The Iron Warrior

I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m so sorry.”

She choked a tiny laugh through the tears. “Don’t...apologize for dying, tough guy,” she whispered. “I’m sure you didn’t plan it that way.” She took a ragged breath, ducking her head. “If anything, you should be angry with me. I was the one who sent you to the Lady. If you hadn’t left with Keirran—”

“Kenzie.” I put a hand on her cheek. She blinked and peered up at me, and I shook my head. “You couldn’t have known what would happen,” I told her softly. “None of us could. Maybe if we’d known about the prophecy or what was really going on—but no one was telling us anything.” I raised one shoulder helplessly. “This whole thing with Keirran just...spiraled out of control, and we got caught in the middle. I don’t blame you for what he did.” I ran my fingers through her now shorter hair. “In fact, you probably saved my life.” She blinked, frowning in confusion, and I smiled. “The amulet you gave me right before Keirran and I went to see the Lady—I think it protected me one last time.”

“Guro’s amulet?”

I nodded. “Sadly, I won’t be able to return it like I said I would. When Keirran stabbed me, it broke. Snapped right in two. I think it’s safe to say the magic is completely gone now.”

She gave a soft chuckle and pressed closer. “I’d rather have you than a magic necklace any day of the week,” she murmured, winding her arms around my waist. Holding her tight, I closed my eyes, just feeling her heartbeat against mine, and Kenzie sighed, relaxing into me. “I missed you, tough guy,” she whispered. “It’s been a pretty sucky four months.”

Four months. Had I really been gone that long? And what had Kenzie been going through in that time? “Are you all right?” I asked, gazing down in concern. The last time I’d seen my girlfriend, she had been in the hospital. “You know I don’t want to bring it up, but...what about your illness? Have you recovered? Is it okay for you to be here now?”

She smirked. “No, Ethan, I’m on Death’s doorstep as we speak, having gone through Faeryland on a wish and a prayer.” Her grin was wicked, but a flicker of something dark went through her eyes, though it was gone in the next heartbeat. “I just trekked across the wyldwood and Mag Tuiredh to find you, tough guy. Do I look like I’m gonna keel over?”

“Okay, okay.” I held up my hands. “Point taken. I was going to say that I can’t believe you traveled all the way to Mag Tuiredh by yourself, but...it’s you, after all.” She gazed up at me warily, and I smiled. “I’m glad you came, Kenzie,” I told her, lowering my head. “I missed you, too.”

Our lips met, and I let my eyes slide shut. Razor buzzed something from the dresser, probably mocking us, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was Kenzie, that she was all right, that she had found a way to Mag Tuiredh, and that suddenly, I wasn’t so alone anymore.

A sharp rap on the door made us pause. Irritated, I waited a few heartbeats, and when nothing happened, leaned forward to kiss Kenzie again. The knocking resumed immediately, accompanied by a squeaky “Prince Ethan? Are you awake, sire?”

Sighing, Kenzie drew back and gave the door a half annoyed, half resigned look. “Guess you’d better see who that is,” she said, smiling ruefully as she wiped her eyes. “If I remember anything about the Nevernever, it’s that the fey don’t understand the concept of privacy. And they have the worst timing possible.”

Yes,they do. Stalking to the door, I yanked it open and glowered at the wire nymph on the other side. “What?”

The small faery cringed. “Forgive me, Prince Ethan,” it squeaked, looking so cowed I felt guilty for snarling at it, “but I was instructed to give this to you posthaste.”

It held up a note between long, glimmering fingers. I took it, and the nymph instantly scampered off before I could say anything else, skittering around a corner and vanishing in a flash of wire and steel. Vowing to be a little nicer to Meghan’s subjects in the future, I closed the door and turned around, meeting Kenzie’s curious gaze.

“Who is that from?”

“I don’t know.” I looked down at the note and flipped it open. The handwriting was simple and elegant, but I didn’t know if it was Meghan’s. The message was also short, direct and to the point.

Come to the library, it read. That was it.

“That’s weird,” I muttered and handed the paper to Kenzie. She skimmed the note with a frown, then looked back at me.

“Do you think it’s from your sister?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well.” Kenzie shrugged and handed it back. “Whoever it is, I guess we should go see what they want. Come on, Razor.”

She raised her arm, and the gremlin leaped from the dresser with a cackle to land on her back. Turning, Kenzie bent down and picked up a full backpack from the floor, then swung it to her shoulders. It rattled as it settled into place, and the gremlin hopped to perch on top of it.

I blinked. “What do you have in there?”

She grinned. “Remember a while back, when I mentioned something about putting together a survival kit for the Nevernever? This time, I came prepared.”

“I’m almost afraid to see what’s in there.”

She laughed, walked up to me and took my hand. “Don’t worry about it, tough guy. I got us covered.” Lacing our fingers together, she squeezed once and bumped her arm against mine, as Razor snickered at us from her shoulder. “You just worry about stabbing things, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Really.”

“Yup.”

I pulled open the door of my room, gazed down one of the many, many hallways of the Iron Palace and sighed. “Well, if that’s the case, then maybe you can find us a map,” I said, “because I have no idea where the library is.”

Kenzie grinned. “Oh, I’ve got something better than a map,” she returned, and raised her head. “Razor,” she called, and the gremlin bounced upright, huge ears perked and quivering. Kenzie smiled at him pointed with a finger. “To the library, Razor, stat!”

The gremlin gave a buzz of excitement. Leaping off her shoulders, he scurried up the wall and to the ceiling, where he hung upside down like a huge spider. Beckoning us with a claw, he scampered away, then paused and glanced back to see if we were coming. Kenzie gave me a smug grin.

“You were saying?”

“You’re cute when you’re bossy,” I told her, and grunted when she poked me in the ribs. Raising my free hand, I pushed her hair back from her cheek. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

An annoyed crackle came from the ceiling, and Razor skittered a few feet toward us. “Funny boy!” the gremlin called, bouncing in impatience. “Pretty girl, this way! Library this way, follow Razor!”

Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she sighed, tugging me forward. “We’d better hurry, before Razor gets bored and leaves us. Then we would need a map.”

Keeping an eye on the gremlin, we walked down a long corridor, through several chambers, up a spiraling set of stairs and down another hall until we came to a pair of large double doors. Razor crawled up to Kenzie’s shoulder and pointed with a claw.

“Quiet room! Lots of books, bleck. Gremlins not allowed.”

“Good boy,” Kenzie said, and the gremlin grinned manically. We pushed open the doors with a faint creak and stepped through.

Inside, it looked like a normal library, albeit bigger than the ones I had seen before. Rows of books lined the walls to the ceiling, and more shelves were arranged in narrow aisles throughout the room. It was quieter here than in the rest of the Iron Palace, the air musty and cool. Warily, I gazed around, searching for the one who’d called us here, but with the maze of aisles and the shadows that clung to the corners of the room, it was difficult to see if we were alone or not.

Kenzie turned in a slow circle, the glow from Razor’s teeth piercing some of the gloom. “I don’t see anyone,” she murmured. “Do you think your sister is here?”

“No,” said a deep voice from the shadows. I spun as Ash stepped out of the darkness, his expression grave as he came into the light. “Meghan didn’t call you here,” the dark faery explained, fixing us with his piercing silver glare. “I did.”

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_63990162-2246-5dcd-850e-24ad60c9afb3)

ASH’S REQUEST

I stiffened, fighting the urge to step in front of Kenzie and drop a hand to my sword. Old resentment bubbled up, filling me with a long-familiar hate. I shoved it down. Ash was not my enemy, I reminded myself. He was not responsible for my sister’s disappearance, all those years ago. Meghan had chosen to be with him, to become a queen of Faery, and from the small interactions I’d seen between them, if my sister ever decided to return to the mortal world, Ash wouldn’t stop her. Follow her, sure; I doubted anything short of an act of God would keep him away, and maybe not even that. But I couldn’t keep blaming Ash for my sister’s decisions, my abandonment hang-ups or for Meghan falling in love. Like it or not, he was family, too. It was time I grew up and accepted that.

“Ash,” I greeted, as the faery regarded us solemnly. “You sent that message? Why?”

“I want to talk to you about Keirran.” Ash settled against one of the shelves, long black coat falling around him. “There are some things I need to understand. And I...” For the first time I’d ever known him, his voice faltered. “I have a favor to ask of you, Ethan.”

Stunned, I could only stare and try to keep my mouth from dropping open. Ash sighed, looking away for a moment, his gaze distant. For just a heartbeat, he wasn’t the cold, emotionless Winter faery I had always seen. He was, like Meghan, someone whose world had been torn apart by Keirran’s betrayal, and was struggling to understand what had happened.

“You were with Keirran at the very end,” Ash finally said. “You knew him, before and after he met the Forgotten Queen. Both of you fought side by side, and I know he considered you a friend—one of his only friends.” His expression darkened, and he shook his head. “The Keirran at the war council today...I didn’t recognize him. He’s changed so much, nothing about him made sense. I refuse to believe that was my son.”

I swallowed at the underlying pain in Ash’s voice. The faery paused, a flicker of anguish breaking his perfect composure, before he was himself again. “Keirran didn’t just change into that overnight,” the dark faery went on, looking at me. “Something must have happened to him, someone must have done something, to turn him against his own court. Ethan, you mentioned an amulet. Can you tell me what it does, what type of magic we’re dealing with?”