Page 51 of The Iron Sword

The Forgotten. My stomach clenched. How many of the Forgotten were actually Evenfey, hanging on to existence by a thread, longing for a home they couldn’t even remember? Rage filled me, echoes of the Lady’s betrayal ringing in my head. The Nightmare King might have been a true threat, but to seal off an entire world...

“You saw, didn’t you?” Meghan’s voice came again, and I nodded. “That they sealed off Evenfall and made everyone forget. Even Grimalkin was in on it, and the Wolf. Was the Nightmare King that big a threat?”

“I don’t know,” I murmured in reply. “Maybe we should ask him.”

“Screw Furball,” said another voice behind us, and Puck staggered into view. Blood trickled down one side of his face, and his green eyes were hard as he gazed at something over our shoulders. “I think we have bigger problems to worry about.”

I turned, and my heart froze in my chest.

The dais had been shattered, huge ice spikes still jutting into the air through the stone. Broken chunks of rune inscribed rock lay everywhere, the glow completely faded and dead. But where the seal used to be, an enormous tear of darkness had opened, a pit opening into the void, and it was slowly spreading over the ground like a stain of ink.

“Evenfall,” Meghan whispered, as the horror of what I had done finally hit me. The circle, the one I had destroyed, hadn’t been to summon the Nightmare King. It had been the seal to Evenfall, and all the memories the Lady had erased from the Nevernever. By destroying it, not only had I released those memories, I had also torn open the way to the mirror realm.

The path to the Nightmare King was open. Evenfall had come.

And I was the one who ushered it in.

“At last,”whispered a voice.

There was ripple of movement, and a bleached deer skull slid across the floor like the head of a huge serpent, trailing shadows behind it. It slithered up a broken column and rose into the air, and the gloom around it materialized into the Evenfey I thought we had killed. Swinging its naked skull toward the gash of darkness, it raised both arms as if welcoming something home.

“It is open,”the Evenfey breathed.“Evenfall has come. At last, after so many centuries, we can return home.”Its hollow eyes turned to me.“Unseelie prince,”it whispered,“you have my eternal gratitude. For destroying what the Lady accomplished so long ago. My apologies for the deception, but you played your part better than I could have imagined.”

Rage flooded me, and the power of the Unseelie flared to full strength. The Evenfey let out a chuckle that sounded like bone chips rattling against each other.“It’s addicting, isn’t it, Unseelie?”the faery whispered.“The rage, and the power that comes with it. Only the rulers of Faery, or a fey with equivalent magic, could have any hopes of breaking the seal. You are not a king, but your anger was inspiring. And now, the way to Evenfall is open at last, all thanks to you.”

Abruptly, the top of the pillar where the Evenfey stood exploded with long spikes, frozen spears surging into the air. The faery’s shadowy body frayed apart, but the skull flew away unharmed. Drifting down, it hovered before the ever-widening gash to Evenfall, before a shadow rose from the floor and attached itself to the deer skull again.

“So impressive.”The skull tilted to the side, regarding me.“You are very much like us, Winter prince. A pity the Nightmare King is going to destroy this world. Your anger is nothing compared to the fury of a god who has been sealed away for an eternity. Even slumbering, one of his nightmares was nearly enough to kill you all. When we fully wake him, the Nevernever will be no more, and the Evenfey will be all that remains.”

Meghan stepped forward, her own power flaring to life around her, but at that moment, a dreadful howl echoed through the chamber, coming from the pit torn in reality. It swept over us, and the sheer rage and hatred coming through the portal hit me like the force of a typhoon. I staggered back, buffeted by the power and fury of it all, and the Evenfey cackled.

“It stirs,”the Evenfaery hissed, sounding ecstatic and triumphant.“It remembers. Everyone remembers. All of Faery, all of Evenfall. Sister...”it called, turning its head to the side.“Now you know. You understand, do you not? How you were betrayed? Why the fey of the Nevernever are your enemies? Do you remember now?”

“I remember,” said a soft voice in the shadows. “Everything.”

Nyx melted from the darkness, coming to stand between us and the pit to Evenfall. I stiffened, as the assassin’s cold eyes swept over us. Her blades were out, in both hands, and the look on her face caused my Unseelie nature to stir in warning. I knew that expression. I’d seen it before, on my own face, and knew the assassin was very dangerous right now.

“Nyx,” Puck breathed, but for perhaps the first time I’d known him, did not say anything more. But what could he say? We all knew the truth of what had happened. The meeting in the grove with the council of sidhe, and what happened between the Lady and the assassin afterward told us everything.

“I was Evenfey,” Nyx stated in a voice of deadly calm. “Evenfall was my realm. Before any of you existed, I served the Nightmare King. Our home was stolen by the faeries of the Nevernever, our king banished and sealed away, and the rest of us doomed to Fade into nothing. To become Forgotten, because we didn’t fit into your perfect world.”

“Nyx.” Meghan stepped forward, making me tense. The assassin’s eyes were still hard as they shifted to Meghan, her expression unyielding. “I know this is a shock. I understand you’re confused right now, but—”

“No, Iron Queen.” Nyx shook her head. “I’m afraid it is you who does not understand. I am not confused. For the first time in centuries, everything is perfectly clear. I know who I am, and where I came from.”

“Yes,”hissed the Evenfey above her.“The Lady and all her kind betrayed you. You served her for years, when she was the one who took our home and sentenced us all to death. And now, these fey would do the same.”

Nyx didn’t move. The Evenfey floated down until it was standing behind her, that bleached deer skull inches from her ear.“Now, kill them, sister,”it whispered.“They are no better than the ones who betrayed us. They strive to close the way to Evenfall, and keep our king in eternal slumber. The fey of the Nevernever are treacherous, the same as the Lady and her ilk. We cannot exist together in harmony, not now, when you know the truth.”

It pointed at us with a long black finger.“Kill them,”it urged.“You are one of us. You have always been one of us. Our king wakens, and will destroy this world when he comes, but these fey do not deserve to see his glory. We cannot exist together, and you are a beautiful agent of death. It is the only answer.”

“I agree,” Nyx said softly.

She spun, her blade coming up in a vicious arc, a flash of light that appeared for a blink before it was gone. The Evenfaery jerked, stood motionless for a second, and then the bleached deer skull toppled from his shoulders, hitting the ground with a crack, before shattering on the stones. The shadowy body frayed apart, becoming tendrils of black fog that writhed away into nothing.

I stiffened, as Puck drew in a slow breath. That was not what we had been expecting.

“I am Evenfey.” Nyx lowered her arm as the dark mist curled around her and disappeared. “The Lady betrayed us, but she is gone now. What was done to us, our king, and our realm was unforgivable, but...” She paused, closing her eyes, as if coming to an impossible decision. “If the Nightmare King wakes, he will destroy this world,” she whispered. “And I have learned too much, and have seen too much, to let that happen. I swore myself to Keirran, and he has already defeated the Lady. I am Evenfey, but I don’t want this world to die.”

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