Page 70 of The Iron Vow

“Whatever your decision,” Other Nyx continued, “whether it’s to wake the king, put him back to sleep, or kill him, you have our support. We will back you up. So don’t hesitate on our account.”

Dammit.I blinked the stinging sensation from my eyes and took a breath to clear my voice. “We’re not giving up,” I said, to the Evenfey, to Keirran, to everyone. “I know decisions have to be made, and we will make them as they come. But we have come all this way, fought monsters and Nightmares and everything this world could throw at us. And the Evenfey we have met on this journey are no different from any of the fey back home. Evenfall might be a dream, but the king remembers everyone who lived here. His memories are so real, he created his entire world just to keep them alive. I am not prepared to let it go. Or watch it Fade.”

I caught Keirran’s gaze as I finished, seeing the relief in his eyes, as well as a grim determination. Ash stepped up beside me, placing a brief, comforting hand on my arm as he faced the group. “Whatever we decide,” he said in a low, calm voice, “the original plan hasn’t changed. I think our first objective is to find that door and see what lies beyond.”

My vision flickered again, showing a castle ravaged by time. Walls cracked, pillars broken and shattered, a ceiling crumbled away. Just a split-second glimpse, before everything returned to normal.

Gilleas straightened up and gazed around the chamber. “The castle is as big as I remember,” he mused. “But I believe we are close to the throne room. And judging by the faces of the statues I have seen, something is expecting us.”

“Yup,” Puck agreed. “Well then, who’s ready to go see the king?”

A pair of arched doors stood atop a flight of cascading stone steps, guarded by a pair of enormous statues. These two were different from the many robed, hooded figures we had seen throughout the castle, the ones with the disturbing habit of turning to stare when we weren’t looking. They were heavily armored, with shields and massive claymores jammed into the pedestals at their feet. Their heads wore antlered helmets, but through the raised helms, the jaws, teeth, and lolling tongues of wolves protruded through the gap.

“The throne room is up those stairs,” our Nyx said, gazing solemnly at the two statues flanking the entrance. “Even if you had never been to the castle before, you could never miss the twins.”

“Don’t tell me they come alive, too,” Puck muttered, gazing up at the two massive stone creatures. “They’re not going to take a swipe at me as soon as my foot hits the stairs, are they?”

Almost before he had finished speaking, reality flickered. The stairs crumbled. The walls gaped with huge cracks. One of the statues vanished entirely, and when I looked at the other, the armored warrior was gone, replaced by the stark gaze of a snarling wolf, crouched on the plinth as if it were about to lunge. More than a heartbeat passed; unlike the first few times it had happened, this version of the castle did not flicker in and out, but stayed for several heartbeats before there was a hiccup in the world, and things returned to normal.

Or, mostly normal. One of the pedestals remained empty; the other held the statue of the armored wolf, but its head was missing. Or rather, it was lying at the base of the pedestal, muzzle curled back, eyes wide and feral.

“And things just keep getting weirder,” Puck remarked.

“And worse,” I added. “That lasted much longer than the previous one.”

“Something feels wrong.” Other Nyx gazed at the remaining statue and shivered. “It’s as if there are two realities fighting for dominance. The one we know and...this darker one.”

We started up the staircase to the arched doors at the top. As I was walking, however, the stones under my feet felt...unstable. As if they were about to collapse beneath me. The closer we got to the doors, the shorter my breath became. My stomach twisted with nerves. I could feel something beyond those doors. Something I couldn’t describe. Ancient, powerful, terrible, it was all these things, and it was larger than any of them. And I suddenly realized... I was terrified.

“Meghan?”

I blinked. I had stopped moving and was standing at the top of the steps facing the arched doors.

“I...” I clenched my fists. I was the Iron Queen; I could not be afraid. I had to be strong, for everyone. And yet I could not seem to make my feet move. My throat scratched like sandpaper, my hands were shaking, and my heart was beating too fast. A cold sweat spread across the back of my neck, and for just a second, I considered turning around and walking back the way I’d come.

Then Ash stepped in front of me, bending close. His hands gently squeezed my shoulders as he leaned in. “I’m afraid, too,” he said softly. And for some reason, hearing him admit that made my eyes fill with tears of relief. “You’re not alone in this. Whatever is waiting for us behind that door, I’ve never felt anything like it. But we are here. And we’re together. I can face even a sleeping god if you and the others are with me.”

I met the silver eyes of my husband and took a deep breath, banishing the terror clinging to my mind. I wasn’t alone, and we had come so far. There was just one more barrier to cross before we met the one we had come all this way to see. The Nightmare King was close. This journey was almost over.

I pressed a palm to Ash’s jaw, then stepped forward, joining the others at the threshold. None of them looked eager to open the doors, either. And Grimalkin, I noticed, was gone.

Puck let out a shaky breath as we stepped up. “Man,” he muttered, rubbing his arms. “Those are some serious nasty vibes coming out of there. Anyone else getting goose bumps, or is it just me?”

“This...this cannot be the Nightmare King,” Other Nyx whispered. Her voice shook, and she was paler than before. Whatever this terrible sense of foreboding was, the Evenfey felt it, too. “He was the ruler of Evenfall, the bringer of nightmares—it was his very nature to be frightening. Even the Evenfey feared him, but we also loved and respected our king. This...” She shook her head. “This isn’t right. I remember my life at the castle. I have never felt this amount of rage coming from the throne room.”

Gilleas let out a weary sigh. “I am afraid our king might have changed after all,” he whispered. He stared at the looming doorway, his entire posture reluctant to take another step. “I did not encounter him in the throne room when I came here before. But if he has indeed become the mad king the Nevernever fears, nothing in either world will save us.”

“We won’t know until we open that door,” our Nyx said. “And we certainly can’t turn back now.”

Puck drew in a deep breath and took Nyx’s hand. “Well, whatever comes of this,” he began, “and whatever we find on the other side, this has been a hell of a journey. Evenfall wasn’t what I expected, but I’m glad we came. And I can say with absolute certainty that I won’t forget any of it. Or any of you. So...” He glanced at Nyx, then at the doors, a defiant smirk creeping over his face. “I guess all that’s left to do is throw those doors open and announce our presence to the king. Shall we do the honors, ice-boy?”

Ash nodded. Together, he and Puck stepped forward, put a hand on either of the doors, and shoved them open.

Crimson light flooded through the doorway. The room beyond was saturated in an eerie red glow, so much so that it was hard to see through the haze. Carefully, we stepped through the doors, and found ourselves in a strangely wall-less room. Or at least, I couldn’t see any walls through the darkness and shadows cast by the gigantic tree in the center. The trunk was bent and gnarled with thousands upon thousands of bodies sunk into the wood, eyes closed and faces twisted with fear. As if countless souls had been trapped and petrified within the tree and were sharing one continuous nightmare. No breeze or breath of wind stirred the space we found ourselves in, but the tree’s bloodred leaves fell like snowflakes, scraps of crimson drifting around us and carpeting the ground. Through the branches, which were shaped like arms and fingers grasping at each other, the night sky and full red moon peered down at us. An ominous bloodred light shone through the cracks in the trunk, pulsing like a heartbeat.

“Um.” Puck’s voice was soft, barely a whisper in the stillness. “Are we in the right place?” he asked Nyx. “Or did we somehow leave the castle? This doesn’t look like a throne room, unless that freaky tree in the center ate it. Is this really where the Nightmare King holds court?”

“We are in the right place.” It was not Nyx who answered, but Gilleas, his voice a breathless rasp as he stepped forward. “This is the throne room, and the Nightmare Tree marks the very heart of Evenfall.” He peered up at the looming trunk in reverence and awe. “According to legend,” he continued in a whisper, “the Nightmare Tree was the first thing to exist in Evenfall, the first thing to bloom and thrive from the fears and terrors of mortals. The king himself built his castle around the tree to protect it, and it has stood in the same place for countless millennia. This is the king’s throne room, the seat of his power.”

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