Melissa Marr - Radiant Shadows

“Come to Faerie,” he repeated.

“No.”

“She needs a court to balance hers. She must be kept in Faerie.” Devlin’s anger was no longer hidden. His voice was filled with it.

“The Dark Court belongs in this world. I know my court, Devlin. I know what’s best for them. Each and every one of them is connected to me. I feel them, but”— Niall glanced back at Irial—“a king’s duty is to consider the well-being of his court first. Personal desires come second. Old friendships and worry for others are not how the Dark King governs.”

“You’d sacrifice mortals and faeries? If she comes to your world, that’s what will happen.”

“If she comes here, the discord will not injure my court. Taking them to Faerie would.” Niall lifted his gaze to Devlin’s face. “The Dark Court will remain here.”

Niall’s words made all of the shadows in the room shiver.

“Faerie needs the Dark Court.” Devlin’s anger slipped further out. “Sorcha needs a court to balance her.”

“Devlin?” Ani approached.

With a strange expression, Ani looked first at him, and then at Niall and Irial. “It does need that, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s why we’re here… but your king”—Devlin looked at Niall—“isn’t cooperating.”

Ani stepped between Devlin and Niall. She reached out to Irial and squeezed his hand. He smiled at her, but didn’t speak.

“Once upon a time,” she began, “Faerie had two courts. The Dark Court left Faerie, and as the centuries passed, new courts were born of the strongest solitaries to fill the needs of the faeries who lived in the mortal world. If the Dark Court won’t return, there is need for a new court in Faerie. Someone who is strong enough to stand up to the High Queen needs to form that court… and such a court would need a Gabriel… or Gabrielle .”

“It’s not that easy,” Devlin objected. “There already is a Dark King.”

Niall shook his head. “I’m not going to Faerie. That leaves you.”

“Or Irial,” Devlin said.

“You don’t seriously think I’m up for the job?” Irial drawled. He lowered a hand onto Niall’s shoulder. “I am where I belong.”

“Order needs Discord, Devlin.” Ani spoke softly. “I know you. Tell me it’s not the solution we need. Save your sister. Remake Faerie so it’s our world too, not just hers.”

“I can’t be k—” he started, but the words weren’t ones he could speak. They were a lie. “You ask me to stand in opposition to my sister?”

“No,” she said. “I ask that we do.”

The wolves that were Ani’s Hunt came into the room, crouching and pacing throughout the spaces between the elegant furnishings. They watched her eagerly. Red eyes reflected the glow of the smoldering embers in the fireplace.

“I’m already bound to you. Blood to blood, Devlin. We’re in this together.” Ani stared up at him. “Trust me. Trust us .”

Their wolves pressed against them both like they would urge them to movement.

“I do.” Devlin looked at Niall. “The veil to Faerie will be sealed. One sister will be locked on either side.”

Ani squeezed his hand and added, “Call out to us, and we will answer if we are able.”

“And Rabbit?” Irial asked.

Ani looked up at Devlin, and he nodded.

“He’s safe with us…. Tell Gabe… Dad… that we are all well?”

“I will.” Irial came over and pulled her into his embrace, whispering something in her ear.

She approached the Dark King’s throne. “Take care of Gabriel and Irial?”

“In exchange,” Niall said.

“For?”

“Your dreamweaver doing as Irial asked,” Niall murmured. He didn’t look at Irial as he said it.

“Weaving the two of your dream selves together?” Ani clarified.

The Dark King’s nod was curt.

Ani looked at Rae, who nodded.

“Done,” Ani said.

And then she turned to Devlin and the pack of wolves crowding the room. “Let’s go home.”

Devlin opened his eyes to find Rae and Ani both staring back at him from Ani’s body. He was holding them against his chest. The sensation of holding Ani was still new enough to be breathtaking; to realize that he also held Rae was a heartbeat too near perfection.

They are my life.

With them, he would rebalance Faerie.

And become enemy to both my sister-mothers.

Gently, he cupped Ani-Rae’s face in his hand. “You were right.”

“About?” Rae asked.

“Saving Ani. Pushing me.”

“And?” Ani prompted.

“That I am king.” He didn’t kiss them as he’d kissed Ani before. In truth, he didn’t know if Rae would mind his kissing them, so he was careful as he pressed his lips to theirs.

Either Ani or Rae—he wasn’t sure which—had no such hesitation. The gentle kiss he’d offered became something as fierce as the kisses he’d shared with Ani when she was draining his energy from him. Then Ani-Rae pulled back and grinned.

“I’ve been waiting for that kiss for decades,” Rae whispered.

“Welcome to the New Dark Court,” Ani said.

The wicked laughter that spilled from Ani’s— or Rae’s? — lips made Devlin shake his head. “Shadows. The Court of Shadows,” he corrected. “We’re not a replica, but something new. We don’t use an old name.”

Rae and Ani separated. They exchanged a look.

“I like it,” they both said.

In a breath, he removed the wall between them and the outside. The wolves leaped from Ani’s skin. Darkness fell in front of the Shadow Court, allowing Rae to walk alongside them. With Rae on his right and Ani on his left, Devlin stepped out of the High Queen’s palace, and together they walked to the moonlight veil, the first but not the only gate in and out of Faerie.

Just inside the gate, Barry stood. The steed was currently in the form of an actual horse. He was shadows made solid. Leaving without me was bad form.

The steed spoke in Devlin’s mind, but before he could answer, he realized that it was speaking to Ani.

I’m sorry, she answered. Her words to the steed were inside Devlin’s mind as well.

Other steeds waited in the shelter of the hazel trees.

I have called the Unclaimed for our New Hunt, Barry said.

We are here, Ani and Ani’s Partner. The steeds watched their approach, but none advanced.

Devlin answered aloud, “Welcome, Ani’s Steed and all.”

Barry laughed. I may grow to tolerate you. Get on with it, Devlin . They need to claim their riders.

Faeries had begun to gather, as if they had responded to a summons. Curiously, they watched the steeds, Devlin, Ani.

You will make a wonderful queen, Barry assured Ani. Worthy of being my rider. Worthy of beginning the Hunt that was lacking.

Ani’s words, to Barry and to Devlin, were confident. I just needed to find my pack.

“And we needed to find you,” Rae added with a smile, and Devlin realized that they all three could hear the mental conversation with the steed.

“Let’s do this.” Ani held out the sgian dubh she had used to cut her arm earlier. “Blood and breath.”

Devlin took the black-handled blade from Ani’s hand.

“With the hands that they made”—he cut a diagonal stripe in his right palm—“and the blood of Faerie…”

A chiming noise began to echo through Faerie.

Rae slipped into Ani’s body, so the breath they shed was hers as well.

“With the breath”—Rae and Ani took the blade—“of mortal and faery…”

“We close the veils between the worlds,” they all said.