26. Twenty-Seven Maeve

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN: MAEVE

A chorus of snuffles and snores rose up around me. Warm bodies pressed against mine, limbs tangled together like a hot bowl of Mom's spaghetti bolognese. My head rested against Flynn's chest, which rose and fell in a steady rhythm. This is the best way to sleep.

If I could actually sleep.

I'd been staring at the ceiling for hours, straining my ears as though I might somehow be able to hear what was going on outside. How could I sleep while people stood out there with torches ready to burn us alive? How much longer would the protective charms hold us?

I sat up, my bladder screaming. Arthur stood at the window. He'd cleverly set his alarm clock so he could wake up and relieve Corbin. That exchange had happened a half hour ago. Corbin hadn't looked happy to leave his post (clearly, he never intended to wake Arthur up), but he'd snuggled down into Rowan's arms and fallen asleep in minutes. He didn't stir as I slid out from under Blake's arm and joined Arthur at the window.

"No change," he said, wrapping his huge arm around my shoulder. His eyes never left the scene outside. "We're still holding. Why are you up?"

Far below, figures surrounded the walls of the cottage, their glittering torches still glowing. At the front gate, a tow truck and a couple of tractors had torn the iron gates off and now banged against the invisible barrier, trying to break it down.

"I need the bathroom," I said.

"You should wake someone to go with you. None of us should be alone, even in the castle."

"It's literally at the bottom of the stairs. I'll be fine." The boys weren't able to build an ensuite into the tower without extensive plumbing work, so they'd given one of the bathrooms on the second floor over to me. They'd decorated it in the same jewel tones as my room, and a brand new claw-foot bath took up half the impressive floor plan. I'd already filled it with Rowan's handmade soaps and organic skincare products from Clara's shop. It smelled like a rose garden and I loved it.

I did my business, then sat on the edge of the bath and stared out the narrow arrow slit beside the vanity at the sky beyond. Stars glittered across the sky like torches in the heavens. For the first time, they didn't fill me with wonder – only dread.

How long until the villagers break through?

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement on the vanity. The mirror swirled with a dark mist that congealed in the centre. After a few moments, it settled into Daigh's face.

"You're hiding inside your castle, instead of fighting them?" he sneered. "That's not the daughter I raised."

"That's right. I'm not the daughter you raised, because you didn't raise me. Enough people have already died," I shot back. "That's the whole reason I'm trying to get you to take this deal – to save lives. We can't go around dishing out justice just because the villagers are scared of us."

"Why not? When people fear you, they obey you."

"I don't want people to obey me. I want them to leave me and my guys the fuck alone." I glared at him. "Present company included."

Daigh tilted his head to the side. "Such righteous anger. And yet, if the enemy outside were fae…"

"Same deal. Maybe in the past, humans have been cruel to the fae, because they were greedy or afraid. It doesn't mean we can't try another way. But you have to stop trying to slaughter us all first. I don't want to hurt the fae, but…" I touched the dagger I'd carried down with me. "We will defend ourselves."

"I'm not trying to slaughter you, my daughter." The rhyme sounded lyrical, intentional, on his lips. Daigh laughed. "I'm here to help save your skin. And maybe the skins of all your fellow witches, since you seem so attached to them."

"You can do that by telling me if you've secured the loyalty of the fae, if they'll support our agreement."

"It's too early to say, but the evidence is compelling. The fae see now that the dream cannot possibly be any future I bring about."

"There's no way to know that."

"But there is. Because I'd never impale my own daughter on a stake and burn her flesh off."

Air leaked out of my lungs like a punctured balloon. It was me on the stake all along. I ran my hand over my cheek, imagining the skin peeled away, the muscle and tendons below exposed to fire and carrion birds, my body burning while I screamed for mercy. My stomach churned.

Burned alive, just like my parents in the Ferris Wheel fire.

"You saw the sixth stake," I choked out. I tried to remember where Daigh had been standing in the dream, but it wouldn't come back to me. I'd been too focused on the scarred and broken bodies of my guys, pierced through the chest and blackened with fire. Why did Daigh see it and not me? Perhaps my subconscious had blocked me from seeing it, knowing that it would distress me.

I dug my nails into the enamel rim of the bath and leaned forward as my stomach heaved. Bile rose in my throat. I coughed, fighting to hold back my dinner. Through the mirror, Daigh made tutting voices.

I pressed my hands against the tiles. Their coolness brought me back to the present. To Daigh in the mirror, and the mob outside.

Do your duty, I reminded myself. Protect the coven. Protect the earth at all costs.

The urge to puke subsided, and I rose shakily to my feet. I stood at the window and gazed down at the mob outside. Surely they didn't intend to ? —

The door to the bathroom flew open. "Maeve, are you—" Aline's eyes widened when she saw the face in the mirror. She tripped over the hem of Flynn's pyjama pants in her haste to scramble to the basin. "Daigh! What are you doing talking to Maeve—ow!"

"Get away from him," I grabbed her wrist before she could touch the glass and yanked her away. "You don't know what touching that mirror might do."

"He wouldn't hurt me!" she whimpered.

"Don't be so sure of that. It's kind of your fault he's stuck in the fae realm in the first place."

"Just let me talk with him. I can help you."

My body twinged with indecision. On the one hand, this was my mother, the woman I'd wanted to get to know my entire life. On the other hand, the only connection we had was our biology. She was technically only a couple of years older than I was, and she was a complete flower child who believed in astrology of all things, so she wasn't exactly a mature, sensible influence. Her presence at Briarwood had unsettled everything. And I wasn't entirely convinced she'd make the right decisions when it came to Daigh.

"Ladies, as much as this display amuses me, we should continue our discussion before your friends upstairs start to miss you. I came tonight to deliver an important warning about a discovery I made upon returning to the underworld."

"Why didn't you say this before?" I demanded.

"You didn't ask."

By Athena, fae were so infuriating. "Okay, fine, what's this top-secret thing you discovered you couldn't tell me before."

"My spies reported Liah and some of her main guard were missing. I've been trying to figure out what they're doing. Finally, I captured one of her sprites and managed to wring the truth out of her – they're up on earth."

"I thought none of you could return to the earth now you were in the underworld," I threw my hands in the air. "You bounce between lies like a yoyo."

"Anything can be had, for a price." Daigh sighed. "What's a yoyo?"

I answered his question with another. "What price did you pay to bring those fae here tonight?"

"Nothing you need trouble yourself with, my dear. You should be more concerned about Liah. The sprite says she wants the coven out of the way before the Slaugh ride."

I gestured to the window, where the villagers continued to ram the gates with their tractors. "She can join the club."

Daigh laughed. "She will do just that."

Right, that made sense. If Liah joined with the humans, they could work together to get through our defences.

Except, it didn't. "Liah hates humans. Will she accept their help?"

"She doesn't need to," Aline said, squeezing my thigh.

Of course. Fae can use compulsion. I can't believe I'd forgotten. Liah would be able to force the humans outside to do her bidding. They might even be under her control right now. My chest tightened with fear at the idea.

"Liah knows she won't be able to cross the wards of the castle," Daigh said, as if I needed it explained to me. "But she will use the humans to draw you out."

"Yes, yes. I've got it now," I snapped. I sank my head into my hands. What could we do? We couldn't fight the fae without leaving the castle, but we couldn't risk hurting the villagers trying to get through them. And if they fought us with the fae behind them…

My mind flicked back to the image of the guys impaled on those stakes.

It's not going to happen. We've got to find a way. Think, Maeve.

"If you want to stop her, you have one path open to you, and you need to choose quickly. Turn back the magic on the defensive charms. Allow the villagers entry into Briarwood."

"Why would I do that? Isn't that giving Liah exactly what she wants?"

"It creates a distraction. The villagers surge forward, eager to get their hands on the evil witches. Liah and her fae lie in wait for the humans to deliver you into their hands. Meanwhile, you have escaped to a safe location far from Briarwood, such as your friend Clara's family hall, where without restriction you can attack her at your leisure."

"This isn't Star Trek . We can't just beam ourselves to another location." I think. I looked to Aline for confirmation, and she shook her head.

Daigh gave me a puzzled look, but continued. "There is a secret passage in the cellars. The last wine rack contains a spring-loaded door. Push it in the right place and it will swing open, revealing a narrow passage that will admit one witch at a time. It will bring you out in the forest near the Raynard estate."

"How do you know about this?"

"I lived in this castle for many months," he said. "I was here specifically to hunt for weaknesses the fae could exploit. Many times I used the tunnel to return to the sidhe without the witches knowing. It's your only chance to escape the castle without the humans capturing you. If Liah compels a human to capture you, she can get close enough to your boys and compel them to break the wards that protect the castle."

Shit, shit, shit.

"You're telling me we have to abandon Briarwood Castle."

"To save your skin and give you a chance against Liah, yes."

"But it's not a solution. It's only a delaying tactic. They'll eventually figure out we're not in the castle and they'll find us and we'll be in exactly the same situation."

"Think of it more as a tactical retreat. You buy yourselves time and room to move. You can sneak up behind them and take Liah by surprise. I recall you saying you have a weapon that will stop the Slaugh," Daigh rubbed his chin, his eyes sparkling. "One wonders why you haven't used it yet on the humans."

Dammit, he's right. I hated that Daigh had seen through us like that. Even though he didn't know about the belief magic, he knew there was a reason we hadn't used our weapon on the fae. We couldn't harness the magic because the statue was outside the castle grounds, but even if we could, there's no way we'd use it. If we hurt the villagers or drove them away or did anything to disrupt the flow of belief magic that was going to Flynn's statue, we could lose our shot at defence against the Slaugh. The angry mob outside our gates were probably driving up the belief magic to stratospheric levels. In case we couldn't make an agreement with Daigh or, more likely, he double-crosses us, we needed to keep that magic flowing until the Slaugh came if we wanted any hope of defeating them.

If we could hold out it until Ryan's painting came out and the press descended on Crookshollow, then the villagers wouldn't be able to pull stunts like this – not without the whole of England looking on. Without our magic throttled, we could hit Liah with some of the belief power, try and get her out of their heads, maybe take her out completely. If we hid out a Raynard Hall, we'd at least have a chance.

But when they got in here…we would lose the castle, we'd lose the wards. We'd most likely be dead.

But we can't leave Briarwood. Memories flashed through my mind – of the first day I'd arrived and the boys literally fell over themselves showing me around and trying to impress me. Of the first time Corbin and I shagged on his desk in the dark panelled library, of the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen whenever Rowan was at the stove, of climbing over Flynn's piles of crap in the garage, and swinging swords with Arthur in the orchard.

Briarwood was my castle. It was the only place in the world I'd ever considered home. No way did I want to give it over to a horde of villagers to pillage and ruin.

"Forget it," I said. "We're not letting them in here. For all I know, you could be lying about Liah even being here. I'm not giving up Briarwood based only on your word."

"If you don't stop Liah, then what you showed us tonight will come to pass," Daigh insisted.

I sighed. "You're basing this hair-brained scheme on that stupid dream? You're more deluded than I thought."

"If we've seen it, then we must try to change it," Daigh insisted. "Isn't that our responsibility to the earth and her inhabitants?"

"Either predestination exists, or it doesn't. You can't have it both ways."

Aline smiled at the mirror. "Our daughter questions everything, even the evidence of her own eyes."

Daigh grinned back. "What monster have we raised?"

"Neither of you raised shit," I snapped. "I was raised by two amazing people in Arizona who you killed with a Ferris wheel ."

"Temper, temper." Daigh grinned at Aline. "She is most definitely mine."

"The DNA test will confirm that," I growled, wrapping my fingers around Aline's arm and dragging her toward the door. "I'm just going to consult with my mother here. Don't go away."

Out in the hall, I yanked Aline through the doorway of Rowan's room and flattened us both against the wall. "Okay, I give in. What's his game?" I hissed. "Is he telling us the truth or what?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she whispered back. "You've been around him a lot more recently than I have."

"I've only had a handful of conversations with the guy, and from what I can gather, precisely 82% of what he says is lies."

Aline smiled, her white teeth catching a glint of the "For Daigh, that's a pretty good percentage."

"Is this funny to you?" I snapped. "Lives are in danger here, and you're flirting with the enemy."

She rubbed my shoulder. "Woah, hey, calm down, honey-bee. We're going to figure this out."

I cringed at her saccharine pet name. "You lived in this castle a lot longer than I did. Do you know about this door in the cellar?"

Aline shook her head. "But that doesn't mean he invented it. I never did go down in the cellar much. It's dusty and grotty and full of spiders! We have to remember that Daigh's got nothing to gain or lose personally by coming to warn us. He's safe in the fae realm. His safety is not in danger."

"We have no idea what he might gain by this, that's the whole point. At least there's an easy way to confirm his story," I said. "We go to the cellar and look at this secret doorway. If we can find it we can conclude at least that part was true."

Aline glanced up at the ceiling. Heavy footsteps moved across the floor above. Arthur's voice called down from the top of the stairs. "Maeve, are you okay down there?"

"I'm fine," I called up. "Aline's down here, too. Can we talk to you about something?"

The stairs creaked under Arthur's weight. Aline reached behind me and shut the bathroom door. A few moments later, Arthur appeared in front of us.

"What's up? I don't want to leave the post for long."

"Aline will go and watch the window for a few minutes. I need you to go down to the cellar."

"You thirsty?" Arthur used the cellar to brew and store his mead and other alcohols.

"Not really. But Dai—" Aline stomped on my foot, shoving me out of the way so she could face Arthur.

"I just remembered there used to be a secret passage in the cellar," she breathed. "There was a spring-loaded door in the last wine rack, and the passage behind led into the woods."

"I've never seen it," Arthur said.

"Not many people knew about it. I don't even think Andrew and Bree knew. It might be a good escape route if we need it, but we need to know it's still there." Aline batted her eyelids in a flirtatious way. "Can you go down to the cellar and check?"

Arthur glanced over at me, a questioning look in his eyes. I nodded. I didn't like that Aline was lying to him about how we found out about the tunnel, but we needed to know it was there. It was better for him to go down there than me. No way was I leaving Aline alone with Daigh.

"You'll both watch the window?" Arthur said. "Don't take your eyes off it. I think the protective wall is starting to buckle."

My stomach churned. I nodded again. Arthur shot me a final dark look and hurried off down the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, I grabbed Aline.

"What did you do that for? Why did you lie about Daigh?"

Aline's eyelids fluttered. "Because if Arthur found out Daigh was here, he'd rush in with his chest puffed out and we wouldn't get anything else out of Daigh. And then your Sir Lancelot would probably go straight back upstairs and wake everyone up, and that's not what you wanted, is it?"

She's right. That's exactly what would happen.

I let go of her. "Sorry. I'm just a bit?—"

"It's okay, Maeve. I understand." Aline wiped her eyes. I noticed the sheen of tears on her cheeks.

"Go upstairs," I told her. She didn't move. I didn't have the heart to tell her again.

A few moments later, Arthur's footsteps beat a path up the stairs and down the hall. "You were right," he huffed when he saw us. "There's a door and a tunnel behind it. Has there been any movement on the border?"

"Not that we could see," I said.

"You coming up?"

"I want to speak with Aline privately for a bit. I won't be long. I promise."

Arthur looked ready to protest, but what could he do? I was still his High Priestess. "Hurry up," he called back as he vaulted up the spiral stairs.

Aline pointed to the bathroom door. "Shall we?"

"Fine, let's get the over with." I re-entered the room. Daigh swivelled his face toward me. His features appeared eerily solid for being only an image in the mirror. I longed to touch him and see if his face felt real, but I didn't dare. "Okay, so you were telling the truth about the tunnel. Say I believed you that Liah was outside compelling the humans, if we wanted to stop her, what would we have to do?"

Daigh grinned, showing two rows of beautiful white teeth. How did he get his teeth so white? They can't have dentists in the fae realm. "That's my girl."

"I'm not your girl. Just answer my question, or I'll have Arthur down here to smash that mirror into a thousand pieces."

Daigh shook his head. "You can't involve the giant knight, or the coal-coloured one, or any of the others. This has to be just between the three of us."

"Why?"

"Because Liah is coming for you. We know she has the power of compulsion. She can leap from mind to mind like a frog. We can't have this inside their heads if she tries to get in. Only spirit witches like you and your mum can withstand compulsion."

"And Blake," I said.

"Probably best you don't run to him with this, either. He doesn't exactly trust me, and he's likely to go to the other guys with this information, is he not?"

He was right. Damn, I hated that. I didn't want Daigh to be right. I wanted him out of my life.

But that wasn't my role here. I had to work for the good of humankind. I thought of Corbin – of how he felt trapped at Briarwood, and of all the amazing things these guys could do if they had freedom, real freedom. How even if we managed to defeat Daigh, we'd still go through this again and again and again until the fae got what they wanted.

And as much as I hated to admit it, Daigh and Liah had a point. Climate change, deforestation, genetic vulnerability of crops, fossil fuels...all the science points to humankind wiping itself out and taking the earth and her ecosystems with us. I could see how they concluded the earth would be better off without us.

I had to show the fae another way, a new future. I had to try. And that meant surviving tonight, no matter the cost. It meant losing Briarwood – a symbol of freedom, hope, and power. But it was worth it for true freedom.

I have to do this. It's the only way.

"Fine," I sighed. Daigh beamed at me through the mirror. "Tell me what we have to do."