Page 27 of The Iron Sword

10

THE FAERY COUNCIL

Istood on the balcony of our private chambers, gazing out on the city of Mag Tuiredh, the capital of the Iron Realm. Which, I was pleased to discover, had not burned down or erupted into chaos in our absence. After returning to the Nevernever, Meghan and I had gone straight to Arcadia to call a Faery council, which was set to meet in the wyldwood the following night. We quickly returned to Mag Tuiredh, having not been home since Puck and Nyx first arrived with news of the Monster attacking the Between the first time. But there was no time to linger; the council beckoned, and we had only dropped in to check that our realm was still safe before heading out again.

Meghan entered the room, dressed in full Iron Queen regalia; flowing metallic cape that looked like liquid mercury, a silver-and-steel crown on her head. It was designed to impress and intimidate, both imperative if you wanted to be heard in a Faery council. I, too, had dressed for the occasion, my black armor and silver-lined cloak falling around me. I knew Meghan hated dressing up, but she understood fey politics. If it meant protecting her kingdom and family, she would play the part of the Iron Queen without hesitation.

“Glitch has sent for a carriage,” she said, stepping onto the balcony as well. “It should be in the courtyard now. We should probably get going.”

Her voice was determined, but her eyes were haunted. Flashes of emotion—worry, sadness, determination—pulsed from a glamour aura she wasn’t quite able to hide. I reached out and caught her arm, gently drawing her back. “Breathe,” I told her softly. “Your emotions are bleeding all over the place right now. The other rulers will be able to sense it.”

“I know.” Meghan took a deep breath, and the aura of tension and worry surrounding her faded somewhat. Being born into the mortal world, she didn’t have the decades of practice in shielding her emotions from other fey, but she had gotten much better in her time as queen. Rarely did she let her glamour aura slip now, and it was usually in moments of high emotion or stress. “I’m sorry,” she sighed, “I just... I’m worried for Keirran. I know he’s a king and we have to trust him but...” A furrow creased her brow. “Ever since the war with the Lady, I can’t stop thinking of what the first oracle told us. About our child, bringing nothing but grief.”

My stomach tightened. I remembered that prophecy. Several years ago, before Meghan and I were even married, we had gone to the last oracle for help. She had wanted Meghan’s first-born child as payment, and when Meghan refused, she responded with one line. One line that neither of us had thought much of in the moment, but now haunted our thoughts ever since.

You will not give it up, even though it will bring you nothing but grief?

Meghan covered her face with a hand. “What if it’s not over?” she whispered. “Maybe the war with the Lady and the Forgotten was only the beginning. What if that monster does get to Keirran, and he turns on us again?”

I took her by the shoulders, gazing into her eyes. “Then we will save him again,” I said firmly. “And again, as many times and as often as it takes. If he turns on us, we’ll bring him back. If something threatens him, we will eliminate it. No matter what he does, no matter what happens to him, he will always be our son. I will never stop trying to save him.” Putting a hand on her cheek, I stroked her skin as her eyes grew misty. “You and Keirran,” I said quietly, “are my entire life.”

She leaned into me, and I wrapped my arms around her, wishing I could take all her worry, all her grief and despair, onto myself. “I’ll protect you both,” I said darkly, a promise to myself. “Even if the world stands against you, I will be at your side. No matter what it takes.”

No matter what I have to become.

Meghan shivered against me. “I’m worried for you, too, Ash,” she whispered. “Ever since Touchstone, you’ve been acting...different.” Her hand slid up my chest, resting over my heart. “I can feel your anger,” she went on. “Not often; you’ve always been able to hide it well, but...it’s the same as when you were the Winter prince. It’s intense.”

“I am angry,” I said simply. “The thought of losing you and Keirran...” I shook my head, unable to explain the depth of rage that brought on. “Those creatures,” I murmured. “You saw what they did to Puck. To the Forgotten in Touchstone. To the humans walking around the mortal world. My greatest fear is someday looking up...and finding that we’re enemies again. Dealing with Puck was hard enough—I thought he’d forgiven me and moved on, but...”

My gut clenched as I remembered the hate in his eyes, the sneering face of Robin Goodfellow when he said we were still enemies. The Monster’s influence had brought out the worst in him, but it was still a shock when my best friend informed me, in complete seriousness, that I had better watch my back.

I didn’t want to fight Puck again. We’d both had our fill of it, years of anger and hatred and grief. Of trying to hurt each other while wishing we didn’t have to go through with it. I was done fighting those I cared about. The nightmare of fighting and having to kill my son still lingered, but it was another nightmare that terrified me. One from long ago, when I was still trying to earn a soul to be in the Iron Realm with Meghan. A nightmare where the enemy facing me across the bloody battlefield was not Keirran or Puck, but the woman in my arms right now.

“If anything like that happened to you,” I continued, feeling my voice start to choke up a little, “I...don’t know what I would do. Probably let you kill me, because a world where we are enemies is not one I’d want to exist in.”

“Ash.” Meghan looked up at me, a dozen emotions warring across her face. One hand rose, her palm pressing gently against my cheek. “I have the same fear, sometimes,” she confessed. “The war with the Lady showed me how fragile my own perceptions were, how easily someone you thought you knew can turn against you. The prophecy said Keirran could end up betraying everything, but I didn’t truly believe it until it happened. If I had to fight both you and Keirran...” Her other hand clenched on my chest. I covered it with my own, feeling her fingers tremble in mine.

“But then, I remind myself what we’ve been through,” she went on. “That we were enemies once, but we overcame it. Both the Summer and Winter Courts, hell, the entire realm of Faery, told us we couldn’t be together, that our destiny was to fight each other, because our courts were eternal rivals and Faery law forbade it. Look where we are now.”

“And I wouldn’t change anything,” I added softly. “Well, maybe the part where Keirran nearly destroyed the Nevernever. But other than that...” My comment brought the tiny smile I was looking for, and I ran my fingers through her hair. “I love you, Meghan,” I told her. “I would fight the world for us, and Keirran. I’ve never had so much to protect, but this is all I’ve ever wanted.”

And if I have to tap into my Unseelie side once more, so be it.I will not let anything take my family away. Even if I have to become a monster myself.

“Still a sweet talker,” Meghan whispered, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes. She leaned up and kissed me, making my stomach cartwheel, then gently pulled back. “The carriage will be waiting,” she said, and took a breath as if to steel herself. “Ready to go try to change the minds of a bunch of impossible faery rulers?”

“My favorite thing,” I sighed, and Meghan slipped her arm through mine. Together, we walked down the halls of the Iron Palace to the carriage that awaited us outside.

The site where the council of Faery agreed to meet was relatively new, having been established once the Iron Court became a real power in the Nevernever. Traditionally, faery councils were held either in Arcadia or Tir Na Nog to prove the goodwill of the ruler hosting, but none of the regular fey could enter the Iron Realm without dying from iron poisoning. Rather than continuously having to travel to Summer or Winter, Meghan and I suggested all meetings between the rulers of the kingdoms take place in the wyldwood, where none of the courts held sway. After some initial resistance—the rulers of Faery did not react well to change—they finally agreed.

“Looks like Oberon is already here,” Meghan observed as we stepped out of the carriage. Around us, the trees of the wyldwood soared overhead, ancient and gnarled and as gray as mist, twisted branches blocking out the sun. Twilight reigned eternal in the wyldwood, with everything cloaked in gloom and shadow, except for occasional and startling splashes of color scattered throughout the gray.

Before us, a pair of enormous white trunks rose into the air, twining branches forming an arch overhead. Through the space between, I could just make out a tunnel of trees, pale trunks acting as columns and twisting branches forming a roof above. A pair of Seelie knights guarded the entrance, long-haired sidhe in gold and green armor, leafy capes draping their shoulders and fey swords at their sides.

I stifled a sigh. Even before the council had started, the faery games and power struggles were already in effect. In the long years where I’d attended Elysium and other councils, Oberon and the Summer Court had always been the first to arrive. I suspected it was because the Seelie King wanted his pick of the seats, but also because Titania, when she even bothered to come, wanted to be the first thing everyone saw when they got there. A queen looking down upon her subjects as they entered her presence. Mab, on the other hand, was always fashionably late to every event except the ones she hosted herself, and it would be a loud, extended showing when she did finally arrive. I knew Mab, and I knew she wanted everyone to look at her, while at the same time declaring the queen of Winter would not be told what to do; she would get there on her own time and everyone else could just wait.

Meghan and I were always right on time, as befitting the only court that had working clocks. And because it was just polite.

Meghan glanced at me with a faint grimace. She knew this had to be done, but it was never a pleasant experience dealing with fickle, easily offended faery rulers. “You think Titania will be there today?”

---