Chapter Seventeen
Nights were cold in the Otherworld—and unforgivingly dark.
Away from the haze of bonfire smoke, a wash of moonlight fell over the earth.
It cast the heath in an underwater glow, made hazy and ethereal by the ever-present mist. In the distance, she could see red and gold dotting the hills as people carried lit torches to and from the bonfire.
The stench of peat hung heavy in the air.
Shea’s route took her on a steady incline up a hill, beneath the cover of hazel and holly trees.
As she walked, she listened to the night-songs of insects.
Here and there, the snap of a twig or the beating of birds’ wings set her on edge.
But nothing happened. Was this really all this trial would be? A little jaunt through Midir’s land?
Wind cut through the trees. Shea cradled the flame closer to her chest, and its steady warmth bathed her face.
When the leaves ceased their rustling, the world held its breath.
The festival’s music did not reach her. Not even the crickets dared to sing.
The only sound was the soft trickling of water.
Shea passed into a clearing—and froze. In front of her was a pool, surrounded by bricks of rough-cut stone and fed by the waters of a stream.
A woman sat on a moss-covered boulder. Her feet were bare.
Her golden hair spilled off her shoulders and pooled in her lap.
A sharp pain went through Shea at the sight of her.
“Aideen,” Shea said breathlessly.
Her entire body went slack. Her flame dropped to the earth and sizzled against a puddle. Shea hardly paid it any mind because Aideen was here. It took all her strength not to rush forward and cling to her like they were children again.
Before this tournament, Shea had rehearsed what she’d say when she finally saw Aideen again.
She’d come up with a thousand questions and prepared a thousand stories of all the things Aideen missed.
She’d done her best to blot out the dread that rose up within her, because what if things weren’t the same?
What if Aideen still hadn’t forgiven her?
What if their reunion was soured by all the things they never got to say to each other?
When Aideen looked up at her, all of Shea’s doubts fell away. Aideen’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “Shea.”
Shea took a step closer. Then another, like a sleepwalker stumbling forward. She all but collapsed against Aideen and threw her arms around her. “Is it really you?”
“Yes.” Aideen laughed. “Of course it’s me.”
“I missed you so much,” Shea whispered. She breathed in and caught the familiar stench of saltwater and rot. Shea stiffened in her arms and jerked away from her.
Aideen blinked up at her, pressing a hand to her heart. “What’s the matter?”
Guardedly, Shea asked, “What are you doing out here?”
Aideen looked almost amused. “What do you think I’m doing out here?”
A terrible coldness unfurled through her. “You’re not Aideen.”
This close, Shea could see the flaws in the glamour. The eyes were just a shade of blue too dark, the hair too pale a gold. But the most glaring imperfection was that it was too perfect. This was Aideen’s face, painted by the hand of someone who saw only the surface—or maybe someone who envied her.
“It was you,” Shea said, sounding more shaken than she would’ve liked. “You left that message in my room. You tried to drown Daniil.”
The stranger did not deny it.
Anger tore through her. How stupid and desperate was she to fall for this ruse?
Her anger dimmed quickly to fear. All of the competitors had gone in a different direction.
No one would hear if she screamed. And even if they did, it wasn’t like a mortal screaming would be anything terribly out of the ordinary.
No one was coming to save her.
Not-Aideen must have seen the understanding dawn on Shea’s face. Her fingers tensed on the back of Shea’s neck, and the sharp points of her nails scraped against Shea’s skin. “I did try to warn you. You should have dropped out while you had the chance.”
Before Shea could blink, not-Aideen rose to her feet.
With a flick of her hand, Shea was lifted bodily into the air and thrown against a tree.
Her skull cracked against the trunk. White spots exploded over her vision, and the taste of blood filled her mouth.
An unseen force pinned her in place; her feet hovered nearly a foot off the ground.
Slowly, predatorily, not-Aideen glided toward her, flexing her fingers at her side. Her nails had blackened and sharpened into talons, which she wrapped around Shea’s throat. This time, they dug in hard enough that pinpricks of blood welled beneath them.
“Humans are so tiresome. I have waited more than a thousand years for this moment. I will not have you ruin it with your shortsighted, foolhardy whims.”
The words washed meaninglessly over her. Blackness creeped in from the corners of her vision. Pain drove into her, deeper and deeper. She couldn’t draw a single breath.
This is it, she thought distantly. This was how she died.
Something solid struck not-Aideen in the temple. She staggered backward and hissed, clutching at the side of her face.
The invisible rope suspending Shea snapped, and she hit the ground.
She grunted at the impact, but she was too stunned to feel it.
Shea scrabbled backward as quickly as she could, gasping for air.
It burned to breathe again. Reflexive tears sprang to her eyes.
A hand closed around her upper arm and all but dragged her to her feet.
“Get up,” Daniil snapped.
“Daniil?” she choked out.
Not-Aideen let her hand fall from her face.
It revealed her expression: stunned, affronted, enraged.
Blood matted her hair and ran down the sharp line of her jaw.
Her features shifted and rippled like disturbed water.
Her once-gold hair was shot through with strands of deep blue-black, and one blue eye had changed to the bright yellow of a wolf’s.
Her lips peeled back in a vicious snarl.
“I will make you regret that,” she hissed.
Daniil grabbed Shea by the collar of her jacket. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t need to tell her twice. They ran.
As they stumbled into the darkness, the low-lying thorns of the bilberry bushes tore at them.
She didn’t know where they were running except down—down toward the castle.
A root caught her foot. She windmilled her arms, but it wasn’t enough to maintain her balance.
She stumbled forward into Daniil, and they both went down hard.
The force of their momentum and the slope of the hill sent them tumbling through the thickets.
Her vision was nothing but a blur of motion: dark sky and dark earth and the dark shapes of branches.
No, this was how she died. Not at the hands of a murderous fae—but from breaking her neck during their escape.
Finally, they landed in a heap at the bottom. Shea lay perfectly still. Adrenaline had numbed the pain, but she took stock of herself. Her ankle throbbed. Her head ached. Her palms burned. Fresh cuts stung on her face and shins. At least nothing seemed broken. Both of them were breathing heavily.
Shea raised herself onto one elbow and glanced over at Daniil.
She couldn’t make out much but the wild shine of his eyes.
His glasses were gone, either because he’d forgone them tonight or because they were lying broken somewhere farther up the hill.
Leaves and stray twigs tangled in his hair.
A thin line of blood trickled from his nose.
In the darkness, it looked almost black.
“Are you okay?” she rasped.
“What the hell is going on?” he demanded. “Who was that?”
All of her goodwill evaporated in an instant. “I have no fucking idea! What are you doing here?”
Primly, he dabbed at the blood with the corner of his sleeve. She felt vindicated that he’d only succeeded in smearing it. “I followed you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I saw someone else following you first. I lost sight of them, until you stopped to talk to them.” He sounded equal parts incredulous and impatient, as if such a thing required no explanation.
She supposed it didn’t. It had been stupid to fall into such an obvious trap, but maybe she hadn’t made a good decision in years.
Maybe she never would when it came to the few people she loved.
“Yeah,” she said skeptically, “and you care so much about my wellbeing.”
“I repay my debts.” He looked offended. “Besides, it’s a matter of principle. It’s not personal.”
Before she could muster a retort, a branch snapped.
Then, there came the gentle hunter’s tread of footsteps. They fell abruptly silent and stared at each other in wide-eyed horror.
The forest held its breath. The insects and night birds went quiet.
The breeze ceased to stir. Shea had to clench her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.
Her mouth still tasted like copper, and she was painfully aware of the blood trickling down the back of her neck.
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. A feeling of complete and utter unreality descended on her because she couldn’t help the absurd turn of her thoughts.
What was worse: being saved by Daniil Tsoi and owing him for the rest of her life, or dying at his side because he’d failed to do so?
Maybe Not-Aideen couldn’t see them. They lay at the bottom of a small ravine, shielded by scrubby bushes and brambles.
Shea shifted to get a better look at the faerie woman.
Through the thickets, she could see the faint radiance of her skin.
It silhouetted the deadly tips of her nails, which were blacker than the night itself.
Just when Shea thought she might move on, she turned.
Her one yellow eye fixed on them, aglow with hunger.
“Shit,” Shea whispered. Of course she knew they were here. Surely, she’d been capable of outrunning them, too. She’d just been toying with them.