Melissa Marr - Radiant Shadows

“Come inside with me.” He kept his hand outstretched and added, “Please?”

She took his hand in hers. “I want her blood, Devlin. I want her death. I want her to ache.”

He opened the door to the studio and motioned for her to precede him. “I understand.”

And he did. If anyone hurt Ani, he’d feel the same way, but that didn’t change the impossibility of killing Bananach.

There is no return from this. He wasn’t sure that a return had been possible for some time.

“I go where you go, Ani,” Devlin told her. “We need to talk first. I need to tell you and Irial”—he paused and considered the consequences of the trusts he was breaking— “truths that are not to be shared.”

She held his gaze. “I want her to hurt.”

He didn’t flinch. “I know, but I need you to listen.”

Mutely, she nodded.

He kept his fingers laced with hers as they went back to the kitchen.

“Rabbit’s… he’ll be back out in a minute.” Irial glanced at the doorway. “He’ll be better now that you’re here.”

Ani sat at the table, still holding Devlin’s hand in hers.

Devlin took the chair next to her. There was no delicate way to share what he had to say, nor was this the time for prevarications. He simply said, “If you kill Bananach, Sorcha will die. If Sorcha dies, we all die. The twins are balanced halves, the two energies that came first. Before them and after them, there is nothing. If you kill either of them, every faery will die. Maybe some of the halflings will live, but the rest… we all expire if she dies. Sorcha is essential. She is the source of all our magicks, our longevity, everything. If not, don’t you think Bananach would’ve killed her by now?”

Irial lowered himself to a chair.

Ani sat speechless for a moment, but then began trying to find the hole in his logic. She was irrepressible when she wanted something, and she very badly wanted Bananach’s blood. “How do you know? Maybe they just—”

“I know. They made me, Ani. I call them sisters, but before me, there were only two. The opposition, the balance. It’s what our whole people are based upon. Each court has its opposite. Too much imbalance will cause disaster. Sorcha… she adjusts what she must to assure stasis.”

Irial looked up, and Devlin caught his gaze.

“She will arrange against her wishes to assure the greater balance”—he did not look away from Irial as he made the admission—“even for that court which is her opposition, even as her counterbalance has abandoned Faerie to live among mortals. The Dark Court balances the High Court, but Sorcha requires more : since the start of forever her true counterbalance has been Bananach.”

“Well that just sucks, doesn’t it?” Ani leaned back, but she didn’t pull her hand away from his. “Bananach wants me to kill Seth and Niall—and oh yeah, she wants to kill me… and there’s not a damn thing we can do without killing everyone .”

No one spoke for several heartbeats: there was nothing to say.

Silently, Ani released his hand and left the room.

After Ani walked back down the hallway, Irial started, “Would Sorcha hide Ani?”

Devlin shook his head. “Sorcha ordered me to kill Ani years ago.”

Irial asked, “Because she saw that Ani would… what?”

“I was not privy to that information.” Devlin glanced at the hallway. “I can’t let Ani kill my sisters or let them kill her.”

Irial sighed and lowered his head again. “So we try to keep Ani, Rabbit, Seth, and Niall alive and hope War finds another amusement.”

Devlin felt a strange guilt at adding to the already complex situation. He weighed his words carefully and settled on, “I believe it would be… catastrophic should Seth be killed. In truth, it might be catastrophic if Seth doesn’t return to Faerie soon. Sorcha is asleep, mourning Seth’s absence apparently.”

“Well, that’s… not very orderly, is it?” Irial said.

“Something is wrong with my sister.” Devlin watched Irial pour several cups of coffee. To one cup, he added the cream and solitary sugar cube that Ani favored.

“We’ll figure something out.” Irial gave Devlin a knowing look that reminded him that he’d forgotten to cloak any of his feelings.

“I…” Devlin started. There weren’t words though, not ones he could speak. His envy over the way Irial knew Ani, his worry over her, his futile emotions—none were of the High Court. For a heartbeat, Devlin just stared at Irial, waiting for the mockery or chastisement or reminder that he wasn’t worthy of Ani.

Irial held out Ani’s coffee. “She needs you right now. Go.”

Devlin stood and took the cup—and paused at the roll of terror that told him that Gabriel had arrived.

Ani had heard and felt everything Devlin shared with Irial. It didn’t mute her grief or rage, but it was comforting to know that she wasn’t alone. Devlin wouldn’t kill Bananach but he wasn’t going to abandon her, and she needed every strong faery they could rouse. She couldn’t lose Rabbit.

Or Irial.

Or Gabriel.

Or Devlin.

She heard the arrival of Gabriel—and with him Niall and Seth. She didn’t want to see them all at once though, so she stepped into Rabbit’s room and waited for Gabriel.

Rabbit sat on the edge of his bed, looking lost. He’d undoubtedly heard the earlier conversation in the kitchen, and he knew as well as she did that their situation was growing increasingly bleak. They didn’t speak. Instead, they waited—and listened.

Irial’s and Niall’s voices were low, but they were here . Knowing the current and former Dark Kings were now both in her home was comforting; so too was the sound of Gabriel’s boots as he came down the hallway.

“I’m sorry,” was all Gabriel said when he came into the room.

“You failed.” Rabbit looked at Gabriel with a ferocity that was matched on their father’s face.

Gabriel didn’t look away from the challenge in Rabbit’s voice. “The Hunt will keep her—and you—as safe as we can.”

Ani shook her head. “Well, since killing War isn’t an option, I don’t really see how that’s possible.”

None of them spoke.

Ani went over, took her brother’s hand in hers, and tugged him to his feet. Reluctantly, he followed to stand in front of Gabriel.

Once Gabriel and Rabbit were face-to-face, Ani said, “Neither of you is to blame. I get the whole blame thing. She killed Tish because of me.” She let go of Rabbit’s hand and stepped back. “I couldn’t give Bananach what she demanded, not my blood or the king’s or Seth’s.”

She saw Seth and Devlin in the hallway behind Gabriel. She caught and held Seth’s gaze as she told him, “I considered killing you, but Irial and Niall wouldn’t like it. There’d be too many other consequences that would please Bananach. But if I’d thought I had to kill you to save Tish… maybe. Probably.”

“We need a plan,” Devlin started.

Seth looked over his shoulder to Devlin for a moment. “I know what I want: Bananach dead.”

Ani smiled. “Seth, I think this the first time I might actually see why people like you.”

Devlin frowned. “We cannot kill her.”

“I know.” Ani looked at him. “So what do we do?”

“The High Court’s assassin doesn’t make the decisions around here,” Gabriel growled.

“No, I don’t, but neither do you.” Devlin didn’t raise his voice or react to Gabriel’s menace. “Do you have any idea what your daughter is?”

“Dark Court.” Gabriel stepped into the hallway. “Unlike you.”

“Devlin!” Ani started toward them, but Rabbit put a hand on her shoulder.