8. Carter
8
Carter
A loud zap went through the atmosphere, and Poppy appeared in the living room.
“He made me do it,” she said, a sob barreling out of her throat as she collapsed into a pile by the fireplace. “He made me do it, and he took them.”
Her curly blond hair still frizzed around her head, the same as it had the night I’d met her. Her big brown eyes still took up a sizable portion of her face, making her seem innocent and unassuming. But I knew better now. She’d grown nearly half a foot. Now, all knees and elbows, she looked closer to the age she probably was, despite the infant-like chubbiness remaining in her cheeks.
Three days ago, I would have said she was the child I’d never had, the one given to Ivy and me when we couldn’t have one of our own. Even though Lex didn’t trust her and said she was lying, I wanted to believe she wouldn’t betray us. Then, she’d stolen my sister and claimed she didn’t have any other choice, that she’d had to do it. Now, she stood in front of me with red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
Despite her betrayal, the ache in my heart throbbed, both for my missing sister as well as the version of me that had loved Poppy blindly.
Diana rushed to the child, cooing and taking her in her arms like a mother would, rocking her while Poppy sobbed. Siobhan stood frozen across the table from me, Finn and Donnelly likewise stock-still. I watched the queen soothe the young human, the connection between them obvious. “Shh, shh, shh,” Diana said, murmuring other nurturing tones.
“I’m so—” Poppy sucked in a deep breath and hiccuped. “I’m so stupid. I tried. I tried so hard, and he still won.” She dug her palms into her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Part of me longed for her. I wanted to drop to my knees and pull her into my arms the way Diana had, somehow yearning to be the one who held her while she cried. But I stayed where I was, willing myself to harden and remember what she’d done, who she was.
Her swollen eyes met mine from across the room and she broke more, curling into the queen to cry harder, and I couldn’t handle it anymore. Betrayal or not, I still loved her. She was still mine to protect, mine to keep safe. I moved without consciously thinking about it, kneeling in front of the scene.
“Poppy,” I said, gently reaching out to tug her arms away from her face. “Poppy, what happened? Where’s Lizzie and Edward?”
“You were right,” she murmured. “They’re dead. They’re all dead.”
Ice plummeted down my spine into my gut. Dead? What? No. I glanced back at my spouses, making eye contact with Miri, whose hands covered her mouth while she braced to learn the fate of her cousin.
“Marcus. Prince Gerald. Princess Emma.” Poppy went on, taking another ragged breath, shaking her head as she cried harder.
My stomach clenched, and I struggled to maintain my gentle hold on her shoulders. Marcus? Gerald and Emma? What did Lex’s brother and Miri’s parents have to do with anything? Unless… Oh, God.
“He found me. I tried hiding, but he found me, and he made me take Lizzie and Edward. He made me say those horrible things. He was going to kill me. I had to.”
Part of me wanted to be furious, and perhaps I was. But the other part of me saw desperation in her actions. She wanted the only mother she’d ever known back. When Dmitri had taken Diana and brought her here, Poppy must have thought the worst. Now, it made sense. She’d been a victim of the king’s coercion, trying to solve something she had no business being involved with in the first place.
Poppy shook her head and sobbed. “He didn’t have my lady. He forced me to go back in time.” Her gaze drifted from me to Lex and Ivy across the room, her tears streaking her cheeks as she whimpered. “I watched him do it. I watched him sink that boat with Marcus on it. I watched him crash the car with Miri inside. And you…” Poppy’s brown eyes met mine. “He tried to kill your father. But the nurse saved him, the one he married.” Poppy swallowed, her eyes so sullen and sad, it nearly crushed me. “The king’s a monster.”
He tried to kill your father.
I’d never had a good relationship with my father, but sometime around age sixteen, he’d gotten into a car accident and ended up at the hospital. There, he met a beautiful young nurse and the person that would eventually cause him to leave my mother. Now, Poppy put a new filter on that. It had been the king who had caused it, hoping to kill him instead.
Had I been lucky then? Had my luck extended to my family even if I didn’t know it? He had survived, after all, and lived long enough to alienate the children he already had in exchange for creating a new family with his mistress.
I glanced over my shoulder again, watching as Ivy and Lex realized how much the king had manipulated our lives. Tears streaked down Ivy’s cheeks as she hastily wiped them away. Lex’s jaw clenched so hard, I thought he’d break a molar. It didn’t start at Midsummer. The king had been screwing with us since we were kids.
“Poppy,” Siobhan said, taking a few steps closer. “Are you saying you took the king to do these things?”
She nodded. “He said he wouldn’t kill me if I helped him. I didn’t think he’d kill other people. And after Marcus, I didn’t know how to stop him.” Poppy looked at Lex and Ivy, a deep sorrow echoing in her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I…I’m just so sorry.”
“How did you escape?” Ivy asked. “How did you get here?”
“After your wedding, the rest of his army abandoned him, including the ones guarding me.” Poppy glanced back up at Diana to hug her tighter. “I teleported somewhere safe to hide, and when I knew he wasn’t following me, I came here.”
I glanced at Siobhan, knowing she and Finn were the reason the Fianna abandoned him. Her features dropped as she said, “It’s happening.” The banshee looked at Diana before returning her focus to Ivy and Lex. “The end. All the pieces are falling into place. We don’t have long now.”
Diana muttered something and stood to walk back to Finn.
“Your Highness,” Finn started, explaining the situation to her while her eyebrows furrowed. When she still couldn’t understand it, she shook her head and returned her attention to a still weeping Poppy.
“She doesn’t remember Alberich or Faerie,” Finn explained. “She only remembers waking up and being with Poppy.”
“I was trying to protect her,” Poppy pleaded. “You have to believe me.”
I didn’t know what to tell her as she stared up at me with big, sad eyes. I wanted to forgive her. I wanted to tell her she’d done the best she could, but now my baby sister was in the custody of a mad fairy king from another realm who would use her against me. As much as my bleeding heart begged me to, the anger inside wouldn’t let me.
The things he could be doing to Lizzie…the things he could be making her do to him…
“We have to get to them,” I said, rising to walk over to my spouses. “Now.”
“We will, Carter,” Ivy said, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “We will.”
Siobhan grimaced, but it was Finn who got serious. “Our queen wants to help us. We just have to tell her what to do.”
“Not to be a dick,” Lex cut in, “but how is involving the queen of forgotten fairy things going to help with anything? She has no idea who she is, and until she does, it’s more advantageous to keep her a secret.”
“Yesterday, we couldn’t communicate with her, but whatever we did helped,” Miri said, looking between Siobhan and Finn. “Give us more time. We can get her back to her old self.”
I didn’t know how I knew she was right, but it writhed in my gut the same way all my fairy gift instincts did. My magic told me it was a good idea, that I should keep pushing it until they agreed. “Miri’s right. We’re the ones left standing in the end, right?”
“We don’t have time,” Siobhan said, impatience in her tone. “The end is starting now. We’re about to face the big boss.”
“We need to get back to Killwater,” Finn said. “The Fianna is patient, but restless. We need a plan.”
“The battle maidens will want to make sure my lady is sound before they agree to help us any further,” Siobhan added. “Getting everyone to Killwater is the right next step.”
“The king is here,” Lex said. “Going all the way to Ireland is a risk.”
“The king will follow you,” Donnelly added. “Especially if he knows we have the child and the queen.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Ivy said. “It’s not like we can disappear now, not after the fiasco at the wedding.”
“That’s exactly what we’ve been doing,” Lex said, his voice broken and scratchy, making my heart ache for him. He’d just learned the way he thought his brother had died had been a lie. He deserved a break; we all did. “Lying low. Minding our own business. You took the rest of the term off, didn’t you? We’re supposed to be on a four-week honeymoon.”
“We didn’t get married, Lex,” Ivy countered. “My mother?—”
“Your mother no longer has any right to dictate our lives.” Lex’s hazel eyes peered out at her with a mixture of retribution and vengeance burning behind them. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms, echoing that sentiment. After all she’d done to us, she should consider herself lucky enough to ever talk to Ivy again, much less have a say in what she does.
“Okay, you’re right,” Ivy finally said, nodding as she looked at Siobhan. “I’m in.”
“Me too,” I said.
“Of course,” Miri agreed. “When do we leave?”
“As soon as we can,” Finn said. “Once we’re there, we’ll regroup with my other captains and sort out the details.”
At the mention of the other captains, a chill snaked down my spine and into my legs. This was real. There was an army of fairies waiting for us on the other side of the realm, one that was depending on us to defend the maniacal villain who had plagued their world for centuries. We were four pitiful humans who had been given a mutated fairy gift less than five years ago, and it all rested precariously on our shoulders. A wave of nausea followed that thought, reminding me of the first time I’d ever walked out on a stage.
“Be honest,” Lex said, glancing at Siobhan. “What exactly do you know about what happens next?”
Siobhan glanced at Finn as she cleared her throat and grew still, a trained soldier preparing for something terrible. “The last time we spoke, I told you that I believed you would hate me once you knew the whole story.”
Donnelly tensed, sitting up straighter. “Banshee…”
I remembered that as the nickname both he and Finn used for Siobhan.
“We have to get to Killwater because that’s where it ends,” she said, ignoring Donnelly’s warning. “On Beltane, we’ll slip through the veil and go to Faerie. After that…” Siobhan took a deep breath and looked at Ivy. “There will need to be a sacrifice. I don’t know what, but before this war is over…your hearts will shatter. You will lose what you hold most dear.”
My gut told me this was bullshit. There wouldn’t need to be a sacrifice. We would all make it out alive. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did.
“I read about that in the lore.” Lex let out an exhausted sigh, like he was tired of the riddles and the half-truths. “What does that actually mean?”
Siobhan shook her head. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”
“That sounds quite ominous, doesn’t it?” Miri asked, playing with a piece of her hair.
“I’ve had enough of this fairy-tale bullshit.” Lex launched to his feet, causing Donnelly to stand as well, seemingly prepared to defend Siobhan if needed. Lex narrowed his eyes at him, like the fairy had gotten the wrong impression, and paced toward the whiskey crystal to pour himself a drink.
Siobhan’s features softened at Lex’s frustration. “One thing at a time, mate. The queen is a powerful ally. If we heal her, that’s a big step.”
“I’m worried about entering the queen’s mind if the king is so easily able to infiltrate mine.” Ivy chewed on her bottom lip, watching Diana comfort Poppy while she continued to cry. “I don’t want him hurting her anymore.”
“Which is why the four of you will continue to work together,” Siobhan said. “You are strongest when the gift is complete. As for the king”—she refocused her attention on Ivy—“try to keep him out of your head. We can use it to our advantage if you can control it.”
“There are mental tricks I can teach you,” Donnelly said. “We’ll start working on them when we land in Dublin.”
Ivy seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding.
“There’s something inside him. I can feel it,” she said. “It’s like…a piece of himself that he’s hidden. He’s not entirely evil.”
“Well, no one’s entirely evil, are they?” Donnelly said. “He’s been alive longer than anything I’ve ever known. I’m sure there are countless pieces of himself he’s locked away over millions of years.”
I couldn’t even comprehend that length of time, much less consider who or what I’d be if I could live that long. But then again, time passed differently in Faerie. What would millions of years mean on that side of the realm? The entire concept hurt my brain to think about.
“No, this is different,” Ivy said. “It’s like…he’s forgotten that he used to love Diana. He’s forgotten that he used to be kind.”
Finn narrowed his eyes, studying me with a grim set to his mouth. “He has grown cold since I first met him. The things he’s done…the things he’s made me do…and now that he’s on this side of the realm, he’s even more unstable. We don’t have much time.”
“His separation from the queen is making it worse,” Siobhan said.
“Once we get to Killwater, what then?” Lex said. “Do you have a way to get into Faerie and take us with you?”
Siobhan smiled and held up her necklace, where a silver ring in the shape of ivy leaves dangled from the end. The ring.
“Christ, where did you get that?” Ivy held her hand out for it, and Siobhan took it off her neck and gave it to her. “I thought I’d lost it.”
“You did,” Siobhan said. “But that’s my fault. You weren’t supposed to go back to Faerie. I had no clue the gift would warp like this. When I created the ring, I enchanted it so that you wouldn’t be able to take it with you on your way out. It would get you back to your realm, but it would stay behind until I could collect it.”
“That explains it,” Ivy said. “I’d been so careful to hold on to it last time. I couldn’t remember letting go of it.”
Siobhan nodded. “Two days from now is Beltane. The veil between the realms will be thinnest. We’ll go into the woods then.”
“Beltane,” Donnelly spoke up. “Are you sure that’s wise?”
Siobhan turned to face him. “You have a better idea?”
He shrugged. “The woods are going to be…rowdy.”
She snorted. “I would have thought you’d be excited about a party before a battle.”
He curled his lips into a smile. “I’m not saying that. It’s just…” Donnelly glanced at me and my spouses before going back to the banshee. “Well, some of us didn’t exactly keep a sober mind at the last fire festival.”
I tried not to be insulted. We’d been drugged and cursed by Siobhan. We couldn’t be held accountable for our actions.
“It doesn’t matter,” Siobhan said. “It might be the last time we get to make such a mistake.” She glanced back at us with a somber smile. “Smoke ’em if you got ’em. And for goodness’ sake, stay together, yeah?”
But my heart sank into my stomach.
It might be the last time we get to make such a mistake.
The question balanced on the tip of my tongue, poised to spill over. What was the likelihood of us walking out of this alive? What were the odds we make it out of Faerie ever again?
But in that split second, I decided I didn’t want to know. My luck was telling me to have faith, to believe things would work out. And it hadn’t steered me wrong this far.
“So?” Siobhan asked. “Anyone got a spare plane lying around?”
Ivy and Miri looked to Lex, who clenched his eyes shut and sighed.