“Ah.” I winced. “You’re forgetting, this is all crafted from my memories. Nothing like that exists in Albyria now. Light fae can no longer bear children.”
“And King Oberon won’t allow anyone else to touch a mortal.” She swallowed and cast her eyes to the ground. “Most of the time, that is.”
“No children. No heirs,” I said with a nod. “It’s his way of controlling them all. And so, I would imagine there is a lot less laughing. It is not a world in which I would want to live.”
“Shadow fae,” she said, turning toward me. “Do they have the same…difficulties?”
“No,” I said, my thoughts growing dark. “But that does not mean we have fared well, either. We lost so many during the war. Many others abandoned our kingdom for a life beyond the sea. When they discovered what I’d done, they left.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. I had no idea.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said gruffly before taking off down the street. “Come. I want to show you something.”
She followed me through the maze of streets. Back then, Albyria had been a bustling, cheerful town. Bolstered by trade, the light fae were wealthy beyond measure. We needed their crops, their fresh fruits and vegetables, the leather from their cows. And they needed our gold and crimson gemstones. How else could Oberon design such a flashy, glitzy, sparkling castle without our mines?
Humans and fae alike wandered the streets, the former free to do whatever they liked. Trade in shops, drink ale in pubs, or spend their days soaking up the sun in a hammock by the river. They all bustled about. This memory was from one of the very last days before their world—and mine—had changed irrevocably.
We came to a stop just outside a pub. I held up a hand for Tessa to wait. “You won’t be able to change anything. Just watch.”
She swallowed and nodded, and then I pushed inside. Dimly lit by a handful of candles, the pub was cloaked in shadows and scented with ale. Boisterous, cheerful fae boomed out laughter as they shared drinks and tales. In the corner, several fae and humans sat around a table playing cards. I motioned for Tessa to move nearer to them.
There were six of them, every eye glassed over. They were a dozen pints in, I guessed. A mangy-haired human suddenly shoved to his feet and shouted at the fae across from him, “You’re cheating, you filthy fucking fae.”
The fae’s glowing emerald eyes narrowed, and he stood. “What did you say to me, you mortal piece of shit?”
The rest of the humans leapt to their feet. One pulled out a dagger. A very familiar dagger with a plain hilt and a glowing gemstone in the center. Tessa gasped.
The first mortal laughed and pointed at his friend, who had pressed the blade against the cheating fae’s neck. “This is what ya get for messing with us. You don’t think you’re so high and mighty now, do ya?”
Laughing, the fae rolled his eyes. “Your pitiful blades can do nothing to us, mortal.”
With a smile, the man dragged his blade across the fae’s throat. Tessa’s hand flew to her mouth as blood arced through the air. But that was not where it stopped. The fae’s body bucked, his eyes rolling back into his head. He fell, crashing against the table. Cards and drinks clattered onto the floor.
The fae crumpled to the ground beside the man’s boots, his blood pooling around his neck. Another tremor shook his body. His face turned to ash first, melting away his features. The curse of pure iron whispered down his chest, and then his arms and legs, transforming every part of him into nothing more than black ash. Soon, that was all that was left of him. Even his clothes had burned away.
It was as if he’d never existed at all.
Tessa whipped toward me. “What in light’s name was that?”
“That,” I said grimly, “is what happens when you stab a fae with the Mortal Blade. And it’s exactly what Oberon will become. He’ll soon be nothing but ash.”
Thirty-Four
Tessa
Ilaid awake on the stone floor beside the roaring hearth. Kalen breathed heavily beside me, still lost to sleep. My mind was too bunched up for me to do anything other than revisit that dream again.No, not a dream, I had to remind myself. A memory.
Kalen had explained what had happened after the blade had destroyed that fae. In the chaos, Kalen had been able to grab the weapon and hide it beneath his cloak before anyone even realized he was there. The killer had been arrested and then executed. And thus began the strained relationship between mortals and the fae.
The blade not only killed fae, but it burned them up from the inside out. No wonder Kalen was nervous about me getting my hands on it before I was fully trained. One wrong move and he’d be gone within moments. There was no undoing that. No healing from it.
That was a permanent death for a fae.
I would only get one shot. Because of the nature of the blade, the gemstone powering it would burn up right along with whoever it killed. I could carry some extra gemstones with me, if I could get my hands on them, but I wouldn’t have time to make the switch if I got caught in a fight.
One shot. It was all I had.
My stomach growled as I twisted onto my side to face Kalen. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep here with him, but the fire had been so warm.Hehad been so warm. The thought of going back to that cold, dark room made me shudder. Every night, that damned voice of the trapped god had called out to me. Again and again, more insistent each and every time.