Chapter 46

Ronan pulled away from me with a heavy sigh, pressing his forehead against mine, a small tremor rolling through his body. I forgot how to move on my own, Ronan moving us across the floor. His eyes bored into mine, a bright and glowing crimson. The force of his bruising kiss still lingered on my lips.

A part of me screamed to get away from him. The other part could not deny the way his heat poured into me, a portion of my soul flaring back to life, my breath stuck in my throat. I gritted my teeth,  forcing myself to remember the bond we shared—the string of fate that bound me to him. How did I know if I felt this way because it was the truth, or just another manipulation of faerie magic.

I set my jaw. "How did you find me."

He grinned, one of his hands raising reverently to my cheek. "I will always find you, my love."

I jerked away from his touch. Ronan's eyes flickered with flame before he lowered his hand.

"I came to Vinmire, the blood bond did the rest. I sensed you here in the revel, and only had to join in with the guests to come retrieve you. Now come, let me get you out of this place."

He tugged on me, trying to pull me with him from the floor, but I dug my heels in, looking around the room. I didn't see Oisin anywhere.

Ronan lowered his voice. "If you are looking for my brother, I do believe I saw him slip out. He is none of your concern." Ronan paused and looked around the room. I couldn't help but feel like there were eyes on us. A quick glance around the floor revealed none of the fae were looking our way.

"What do you mean, that he left?" I asked. That didn't make sense. He wanted me to bring him with me back to the human realm.

Ronan snarled his gaze impatient. "He is with them, can't you see? We need to get out of here, now."

I stared at him, feeling a burning fury of my own rake through me, a small gust threading through my hair.

"No."

I tore my hand from Ronan's, turning back to the floor to seek out the Queen's dais.

Then froze.

Queen Kiera was no longer lounging back on her chair, but standing, her unnerving pale white eyes focused just over my shoulder. Ronan let out a low frustrated growl.

All around us the fae that had appeared to be engaged in dancing and drinking were all slowly freezing and turning towards us, their once bright laughing faces blank under the jewels and glamour of their masks.

The music came to an abrupt halt, dead silence filling the hall. Hundreds of eyes around the room bore down upon us. I thought I might choke from the pure pressure of it all.

I took a step back as Ronan's hand fell on my shoulder. His eyes were narrowed under his mask, his body tense as he looked around the room.

"Show yourself," he said, looking out among the people. "Fight me yourself, you coward."

A familiar, tinkling laugh echoed through the room, sending a cold hard dread down my spine. All the fae around us were moving mechanically to the side, like a mass of obedient puppets being manipulated by an omnipresent master.

"Ah, to be young like you two once again, so naive," Hekate said as she approached, pulling a feathered black mask off her face. She wore a long black lace dress, flumes of thick raven feathers decorating her shoulders.

Ronan's lips curled. "Just you, I see. Your Master still sits back and lets you do all the dirty work."

Hekate's rose-red lips let out a hiss. "Don't speak of things you do not understand, little princeling."

"He is a fool, and unworthy of your loyalty, mother. To think you would degrade yourself to such slavery is beyond me." He gazed around the room, as if bored. "Now, please, tell me what it is you have planned."

Hekate's gaze upon him turned sharp enough to impale him with intent alone. "I think it is fairly self-explanatory." She held out a hand, and a few of the empty-eyed fae moved forward with a struggling figure in their arms. My mouth went dry.

Oisin.

He was twitching in their hold, as if fighting off an unseeable force. They threw him on the ground where he sat writhing, painful moans escaping his lips as he thrashed on the ground.

I started, trying to push past Ronan but he stopped me with a hard grip on my wrist. "What have you done to him?" I snapped, glaring up at Hekate.

Hekate sneered, looking down her nose at me. "Don't feel too bad for him, he was the one who led you here after all. It was all part of the plan. Though..." Her voice turned tight. "He did take some... unforeseen liberties with the task."

I looked up at Hekate in confusion. "What do you mean?"

The vampyr's expression shifted into a smug smirk. "Did you really think you escaped without my notice? Foolish girl. So ignorant to everything." She stepped forward, and Ronan's grip on me tightened. "I see everything. I led you here to this very spot, knowing you would look for a way out of here. Oisin was just a tool, he could be manipulated into giving you the information needed. The prince has wanted out of Faerie longer than you have." She paused to look down at Oisin, who had stopped struggling, his body still.

Had it not been for the gentle fall and rise of his chest, I might have thought he was dead. I frowned, unsure if I felt pity or betrayal. He had been manipulated by those closest to him, who then had used his own desires against him.

"He wasn't supposed to come in here with you. It is a mystery as to how he broke his uncle's hold. But, he has been taken care of," Hekate continued, looking back up at me. "You're so predictable, it's almost boring. I know what you and my dear son have been arguing about endlessly for days. You want nothing more than to go home. A shame really, with all that Craft you have in your blood."

She gave a low laugh. "You know, one might wonder why you don't aim for a crown yourself."

"You are all demons," I said, glaring up at her. Hekate only smiled.

"Damn us, and damn yourself as well, child."

I clenched my hands, feeling the wind rolling at me in an angry wave. I took pleasure in seeing Hekate's face falter, her eyes darting to my wrist.

I smiled, a display of teeth. "Bet you didn't plan on that."

Only a slight flicker at Hekate's mouth gave away her error.

Ronan moved so he was again between Hekate and me, his gaze red eyes cold even as they radiated the fire that roiled within him.

"And now what," Ronan said, cutting in. "You're going to use this entire ballroom to kill me? Really, mother, a bit overambitious, don't you think?"

Hekate's gaze turned stony as she met her son's eyes. There was a tense silence that followed, filled only with a gentle moan as Oisin turned over to his side on the floor. His eyes cracked open, looking around in a daze before they fell on mine. Even in such a state, his face fell, guilt straining his eyes.

I looked away. Hekate continued to study Ronan. I wondered if there was ever a point between the two that had resembled anything like the relationship I had with my mother.

As I watched her, she pressed her lips together, as if stealing her resolve, and I knew my mother would never make such a decision, no matter the odds.

"I need to make sure you don't become King, Ronan. My only regret is that I didn't kill you the minute you were born. Faerie would be better off without you."

Ronan didn't appear hurt by his mother's callous declaration. "He's no better than me. He wants war just as much as I do."

Hekate shook her head, and for a minute I almost thought she was sad. The look was so out of place on her face, I was caught off guard. But as quickly as it had been there, it was gone.

"No..." She shook her head, lifting her arm, holding one black-tipped finger up. "Anyone is better than you. My Master will resurrect the Dream Courts again, and we will no longer live in the fringes as we do now. Not that I expect you to understand. Your need for blood outweighs all else."

She clenched her hand back into a tight fist, and all the fae in the room gathered together, forming rows, a macabre army of party guest's still in brightly colored finery. They pulled different items from their bodices and hats. They glinted gold and bronze, and I knew they were the conduits Ronan had described the fae using to channel their craft during battle.

In response, Ronan pulled two long blades from where he and concealed them under his clothes, strapped to his body. A ring rolled through the deadly silent room as the two blades slashed over one another.

They glinted silver—iron.

I remembered the cold burn of the iron bracelet I had worn for only a few hours. If Ronan could hold such blades, he already had an advantage over everyone in that room.

Ronan moved forward, keeping me behind him. He glanced over at me.

His eyes for a moment flickered to a familiar softness, a moment of vulnerability. It pierced through my heart and I had to look away.

I knew deep down who he was, but that didn't change that I had allowed myself to give a small part of my heart to him, even if it had been a mistake.

"I'll distract them," he said quietly, for only me to hear. "You run somewhere out of the way. Their goal is me after all."

I didn't look at him. "They intend to kill you."

He snorted a low humorless laugh. "It wouldn't be the first time. Why, are you worried?"

I pressed my lips together, choosing not to reply. My feelings over the matter were too complicated to put into words in that moment. I didn't know how to explain that while a part of me still wanted to slit his throat and be rid of his hold on me, an even larger part of me wanted to kiss him again and never let go. Perhaps in a different world, under different circumstances, it could have been different.

But it wasn't. There was no world for us.

He stared at me only a second longer, then shifted wordlessly, holding both blades ready at his sides.

"Are you two lovers done saying your parting words?"

Heat surged through the room as Ronan ignited both his blades. I looked up at him,  unable to look away from the impressive warrior in front of me. Ronan was who he was, he had never been anything different.

He embodied how I had come to see the Faerie Realm. Dangerous but beautiful. Unnatural, yet strong. Everything inside of it was alive, and Ronan's way of capturing a moment and making it his embodied the entire world. He didn't live in the future or the past, but in the forever present.

And for just one moment, I allowed myself to love it.

Hekate didn't bother waiting for a reply. Ronan let out a rumbling growl as hundreds of fae leaped toward him, surging from either side of where Hekate stood. I ducked away to a nearby table, pushing myself under it just before the room erupted into flames.