Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

My magic fizzled out as I gazed at the immortal lands in mute wonder.

There was grass so bright a green it rivaled the depths of Ossian's eyes. Tiny seven-petaled flowers whiter than stars and buttercups like drops of gold jeweled the grass. Its moonless sky was far richer and more star-studded, clouds floating by in the same breeze that blew the sweetness of a springtime Court of Beasts into the dead winter lands of Redbud.

"Meadow, get up," Sawyer hissed from my foraging bag.

A shiiing of unsheathing metal was so startling it cut through the quiet night air like shattering glass. I twisted away from the sound, snatching up the bag as I staggered to my feet.

Ossian had drawn a sword from a scabbard hidden beneath his cloak. It resembled a rapier, hardly the thick broadsword worthy of a fae of Ossian's build, but it was sharp and intimidating with its black blade.

It's made of iron , I realized. Faebane, in their native tongue.

The hilt was silver, which enabled Ossian to actually wield the weapon, and the cross guard twinkled with close to a dozen gemstones. My crystals! They'd been embedded into what looked like diamond-shaped scales then wrapped around the guard to resemble dragon hide. They twinkled like captured fireflies, emitting a shimmering shield over the iron blade.

Contrary to Sawyer's warning, that sword and its wielder were not focused on me. Ossian stared at the shimmering portal, a sneer on his perfect face and a half-crazed glint in his eyes. His free hand seized mine, clamping down like the fangs of a python.

I yanked back, but the fae king was immovable and I was too weak from the summoning. My magic was already in the process of recharging, and rapidly, too, but there had still been a toll on my physical body. I needed time, which the fae king did not seem of the mind to give me.

"The moment we're through the portal, kill the bear," Ossian ordered, not sparing Alec the courtesy of a glance. His gaze was riveted on his prize.

"Yes, Cernunnos."

"Ossian, you can't want to go through now," I protested. "I can barely walk! I need to rest. Just an hour or—"

"You can rest on the other side." He nearly ripped my arm out of my socket tugging me after him.

"Is the portal going to up and vanish in the next two seconds or something?" I dug my fingernails into his hand, trying to pry him off. "Ossian!"

"Of course not," he barked back at me. "But I've waited too long for this. Now, together."

He thrust our joined hands forward into the opalescent veil.

Warmth.

That was the first sensation I felt, like that first swallow of hot cocoa after an afternoon of making snowmen. A breath of the freshest air followed, then—

Ossian roared as the translucent veil between our worlds crystallized into an impenetrable wall. The subsequent shock wave blasted us apart, our hands ripping free of each other. The same opalescent light of the portal shot through me like an electric current— a booby trap? —searing through every nerve and pathway. It crashed against my oak tree, breaking like a wave into sparkling foam, but the tree remained firm, unhurt.

The churning maelstrom imprisoning my memories, however, was torn asunder. The golden haze cradling my consciousness vanished, banished by the oak tree that had exploded in size to claim every inch of me, and my eyes snapped open.

I was still in the clover field, not far from the portal, steam rising from my skin. Some subconscious instinct must have activated midair, for I'd cradled the foraging bag with the tomcat to my chest. The sounds of screaming horses and shouting Brothers punctuated the night air, but it was all drowned out by the rapid beating of my heart.

I remembered everything.

Marten, my brother imprisoned by Arcadis in an Unseelie Court dungeon for my mistakes.

My family, touched by sluagh and imprisoned in the farmhouse, an illusion shielding them from my sight.

Redbud, transformed into a farce of a fae court and encased in a shield that blocked its existence from the outside world.

My friends, transformed into animals and their memories altered.

Brandi, shackled in the dungeon.

It had been my own magic that had created that net of interlocking leaves, guarding it—us—from being stolen away. I'd believed my own grandmother had cursed me, a notion heavily encouraged by him.

He had stashed me away in the east wing not so I could have a haven in which to meditate, but so I would be isolated, alienated, and solely dependent on him.

I remembered the truth from every lie he'd sold, every time he'd blown Caer powder into my eyes, every gaslighting explanation and illusion, every kiss and touch and—thistle thorns, how he'd nearly made me orgasm on the table in the great hall.

And I knew why.

The signs and hints were all there. It may have started with a mutually beneficial fae bargain where he helped me unlock my true potential and I anchored the portal to Elfame, but it had evolved into something more sinister. In his hubris, he'd believed I'd never put the puzzle pieces together, either.

"When high fae marry and consummate that marriage, their powers join and amplify."

"Come to Elfame as my queen, Meadow. As my bride."

"You're bonded to your magic now, just like a fae."

He was going to wed me, bed me, and take my magic for himself.

I didn't think my skin would ever stop crawling. My fingernails itched, pleaded , to dig in deep and peel it all away like the rind from an orange. And forget the compost heap. That was going right into the incinerator.

Swallowing, I forced my thundering pulse to slow even as the roar that split the air made me tremble. Lifting only my head, I saw Ossian for what he truly was, his glamour gone. The ancient power governing the portal had ripped his control to shreds, and with it, the hooks he had sunk into me. Ossian's tonics and powders and rubies and magic—their influence had vanished like so many splinters being yanked out simultaneously.

What remained was a high fae standing seven or eight feet tall, a crown of elk antlers sprouting from his coppery curls. From the waist down, he resembled a red deer with strong legs and large, skull-crushing cloven hooves.

The Stag Man.

My enemy. My betrothed.

His hooves churned the earth and his antlers scraped the sky as he bellowed at the portal and cursed his brother's name. In response, the center of the opaque doorway flashed molten silver once before returning to its impenetrable state.

"Meadow?" Sawyer croaked.

"Oh my Green Mother," I breathed, the reality of my new situation ripping through me. Tears trickling from the corners of my eyes. I blinked them away. There would be a time for grief later, but now I had to fight for my life for the second time tonight. "I remember everything."

"You do?" he exclaimed, his voice mercifully muffled by the thick canvas of the bag.

"Shhh," I whispered, sitting up. I needed to concentrate, for these next few seconds determined whether we lived or died.

Seething but no longer raging like a rabid beast, Ossian stepped up to the portal and took hold of what the flash of molten silver had produced.

"The portal is locked ?" he thundered. "By a primal key? Callan, when I get my hands around your neck, I'm going to—"

The fae's spine arched as he unleashed a blood-curdling scream. Even from this distance, I could see the veins bulging in his neck, how blister red his bronze skin was with rage.

"C-Cernunnos," Alec was foolish enough to interrupt. "Wh-what about the bear?"

Ossian whirled on his second, incensed at the interruption, then his eyes sharpened on me. "Meadow," he growled.

The earth trembled from his stomping steps, but he was no longer the Stag Man. Or so he thought. His glamour had returned, yet I could see through those once more. I rose, in case I had to make a run for it, and used every ounce of will to maintain the illusion I was still under his thrall. But I wasn't, and never would be again. The oak tree filled every inch of me, leaving no weakness for him to exploit.

"Are you alright, love?" the Stag Man asked.

He doesn't know! He had no idea the aura radiating from his skin did nothing to mask his true identity, that the golden haze he was actively projecting at me had no effect. That my magic repelled him just as my ancestor, the first Hawthorne, had.

Alright, Misty Fields, you're up. Sell the lie.

I made sure to keep my eyes on his face and not his antlers. It wasn't easy, so I clutched my head and looked down at his hooves instead. "What happened?" I groaned, knowing I wasn't overselling it. I really did feel bruised and battered and everything in between. A feeling my unfettered magic was rapidly resolving.

"My brother has added insult to injury," he spat. "It wasn't enough to curse this portal to wander and require a woman to summon and anchor it. He had to go and lock it with this primal key."

"Wh-what's a primal key?"

He practically threw it at me. I caught it, lifting it up by its tip to examine the intricate filigree design. It was just like the portal's archway, woven of pure light. What looked like four pea-sized diamonds were embedded in a crescent along the bow end.

The Stag Man was pacing. "It must be charged with all four aspects of primal magic for it to work. So now we can add a magical scavenger hunt to our list of things to complete before the…"

The four diamonds had started to glow in four faint but distinct colors—green, red, white, and blue. The same colors that had flared along my oak tree at Violet's command. The more I held the key, the more the green diamond grew in brightness.

Ossian threw his head back with a triumphant shout. "Meadow Ní Violet , the true daughter. She was a primal force of Nature herself, second only to her sister, and you inherited her power!" He seized my cheeks in his hands, forcing a brief but fierce kiss upon my lips. I kept my vomit to myself. "You were the answer all along, Meadow. Your magic can charge the key because you are a primal witch! You can harness primal sources and extract their magic!"

The writing in the farmhouse ashes. Grandmother had known all along. Had tried to warn me.

It's how I'd summoned the wind on the outcropping in the Tussock woods. How fire had come so easily to my call when I needed to trap the feral fairy. How I had extracted green life energy from all those plants.

"How do I do that?" I asked him. I had the key, so all I needed was the method and then I would Rabbit Step Spell my fanny outta here. While I had an inkling on the technique due to my experience with the rambler roses, I needed to be absolutely sure.

"With my help, of course." He scoffed at the silliness of my question.

Feh, of course.

"You've fused with your magic, Meadow, but in its practice you have the control of a fae child, not unlike a swarm of locusts—accuracy through brute force. There was no finesse to that portal summoning. Charging a primal key takes precision. We must sharpen you into a falcon."

And now I had a fraction of a second to make a decision. Take the key and run and try to figure out how to precisely imbue it on my own, or continue the farce. Make Ossian believe I was still under his spell, his besotted little puppet, and use his knowledge to charge the key. And save my brother. After that, my family and the whole of Redbud.

No pressure.

The decision was made for me when the Stag Man plucked the key from my numb fingers. Slipping it into a pouch on his belt, he hailed his Brotherhood. No, his magic hunters . "Set a sentry to guard the portal. The rest of us go back to the castle. Bring the bear. His agony continues a while yet." He glanced over his shoulder. "Come get your horse, Meadow."

"Coming. Still a bit jelly-legged is all." I forced a lightness to my voice that I didn't feel. I was choosing to go back to my enemy's stronghold, after all, and without the bliss of ignorance. But I wasn't without allies. Sawyer, Ame, even Brandi. And Shari. Wonderful, stalwart, not-crazy-in-the-least Shari.

And one more.

Under the excuse of a wobbly balance, I staggered against the wagon. None of the magic hunters moved to help me. They were too busy fussing with their own horses and mustering the fortitude they would need to confine the bear on the long ride back to the castle.

My bear.

"Arthur," I whispered.

I remembered the softness of his hair under my fingers, the warmth of his soul, his enduring patience and compassion. The feel of his lips and the searing heat that sizzled between us whenever we touched. How his heart yearned to beat in time with mine… before it had all been ripped away. How he had suffered, trapped in his bear form, day after day in the great hall. How I had almost brutalized him.

The bear swung his massive head towards me, careful not to rattle the chain that connected his collar to the ring in the floor. His hazel eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and soaring hope and unfaltering trust that nearly wrenched a sob from me. I risked slipping my hand through the bars to touch him, my hand disappearing into the brown fur of his cheek. I didn't feel the invisible chain that had previously bound us, but I felt its echo in that hollow piece in my heart, and I was going to get it back.

I was going to take everything back. The prophecy binding Violet's true daughter and the Stag Man had been right about one thing: a choice had to be made. And this was mine.

"Stay strong," I told him, withdrawing my hand. Green magic blazed hot and brief in my eyes as my hands clenched into fists with my next vow. "I'm coming for you, bear claw."

The End of A Beastly Court .