Chapter 24

A rebel popped up in front of me, a dagger in his hand, but I punched out with my fist, connecting with the side of his head and sending him backward.

Using my power, I pushed the fear and paranoia into the new crowd of rebels and they fell back.

“My lady, they are breeching the door!” a solider called, pointing further down the wall.

In that moment my brain was fuzzy. I could have sworn I’d just heard Stryker call my name.

I ran, my foot catching on a loose brick and I tumbled forward, cracking my chin on the stone floor. Pain shot across my jaw as blackness danced at the edge of my vision.

I shook my head, standing and walking more slowly to the wall’s edge. I peered out at the mass of rebel soldiers. They had cannons aimed right at us.

I pushed a wave of terror into the men manning the cannons and they ran away screaming.

“My lady!” someone called to my right.

“Help us,” to my left.

Tears lined my eyes as I pushed a mass of my power outward, trying to encompass as many rebels as I could.

A slice of sharp pain ripped through my head then and I inhaled sharply, grasping the side of my face. The dizziness won over in that moment and I staggered backward, but managed to stay conscious.

Captain Greylocke caught me and I looked up at him. “I’m tired,” I said weakly.

He peered down at me with pride. “You did well. You gave Easteria everything you could.”

Why was there resignation in his voice?

“No. We must keep fighting.” I grabbed the sword from my belt and tried to hold it up but my fingers were weak and it clattered to the ground.

“Take a carriage out the south wall and flee with Lord Stryker. I can hold them off to give you time,” Captain Greylocke said.

Tears flowed down my cheeks but I shook my head. “I won’t leave you.”

Stryker’s people had become my people. I was in this battle to the end.

He sighed, helping me up into a sitting position and then put a small dagger into my fingers. “I wish my lord could have seen you battle today. It was a sight to behold.”

He held a fist over his chest and bowed to me as I rested my back against the stone wall.

I peered out over the sea of rebels and sighed. We’d barely made a dent.

And where were Zander’s five hundred men that had been waiting nearby? They’d likely fled. I didn’t blame them.

“I wish I could have seen that too.” Stryker’s husky voice came to my right and I spun, in shock.

He stood shirtless, his messy hair splayed out atop his head as he loosely held a sword and peered at me with concern.

“Are you injured?” He dropped to one knee before me, swiping at the blood on my upper lip.

“She’s been using her magic on the advancing army for hours,” Captain Greylocke said.

It was nothing short of a miracle I’d stayed conscious this entire time.

Stryker pressed his lips to my forehead. “Why didn’t you flee?”

I peered up at him. “Because you wouldn’t have.”

A rebel flew over the wall and I cried out. Stryker spun, lashing out with his sword and shearing off the man’s wing, which caused him to drop.

“My powers are still weak. I cannot fight with shadows,” he told Captain Greylocke and I panicked. He held out his hand and a tiny puff of shadow formed before fading away.

Stryker pulled me into a standing position and the captain faced us both. “It was a pleasure to serve you, my lord.” He saluted Stryker and my stomach clenched.

This was it. After all that, Stryker would wake only to see his men be slaughtered.

“And you. Go be with your family,” Stryker said. Then he turned to every man on the wall. “Retreat! Go be with your families in these final moments,” he announced.

It was like a punch to the gut. He was giving up?

But even as he said it, I peered down to see thousands of rebels climbing the walls, about to breech the city.

We were done. This was the end.

“Did you send ravens to my brothers?” Stryker asked me.

I just nodded. “They did not respond. I’m sorry.”

The hurt in his face gutted me.

He pulled me into his arms then and held me. When I peered back at him, he looked devastated. “I wanted so much more time to love you, Aribella. I didn’t get enough time.”

I nodded, blinking back tears and then our lips met in a frantic kiss.

This was the end. The end of my mission to save my people, the end of this battle, the end of my time with Stryker, the end of it all. In minutes I would be wiped from this realm and sucked into blackness forever.

I was so glad I gave the Shadow Heart to Dawn for safekeeping. I could only hope Isolde, the Winter princess, would succeed where I failed. For Faerie and for Ethereum. The curse had gone on for too long. Seelie and unseelie in both realms deserved to live free from it.

The wall we stood on shook, as Stryker held onto me tightly and the sounds of screaming men filled my ears. They were ravenous, absolutely deafening in their cries to war. I tried to push more of my magic outward to them but was overwhelmed with a wave of dizziness, there were just too many of them now.

“Defend Easteria!” The cry reached our ears and both Stryker and I snapped our heads to the battlefield.

Oh my stars.

They came.

Fanned out across the entire horizon were three sets of new troops, each holding a flag that represented the Northern, Southern, and Western Kingdoms. Thousands upon thousands of these new men and women chanted, beat at their breast plates, and pushed the rebels toward the castle so that they had to make a choice. Flee east into the sea, west back to the Midlands, or try to enter our city only to be dead within minutes when this new army arrived.

A wall of black shadows ripped through the crowd throwing soldiers left and right and I smiled when I recognized Adrien sitting atop a white mare and controlling it all.

My gaze scanned further and I noticed Zander among the warriors holding the Northern flag and then it wasn’t hard to pick out who must be the final brother. Zane was a tall man with broad shoulders who was currently cutting down rebels with a sword in each hand. He was the spitting image of Stryker but with lighter hair that was short on the sides and not quite as long as his on top. And of course his face was free of any scars.

“They came.” Stryker staggered beside me, clearly in shock, and I couldn’t help but grin.

I slipped my hand into his and squeezed. It felt like some deep wound had been created years ago when these brothers did not come to his aide and I was watching now as that wound healed.

“They did,” I agreed.

We just stood there, watching the glory unfold as Stryker’s brothers crushed the rebel army, pushing a quarter of them to their deaths in the sea and sending the rest fleeing to the Midlands. Our door to the city as well as our walls still stood strong.

We survived and not only that, we’d won.

Chants of joy went up as the men cheered and hoisted their fists and weapons into the air.

I glanced over at Stryker and I smiled when I saw Captain Greylocke walk over and bow to his knee before him.

“My lady. You have won this battle and my allegiance.”

My lady?

Stryker stepped to the side and I realized that the captain was bowing to me . One by one every single man on the wall took to one knee and bowed their head.

“Why are they doing that?” I whispered to Stryker.

He peered at me with an unreadable expression. “Because I told them before I left to find you at Mount Grimhorn that you were the lady of the house, and now that you’ve led them in battle they are your men to command as well. If you want to them to be.”

I swallowed hard. Did he just? Lady of the house meant …

“Stryker, are you asking me to marry you?”

He grinned. “Only if you’re going to say yes.”

I laughed, feeling butterflies take flight in my stomach. Proposing on top of a city wall, at the end of a bloody battle among hundreds of dead bodies was exactly what I would expect of this man.

“Yes. A thousand times yes.”

I leapt into his open arms and he pulled them around me, holding me tightly as he crushed me to his chest. The men on the wall began to cheer and everyone stood.

“Hey!” someone called from down below. “You going to invite us in for a meal or are you still mad?”

I smiled as Stryker pulled me back and we peered down at Zander who now sat atop his horse with Adrien and Zane beside him.

Stryker crossed his arms. “I’ll think about it.”

I smacked his chest. “Open the gates!” I cried and the soldiers below did my bidding.

Stryker gave me a playful glare, but I shrugged.

“You said they were my men to command as well,” I reminded him.

That got a belly laugh out of him. “I have a feeling you’re going to keep me on my toes.”

With a grin, I grabbed his hand and took the steps one at a time, slowly. I was a mess, still slightly dizzy and crusted with blood, but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity to patch things up with Stryker’s brothers go by.

* * *

An hour later, after both Stryker and I had cleaned up, Dawn arrived. Apparently, she and Zander never really left. They’d decided to head south to seek Adrien’s help, but he was already on his way with his entire army. Then they met Zane and his men on the way and the rest was history.

Dawn had hidden out in a carriage nearby until Zander sent one of his men to give her the all-clear. Since we’d released the household staff for the day, I offered to make dinner.

“Have you ever cooked?” Dawn looked at the raw chicken in disgust.

I laughed. “Of course. My mother taught me how.”

She looked sad for a second. “You and I have very different mothers.”

I matched her wan smile. “We do. But mine isn’t perfect, and yours means well …”

I think.

“She does. But she has a very one-track mind. She will not stop until one of Zander’s brothers’ hearts is carved from his chest.”

It was a dark truth that we needed to remember.

I rubbed some spices into the meat. “So what are we going to do about it?” I asked as I lit the gas stove.

She chewed on her lip. “I may or may not have learned some information recently that could help us.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s coy.”

When the oil was hot I threw as many chicken breasts as I could find into the frying pan and a satisfying sizzle filled the space.

“Well,” Dawn went on, “as we were traveling with these thousands of soldiers I overheard one talking about … a blood witch.”

I stilled with my hand over the chicken. “Okay … I’m listening.”

Dawn began to pace the kitchen. “Apparently she can … project your soul anyplace in the realm. In any realm. She normally communicates with the dead—”

“The dead!” I shrieked. “Whoa, that sounds dark. What are you suggesting?” I tossed some diced potatoes and leeks into a pot of boiling water and then started ripping some rosemary to add as well.

“I’m suggesting she project our spirits or whatever to Isolde. So we can warn her not to listen to my mother. Not to kill Adrien or Zane or whoever she’s going to be sent to assassinate.”

It was a good idea. But a blood witch? I didn’t know much about them, we didn’t have them in Faerie, they were a special kind of unseelie that had great and terrifying magic. More so terrifying from what I’d heard.

But if there was a chance we could talk to Isolde and prepare her, it was a risk worth taking. If she came to Ethereum set on killing one of its lords, someone could get hurt. It could be a game changer if we could get her on our side quickly.

A bubble of hope rose in my chest. Perhaps whatever Isolde could learn from the Wise Ones would bring us closer to ending the curse for both our realms.

“Let’s do it. After dinner,” I said resolutely, and Dawn nodded her agreement.

It was decided. After Stryker mended things with his brothers, we would find this blood witch and try to reach Isolde.

* * *

When we finally entered the dining room with a few giant platters of food the men were laughing.

“I was six years old!” Zane yelled. “Everyone wets the bed that young.”

Dawn and I shared a look and burst into laughter with the rest of the brothers.

“Let us help you.” The men suddenly realized we were there and all four stood, rushing forward to grab the hot trays of food for us.

“Thank you for cooking,” Zander told me.

Dawn scoffed. “How do you know I didn’t cook?”

Zander gave her an oh please look and she grinned.

It wasn’t until we were all seated again that I realized Adrien’s fiancée Elisana was here. She was so quiet, sitting there eying the kitchen door.

“Can I make some tea?” she asked.

“Of course, I can boil some—”

“No, you enjoy the hot meal. I’ve got it.” She slipped away into the kitchen and we all served our plates.

“It’s good to see you, brother.” Zane kept sneaking glances at Stryker, at his scar. You could tell he hadn’t seen his brother in a long time.

“It’s good to be looking on the bright side of life again,” Stryker admitted as he held my hand.

When he took his first bite of chicken he moaned and then looked at me. “I’m firing my chef.”

I smiled, and Zane and Adrien shared a look.

“So what’s with this?” Zane pointed to Stryker and I, and Zander and Dawn. “Two mates happen to be from Faerie?”

Zander and Stryker shared a look and Stryker cleared his throat. “Like Ethereum has four territories with four lords, Faerie has four courts with four princesses.”

Zane nodded.

“And we think that each princess is the mate of one of ours,” Zander finished and both Adrien and Zane froze with a fork full of food to their mouths.

This was so weird. We had suspicions that each princess of Faerie was the mate of an Ethereum lord, but that meant Adrien was currently engaged to the wrong person. Talk about awkward.

“What did you just say?” Adrien said, just as his fiancée stepped back into the room with two cups of tea.

“Here you are. Your special tea.” She placed a cup before him and he smiled up at her. “Thank you, darling.”

Then he looked at all of us. “I was having a horrible time sleeping and Elisana made me a custom tea. It’s really helped. I don’t even dream anymore.”

I frowned, sharing a glance with Stryker but said nothing. That was kind of weird, right? Not to dream?

“I fancy myself as an herbalist. In another life I would have studied and became a physician,” she said and sat back next to Adrien, watching him keenly.

He picked up the tea and took a long sip and she relaxed a little. I didn’t like her but it wasn’t my place to say anything about it, and she was being nicer this time than the last, so maybe she’d grow on me.

We ate the rest of the meal in relative silence; anytime someone tried to speak to Elisana, she gave one-word answers and had something of a weird vibe. This was a family dinner and although they were engaged, no one really knew her and she was kind of standoffish, so it had created an awkward aura to what should have been a wonderful meal.

Stryker cleared his throat, patting his belly. “Thank you for the lovely dinner, Aribella.”

Everyone chorused his kind words and then Stryker glanced over at Elisana.

“I don’t mean to be rude, Elisana, but I need to speak with my brothers privately about matters of state.”

Elisana bristled, peering at me as if wondering why I got to stay, but I looked away and then she stood. “Of course,” she snipped.

Adrien stiffened, looking slightly uncomfortable as she left the room.

“Sorry, brother, but I don’t know her,” Stryker said flatly.

Adrien frowned. “She’s the woman I am to marry.”

Stryker swallowed hard. “And I’m happy for you, if you’re happy, but until you are married I would like to keep what we are about to tell you private. For the sake of our realm as well as Faerie.”

Adrien looked at the door Elisana had gone out of one more time and then nodded.

Dawn reached under the table and pulled out a bag. She hefted it on top and opened it to reveal the Shadow Heart.

“I had to go and see the Wise Ones—”

“The Wise Ones?” Adrien gasped.

Dawn and I then went into a ten-minute explanation about both of our experiences with them and how the Wise Ones had given us each a clue on how to hopefully destroy the curse and fix both of our lands. Without killing one of them. Then we told them that we wanted to contact a blood witch to see if she could help us get a message to the Winter Court princess to not kill anyone.

“You want to bring a blood witch here?” Stryker growled.

“We running out of options and time,” Dawn reminded him.

The dining hall door opened and one of the guards stumbled in looking ashen. Stryker stood so fast his chair nearly fell over. “What’s wrong? Are the rebels back?”

“No, my lord … but the plague that has infected the Northern Kingdom is now here,” he said.

It wasn’t a plague, it was a curse, and now it was here. My heart sank.

Zander leapt to his feet as well and we all ran outside.

The streets had turned to celebration after we’d won the battle, but something was wrong. People were laying prone on the floor and others were trying to tend to them.

“Oh no. It’s spreading,” Dawn whimpered and then looked to me. “How long have you been in Ethereum?”

How long had I been here? I’d stopped keeping track of the days weeks ago. It felt like I’d both been here forever and also just arrived.

I took a moment to try to gather the days and weeks and realized with a start that it must have been exactly one moon’s cycle to the day.

I hadn’t thought of my faestone dagger in so long, but I realized my window to return to Faerie had passed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Obviously I wanted to save my people, but I didn’t want to leave Stryker.

When I told Dawn and the others how long it had been, Dawn and Zander exchanged a weighted look.

“Exactly when the sickness broke out in our kingdom as well,” Dawn said.

“It’s the curse, isn’t it?” I asked, and she nodded solemnly.

Looking around, my eyes welled with tears when I took in all the affected fae. Fae whom I now considered my own people.

I followed Stryker to the fallen unseelie fae nearest us and gasped when I saw that there were black veins shooting out from their eyes and running down their neck.

Stryker looked at Zander. “What do I do?”

Zander sighed. “We need the blood witch, brother. The faster we can get these princesses to see the Wise Ones and complete their task, the sooner we can destroy the curse and restore our land.”