Page 104 of Solstice

“C’mon. We have to go.” Ivy’s voice sounded as rough and devastated as I felt.

“This way.” Jon opened the door that led to the side of the house, and we crossed the lawn to the litany of vehicles near the garage. My heart pounded as I looked at the sky. Smoke spiraled around us, frightening and beautiful, making it infinitely more difficult to see.

Ivy lagged behind me, her dress weighing her down even after Kit and Jon grabbed a piece of the monstrosity so we could go faster. One of our wedding guests stood a hundred yards in the distance, slack-jawed and staring at the sky. From this distance, it was difficult to make out, but I could swear his eyes were pitch black. I stopped, taking a moment to look. Other people stood around in the same position, wearing similar expressions of dumbstruck wonder.

That was the least of my worries.

“C’mon, X!” I stood by the back door of the nearest Range Rover while Ivy ran faster. Kit climbed in first, followed by Abigail, Jon, and Henry. Ivy tried to get in the passenger seat, but the train of her dress was too big for her to squeeze through the door.

“Get it off me,” Ivy said, scrambling for the zipper on her back, but she was tied in this thing tighter than anything I’d ever roped her up with.

“We don’t have time for this,” Kit said.

I grabbed the delicate lace holding her in with both hands and gave it a sharp tug, ripping the seams down the middle and peeling it from the front of her body. Wearing only her petticoats and her bra, she hopped into the seat and slammed the door closed behind her. I circled the hood, watching as the king’s madness descended on us.

Fuck.No matter if Siobhan had shown up with theFianna,we still would have been greatly outmatched. I gazed at the spectacle. What a fucking drama queen to show up like this. To hypnotize my entire family. To chase us down like dogs. It indicated a level of narcissism and righteousness I knew all too well. Perhaps Siobhan had been right. Perhaps there had been a reason the four of us were chosen.

I got in the driver’s seat, started the engine, and put it into drive, leaving our family and Ivy’s pretentious three-million-dollar dress behind. I turned right at the end of the driveway, and the clouds followed us, swirling through the atmosphere on either side of the SUV. It reminded me of the night we’d gone to see Siobhan.

Except this time, when the vehicle pulled to a stop, it wasn’t henchmen that stood in our way.

No.

It washim.

30

Ivy

All of the mist sank back in on itself, churning together like water in a drain. It formed a man with a black cloak draped over his shoulders, hanging down to his shins. His dark hair had gotten longer since we last saw him, now shoulder length and slicked back away from his face. His beard remained the same, pitch against his mouth, matching the shadows in his eyes.

“Jesus Christ, that’s him?” Kit asked.

Lex and I leaned forward, putting ourselves between our family and this monster, this fairy-tale villain come to life.

“What is that?” Henry screeched.

“Shut up,” I said. “Everyone, shut the fuck up.”

For two years, we’d tried to prepare for this moment. Now that it was here, anything we could have done would have fallen woefully short. What idiots we were to think we could ever take him on by ourselves. We were so fucked.

There was no stopping the king. Whatever he’d done to Poppy had squashed any hope we thought we had. Siobhan, Finn, Donnelly? They’d likely run for the hills, or worse. Smythe had tried to warn us. The king was all-powerful and all-consuming, and I had no fucking clue how we’d defeat him or get him back to his own realm.

For as terrifying as he was, he was equally mesmerizing in the same preternatural way the queen had once been. If I had to guess, I’d say he’d stolen whatever the queen had to amplify his own magnificence. The last time I’d seen him, it hadn’t felt this crushing or overwhelming.

Maybe it was this newfound link to him brewing inside of me, but when he coalesced into a physical being, everything in my body wanted to be near him. I wrapped my hand around the oh-shit handle to make sure I didn’t jump out of the car and launch myself in his direction. I didn’t know where that impulse came from or why, but it terrified me.

“Alexei.” I heard the words, but the king’s mouth didn’t move. His dark eyes met mine through the windshield before shifting to Lex at my side. His gaze slithered over both of us like cold molasses, sticky and encompassing, holding me in place. “Ivette. Please get out of the vehicle.” He crossed his hands in front of him and took a step forward. “We are long overdue for a chat.”

“About what?” I said, my chin tilting up in defiance. “We don’t have anything to say to you.”

“You have something I want.” Another slow step brought him around to the passenger side, his incredible eyes leering into the window at my side. “And I have something you need.”

I swallowed.

“We don’t need anything from you.” I shook my head, remaining strong, but being this close to him made me tremble with recognition. I’d seen him somewhere before, and not just in my nightmares. No, this was a long time ago, some ancient place that I could hardly remember. Nostalgia settled in my gut, warming me to him, making me want to give in to his demands.

That is his magic. Stay focused.

---