Page 84 of The Iron Vow

“Razor brought!” the gremlin cackled as we drew back. “Razor brought funny boy and pretty girl. Brought to help!”

“We heard about the Nightmare King,” Kenzie said, ignoring the gremlin as he bounced frantically on her shoulders. “Glitch reached out to us and told us what was going on, said the queen’s family had a right to know what was happening.”

“So, obviously, we came to help,” Ethan added. “Kenzie and Razor found a trod, brought us to Faery, and here we are.” He gave me a faintly exasperated look. “You could’ve told me that you were diving into a literal nightmare world, Meghan. We would’ve been here a lot sooner.”

I sighed. “There wasn’t really time,” I told him. “But I’m glad you made it.”

“Where’s Keirran?” Kenzie asked, gazing around the rest of the group, her eyes bright with fear. I remembered then, the image of Ethan, Kenzie, and Razor at the base of the Nightmare Tree. Bracing Keirran. Somehow giving him the strength to hold on. “Is he...?”

“He’s all right,” Ash assured her. “He’s waiting in the Between with the Evenfey.”

Kenzie relaxed. “Thank goodness,” she whispered, and then seemed to notice the four Evenfaeries standing patiently behind us. “Oh, hello,” she said, blinking as Gilleas peered down at her. “We heard what happened to Evenfall,” she went on, as Ethan shook his head. Mackenzie Chase did not know a stranger, even a shadowy, six-foot faery with a deer skull for a face. “It sounded horrible. I’m glad that everyone made it out.”

Gilleas bowed his head to her. “We are very glad to be here,” he said.

Ethan turned to me again. “I suppose now you have to have a talk with the other rulers,” he muttered. “Since they’re all waiting for you.”

I set my jaw. “Yes, and I need you to promise me something, Ethan,” I began, making him raise a brow. “We have to decide what to do with the Evenfey, and what I’m going to propose isn’t something the other rulers are going to like. They’re going to argue. Things could get...rather heated.”

My brother held up a hand. “We get it,” he told me. “Don’t worry, Kenzie and I will be watching quietly from the sidelines, andnotsaying anything that will piss off any faery queens. Right?”

He looked at Kenzie as he said this. She wrinkled her nose at him.

“Fine, tough guy. But who was it that got their voice taken away for annoying a faery queen? Not me.”

Ethan sighed. “I’m glad you’re safe,” he told me, with a last quick hug. “If you need us, we’ll be right over there.”

“Tell Keirran to come say hi when he can,” Kenzie added, as she and her husband stepped back. Razor beamed his bright grin and waved to us from her shoulder. “We’ll be waiting for him.”

I watched them walk away, back to where Glitch and the other Iron fey waited, and smiled. I had spent a good deal of my life trying to keep my brother away from Faery. Away from Keirran and the prophecy that might kill them both. But now I couldn’t imagine Faery without Ethan, Kenzie, and the hyperactive gremlin. Our lives were intertwined, woven between Faery and the mortal realm, impossible to sever or separate. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now there was just one last thing we had to take care of.

“Iron Queen.” Oberon spoke first as we approached the waiting rulers and the huge wolf standing beside them. Behind the monarchs, Leanansidhe gave me a two-fingered wave and a knowing smile, as if she found all of this extremely amusing.

“King Oberon,” I replied politely. “Queen Mab, Lady Titania.” Titania ignored me, but Queen Mab offered a slight nod. “I’m glad we could meet like this, and not in the middle of a battle.”

“For once,” I heard Puck mutter. Everyone pretended not to hear that.

“Where are the Evenfey?” Oberon asked, his ice-green gaze sweeping over the Evenfaeries beside me. “When we agreed to help you, we expected an entire race of fey to return to the Nevernever. Surely there are more than these four.”

“They are here, Lord Oberon,” Ash said. “They await your decision in the Between. Since technically, they do not have permission to enter the Nevernever.”

“Good,” Mab said, nodding. “A wise decision. They can stay there until we can decide where to put them. Certainly, they cannot come rampaging through Tir Na Nog. Perhaps they can find refuge in the Between—”

“The Between has been taken over by Forgotten,” snapped a voice at their back. Leanansidhe strode forward, to the immediate Death Glare of Titania, whom she ignored. “It is quite crowded, and I am already sharing my territory with more than one species of fey. I would appreciate not having to deal with more. The Between is not a dumping ground for unwanted outsiders.”

“Isn’t the Between eternal, Dark Muse?” Mab questioned. “I am sure you can find a suitable place for these Evenfey to go—”

“No,” I said.

All four stared at me, and the Wolf pricked his ears. “They’re not going anywhere,” I went on firmly. “We don’t have to find them a new home—thisis their home. Faery is their home. We are not going to shunt them into some isolated part of the Nevernever and forget they exist. They’ve suffered too much for that to happen.”

“Bring themhere?” Titania spat the words at me, and my temper flared. “Impossible! They are Evenfey, from a realm of horror and nightmare. This is not their world. They do not belong here.”

“We are all fey!” I nearly shouted the words. “Neverfey, Evenfey, Forgotten, Iron fey. It doesn’t matter what we’re called. It doesn’t matter where we came from. We are all the same. They belong here as much as any of us.”

“We are born from the dreams and fears of mortals,” Ash interjected in his deep, steady voice. “If we are remembered, we exist. If we are forgotten, we Fade. It is no different for the Evenfey.”

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