20. Miri
20
Miri
S houting woke me. I snapped my eyes open to a face full of beautiful ginger hair and Ivy’s sugar cookie scent deep in my lungs. I had my arm draped over her waist, my fingers intertwined with Lex’s on the other side. Carter curled behind me, my back to his chest, his leg in between my knees, and for a moment, I didn’t have a care in the world.
We’d taken each other so many times, my body ached in the best way, but I had also been rejuvenated. When I glanced down at my naked form, I was no longer a skeleton wearing a Miri costume. My body had a certain vibrance to it, as if I was glowing from the inside out. Carter, likewise, seemed more effervescent than he had before, and when I glanced at Ivy and Lex, I realized we made a matched set.
The four of us were shining, lit from within, and I remembered what happened when we all came together last night. A beautiful emerald energy had filled the space between us, coating us in ancient magic that we had no hope of understanding. I could still feel it there, thrumming just under my skin. It was no longer physical, but instinct told me it still existed inside us.
The screams got my attention again, and I looked at the tent flaps where more fairies ran by the opening with gasps of excitement…or terror.
Just as I was about to disentangle myself from my lovers’ embrace, Siobhan shoved inside the entry with Ashley, Donnelly, and Finn on her heels.
“Holy shit,” she murmured, putting her hand over her mouth.
Ashley’s jaw dropped, and Finn’s eyebrows went halfway up his forehead.
“What happened to you four?” Siobhan glanced between us while I pulled the covers up to my chest, trying to protect what little dignity I had left. Carter groaned to sit up. Lex mumbled something about them fucking off, but he didn’t bother to appease them with his attention.
“We don’t have time to figure it out,” Ashley said, her dark brown eyes taking us in. “The king’s here. It’s time.”
A blinding slice of panic shot down the center of my body like a hot poker, and I shoved Carter harder. “C’mon. Get up.”
“Fuck.” He grumbled and rolled out of bed, grabbing his pants to slide them up his legs. I yanked my dress up my body and zipped it closed before slipping on my shoes. Once we dressed, we followed the fairies outside, where the rest of Faerie had erupted into chaos. Bodies bustled around me, wide, horrified eyes meeting mine before refocusing on the center platform. They congregated by the queen’s tent, preparing themselves for whatever they needed to do to survive.
“Little Thistle,” hissed a sinister voice deep inside my head. I winced and assessed my mental barrier, watching as the stones of my tower crumbled more quickly than I could repair them. “Do you feel me? Do you see how futile it is to resist? Come to me.”
Ivy and Lex followed the crowd toward the queen, but I stopped to look behind me, searching for his dark tendrils. He sounded different, weaker perhaps, or more agitated—almost like he couldn’t believe it had escalated this far. He had expected me to fold at Kensington, and now that we’d held out this long, we’d rattled his confidence.
Images of Ivy’s siblings came across the mental link between us—Kit with a wide, scared gaze, her mouth magically sealed shut, and Jon with the same startled expression, his arm curled protectively around Lizzie, who didn’t look any better. Edward’s cheeks were gaunt and big bags hung under his eyes, his hand gripping Kit’s so hard, their knuckles had turned white, their nails digging into each other’s skin.
Had they been transfixed this whole time? What was he doing to them? Where were they mentally? A thick scalding fury settled in my gut, the drive to protect my family nearly sending me on a warpath straight to him. I sensed his presence lingering over the horizon, and if I lowered the bridge surrounding my mental tower, perhaps I could end this now.
“Miri.” Carter grabbed my hand, bringing my attention back to Faerie and the pandemonium about to erupt. The moment he touched me, my skin glowed brighter, hotter, more radiant than it had when we first woke up. “Do you see that?”
I nodded, the king’s voice fading to the dark recesses of nothingness. “Let’s go to the others.”
He tugged me along behind him, weaving through the crowd to make our way to the platform. My heart raced as I dodged bodies in every direction. A fairy ran by carrying a child who cried in loud, fearful hollers while another bigger, brutish fairy barreled in front of us, nearly cutting us off. I gasped and circled him, dread lining my nerves as the king’s energy crested on the hill behind us.
He was here…truly here…in Faerie.
Diana came out of the tent, likewise looking revitalized and glimmering with energy. Her long pale hair had been cleaned and braided behind her head, and her dress had returned to its pre-amnesia decadence. Pale transparent mist poured off her, equally terrifying and powerful as the king’s. Poppy and a few others appeared out of the tent next, the changeling now even taller than when I’d last seen her a few hours ago. She looked like a teenager, her face fuller and longer, her body resembling more of a woman’s than a girl’s. I had a million questions but didn’t ask them, only returned my attention to the queen.
“Well,” she said, glancing around at us and straightening her broad shoulders. “What are we waiting for?” Then she walked down the steps to the ground, gesturing for us to follow her.
The crowd parted for us as we approached, Poppy immediately behind the queen, the four of us behind her, and Siobhan trailing with her lovers. Diana led us through the forest, over the winding path that led out of Faerie. I recognized it from the last time we were here, but the familiarity did nothing to ease the dread in my stomach.
Eventually, we made our way to the ruins, the same decaying building where my spouses and I made an oath to each other four years ago. Heavens, how much we had changed since then. Seeing the ivy-covered stone structure lit a warmth in my chest, reminding me of the emerald mist from last night.
Just as we rounded the corner, the entrance to Faerie came into view, that shimmering veil between the human realm and the fairy. The battle maidens stood facing the king on one side in long, sprawling lines, the Fianna on the other. Both were dressed for battle, their armor shimmering in the dawn sunlight, their weapons poised to strike, their shields at the ready.
He was alone, his arms crossed, an indignant smirk on his lips. His long obsidian hair now reached the middle of his chest, brushed back behind his ears. His beard had grown out too, but remained as black as the rest of him. Dark tendrils swirled out of his hands, scooping up and over us, blocking out the hazy blush of Faerie at dawn. He vibrated with chaotic energy, almost as powerful as he’d been the last time he’d come sweeping down that hill, but nowhere near as controlled. He seemed to be cracking at the seams.
“Friends, fairies, countrymen, lend me your ears.” Hands held up on either side of him, he stalked down the rolling green grass toward the armies, now more lush and vibrant than when we’d arrived. How long had we been in that tent? How long had it taken for the king to break his way into Faerie? How long had he been standing here waiting for us?
“We once were brethren,” Alberich continued. “We once were on the same side.”
Metal clinked as the soldiers prepared themselves for battle, shifting into formation. The sight startled me, and I didn’t see how one man…one king of fairies could stand against them. I grabbed Ivy’s hand and straightened, reminding myself we were safe inside my mental tower. The king couldn’t corrupt me here. He couldn’t reach me. We were stronger together.
“There is no need for violence today.” Alberich almost stumbled over his words when his gaze landed on Finn, Donnelly, and Siobhan, who had moved to the right of the queen. Instead, he refocused on the fairies filing in behind us and the battalions on either side, the entire population of Faerie now united against him.
My cousin and the rest of his abductees stood mindlessly next to him. Like the guards at Kensington when he’d attacked, their eyes were completely dark, the whites and irises gone to swirling pitch and smoke.
Siobhan moved to the other side of Diana, perhaps to make a show of a more balanced force, but it caused me to separate hands with Ivy. I lamented the loss but still held Carter’s on my other side, his fingers squeezing mine to let me know he was still with me.
“Ah, Diana.” Alberich stared at his wife with a devilish smirk on his full pink lips. “I see you’ve come to your… right mind.” He chuckled softly, but I seethed with rage.
It was the first time I’d seen him since I’d remembered he’d done something vile to me, and I trembled as I struggled to stay in my spot. I wanted to gather the strength from the woods surrounding us and choke him to death for violating me. I wanted vengeance for the hell he’d put me through, for taking Edward and the others, for messing with Diana’s mind in the first place.
He didn’t deserve forgiveness. He may not want violence today, but I thirsted for his demise in a way I’d never known before.
“Alberich,” Diana said, “have you come to apologize?”
He twisted his features into an incredulous scowl before barking out a laugh and clapping. “Apologize? Whatever for? Trying to protect my own?” Alberich glanced around at the bystanders, former members of his Fianna and peerage alike, and opened his hands as if to suggest he meant them no harm. “Look at the damage that has been done since we allowed their kind in.” He pointed over the hill, toward the entrance of Faerie. “Have you seen what they did each other? When left uncontrolled, they revert to wild animals.”
“That’s not true,” Ivy cut in. “You did this to them. You did this to all of us.”
Diana held up a hand, shushing Ivy, who gave the queen a side eye but didn’t argue.
“My love,” Diana said, shaking her head with a soft smile. “Can we not find common ground?”
Poppy chose that moment to move around Diana, opposite Siobhan, and grab her hand. Alberich focused on the changeling, his dark eyes even more villainous now that the object of his ire had shown herself.
“We can, my love,” he snarled, “if you rid yourself of that thing.”
Poppy winced and ducked her head, squeezing her free hand into a fist.
He stood to the side, showing the diminishing remains of the veil. It had been rotting when we’d come through on Beltane, but now, it hummed with a fraction of the same power I’d come to associate with it. If we didn’t act soon, we might not make it out of Faerie.
“There is the door,” Alberich said, holding out a hand in a dismissive gesture. “Look at it. So weak. So volatile. Just like them. It won’t last much longer. Send them through it. Send all the humans through it, and we can go back to how things used to be.”
Sure, Poppy had made mistakes, and I’d be the first to say she couldn’t be trusted, but that didn’t mean she was un human. She wasn’t a thing ; she was a person. We all were. We didn’t deserve this type of treatment, no matter what had happened in the past.
I reached into my pocket, squeezing the ruby dust as Lex’s plan from last night churned in the back of my mind. Alberich deserved a taste of his own punishment. He’d messed with my mind since I was a child, he’d made Diana forget her entire life, he’d used Poppy and nearly killed her. Now, I planned to do the same. The elemental magic buried in its molecules hummed through my blood. I could manipulate it if I wanted. Ivy had given me the spell.
“That is not an option.” Diana straightened her shoulders, folding her hands in front of her, setting her jaw in a tense clench.
“Well, that is unfortunate.” Alberich’s gaze drifted to the battle maidens before narrowing on the Fianna. “ And this show of strength is meant to…what? Intimidate me?”
Siobhan straightened, jutting her chin out defiantly.
“Do you think me so weak that I could not just—” The king flicked his hand like swatting a fly and half of the battle maidens slumped to the ground, their eyes gone obsidian, their bodies limp.
“No!” Siobhan called, taking a step forward before Diana held up a hand to hold her back. Alberich cut his hand the other way and a third of the Fianna did the same. This angered Finn, who squared his jaw and tightened his grip on his sword.
“My lady,” Finn murmured. “Give the order.”
Instead, Diana shook her head and tsked her teeth. “Charades, my darling. Come now. We are surely past this. There is no need to enthrall our own.”
“Traitors, the lot of them.” Alberich snarled before narrowing his eyes on me again. “Little Thistle.” His sinister voice filled my head, taking me back to that night. “ We had so much fun. Don’t you remember?”
Flashes of his memories came next, ones where he held my wrists by my head and shoved himself inside me. I writhed and moaned and arched into the touch like I enjoyed it, like I wanted more. I’d been dreaming about Carter. I’d thought he was my star-crossed lover.
Holding back a sob, I visualized myself behind my castle tower again, forcing those wretched images out of my head, forcing him to retreat.
“Miri,” came a feminine voice from my right. Ivy was still standing there with me, holding my hand in my head, if no longer in reality. I squeezed tighter, holding Carter’s palm even harder. “Miri, hang on to us. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I moved past the point of agony and straight into flaming rage.
How dare he take from us like that? How dare he violate me with no repercussions?
“It seems we are at an impasse.” Alberich’s lips pulled into a cruel smile, his gaze drifting to Ivy and Lex.
A tense moment passed, the anticipation so thick that it nearly electrified the air. Wisps of darkness licked at my face, rolling over my curls in a soft caress. I shook it off, grimacing against the icy fingers that tickled down my spine. I hated it, almost as much as I hated him.
Then, two things happened in quick succession.
Ivy called, “Miri!” and reached out for my hand. I turned to her just as a white blast flew out of the queen. The force hit me square in the chest, knocking me back, and just before I landed, I focused on Diana and Alberich lifting into the air like two fallen angels hellbent on destroying everything in their path.