Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

R osa floated in a womb of earth and heat, writhing weightlessly before everything was rushing about her. Above her, the soil opened up and spat her out. She hit the cold, snowy ground hard but steadied herself to keep from falling. She still held the sword in one hand, and Ryn's hair was still gripped tightly in her fingers. She wanted to throw the foul thing into the lake, but Eli would want to see it first. Balthasar and Celyn were ejected as abruptly, the power around them shuddering. Balthasar spotted her and laughed triumphantly.

"It worked, and I have brought you back. What are you going to do with me now?" Celyn asked forlornly.

Balthasar looked over at Rosa, "You were the one that suffered the most at his treachery. The judgment is yours."

Rosa watched the pathetic fae squirm and grovel towards her. "Enough. I'm not going to kill you, Celyn."

"You're not?"

"No, you will do something for me," Rosa said firmly. "You will go back to the queen and give her this message. If she dares to come after my family again, being either Wylt or Vane, I will raise an undead army, and I'll come for her. I'll burn her out of her filthy hive like she is lower than an ant. Understand?"

Celyn bowed his head. "I understand, Lady Rosa. I will tell her." Rosa let him climb to his feet as she and Balthasar stepped out of the ring of stones. "I know it may not mean much to you, but you looked very much like a fierce Deryn just now."

Rosa grinned, knowing her bloody face was a fright. "By all means, tell the queen that too."

They watched Celyn disappear, and she finally felt like she could breathe. Balthasar put his stolen, blood-stained coat around her.

"Come on, let's go home. I'm sure Eli will be in a right foul mood when he realizes I escaped," Balthasar said. As they walked, he told Rosa all about the night of the ball, his imprisonment, Pearl's confession, and his escape.

"Wow, I never thought that Cecily would openly defy Eli like that," Rosa said, feeling a newfound respect for her, "Go, Mom."

"She was very brave and worried about you. She knows about...about us too."

"Us? What is there to know about us?" Rosa asked. "Once Eli finds out, I'm sure he'll ship me off to Timbuktu."

"It would be me he shipped away. I infiltrated the Aos Si, the Seelie Court, and stole you from under the nose of the Autumn Queen. Eli does not seem so frightening to me anymore."

"But you weren't the one that killed Ryn," Rosa stated proudly as she swung the head she carried. "I killed someone, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. Maybe it will come later, but for now, I'm going to need lots of hot showers and days in bed. Consider yourself warned."

"I am warned. I was going to suggest days in bed with you as well. I think we have earned it," Balthasar said with a decisive nod of his head. "Besides, I need to be able to thank you properly for saving my life."

"Nothing self-serving in that for you at all," Rosa replied as they walked out of the trees and onto the rock driveway of Gwaed Lyn. The front doors crashed open, and Eli stormed out, Lily and Saul looking nervous in his wake.

Rosa straightened her back, gripping the sword hilt tightly. She had been through enough in the last few days to have to endure Eli Vane's temper. Eli's face changed to his Unseelie form as he got close enough to see what she was holding. Rosa tried not to be cowed by him, remembering what Celyn had said. Deryn had stood up to Eli and made him see reason, and she was determined to do the same.

"Lord Bleddyn, a gift for you," Rosa tossed the head, letting it roll along the stones to his feet.

"How?" he demanded.

"He had bested me," Balthasar explained. "Rosa killed him and took his sword."

"Don't forget I threatened the queen with an army," Rosa added, "and to think you were just going to leave me stuck in Faerie to rot."

"How can this be possible?" Saul asked. "How did you find a way in, Bal?"

"I ate some faeries, and it confused the magic in the portals. I summoned Celyn, traveled into their lands, and took Rosa back exactly as I told you I would. All in a night's work really."

Eli was staring at Rosa with intense eyes. "What are you, Rosa Wylt?"

"I'm the woman who has gotten revenge on the murderer of my ancestor and has made your Seelie problem go away." She smiled as her eyes flickered over to Balthasar's stern face. "I am also the woman who loves your son."

"Balthasar..." Eli said coolly.

"She can't help it, Father. She is only human."

Rosa pointed the sword at him, and Saul burst out laughing. "I think Bal just cracked a joke. Lily, did you hear that? It really is possible."

"We will discuss this further, children. For now, I think you both need to get cleaned up and then you can join me in my office," Eli said with the faintest trace of a smile as he picked up Ryn's head. "Well done, Miss Wylt."

Rosa began to smile as something ripped her backward and away from the house.

"So that's it?" Pearl screeched as she gripped Rosa by the hair. "You aren't going to punish either of them? Balthasar openly defied you!" Rosa struggled, trying to hit her. Her sword shone on the gravel just yards away from her.

"Pearl, let her go," Balthasar growled.

"Nobody move, or I will rip her head off her fat body," Pearl threatened, jerking Rosa's head around.

"Pearl, please, please stop this," Lily begged. "Come on, honey, this isn't like you. Let her go."

"No. I have tried for nearly a hundred years to get you horrible people to like me, and she is here for five minutes, and you are all fawning over her. You are meant to be a queen, Lily! Everything I have ever done has all been for you," Pearl cried hysterically.

"You say that you love my daughter, but all you have ever done is cause her pain," Eli said, his eyes changing in his fury. "I saw what kind of shallow, treacherous creature you were the moment I met you. I knew you would cause Lily heartache. That is why I denied you immortality. Still, she had to have you, and how have you repaid her for giving you a new life? You have plotted and threatened and whored yourself behind her back. I know you are behind the Riverclear's mutiny, and I know that you have been feeding off Cecily Wylt."

"What? Pearl, tell me this isn't true," Lily wept. "Why?"

"I wanted us to rule! I wanted to make you happy, Lily. Balthasar came back, and you were forced to go back to being ignored. It isn't fair! It isn't right! I fed off Cecily because I just wanted to defy him and his stupid rules. They are only humans, our food . They are nothing! I hate you and all the stupid Wylts. Rosa is the last, and I intend to release you from your promise, Eli."

Balthasar shouted in fear as Pearl's sharp teeth and nails tore into Rosa's throat. All the fight went out of her as blood spilled down her arms and onto the snow.

Pearl screamed and let her go. Rosa slumped to the ground and saw the blood around Pearl's mouth burn through her face like acid. She tore at her own arms and chest as the blood ate through her. Pearl wailed with her ruined face before she fell into a pile of burning bones and corrupted flesh.

Rosa felt warm and dreamy as Balthasar's face hovered above her. She could see concerned faces all around her and one that she hadn't seen in many nights. Jane's ghost was staring hard and accusingly at Lily.

"Jane...Jane...I'm sorry," Rosa whispered, her hand trying to reach up to touch her. Balthasar was holding her neck, trying desperately to stop the blood.

"What is she saying?" Lily demanded looking around her in fear. "Jane? Where is Jane?"

"Killed her," Rosa whispered, her eyes starting to close. "Killed her."

Balthasar shook Rosa. "Rosa, don't go to sleep. Open your eyes, please." Eli took her, pressing his long hand over her wounds. Saul was holding onto a hysterical Lily, who was screaming and thrashing at the empty air.

"Please, Father, help her!" Balthasar begged.

Eli whispered words he couldn't hear over her. "Her wounds are deep, and with the queen's magic inside of her, I don't know if my power or my blood will heal it. I'm sorry, I don't..." Balthasar picked up Rosa's sword and held it to Eli's throat.

"You will save her," he demanded, Eli flinching as the blade nicked his skin. "I have done everything you have ever asked of me. I have never complained, and I believed you when you said you didn't kill my Jane. You locked me up as if I was some criminal. You took my free will from me for your own selfish fear! I went into the very depths of Faerie Hell for her, and I'll not let her die now. You will save her, or I will kill you."

"My healing skills are great, but she is still human! You have no idea what this girl means to me," Eli said as he looked down at her, his face racked with grief.

"If you cannot heal her, then turn her," Balthasar said firmly despite the tears running down his face. "Father...Bleddyn, please, I love her. She loves me. If any of us have proved themselves to you, who is worthy of your gift, it is her. She is a Wylt, the family you love almost more than your own children. Please change her. You always told me a king takes what is his and that he protects his own. She killed your greatest enemy when you could not. We escaped the Aos Si just as you did. She is worthy. Please, please try."

A small smile appeared on Eli's face before it changed into his full faerie aspect. "Put the sword down, Balthasar. I will try, though you might not like the wrath that turning a Wylt may bring down upon us."

Rosa felt Eli's strong arms about her as he carried her through the mansion to his wing of the house. Distantly, she heard Balthasar's voice saying her name, but she couldn't form the words to respond.

"Stay with me now, Rosa," Eli said, looking down with his piercing Unseelie eyes.

"Bleed..." she mumbled.

"Hush now. Save your strength," he insisted as he laid her out on a stretcher. "You have lost so much blood. I'm going to try to save you, but I need you to focus on Balthasar and all the reasons you want to live." His hand brushed the hair back from her face. "I'm so sorry for what you have had to endure. I did not think that traveling into Faerie would be possible. Forgive me for doubting Balthasar. I'm so sorry."

Rosa drifted in and out of consciousness as Eli healed the damage done to her throat, making her drink something from a clay bowl that tasted herbal with an iron flavor of something she couldn't identify.

He sang softly to her, soothing her as her body spasmed in pain. Then Eli was lifting her, carrying her through a tunnel. Stone gave way to earth, and the air grew warm. Eli spoke a word, and the room lit up with candles. The chamber was filled with herbs and tables covered with clutter. In the far corner, there was a bed close to a fire pit, and Eli placed her down gently.

"Where are we?" she asked groggily.

"This is my sacred place where I do much of my magic," he said, his voice changing to his fae lilt. "The Unseelie are born in the earth, and so will you be as you complete your transformation. When it's finished, the light and noise of the world will not bother you, but during the process, it could be excruciating."

"How long must I be down here?"

"As long as it takes. Balthasar took the longest, nearly a full month, but he was far closer to death than you are. I did not think that the queen's magic in you would allow mine to heal you, but everything seems to be working. You have already gone through your first transition."

"Eli? How angry do you think the queen is going to be that I escaped and killed Ryn?" she asked with a wheezing laugh.

"She is going to be furious, my wild warrior." He chuckled as he took her hand gently. "Your matriarch would have been very proud of you."

"Deryn. The queen was so jealous of her. I think she is still in love with you."

"The queen hates losing. She doesn't love me."

"The book on the Vanes that you gave me doesn't tell of your life with Deryn. You told me a little about her, but I would like to know more. What about her family? My family. If you were always going to have the book, then why not write the story? You said it was to protect the Wylts, but we have always been with the Vanes..."

"Sometimes, when you love something more than your own life or anyone else's, you would go to impossible lengths to protect it. Some stories are too dangerous to write. Some stories not even the Vanes—this very family I have built—can be fully trusted with."

"But I am a Wylt, not a Vane," Rosa pointed out.

"Half dead and still eager to argue. You are Wylt down to your bones; you can be sure about that," Eli said as he scooped water from the spring and poured it into a pestle and mortar.

"How many Wylts have you argued with?"

"All of them, but two most of all," Eli said sadly. "Both would flay me if they knew I was trying to turn you."

"You've never turned a Wylt before?"

"Aside from Deryn, no. I have never dared. The idea of another Wylt to fight with for all eternity makes me extremely nervous." He dipped a spoon into his concoction and filled a small glass.

"But if you haven't turned any Wylts but me and Deryn, and she is dead, then who else is around to fight with for all eternity?"

"Oh, Rosa, you imagine things in my words that aren't there. Now drink this," Eli said and tried to hold the glass to her lips.

"You are so full of shit. I didn't imagine anything." She managed a grin before taking a long drink from the glass. She gagged but held it down. "You might as well tell me. I will find out one way or another."

"One day, I might tell you that story, sweet Rosa, but for now, you must rest, or Balthasar will kill me."

"Don't be a dramatic old man. Bal wouldn't hurt you," Rosa said, snuggling into the covers.

"He threatened me with Ryn's sword, and I believe he meant it. He loves you that much."

"So he should," she mumbled before sleep took her once more.

Rosa had no way of knowing how much time was passing. She would wake, and Eli would be there to feed her the mixture. Nightmares of the Aos Si and the Autumn Queen invaded her from all sides. She was so distressed that at one point she knew she had been screaming out for Harold. Eli had climbed into the bed beside her to hold her and soothe the dreams away as if she was a little child.

Rosa fell into a dream and saw Celyn kneeling in front of the queen beside the portal stones. Rosa watched the queen's face change to a hideous creature as her rage wracked the whole of the Aos Si. The queen struck Celyn, and the fae fell back, dead, his chest split open wide.

The queen looked down at her hand as if she was shocked that she had caused it. She held her palm to her face, studying it, before staring up at the clouds above her. The Autumn Queen sank to her knees as white snow began to fall about her.

Rosa woke again to Eli helping her sit up. "It's almost over, my Rosa," he said as he sat down behind her and put his arms around her. "There is only one final thing you must do now." Eli bit his wrist and offered it to her. "You must drink. I will not force you. It's up to you to make the final choice."

Rosa looked up at him, tears running down her face. "I think it's snowing in Faerie," she whispered, and then before Eli could respond, she pulled his wrist to her mouth and sucked.

Images swamped her, flickering faster and faster as Eli's blood rushed through her like a potent wine. Her vision blurred around her until she no longer saw earth walls but a forest all around her.

What are you? A voice asked, and she saw a man sitting by a fire, his raven hair blowing about his golden eyes.

I am a Wylt , she replied, and as she made to touch him, the ground fell out from underneath her feet until darkness enclosed her once more.

Rosa struggled, fighting her way to the surface of her dreams until her eyes opened to find herself back in the chamber, Eli's arms around her tightly.

"Where is he!" she demanded. "I saw him. Where is he?"

"Where is who, Rosa? It's only us," Eli tried to calm her.

Rosa pulled herself out of his grip and stumbled around the room, searching for the golden-eyed man.

"He was here. I know he was!" she wept pulling at her hair. "I know he was. I know it."

"Who was he? Who did you see?" Eli asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Rosa looked up at his Unseelie face, the same thick dark hair around the blazing eyes, and she knew.

"Your son."