Chapter Nine: Nathan

It seemed that court business was boring for the fae if they stood around arguing for too long. Right now, they had a lunch break and were being served by the dining staff while talking with their various followers as they schemed and tried to consider ways to bend things further to their advantage. Naturally, food tasters sampled every bite and drink before it was served to the various high-born Unseelie.

"This isn't going well," Greer said sourly, her ancient face heavy with exhaustion. "I think you pushed for this meeting too soon. We needed more time to consolidate allies. I was working on one as well. A few more days…"

"What's done is done," Morgryn said, but with a sharp look at Nathan. "The corruption had spread to various parts of the human academy. Other followers in this realm reported worsening blight. I went to examine some of the academy's corruption and more than a few of them shifted to be near the court itself. With my… half-blood charmer and potioneer missing, most likely to be found sooner or later, I felt it better to arrange a meeting now before they were found and then used as propaganda to show that I was trying to overthrow the court by callous means."

"Like how Aelund did, you mean?" Greer smirked. "Rules for thee but not for me."

"Sorry," Nathan said when some eyes turned to him. "I can't say I was expecting this to happen today. It's not every morning you wake up and find a portal to the fae realm outside your door."

One of the other fae on Morgryn's side yawned. "I only joined because I expected you had a real chance. You're the only real contender we have since you were the actual king. But it doesn't seem we're going to bring the pups to our side anytime soon."

"We have the master of the hunt now searching for the missing potioneer, with express instructions not to slaughter her like a dog," Morgryn said, and Nathan shivered at that. Hopefully, they'd find Eva and bring her in safely, without hate or torture. "He has also sent some of his men to check beyond the blighted land for the portal Nathan mentioned to back up his tale. I understand we needed more time, but it was either move now or be lost for certain."

"Who is the half-blood's father?" Greer asked, grinning. "Do we think it's a member of the Unseelie? Is it you, you old rogue?"

Morgryn grimaced. "I don't dally with any humans. No, it'll be someone from the other courts. His mother was the one born back then – so it lines up with when we were looking to sign the treaty. I'd bet money it's Caelen. He always did like sleeping around and enjoyed how his charm affected mortals. But there are two other options other than him since the Spring and Seelie courts had queens at the time."

Nathan listened, and realized that he actually wasn't curious to find out who his grandfather was. Clearly, it was someone who enjoyed a one-night fling with his grandmother before vanishing. He'd never inquired about any potential offspring since the treaty was signed. Someone like that wasn't worth being known as a parent.

Their talk veered to politics, and Nathan didn't eat or drink anything from the court – preferring his own snacks and water instead. He didn't exactly trust being here in the Unseelie Court.

What these fae needed, he thought absently, was a great big kick in the ass. He eyed Aelund, surrounded by his sycophants, clearly enjoying all the attention. He'd stayed in power because not only did he have it, but he shared very generously with his followers. He clearly was passionate about what he believed in as well, but misguided. If the elder fae had indeed been so frivolous with magic in the past, he could see why Aelund thought it massively unfair that they now restricted everything. It'd be like… having all your favorite candies banned when everyone before you had enjoyed them for years.

Still, this didn't excuse the willful destruction. The murmur of the fae carried through the hall.

So, Morgryn had called for the meeting in the morning, most likely while Nathan and Eve likely spent hours wandering through the landscape while he tried to find a mark of familiarity to lead them to safety. No such thing had appeared, and now it seemed that they sat in the middle of a slow-brewing disaster.

Greer let out a rather dramatic sigh. "The youth these days rarely respect their elders. Normally, I'd be proud – my descendants are there in that crowd. But it works against us. Is this the fate we must suffer? To watch the youth burn things to the ground because we started it first?" She didn't appear sad or depressed, just… contemplative.

"What about killing them?" Nathan asked, and more than a few eyes turned to him in annoyance.

"It's not easy to do that. You can't just shoot one and call it a day. And too many deaths simply will collapse the realm as it is constructed partly out of our collective will and presence. Without us, there would be nothing."

Loud footsteps cut through the conversations as a huntswoman hurried in, her eyes wide and frantic. "Lords, ladies! We have a problem! A big problem!" she gasped, and all conversation died as everyone fixated on the interloper.

"What?" Aelund said in an icy tone. He didn't much appreciate being interrupted.

"The castle! It's being destroyed!"

"What?" Aelund stood up, bowling over a couple of his closest followers. "That's impossible. It's enchanted."

"It's very possible! We must clear out of here right away, lest we be caught in it."

"Nonsense. Someone go and inspect…"

"Do you know what's destroying the castle?" Morgryn asked, cutting through some of the nervous whispers.

"I…" the huntswoman swallowed. "It looked like… the blight from beyond the woods."

"Aha!" Morgryn stood up as well. "You're saying that everything we've just been trying to warn the court about – the destruction of our realm — is happening to the very heart of our society?"

"Why, you!" Aelund spluttered, but more than a few of the youth stared, panicked, as veins of darkness appeared through the walls, starting to eat up the main courtroom.

"This is what I warned against!" Morgryn bellowed. "This is why I signed that accursed treaty! Do you think I enjoyed it? That I wanted to? No! I did it rather than lose everything we are! Now, let us disperse! I'll create a portal for us just outside, by the beach."

Morgryn strode purposely to the middle of the court, weaving a perfect portal with his magic, showing the blurry image of a gray-scaled beach beyond. Without hesitation, the fae began filtering through it as part of the courtroom collapsed, and more of the blackness crept through.

Nathan joined the throng of fae escaping through the portal, worried out of his mind for Eva. She still hadn't been found, and without any way of reaching her, he had no way to know how she was.

If only he'd somehow stood his ground with her. Maybe they'd both have been arrested together. But he didn't know if they would have treated her fairly, and she'd bolted away in all the confusion.

He arrived on the gray beach, moving out of the way as more fae popped through. The castle loomed, but it had drastically been transformed. Half of it appeared to have rotted away, exposed to the air, and the woodland closest to it had melted into blackened stumps.

"What monstrous disease is this!" One younger fae wailed, holding their palms up in despair. "Why is this happening?"

"I told you!" Morgryn bellowed. "This is the effect of our dabbling too much! This is what's been happening to the mortal realm. Now it happens more to ours, too! Our realms are set for collision, and it will not be pretty. Because you all continued to indulge and listen to Aelund, this is the result! Our ancient castle, which has stood for thousands of years, isgone!"

Most of the fae seemed numbed, shocked. A huge monument to them was vanishing before their eyes.

Morgryn took advantage of the despair to push forward his piece. "Join me. Reinstate me. I'll sign the treaty again; I'll apologize and sympathize with all the other idiot faes in their courts. I'll do all the disgustingly boring work that none of you wants to do. Besides, I didn't finish my term. If you see the realm heal, you'll know I was right all along. Join me."

At least half of the youth broke away from Aelund, who sputtered, and they stood closer to Morgryn.

The tides were turning – and soon Aelund stood all alone, aside from one woman who stared at him like a defiant lover.

"That's that, then." Morgryn stepped forward. "I won't lock you up and throw away the key. I won't arrest you, even though that's what you did to me. I'm sure you loved your little power trip, but it's gone too far. Can you not see?"

Aelund glared between Morgryn and the decaying castle. With over half of it eaten away, it crashed and buckled under its own weight with a huge boom and plume of dust into the atmosphere. Reluctantly, Aelund handed over the crown to Morgryn, who placed it back on his head.

"Thank you." He bowed his head to Aelund, who didn't bow back. "I'll send you back to your respective areas, safe from here. I may call upon some of you in the next few days. There's much work to be done to recall some of the ones who are still out there making deals. And I'm going to have to reply to some of the angry letters that you've been ignoring, most likely," he said to Aelund, who simply stared sullenly, stripped of all his toys and power in a single sweep.

Morgryn began to open up more portals, saying, "For now, I propose the new court meet in the Green Man's Eye. The mansion there isn't quite as impressive or big as the castle, but it should suffice until we eventually grow another one."

No one disagreed. Morgryn's main followers chattered in relieved excitement, and Greer shook her head. "What bloody timing. I almost think you'd set it up."

"Unfortunately, I didn't," Morgryn said after a pause. "I'd come in fully prepared to discuss. I didn't think the issue plaguing the academy would also hit here."

"Besides, no fae magic could overcome the enchantments without much help," Greer mused.

"Indeed."

The fae departed through their portals until all that remained on the beach were Morgryn, Nathan, and Greer.

"You know something," she said. "I recognize that expression."

The purple fae grinned. "I think we should wait for a guest."

By the edge of the woodland, a figure darted down a tree and sped toward them. Nathan's heart leaped in relief and joy when he saw it was Eva. She ran straight for him, and he even managed to twirl her when she lunged into his arms.

"Nathan! You're okay!"

"Yes! You're okay!"

They fussed over each other, checking for injuries before their attention was drawn to the increasingly smug Morgryn.

"Hello, Eva," Morgryn said. "You didn't, by any chance, drop something, did you?"

Eva froze. "I saw it was just you two and the lady. All the others went away. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yes. I have my crown again. It seems watching the castle decay before their eyes with a magic none of them has seen before was, ah, deeply persuasive."

Eva flushed. "About that…"

Greer's eyes flashed. "It was intentional?"

"Not really," Eva said. "I had this potion I'd made. It was a pretty dangerous one. It had a highly corrosive element to it, and it was similar to the diseased spots we've been seeing in our world. And I thought, maybe I could use it, and when it kicked in, it might bring the whole plight of the fae realm closer to home. I just… didn't expect it to work that fast."

"What?" Nathan said. "You made a potion that deadly?"

Morgryn laughed until he was bent over. "Seeing what was happening, I started to suspect a young lady might have had an ‘accident.' I didn't know if you'd caused it deliberately or if a vial had broken during the chase."

"Oh, deliberate," Eva said, eyes suddenly wide. "Oh gosh, I didn't think about what might happen if it broke on me. Guess I was lucky there."

"More than lucky." Morgyn stared at the vanishing castle. "Many fae were born and died within those walls. It is a shame that it must fall. But I'll take what I can get at this point." He began to conjure a portal. "You should both return to Dreadmor. I'll follow through and speak with the professors, keep them up to date, and then the long, tedious work of trying to patch things up begins. It's mind-numbingly boring, but it's got to be done."

Greer laughed a high-pitched trill. "Girl," she said to Eva, "if those are the kind of potions you can make, I'll have a job or two waiting for you if you're willing."

"I'll… think about it," Eva said. "I want to finish my education first and stuff."

"Oh, I'll wait," she said, in a tone that suggested not for longand in a way that might end up with a kidnapping in a couple of years. Nathan would have to keep an eye out for that one.

A portal was woven for them, showing the blurry outline of what seemed to be the Triscor Gardens. Nathan took one last look at the fae realm and the two Unseelie he'd spent the most time with and smiled before going through and stumbling into the garden with Eva, startling more than a few students.

"Hi," he said, "don't mind us." He walked with his head held high past his cousin, Harriet, who just gaped at the two of them as they went inside. Doubtless, she'd be slamming them with messages shortly.

Certain patches of the academy appeared to be under fae influence, and he simply navigated through them until arriving at Eva's dorm corridor and room, which thankfully appeared to be intact. They went inside and once more fell into a tight hug.

"I was so worried," he whispered, half disbelieving all the madness that had occurred. The events in the fae court seemed almost like a distant dream, and yet it had all occurred in a single day. There was even sunlight still left in the day here, though they spent the last glimmers of light just clinging to each other until, eventually, they were too hungry to ignore it, and they went to the dining hall for some proper food.

Despite the chaos happening at the academy, it seemed that the professors had created barrier zones to protect the students from accidentally wandering into the Unseelie Court's realm. Nathan heard students chattering about it as he gulped his way through the food. Eva seemed a little distracted and, after a long pause, during which Nathan felt oddly disconnected from reality, said, "Everyone's just continuing the same as before. It doesn't matter that we have these breaches. They just… put a barrier on them and called it a day."

Ah. She'd managed to explain what was bothering him. "Yeah. I assume there's going to be a lot of work in the next few weeks to patch it all up, assuming Morgryn does explain to the professors and does start recalling some of the Unseelie."

"One thing that strikes me as odd," Eva said, now sipping her orange juice. "It seems completely insane that we ended up with a pocket realm right out your front door."

"I know," Nathan said, a suspicion growing in his mind. "I have a feeling it wasn't coincidental. Morgryn has the power to staple parts of the realm to ours, right? I mean, that's why the tower is there."

"Mm," Eva replied thoughtfully. "And ours was near the seat of power."

"Did Morgryn know about the potion you made?" He had the impression that the fae absolutely did but wanted to hear it from Eva.

"Yes…" Eva said. "And he gave me the belt that would keep it hidden from prying eyes."

"Did he make you create it?"

"No, I was following another recipe, but it was a complicated one. I botched it slightly because he was talking to another fae in the room and I was paying a little more attention to them, and I created this instead of the potion."

"Might a fae several centuries or even millennia old be aware of the possible side effects of some of the potions that are being crafted, do you think?"

"It's possible. But he never told me to use it. He just… recommended I take some."

"Something he said." Nathan felt cold all of a sudden. "Did he think some vials might be broken during the hunt or that you might resort to using it in desperation?"

Eva's eyes widened. "No way could he be blamed for something like that…"

They stared at each other. Morgryn most likely wouldn't answer if confronted directly, not unless Eva brewed one of her truth potions and force-fed it to him. But the way it all tied up so neatly…"

"I think he did want me to botch it. He acted so calmly when I messed it up. They told me it was corrosive and recommended I take it just in case. He definitely put the idea in my head to use it as a potential weapon."

"That sly bastard. I hate him even more now."

What was done was done, however. Thankfully, both were here, both were safe, both potentially hoodwinked by an ancient Unseelie fae, and neither was willing to work with him again.