it, Keirran! Reflexively, I spun to face the attack coming in from behind. As I turned, our gazes met, and surprise flickered through the strange faery’s eyes. She’d expected my guard to be down for the split second it would take to stab me from behind. Again, she didn’t know my teacher or the lengths he’d gone to to make sure I was prepared for every kind of battle.

There was no time to bring my sword up; those deadly curved blades were already coming for my head. I thrust my free hand out, palm forward, and sent a blast of Winter glamour through the air between us. There was a flash of blue light, and a wall of ice materialized in front of me.

The second it was up, I realized my mistake. I had blocked my assailant’s line of sight, but I had lost sight of her, too. Which meant that, as fast as she was, she was probably behind me right now, and I had a split second to make a choice.

I hoped I made the right one.

Something cold and razor-sharp pressed against my throat from behind. I stiffened and slowly lowered my weapon, feeling the faery’s slender body against my back, the edge of that curved blade barely touching my skin. Her breath was cool as she leaned close, her lips next to my ear.

“Now, human, enough games. I will have answers. What happened to the Lady? What happened to the Nevernever? Why...is everything so different now?”

“I promise you this,” I began and felt her surprise, knowing the power of those words in Faery. “Everything I am about to tell you is the truth. Please try to understand. It has been a long, long time since the Lady ruled the Nevernever. Long enough that most of Faery have forgotten about her. For many, many centuries, she slept, deep beneath the earth in a place called Phaed. Until one day, someone came along and woke her up.”

“Phaed,” the faery behind me repeated. “I... I was in Phaed, not long ago. I woke up there, I think. Or...was I always there? I don’t know what happened to me. My memories are gone. I just remember... I serve the Lady.” She made a tiny, frustrated noise and shook her head. “Why can’t I remember anything else?”

“You’re a Forgotten,” I told her gently. “It’s what happens when humans don’t remember us. They forget your name, your stories, everything about you. After a while, those faeries just...slowly cease to exist. And somehow, they all end up in Phaed. Where the Lady was, dreaming of the day she could return.”

“I know of the Forgotten.” The faery’s voice was breathless. “They were rumors. No one ever saw one, but we knew they existed. Has it...really been that long? Even the Lady has been forgotten?”

“Until the day she woke up and discovered the world had changed,” I said. “When she did, she couldn’t accept that the world and the rest of Faery had moved on. She gathered the Forgotten to her and waged war on the Nevernever, claiming that she was the one true queen and that the courts should not exist. I...was her champion, for a time,” I went on, as shameful memories rose up, seeking to drown me. “I turned my back on my court and my family to side with the Lady. I thought that... No, there’s no excuse for my actions. The Lady wanted to be as powerful as she was before, to rule with no opposition. She would’ve had me kill my own family to achieve that.”

The faery at my back was silent for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was nearly a whisper. “You betrayed her.”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “I did.”

The knife at my throat moved a hair toward me, not enough to draw blood but definitely uncomfortable. “Why shouldn’t I kill you, then?”

“Two reasons,” I said, quietly drawing on my glamour, feeling the energy of the Between swirl around and through me. “One, the Lady would’ve destroyed the Nevernever to become queen again. She didn’t care about the Forgotten or the lives lost. All she wanted was her throne back. I was oblivious to her ruthlessness at first, but if you really served her before, you know what she was capable of.” No answer from the faery behind me, and her silence spoke volumes. The Lady had never been a kind and sympathetic ruler; even when she had been queen of Faery, she’d ruled through fear. “The Lady would have destroyed us all,” I went on, releasing my glamour into the mist. The Between stirred at my touch; tendrils of fog broke off from each other and slowly coiled around us like snakes. “She would have let nothing stand between her and her throne. You served her—you know that what I’m saying is the truth. Furthermore, you also should’ve realized that attacking a king of Faery in his own territory is a very dangerous proposition.”

Smoky white hands suddenly appeared in the mist, grabbing the faery’s arms and legs and yanking her into the air. She jerked in their grip, twisting and slashing through several, even taken by surprise. I could appreciate how very fast and skilled she was, but not at the cost of her breaking free and attacking me again. I raised a hand and swept it toward the struggling faery with a burst of Winter glamour. The coils of mist and the hands holding her captive instantly turned to ice, suspending her like a fly caught in a spiderweb.

She slumped, silver hair hiding her face as she bowed her head, then looked up at me. Surprise filled those golden irises, along with a weary resignation. “Kill me quickly, then,” she said, her voice soft but unafraid. “I have nothing to return to, anyway.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” I told her. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and I know everything is confusing. I just want your word that, right now, on this spot, you won’t attack me when I let you go.”

She blinked. There were a lot of loopholes in that promise, which was the reason I’d phrased it that way. I wouldn’t try to make her swear to something she would never agree to, like promising to never kill me. All I asked was that, as long as we stood here, in this one place, she wouldn’t come after me again. It was an easy promise that would end as soon as we both stepped away, and after a moment of consideration, she nodded.

I waved a hand, and the ice shattered into tiny pieces with sharp tinkling sounds. The faery dropped, landed gracefully on her feet, and straightened, still appraising me with her golden eyes.

“You should’ve killed me,” she said after a moment. “That would’ve been the smart decision. If you are a king, leaving an enemy alive is a costly mistake.”

“I make a point not to kill people when there’s no need,” I replied solemnly. “Besides, I was under the impression that we didn’t have to be enemies.”

She didn’t say anything to that, just regarded me impassively. I sighed, feeling time slipping ever further away, but loath to turn my back on this deadly and beautiful killer. If I took one step, the terms of the promise would be met, and she’d be free to attack me again if she chose. “I have to go,” I told her. “I have my own promise to fulfill. You are welcome to find me again in Touchstone, the capital of the Forgotten Court. You’ll be safe there, and I can explain everything.”

She thought about that for a moment, then shook her head. “I appreciate the invitation,” she said softly, “but... I can’t accept it quite yet. I can’t accept you quite yet, Forgotten King. I have to discover some things for myself.”

I nodded. “Understandable. Still, if you find out what you need, Touchstone will be there. Hopefully I will see you again.”

“That is not something you should hope for, King of the Forgotten.”

“I’ll take my chances,” I replied, which made her frown. “What is your name, by the way?” It was clear that she was ready to depart, and once she did, I doubted I would ever find her unless she wanted to be found.

Again, she hesitated, before giving a tiny shrug. “You may call me Nyx.”

“Nyx,” I repeated. “And you once served the Lady, correct? In what way?”

She gave a weird little smile and backed up a step. Mist and fog curled around her, nearly hiding her from view. “I was the Lady’s assassin,” she said.

And she was gone.

Chapter 6

Ethan’s eyes bulged as I stepped from the Veil into the back room of the church. “There you are,” he breathed. “What took you so long? Everyone is impatient. Oberon already sent an emissary back here to see what the delay was. Thankfully, the emissary was Puck, so we dodged a bullet there. But we don’t have a lot of time.” He eyed me, and his irritation switched to concern. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I shook myself, putting the meeting with the Lady’s assassin from my mind for now. This day, though weird and full of faery hijinks, was not about me. “What about you?” I asked my best friend. “Nervous?”

“Terrified,” was the wry answer. “But not in the way you’d think. Really, I’m more concerned that Puck will do something else to disrupt things before the end of the ceremony. I just want this day over with so we can get on with our lives without having to worry that the roof will start raining frogs or something. Marrying Kenzie, though...” He shrugged, and a smile crept across his face. “I’ve never been more certain of anything.”

“I’m happy for you,” I told him, squashing the feeling of wistful longing threatening to rise within. Again, this day was not about me. I’d had my chance and destroyed it with reckless decisions. Ethan and Kenzie had fought side by side from the beginning and had never wavered in what they knew was right. They’d earned all the happiness today would bring them. “Both of you. After everything that happened, you deserve it.”

Ethan reached out and gripped my shoulder, his expression one of understanding. “She would be proud right now,” he said quietly, and we both knew whom he was speaking of. Her face danced across my vision, yellow flowers woven in her hair, and I took a deep breath to keep my throat from closing up.

“Yeah,” I husked out. “I hope so.” Shaking myself, I looked at Ethan and forced a grin. “Well, shall we? This wedding can’t happen without the groom.”

“Or the best man.” He smiled wryly. “Though, I fully regret telling you to come later and that I didn’t need any help before the ceremony started. Next time I say something like that, just have Kenzie kick me.”

A few minutes later, I stood behind Ethan at the front of the church as everyone in the congregation rose to watch the bride walk down the aisle. In the front row, my mother beamed with pride as she stood next to Ash. A few spaces away, Oberon looked bored with it all. One row behind them, Puck stood with his arms crossed and a huge grin on his face; he winked at Kenzie as she walked by, and I hoped he didn’t have any more of his “helpful” surprises up his sleeve.

Ethan didn’t see any of them. He didn’t see the minister or the congregation or anyone else. His gaze was riveted solely on Kenzie, and the look in his eyes as she walked up made my heart ache with longing. Listening to them as they said their vows, watching as they promised each other forever, it was all I could do to keep smiling. When they sealed their vows with a kiss, I had to look away. Afterward, the happy couple was engulfed in hugs and congratulations. Kenzie’s father even shook Ethan’s hand with a smile that was only slightly forced.

As everyone was making their way outside to head to the reception, I felt a presence at my back and turned to find Oberon gazing down at me.

The King of Summer regarded me with impassive, leaf-green eyes that, as usual, gave no hint as to what he was thinking. Of all the rulers in Faery, Oberon’s feelings toward me and what had transpired in the Lady’s war were still unknown. Titania despised me, of that I was certain. Mab, though she wasn’t entirely happy with what I had done, had accepted that my punishment was fair and just, and that was the end of it. Of the three, Oberon was the ruler who had given no indication of where we stood, whether he still considered me family or an enemy. In Faery, grudges lasted forever.

I bowed my head to the Seelie King. “Lord Oberon,” I said cautiously and received a nod in return. A sign that he at least acknowledged me as a ruler of Faery, even if his personal feelings were unclear. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I did not expect to see you here,” the Summer Lord said. “When the Iron Queen told me her brother had invited all family members, I did not think she meant to include you. I am curious as to why you decided to attend the celebrations of those whom you betrayed.”

Well, I guess that answered my question. I felt my insides clench painfully, like a claw had grabbed my stomach and twisted it around, but I forced myself not to shrink before the Seelie King. Not to let him know I was dying inside.

“I am still family,” I told the Lord of Summer, making sure my voice did not tremble as I spoke. “I have not been exiled from the mortal world. When Ethan asked me to stand with him today, it was an honor to accept.”

“Your mortal family does not understand.” Oberon drew back. He didn’t sound angry; his tone remained calm and matter-of-fact, his demeanor expressionless as he regarded me. But I still felt the words like knife blows to my heart. “They think of you as kin. But Faery does not forget. Once a traitor, always a traitor. It is only a matter of time before you turn on us again.”

He turned and walked out, leaving me feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, then kicked repeatedly. For a moment, I considered leaving, quietly slipping into the Between and vanishing from sight. I wondered if everyone saw me as Oberon did: the exiled king, ruling in darkness, just waiting for his chance to betray Faery once more.

“Don’t let him get to you, kid.”

Puck’s voice echoed behind me. I turned and saw the red-haired prankster with a strangely serious expression on his face. It looked out of place on him.

“Oberon is an old faery,” Puck said without waiting for me to speak. “He’s been around awhile, and he’s seen almost everything. But remember, he’s still fey. He can only see things through the lens of an immortal. Certain human elements—love, selflessness, family devotion, forgiveness—he just doesn’t understand.” He pointed a finger at me with a smirk. “So don’t let him get into that sulky head of yours, princeling. One brooding Winter faery prowling around here is more than enough.”

Oberon did not attend the reception but headed back to Arcadia and the Summer Court, and Grimalkin also faded from sight, perhaps now bored that the possibility of Birdmageddon was over, but everyone else remained. Beneath a gazebo in the shade of several ancient oaks, I watched Ethan and Kenzie dance to the soulful melody of a jazz band (fully human, as Ethan wouldn’t hear of having faery music at his wedding) and smiled at their complete happiness.

But still, despite Puck’s reassurance, I couldn’t help but mull over Oberon’s words. Once a traitor, always a traitor. Did that mean I was destined to repeat the mistakes of my past, betraying everyone I loved, though I had sworn never to do such a thing again? Or did it mean that I’d always had evil inside me, and it was just my nature to hurt and destroy?

I was so distracted by my thoughts that I missed my cue to speak. Sitting at a long table beside the bride and groom, I was suddenly aware that the room had gotten quiet and everyone was looking at me expectantly.

Oh, right. Best man’s speech. I had agreed to say a few words, though now I regretted not having written anything down.

Clearing my throat, I stood, taking in the audience I spotted my parents at a table in the back, their eyes on me, and quickly looked away to gather my thoughts.

“I haven’t known Ethan and Kenzie very long,” I began into the silence. “Ethan and I weren’t childhood friends or playmates. We didn’t grow up together or anything like that. I’ve only known him a few years. But, even in that short a time, Ethan...basically saved my life.”

There were a few wistful smiles around the room, mainly from the humans. They thought I was speaking metaphorically. There were no wistful looks from any of the fey listening to me, my parents included. They all knew what I was talking about.

“I was pretty horrible to him, to both of them,” I went on. “I did and said a lot of things I’m not proud of. Most people would’ve given up on me, written me off as a lost cause. But Ethan and Kenzie have a quality many do not. They are both the most stubborn people I have ever met in my entire life.”

That got several chuckles; even my father cracked a smile. Kenzie’s dad snorted loudly into his napkin. I waited a moment for the room to quiet before continuing.

“But even when I was at my worst,” I said, feeling all eyes on me, “I watched them. I watched them both struggle and fight and always come back. Even in the face of extreme hardship, their devotion to each other never wavered. And...neither did their belief in me.”

Quickly, I took a short breath to keep my voice from catching. I didn’t dare glance at the table where my parents were, afraid that whatever I saw on their faces might cause me to break down. “So,” I finished, “Ethan and Kenzie, I just wanted to take this moment to say...thank you. To you both. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

There were some awws and a smattering of polite applause as I sat down, but I barely heard it. The humans who didn’t know my past were not the ones I was speaking to. But Ethan and Kenzie both smiled at me, and the bride reached across her new husband to gently squeeze my arm. The look on their faces was one of understanding. They knew exactly what I meant.

The reception was shockingly peaceful. Even Razor and Puck behaved themselves, the former sitting on a chair with his glowing, maniacal grin, never taking his eyes off Kenzie, the latter supposedly on his best behavior after the near fiasco with the doves. With the exception of Guro, who kept glancing around with a small, knowing smile, the humans at the reception seemed happily oblivious that they were mingling with a group of immortal faeries. Kenzie’s father even had a long conversation with Ash, who appeared wholly interested in the state of the stock market these days. Of course, excluding the Great Prankster and a hyper gremlin, this group of fey were possibly the most trustworthy in all the Nevernever.

Later, I was sitting alone at a table, brooding into my coffee, when I felt a presence behind me and heard the scrape of a chair being pulled up.

“Mind if I join you?” asked the Iron Queen, taking the seat next to mine. She watched me for a moment, blue eyes appraising, then asked in a gentle voice, “What’s on your mind, Keirran?”

I looked into my coffee mug, thinking. One-word answers like Nothing never satisfied her. She’d told me that herself—my father had tried those same avoidance tactics when they were first together; they weren’t going to work any better for me than they had for him.

I couldn’t tell her. Not everything. Too many worries, failures, and regrets were swirling around inside: I couldn’t focus on even one thing. The Forgotten. The Between. Annwyl. Myself. What would happen to the Forgotten? Was I going to be a good king, as I had promised? Or was I destined to betray those I loved, again?

Once a traitor, always a traitor.

Also, somewhere out there was a vengeful faery who had once served as the Lady’s assassin, so that was going to be fun times, as well.

I sighed, feeling my mother’s worried gaze on me. “A lot of things,” I confessed. “But they’re mostly issues that have to do with the Forgotten and the Between. It’s not something the other courts can help with. This is my kingdom now.” I took a breath and set my jaw, resolved. “I have to figure it out myself.”

The Iron Queen nodded. “Don’t shut us out, Keirran,” she said, and her fingers gently curled around mine. “I know you have your own realm, and that our lives have to be different now, but whatever happens, you are still part of this family. We will never turn you away. Remember that.”

I nodded and returned the squeeze. “I will,” I murmured, remembering Puck’s words from earlier. Certain human elements—love, selflessness, family devotion, forgiveness—he just doesn’t understand.

Puck was right. My parents and closest friends had forgiven me, of that I was certain. But was their forgiveness deserved? Or was there a hidden dark side within me that was waiting to betray them all once more?

Evening fell, and the new couple departed in a flurry of hugs and well wishes. I embraced both Ethan and Kenzie, feeling a lump in my throat as they hugged me tightly, their raw emotions surrounding us all.

“We love you, Keirran,” Kenzie whispered as she drew back. “Stay out of trouble, you hear?”

“I will,” I promised, and Ethan nodded to me as a long black limo pulled up beside them. They climbed into the back of the vehicle, and I watched my two best friends ride away into their new life.

Halfway to the road, however, the limo skidded to a halt, making everyone watching it depart blink in surprise. Both side doors opened, releasing a flock of about a dozen small white birds. They spiraled into the air, cooing and shedding feathers like dandelion puffs, and fluttered away over the trees.

A murmur of awe went through the group of mortals behind me, and I chuckled quietly to myself. My parents were going to kill him, but it seemed the Great Prankster had gotten his surprise off, after all.

Epilogue

Night had fallen over the mortal realm by the time I reached Touchstone again, and a full silver moon hung low in the sky over the city. The Forgotten were out in force tonight, featureless silhouettes sliding along walls or ghosting down the streets, comfortable in the darkness and all it offered. They bowed to me, silent and reverent, as I passed. A few murmured a quiet greeting, but for the most part my subjects had embraced their roles as creatures of fear and the shadows. The things that lurked in closets and under beds. They all had accepted me as their king, but sometimes it felt as if I was the only real thing in this city of darkness, and if I stayed here too long, I would slowly lose all color and emotion, until I was merely a shadow, too.

I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I made my way through the gates of Touchstone Manor, past the piles of stones that were the anchor for the whole city, and through the large front doors of my estate. Inside the Gothic-inspired foyer, it was brighter than the city outside, but not by much, and the candles on the walls and in the alcoves did little to throw back the gloom. The hall appeared empty, but that was only because my guards and servants were very adept at blending in. I felt their gazes on me as I crossed the stones and climbed the stairs to my chambers. Closing the door behind me, I contemplated flopping down on the large four-poster bed but abruptly straightened, all my instincts flaring to attention. Once more, I wasn’t alone.

“A king should not be so easily found.”

Nyx stepped away from a corner, seemingly materializing from nothing. Her hood was up, and her yellow eyes glowed in the shadows between us.

“Nyx.” I gave her a wary nod. I didn’t ask how she’d gotten in. Being the Lady’s assassin, I assumed getting into places she shouldn’t was one of her specialties. “When I said you were welcome in Touchstone, I didn’t exactly mean an open invitation into my personal chambers. What do you want?”

“Your city is impressive,” the Forgotten said, waving a graceful arm at the window to the city below. “But your subjects...feel empty. They are nothing but shadows. Is this what the Forgotten have become now? What I am destined to become?

“I searched for the Lady,” the faery went on before I could answer. “I looked for her, asked about her, to see if anyone remembered her name.” Briefly, she closed her eyes, a flash of pain crossing her face before she could hide it. “But everywhere I went, it was the same. The Lady is gone. She no longer exists anywhere in Faery. Even the memory of her is beginning to fade. It appears what you said is the truth. The Lady is no more. Her rule over the Nevernever has ended.”

“I am sorry,” I said quietly. “I don’t regret killing her, but I wish we could’ve come to an understanding.”

Surprisingly, Nyx shook her head in an almost impatient manner. “I am not here for revenge, Forgotten King,” she told me. “The Lady is dead. She was defeated and overthrown by a superior force. So be it. But my Order has always protected the ruler of Faery—we have done so since the beginning, and I must continue our purpose.”

Before I could say anything, the assassin stepped forward, brushed back her hood, and sank to her knees before me, bowing her head. “Forgotten King, I pledge myself to your service. Allow me to serve you as I once did the Lady. Let me be your hidden blade that protects you from the shadows and cuts the life from your enemies at your word.”

I blinked at her in shock. “You would switch allegiances? Just like that?”

“The Lady is dead. I see no reason to serve someone who is no longer here.” The faery’s voice was emotionless. “You defeated her, you have taken over her subjects and her kingdom, thus my loyalty goes to you. That is the way of my Order, even if I am the only one left.”

“I see.” Well, this was unexpected. What was I going to do with an assassin lurking in the shadows around me? “I accept your offer,” I told her, “on one condition. Don’t expect me to rule as the Lady did. I have no need of an assassin. I will not be sending you to kill anyone, whether they deserve it or not. Instead, I command you to protect the Forgotten and this realm to the best of your ability. If you cannot accept that, I advise you to find someone else to serve.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.” The faery didn’t lift her head. “Whatever you command, I will obey. Even if you have no need of my skills, I will continue to protect you and your kingdom for as long as I am able. That is the oath of my Order.”

“All right.” With a sigh, I raked a hand through my hair. The Lady’s assassin had just pledged her life to my service, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “First order of business, then. You don’t have to bow to me every time we meet.”

“If I may, Your Majesty...” Nyx raised her head but didn’t move from where she knelt. “There is something else you must be made aware of, and the reason I returned so quickly. Your realm is not safe.”

I tensed and gave her my full attention. “Explain.”

“I returned to the place I thought the Lady might be,” the assassin went on. “The town called Phaed. I thought, perhaps, she slept there still, that somehow a small part of her might have survived and returned. She wasn’t there but...something else was. Something that had turned the whole town into a mire of fear.”

The dread in the assassin’s voice took me by surprise. Even in the face of her own death, she hadn’t shown a hint of concern. “What was it?” I asked.

“A creature” was the grim reply. “A beast. I didn’t see it, but the residents of Phaed told me it had been seen prowling the banks of the River of Dreams just outside of town. No one could describe it clearly, but from what I could piece together, this beast was man-size and shaggy, with claws and fangs and antlered horns. But the terror it had inspired...” She shook her head, her gaze troubled. “I could feel it throughout the town. Phaed is consumed with fear, just from seeing this monster. I intend to track this beast down and destroy it, but before I do, I felt it was my duty to return and bring it to the king’s attention.”

I narrowed my eyes. A monster in the Between. And the Lady’s assassin, mysteriously returned from nonexistence. Whether she would become an enemy or a friend was yet to be decided. But something was out there, within the bounds of my territory. A creature that made even an assassin nervous. Whatever it was, it was an enemy I could confront, unlike the memories of my past, which I could not fight.

So be it. Let my first mission as the Forgotten King be one of protecting my people. And maybe, just maybe, it would take my mind off my many doubts and failures.

“Rise, Nyx of the Forgotten,” I told the faery before me. “You’ve sworn yourself to me, so let us start proving that loyalty. We’re going to hunt down this monster, together.”

Thank you for reading Shadow’s Legacy!

The Nevernever is a strange, wondrous, and ever-changing place...but even this most ancient and mystical land may not survive the coming storm.

Journey back into the realms of Faery as a new threat rises and Evenfall looms... Read on for an excerpt from book 1 of The Iron Fey: Evenfall trilogy

The Iron Raven
a story that could be told only by a mischievous faery who dares to laugh in the face of Death itself.

Only from Julie Kagawa and Inkyard Press!

The Iron Raven
by Julie Kagawa

The Human World

A long, long time ago

It was almost time.

I peeked out of the bushes and grinned. The stage was nearly set. In the tiny, sun-dappled clearing beyond the trees, the crystal-clear pool glimmered, attracting all manner of life to its sparkling waters. A herd of spotted deer bent graceful necks to the surface under the watchful eye of a great stag, standing tall at the edge of the pond. A few rabbits hopped through the bracken scattered through the clearing, and a family of squirrels scolded each other in the branches of a large gnarled oak. Birds sang, wildlife meandered, and the wind gently rustled the leaves overhead. It was a blissful, picturesque woodland scene, a perfectly peaceful day in the human realm.

Boring, boring, boring.

I smiled, reached into my shirt, and pulled the pan flute into the light. It was my own design; I’d spent several days gathering hollow reeds, cutting them, binding them together, and making sure the tone was perfect. Now I was going to see what it could do.

Drawing glamour from the forest around me, I raised the flute to my lips and blew out a single note.

The clear, high sound cut through the stillness of the woods, arcing over the grove, and all the animals clustered around the pond jerked up, eyes wide and nostrils flaring. The rabbits sat up, ears twitching back and forth. The deer raised their heads, dark eyes huge as they gazed around, ready to flee. The squirrels’ tails flicked as they clung to the branches, their chittering voices silenced.

In the sudden stillness, I took a deep breath, gathering my magic, and began playing.

The melody rose into the air, cheerful and fast-paced. It swirled around the pond, into the ears of every living creature. For a moment, none of them moved,

Then, one of the rabbits began tapping its foot. The others followed, thumping their hind legs in tune to the rhythm, and the deer began tossing their heads to the music. In the branches, the squirrels bobbed, tails twitching back and forth, keeping time, and the birds added their voices to the song. I bit down a smile and played louder, faster, drawing in more glamour and releasing it into the notes trilling through the forest.

With a bugle, the ancient stag reared up, tossing his huge antlers, and bounded gracefully to the center of the clearing. His sharp hooves pawed the grass, gouging the earth, as he stepped and leaped with the music. As one, his herd joined him, cavorting to his side, and the rabbits began flinging themselves in wild arcs around the stomping deer. My glee soared; this was working better than I had hoped. It was all I could do to keep playing and not let the song drop because of the enormous grin wanting to stretch my face.

Rising from the bushes, I walked toward the grove, the pan flute moving rapidly under my lips, the song rising and the magic soaring in response. My feet itched, and I started to move them, dancing to the center of the clearing. Filling my lungs, I played as loudly as I could, my body moving almost on its own, leaping and twirling and spinning through the air. And all around me, the forest creatures danced as well, hooves and horns and furry bodies barely missing me as they bounced and cavorted in a frantic circle, hurling themselves around the grove with wild abandon. I lost myself in the music, in the excitement and ecstasy, as I danced with the forest.

I didn’t know how long the melody went on; half the time my eyes were closed and I was moving on pure instinct. But at last, as the song reached a crescendo, I sensed it was time to bring it to a close. With one final, soaring note, the melody died away, the wild emotions faded, and the whirlwind of magic swirling through the grove fluttered out, returning to the earth.

Panting, I lowered my arms. Around me, my fellow dancers also came to shuddering stops, breathing hard. The great stag stood a few feet away, antlered head bowed, legs and flanks trembling. As I watched, he quivered and collapsed, white foam bubbling from his mouth and nostrils as his head struck the ground. One by one, the rest of the herd crumpled as well, some gasping wide-eyed for breath, some lying motionless in the dirt. Scattered around them, furry lumps of rabbits lay in the churned mud. I looked at the trees and saw the squirrels and birds lying at the bases of the trunks, having fallen from their perches once the music ceased.

I blinked. Well, that was unexpected. How long had I been playing anyway? I looked at the sky through the branches and saw clouds streaked with orange, the sun hovering low on the horizon. I’d come to this grove and played the very first note early this morning. It seemed our wild revel had lasted the entire day.

Huh. I scratched the back of my head. Well, that’s disappointing. I guess I can’t push these mortal beasts too aggressively, or they just collapse. Hmm. Tapping the fingers of one hand against my arm, I gazed at the pan flute in the other. I wonder if humans would do any better?

“Boy.”

The deep, lyrical voice came from behind me, and a ripple of magic shivered through the air. I felt a stab of annoyance that someone had been watching my revel; that was why I’d chosen to do this in the human world, after all—so I could worry less about curious eavesdroppers.

I turned and saw a procession of horses at the edge of the clearing, watching me from the trees. The mounts were fey creatures, lighter and much more graceful than their mortal counterparts, their hooves barely touching the ground. The riders atop them were sidhe knights, clad in armor of leaves, vines, and branches woven together. Part of the Summer Court, I realized. I’d seen them before, as well as the knights of the Winter Court. I’d even played with a few of them in the wyldwood, though they never realized the cause of all their small, annoying mishaps was a forest boy too insignificant to notice.

But the rider at the front of the procession had definitely noticed me, and he was impossible to miss, too. His mount was bright gold, brighter than any mortal steed, but the noble atop it outshone even his mount. He was dressed in armor of green and gold, with a cloak made of blooming vines that left flowers where he passed. Long silver hair flowed from under the huge antlered crown that rested on his brow, and the piercing green eyes beneath it were fixed solely on me.

Why was he here? Had he heard my music and been drawn to the sound? That was unfortunate. I tried to avoid catching the eye of the Summer Court, particularly this faery. I hadn’t been doing anything wrong; the fey cared little as to what happened in the mortal world. The deaths of a few forest creatures meant nothing to them.

But attracting the attention of one of the most powerful faeries in the Nevernever was a dangerous game. Depending on his mood, he might demand that I “gift” him the thing I’d worked so hard on, play the pipes for him and his knights for as long as he was amused, or entertain them all by becoming the next hunt. The fey lords were notoriously unpredictable, and I treated them as I would a sleeping dragon: it was okay to tiptoe around and steal their gold, as long as they didn’t see you.

But now, the dragon had spotted me.

The sidhe gentry nudged his mount, and the horse stepped into the clearing, striding across the grass until beast and rider loomed before me. I stood my ground and gazed up defiantly at the noble, who was watching me with appraising eyes.

“So young,” he mused. “And such an impressive use of glamour. What is your name, boy?”

“Robin.”

“And where are your parents, Robin?”

I shrugged. “I live by myself. In the wyldwood.” I couldn’t remember my parents, if I’d even had them. My earliest memory was the tangle of the wyldwood, foraging for food and shelter, learning the skills I needed to survive. But even though I was alone, I’d never felt like I didn’t belong. The forest, the wyldwood, was my home. That was how it always had been.

“Hmm.” The tall noble didn’t press the question. He observed me in silence for another moment, his face giving nothing away. “Do you know who I am, boy?” he asked instead.

This time, I nodded. “You’re King Oberon.” It was obvious; everyone knew who the Summer King was, though I’d never seen him in person. It didn’t matter. I had never seen Queen Mab, ruler of the Winter Court, either, but I was certain I would know her if I did.

“Yes,” the Seelie King agreed. “I am indeed. And I could use someone of your talents in Seelie territory.” He raised a hand, indicating me with long, elegant fingers. “You have power—raw, unfettered Summer magic rivaling some of my strongest allies in the court. Such a gift should not go to waste in the wyldwood. You should not be living in the forest like a beast, singing to birds and squirrels. You should be part of the greatest court in the Nevernever. What say you, Robin?” The king regarded me with eyes like pale green frost. “Would you like to become part of the Seelie Court?”

Part of the Seelie Court?

Curiosity battled defiance. I was intrigued, of course. Living by myself in the wyldwood meant I could come and go as I pleased, but it was getting a bit lonely. I wanted to talk to people, others of my kind, not just forest creatures and the occasional scatterbrained piskie. And of the two courts, Summer territory sounded much more pleasant than the frozen, hostile land of Winter.

Still, it was never a good idea to take the first offer. Even I, with my limited knowledge of bargains and deals, knew that much.

“I like it in the forest.” I crossed my arms and smiled at the king. “Why should I go live at the Summer Court?”

The Seelie King smiled, as if he’d expected that answer. “Because, Robin, I am king.” He spoke the phrase like it was the most important fact in the world. “And as King of the Seelie, I can give you whatever your heart desires. I can grant you power, wealth, the love of as many hearts as you wish.” He paused when I wrinkled my nose. “But I can see you are not interested in these things. Perhaps, then, this would be of note. I have many enemies, Robin. Both within the court and without. From time to time, these enemies need to realize that they cannot underestimate the sovereignty of Summer. If you join me... Well, let us say you will have plenty of opportunities to practice your magic on things other than common forest beasts.”

Now that sounded interesting. I glanced back at the pond, at the motionless bodies surrounding it. Poor dumb animals. I hadn’t meant to harm them, but it seemed normal creatures were very fragile. I would love to try some of my ideas on sturdier creatures, maybe even a few fey, and Oberon was dangling that big, bright carrot in front of me. He seemed to know exactly what I wanted. The only question was, did I care?

“So, Robin of the Wyldwood,” King Oberon went on, peering down at me from his horse. “What is your decision? Will you join my court? I will name you court jester, and you can play your tricks and practice your magic without boundaries. All I ask is that you do me a small service from time to time. Do we have a deal?”

Something nagged at me, a feeling that this agreement wasn’t quite what I thought it was. I’d made deals before, but they were with piskies and sprites and a couple local dryads. Never with someone as important as the ruler of the Seelie Court. Was I missing something? This did seem a little too good to be true.

I hesitated a moment more, then shrugged. Then again, why not join the Summer Court? What was the worst that could happen? I was aching for something new, and if I was under the protection of King Oberon himself, think of all the pranks and tricks I could play without fear of retribution.

This was going to be fun.

“All right,” I agreed, grinning up at Oberon, who raised a thin silver brow in return. “You have a deal, King. I’ll join the Summer Court, as long as I get to practice my magic and play as many tricks as I want.”

“Excellent.” Oberon nodded and raised both hands. “Then I name you Robin Goodfellow, jester of the Summer Court,” he announced in sudden, booming tones, and the branches of the trees shook, as if acknowledging his declaration. Lowering his arms, the Summer King gazed down at me with a sudden, almost proud smile. “Welcome to the Seelie Court, Robin Goodfellow. Wear your name proudly. Perhaps someday the world will come to know it, as well.”

Copyright © 2021 Julie Kagawa

Don’t miss the epic conclusion of the New York Times bestselling author Julie Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox Series

NIGHT OF THE DRAGON

Shadow of the Fox Series

Shadow of the Fox

Soul of the Sword

Night of the Dragon

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ISBN-13: 9781488069437

Shadow’s Legacy

Copyright © 2021 by Julie Kagawa

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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