Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The Winter King crossed the threshold first, a company of soldiers dressed in silver armor following behind.
His own armor was a pale silver so brilliant it looked almost white.
Behind him, the Spring Queen entered with a few fae whose armor looked more decorative than useful, chain mail shaped like tree leaves, knives with hilts carved into the faces of animals.
Seeing the werewolves still fighting the demons, and Torres wounded, but still holding her own against the larger demon, the Winter King gestured and his men spread out, silver swords flashing as they began dispatching the demons.
I swore as the Autumn King followed behind, his own troop of soldiers wearing bronze armor and helmets which masked their faces.
Behind him, the Summer Queen arrived. I could only tell it was her by the blue and yellow colors she wore over her golden armor.
The metal looked nearly paper thin, but I imagined it could stop a bullet.
She had the most soldiers with her, their faces blank, and hands on the twin swords most common in the Summer Court.
Although both the Autumn King and Spring Queen followed the Winter King’s lead and sent their soldiers to help the fatigued wolf pack, the Summer Queen kept hers close by, forming a protective circle around her.
“Windrose,” the Winter King boomed, hand resting on his sword. “You have found our murderer.”
Mark whimpered. I imagined what he must feel. The power of the fae in this room was tremendous, and with not a single drop of magic left in him, it must have been a reminder of what he’d felt his entire life.
“What justice will you mete out?” the Autumn King asked. His hand was wrapped around a spear, the blade at the end glinting in the light from the Far Realm.
“My daughter?” Her helmet muffled the Summer Queen’s voice. She must have wanted to hide her weakness from her fellow monarchs.
“Safe,” I said. I pointed to where Thistle had gathered Acacia into his lap, guarding her with a nest of thorny vines.
The Queen gestured, her jeweled fingers ungloved. “Fetch her.”
Two soldiers jogged off, their armor like bells ringing as they moved. Thistle let the vines disintegrate as they approached, and he lifted Acacia closer to his chest. Cradling her, he followed one soldier back, as the other guarded their rear. The Queen nodded at his return.
“As expected of my most loyal servant,” she said.
“My liege.” His hands tightened on Acacia.
The fighting grew quiet as the fresh fae soldiers finished off the remaining demons.
A mix of Winter and Spring soldiers dispatched the mother demon, the Winter soldiers attacking head on, while the Spring warriors darted in and out, making precise cuts that took out tendons and veins until the demon collapsed on its side and Torres ripped its head off with her teeth.
“Windrose, what judgment do you give this man?” the Autumn King asked again. He looked down. “I would have his head for what he has done to Timothy.”
I wondered who Tim had been to him. A loyal servant? A lover? Or did the Autumn King traffic like the Summer Queen and leave his child behind in the human realm to do his spy work?
Nick stood tense at the edge of the fae groups. The rest of the humans had moved aside, afraid of what the fae would do to them if they got noticed. If I did what I had to as Windrose—demand a life for a life—I wasn’t sure Nick would ever forgive me.
Mark had murdered so many, but Nick would want him tried in court, not by a horde of fae who would execute him here.
“I sentence him to a lifetime without magic,” I said. Adelaide Woolworth had believed the fae taught humans magic. So that circle Mark loved so dearly had to have some ounce of fae still left in it.
I felt the oak grow behind me, and as the soldiers saw it, their eyes went wide. One dropped to her knees.
There was a pressure on my palm, and I was holding Malcolm’s cane in my hand. The symbols for the four courts glowed on its head. Approaching Mark, I felt the magic of my position shift and tighten.
I touched the tip to his chest.
“You stole magic, Mark Woolworth,” I said. “You won’t ever draw a circle again.”
He shrieked and the spellwork on his chest began smoking, the brand shifting to a new configuration. When it settled, I could read it. The symbols denied Mark any magic. I blinked, and the translation vanished, the tree behind me fading back into nothingness.
“And what will be done with his shell?” the Autumn King asked.
“Put him in prison for his lifetime,” I said.
“No death,” the Autumn King spat, as if goading me to change my mind.
I looked at Nick and hoped it would be enough. “A lifetime without magic is enough punishment for him.”
The SWAT team leader had entered the warehouse, Nick’s captain behind him. Nick glanced over and then moved to stand next to his captain when Tate beckoned.
“Get him up,” the Autumn King said, gesturing at Mark. “We will heal his injuries so he might experience the fullness of his sentence.”
“Great,” I said. “Sounds like a plan.”
Two soldiers held Mark between them, his arms thrown over their shoulders. His head lolled down, and he groaned.
“Windrose,” the Autumn King said, nodding his head. He glanced to the Winter King. “Well, Balsam? Are you satisfied with the new fulcrum between our kingdoms?”
The Winter King stroked his beard, his other hand still resting on his sword. He looked me up and down, his eyes as cold as a glacier. Finally, he nodded.
“I am pleased with the outcome. It has been too long since my warriors fought against the beasts of the darkest realm.” He waved his hand and his soldiers formed up again, then marched through the doorway. The Spring Queen followed, a smile on her face as she dipped her chin in goodbye to me.
The Autumn King led his soldiers back through the doorway, Mark’s feet dragging on the ground as he was taken through the doorway he’d opened.
Finally, the Summer Queen approached. She flicked up the visor of her helmet.
Her cheeks were bone white. The only color on her face was her blue eyes, which caught mine.
“Congratulations, Parker Ferro,” she said. “You have fulfilled the task I set for you.”
“It’s part of my job, now, isn’t it?” I challenged. “The Summer Queen doesn’t set tasks for the Windrose.”
“Ah, yes,” she said. “Windrose. Now you must be fair, just, and above all, neutral.”
Her eyes flicked to where I clenched my hand on the cane.
“You cannot kill a monarch if you are being neutral.”
“I bet I can find a way if you want to test me.”
She made a tsking sound and gestured for her soldiers to follow her back. Some color returned to her lips. Apparently, she was recovering quickly, with the solstice so close and Mark not stealing her magic anymore.
As the last of her soldiers disappeared, I expected the doorway to close, but it hung open, the torn edges glowing rainbow colors, like an aurora borealis up close. Frowning, I felt for the doorway and swore, “Hermes’ winged sandals.”
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked, right at my elbow.
I jerked, startled, and he grabbed my arm to keep me from tripping. His captain joined us and looked at the doorway.
“That doesn’t look good,” he muttered, pulling a toothpick out of his pocket and setting it between his teeth.
“Whatever Mark did,” I said. “It’s actually moved the Far Realm closer to ours.”
“Is it permanent?” Nick’s eyes traced the hole between our worlds. I could see him already planning how to contain it.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I can close the doorway itself, but I think it might mean it will be easier for things to pass between the realms.”
“On purpose?” Captain Tate asked.
The SWAT team leader joined us, his hands tight on his weapon.
I shrugged. “Or accidentally. Before we were on opposite sides of Death Valley. Someone could get across, but it was hard. Now, it’s a crack in the sidewalk.”
The SWAT team lead swore colorfully enough that Captain Tate sent him a frown. “You said you can close it?”
“I can try,” I said.
I closed my eyes and felt for the tree that grew between realms. Its roots sat in two worlds, its trunk halved. It still felt ghostly, disliking the mix of worlds. Drawing on that feeling, I reached out and pulled at the edges of the hole.
It was like trying to put tissue paper back together. The thinness made everything delicate. I felt the first pieces catch, and then more, until it only left a pinprick of a gap. Opening my eyes, I bent down low and squinted at it. Maybe no one would notice, but I knew it was a bad idea to assume.
“It’s as good as I can get it,” I said.
One of the cops found the light switch and flooded the warehouse with dim fluorescent lighting, half the bulbs gone out and a few flickering.
It illuminated a grotesque scene. The corpses of the demons littered the floor, their blood a strange purple color.
A few medics had arrived, and crouched over injured cops, two paramedics undoing Theo King’s restraints.
I watched as they loaded him onto a stretcher and wheeled him out of the building.
Almost all the wolves had all slunk out the door, but Malik and Torres were waiting for us near the edge of the darkened circles.
At the door, I saw someone waving and recognized Chelsea, her face bright.
A familiar woman had an arm slung over her shoulders, and it took a moment before I recognized her as Dieter’s wolf on the side.
It looked like the two had found out they had something in common.
I’d fear for Dieter’s safety if he didn’t deserve everything they had coming for him.
Raising my hand, I waved at her and she and the other wolf walked out of the building.
I looked back to where Malik and Torres were speaking to each other, the alphas of two packs that rarely mixed with cops.
Nick saw them, too, and at my look, he excused us from Captain Tate and the SWAT team lead, now in the middle of a conversation about containment. They must have agreed with me that even a hole no bigger than a grain of sand was too much of a risk to leave unattended.
As we walked over to them, I wanted to ask Nick what he was thinking, but it seemed dangerous. What if he was pissed I’d let Woolworth get away?
“That wasn’t pack justice,” Malik said.
“You can tell your pack the fae took him. That’s more than enough punishment,” I said. “If you wanted to fight the fae monarchs for him, you should have said. I’d have sold tickets. Ten bucks to see the alphas of two packs get murdered.”
Malik snorted, and I saw Torres’ eyes narrow in amusement. “Ten bucks? I think you could do better.”
“A hundred,” I said. “He’s punished. The fae will make sure of that.”
“Windrose,” Torres said. Her predatory eyes raked over me. “I think I like you a little more, now. If anyone’s going to make his life hell, it’ll be the fae.”
I could feel Nick’s disapproval, like a thundercloud booming in the distance.
“We good?” I asked Malik.
He offered his hand. I grasped his forearm, and he pulled me close, an arm around my back.
“Be careful,” he murmured into my ear. “You always were a little too sneaky to make good pack, and you’re going to need that, dancing with the fae.”
He released me and took a couple of steps back, gesturing to two of his waiting pack members.
Celia and Tara, I realized. I waved at them and Tara raised her hand in greeting while Celia shook her head.
They followed Malik, a half-step behind him as he left.
Torres and her guards were close behind, brushing past the SWAT team members entering the building.
“What’s going to happen to him?” Nick asked.
I didn’t pretend that I didn’t know who he was talking about. “He’s going to live the rest of his life without being able to wield magic. He won’t get any magic back. That explosion looked like it messed something up in him.”
“Is he going to be tortured?” Nick asked.
“No,” I said. “Not physically. That isn’t how the fae operate.”
“Mentally?” he asked.
“What do you want me to say? If I’d tried to get them to leave him here, they would have fought back. They don’t listen to me yet, Nick. I could either let them kill him or let them take him.”
“He should have faced justice here.” The edges of Nick’s lips pulled down.
“Yeah, well, should’ve is a world of regret.” I shrugged. Digging deep, I found the honesty that had made me tell him about myself in the first place. “I don’t want to lose you over this. I tried to make a decision we could both live with.”
Nick sighed, and I saw the frown on his face wasn’t from anger, but worry. He lifted his hand and cupped my cheek, sliding down my neck to my shoulder. He tightened his hand once and then dropped it.
“This is going to be a mess of paperwork. You should get checked out by the medics. I don’t know what you did, but it looked dangerous.”
“It wasn’t too bad,” I lied. “Piece of cake.”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m sure if I told your sister about it, she’ll order you enough food to feed an army.”
“What, you’re going to tattle to my sister?” I said.
“If you don’t get yourself checked out?” His eyes narrowed. “Watch me.”
I groaned and followed him out of the warehouse towards the ambulances on the street. “At least promise we can go on a real date after this.”
“Sure,” Nick said. “Anywhere you want.”
Grinning, I said, “I can think of a place real close. Does breakfast in bed, even.”
“Does this place also have a pile of your laundry on the floor?” Nick asked.
“Not if you give me ten minutes.”
Nick leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips. He tasted warm, like honey on a summer day. “Five. And I’ll bring the breakfast.”