Page 75 of The Iron Vow

“Only human now. No friends, no allies. No power. You are worthless. Weak. Alone.”

Only human.I slumped against the ice, the cold, suffocating truth pressing down on me. What could I do against the ancient, immortal Nightmare King if I had no power? If I was only human? Not the Iron Queen, not the daughter of Oberon or the successor to Machina. Not even the wife of the son of Mab. Just me. Meghan Chase. A mortal.

“I will end this nightmare for you, little dream. Close your eyes and let me send you to the blissfulness of oblivion.”

My eyes flickered shut. But I didn’t see oblivion. I saw...them. Everyone. Ash and Puck, Keirran and Grimalkin, Nyx, Ethan, Kenzie,everyone.I saw the scenes of my previous life, when Faery tried taking away everything I loved. My human father. Ash. Keirran. I saw all of them clearly, felt the despair when everything seemed lost, and I remembered what had finally brought them back to me. Not magic. Not glamour or power or faery blood. Something that the Nightmare King could never understand.

I opened my eyes.

“Wait.”

My voice emerged as a choked whisper. The Nightmare King paused, his terrible hollow gaze holding the emptiness of the void. Pushing myself to my hands and knees, I started crawling painfully across the ice. My hands burned with cold, and I left a trail of blood behind me, but I forced myself to keep moving. The Nightmare King watched, patient and unconcerned, as I made my torturous way, stifling gasps of fear and pain, until I reached my sword.

Wrapping bloody fingers around the hilt, I paused, taking several deep breaths. Briefly, I closed my eyes, gathering the last of my strength.

Ash, Puck, Keirran, Grimalkin. I know you’re still with me. Let’s do this together.

“My name is Meghan Chase.” Rising to my feet, I held my head high, and faced the terrible creature hovering before me. “And it isbecauseI am human that I stand here today. I first came to Faery to save my brother, and my connection to him drove every decision I made. Faery took my father, and I refused to lose hope that someday, I would find him again. I fell in love with a Winter prince, and I have never regretted it or looked back.

“Every path I have taken, all my choices and decision points and judgment calls, have been made as a human, not as a faery. As a daughter and a friend, as a wife and a mother. It is my mortal side and everything I learned as a human that makes me strong. Not my glamour or my title as faery queen. I am only human...and that is enough.”

I raised my sword, feeling blood and tears stream down my face, mingling together. “Magic, strength, and power are nothing without humanity,” I told the impassive form of the Nightmare King. “Hope is what keeps us going, empathy is what sets us apart, and love is what makes us human. It isn’t a weakness—it’s our greatest strength. It is why I will keep fighting when everything is crumbling around me. It is why I will never regret my mortal side, flaws, failings, and everything that comes with it. And it is why I am taking you down, right now!”

“Come then, dream.”The Nightmare King floated down until his feet were nearly touching the ice. He lifted his sword, and the black blade gave a keening wail as he flourished it. Behind him, the Nightmare Tree pulsed red, bathing us in a sickly crimson glow as the king raised a beckoning hand.“Let us end this nightmare. I will be merciful and send you to the eternal void, where fear and pain and despair will not be able to find you.”

I screamed a battle cry, for Ash, Keirran, Puck, Nyx, Grimalkin,everyone, and charged the Nightmare King. I flew across the ice, and from the corner of my vision, I caught glimpses of their faces: husband, son, eternal best friends. I felt their love and silent support as the Nightmare King loomed in front of me, raising his great black sword in one hand. I heard the shriek of the blade as it came sweeping down, and I had a split second to make a choice.

I ducked, falling to my knees as I reached the king, feeling the wind of the blade as it missed me by a finger width. Sliding past him on the ice, I leaped to my feet, sword in hand, and lunged toward the glowing silhouette of the Nightmare Tree. I could see a gash in the trunk, a place where the crying faces had separated, where red light spilled through the crack and pulsed like a heartbeat. Raising my weapon, I prepared to drive it into the tree.

“Stop!”

The king’s voice hit me just as I reached the trunk, and something in the sudden desperate tone made me pause, sword point angled toward the gash.“That is the Nightmare Tree,”the king went on.“The only place where Elder Nightmares are born into Evenfall. If you destroy it, there will be no more Nightmares to roam the Dream. No more glamour. No more hope. The Nightmares will vanish, and so will the Evenfey. You will be killing them all. Again.”

I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, and the sword in my hand trembled. Could I do this? Would this be the end of Evenfall, by my own hand? I thought of everyone we had met on our journey, everything we had been through to get this far. To defeat the Nightmare King, did I have to sacrifice the very ones who helped us get here?

Nyx’s voice whispered softly in my mind.There is no such thing as false hope in Evenfall. We all hope for something better. And I will continue to hold out the hope that I will see the other side again.

I closed my eyes.Nyx, Varyn, everyone, I hope I’m doing the right thing. I expect to see you all at the end of this nightmare.

I set my jaw...and drove the point of the blade into the Nightmare Tree, sinking it deep into the trunk.

The Nightmare King screamed. The faces in the trunk screamed, a cacophony of noise that roared around me like a hurricane. The world flickered, void and ice disappearing. I was suddenly back in the throne room, still at the base of the tree, with the bodies of my friends stirring on the floor. Keirran, lying on his back, groaned once, then rolled over, coughing. Ash pushed himself upright, took hold of his sword, and dragged himself to his feet. His gaze met mine across the stones, and his expression softened with relief.

The Nightmare Tree let out another wail, and the crimson light shining between the cracks dimmed, flickered, then vanished. Within the trunk, the hundreds of faces that made up the tree stilled, eyes closing and mouths going slack. The Nightmare Tree darkened, and then shriveled in front of me, faces, arms, and hands disappearing, until all that was left was a dry, withered trunk.

The Nightmare King writhed in the air, both hands covering his face. His body seemed to fluctuate, unable to hold a specific shape. A mass of black tentacles burst from his back, flailing wildly, then became eight curved spider legs before turning to leathery wings. I looked around and saw that all my friends were on their feet now, staring in confusion and shock at the scene before them.

“Ash!” I called, and his silver eyes met mine. “The Nightmare King is weak now! The tree was the essence, and it’s gone!”

Understanding dawned on his face, and he spun toward the flailing form of the Nightmare King. Winter magic pulsed around him as he drew back and hurled a storm of ice daggers at the creature in the air. The shards peppered the king, sinking deep, and he jerked as the daggers slammed into him. His eyes opened, blazing and furious, and he turned on Ash with a roar.

Another barrage of glamour struck him from behind: a spear of ice slamming into his back, hurled by a grim-faced Keirran. Like shooting stars, the crescent blades of all the assassins streaked through the air, slicing into the king.

With a cry, the Nightmare King dropped to the ground. Hunching over, his body contorted, twisting and bending as if his bones were changing shape beneath his skin. With a ripping sound, his flesh split, the visage of the Nightmare King collapsing in a bloody heap, and something huge and dark rose from the remains. A creature of tentacles and bones, spines, teeth, and jointed legs, it loomed over us like a Lovecraftian horror. Like every Nightmare creature melded into one horrific abomination. It roared, tendrils flailing, and was caught in a maelstrom as Ash’s, Puck’s, Keirran’s, the Nyxes’, and Varyn’s magic slammed into it, catching it in a nexus of glamour and power. Its roar became a scream as Summer, Winter, and Iron glamour tore through it, sending billows of dark magic into the air. Rising to my feet, I took a deep breath, feeling my power stir through me once more, and raised a hand to the empty sky. The thing that was the Nightmare King let out one last howl as a crimson strand streaked from the heavens, hitting the pulsing storm and causing it to explode in every direction. Ice shards flew everywhere, wind shrieked through my hair, and lightning strands flickered along the ground. I turned away, shielding my eyes, as the maelstrom of glamour swirled around us, screaming in my ears.

At last, the winds died down, the wild storm of magic faded, and silence fell once more. Panting, I turned back to see everyone standing in a grim circle around the spot where the creature had been. Seeing that everyone was all right, I walked up beside Ash, who crushed me to him with one arm, and gazed down at the center of the circle. Only a few wisps of dark glamour curled up from a scorched, frozen patch in the stones, and nothing remained of the Nightmare King.

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