Night's End (31 page)

Hunter stepped forward, his hand on my shoulder. “Demon, tell the girl the truth. She needs to know, for her conscience.”

“What?” I darted a glance at my grandfather. What was he talking about?

But Kaylin-the-demon knew, because he let out another laugh. “All right, Father Owl, I'll let her off the hook.”

Turning to me, his wings fluttered softly in the dim light as he crossed his arms. “Cicely, this would have happened anyway, eventually. Night-veil demons, when implanted in the soul of one of the magic-born, evolve. After we waken, we metamorphose into our final forms. Kaylin's transformation just came far sooner than it would have if he hadn't given over control to me. On a conscious level he didn't know this would happen, but deep inside? He knew.”

As I continued to stare at him, Kaylin ducked his head. Once again the sly, sweet smile I so keenly recognized broke through, and I caught a glimpse of him peering through the night-veil's eyes. “I guess it's a good thing Luna wouldn't have me after all. I would have broken her heart.” And then he turned toward the entrance of the Barrow.

“Kaylin, where are you going?” My paralysis broken, I took off after him. “Don't leave. Night-veil or not, you're our friend.”

Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes. I wanted desperately to do something—to change what was happening. I'd always been a control freak, and not being able to make a difference in a situation like this was terribly painful for me.

Kaylin turned, his wings almost whipping across my face. He stepped closer, and I realized that he'd retreated again, and now it was the night-veil facing me. He reached out and pulled me close.

“You, too, went through a transmutation, Cicely. You are not the same person you were a month ago. Everything changes. Everyone evolves.”

“I know but . . .” There was nothing I could say to that. He was right, of course. I just didn't want to say good-bye.

“I would thank you for freeing me, but that would only make you feel worse. So I will say this once. Remember it well: There was nothing you could do. You could not fight your opponent, and Kaylin and I . . .
we
could. Kaylin made the choice. He knew what had to be done. Don't tarnish his memory with your tears. He chose to help you in this war you fight. Let him claim his victory.”

And then he let go of my shoulders.

“Where will you go?”

“First, I must return to the Court of Dreams. Then . . . I don't know. I doubt our paths will cross again, but there is never anything certain in this world, so for now, I simply say farewell, Queen Cicely Waters. May you destroy Myst and all her kin, and live happily ever after in your icy realm.” With that he turned and ducked out of the Barrow, and Kaylin Chen was gone from my life.

I turned back to the others, feeling bleak and worn. I wanted to cry but felt numb all the way through. And we still had a quest ahead of us. There wasn't time to mourn someone who hadn't died. Kaylin was gone, yes, but he still lived, and he had become who he was destined to be.

“Let's go. We have to find Myst's heartstone.”

Nobody said a word, but we fell back into our marching order, and I led the way through the Barrow, following the hollow and empty passages by what seemed to be rote memory. I didn't know where we were going, not really. If you pressed me to tell you how to get there, I wouldn't be able to give directions. But I knew the way, as sure as I knew my own heartbeat.

“Cicely, Kaylin saved our lives. His demon is right, let him have the victory, and let him claim his sacrifice.” Grieve reached out to take my hand and we walked in silence through the tunnels. Lannan and Hunter were a step behind, and for once, Lannan kept his mouth shut, a taciturn look on his face.

The labyrinth of passages led us deep into the heart of the Barrow. As we neared what felt like should be the center, I realized we were almost to Myst's old bedroom, the place where I'd seen her heartstone being created. I swallowed my fear and pointed to a set of double doors.

“Through there. Myst's bedroom, and the place where she vanished with her heartstone. I don't exactly remember what to look for in order to trigger the secret chamber, but whatever it was, it should still be there.”

And then we were at the door. Check and Fearless went first, opening it. As soon as they gave the all clear, I followed them in, and everything came flooding back.

The room was still beautiful, done in silver and black with brilliant blue accents. The bedcovers had long vanished, as had the upholstery. But the ebony frame of the bed was there, as were the swirling designs on the walls and the other assorted pieces of furniture that had withstood the ravages of time. In the Barrows, though, the years flowed differently, and so it was like stepping into a time capsule where anything might still exist.

I closed my eyes, searching for ghosts, searching for shades from the past, but nothing had happened here to the people of the Indigo Court. The only blood to stain our walls and floors had been that of our meals. We were the ones who had perpetuated the slaughter, not the victims.

The quiet unsettled me. There should be ghosts. There should be screaming specters racing through the hallways, considering how bloodthirsty we were and how many we had killed. But nothing. Just a deep emptiness that echoed through the Barrow.

“Why does this feel so alien? I lived here, it was my home, and yet it has no life of its own. Maybe that's it. This feels like an empty house that was abandoned but that never took on a personality.”

Lannan surprised me by speaking up. “Barrows, from what I understand, are almost as much of a living organism as the Fae who inhabit them. But this place can never quite be the same. Myst is an unnatural creature bent on achieving something for which she was never destined. I think she may have created it in almost a mockery of the Barrows she coveted but wasn't allowed to rule.”

That made sense. She could never create a true Fae Barrow because she was hybrid. The Vampiric Fae were neither vampire nor Fae, but a demonic blend of both, and so anything coming out of the Indigo Court would be as alien as the Shadow Hunters were. And this Barrow? As devoid of charm and any sense of welcoming as Myst.

I crossed to the opposite wall and searched. The stone was cold and unyielding to the touch but then, after a few moments, I felt the shallow depression and pressed it. A secret door slid open, and I glanced at the others.

“We found it. I guess . . . it's time to go?” It took me a moment to figure out they were waiting for my orders. I swallowed my fear and motioned for Check to take the lead again. This was as far as I remembered, and I'd never been down this secret passage. We'd all be flying blind from here on out, and I recognized my duty to my Court. I couldn't go in the forefront now that we had found the passage.

As Check stepped past me to enter the passage, he stopped then turned to say, “We won't need illumination here. It still glows. Her heartstone must still be at its core or the light would die out.” With that he moved forward, followed by Fearless. I was third, then after me, Grieve, Hunter, Lannan, and the rest of the guards. Now that Kaylin was gone, we were thirteen, not counting Ulean.

Once again, for the third time in the past two months, I was following the path in search of a heartstone. One of those times, it had been to retrieve Lainule's gem in order that she wouldn't die. The other had been to hide my own. This time, I was in search of one to use as a weapon—to destroy Myst.

Third time's the charm.

The corridor in Myst's unnatural Barrow was dark, but an icy-neon-blue light broke through the darkness. Considering she drove the snows, I had expected to find this place set in a world of ice and snow, like my own, but instead, it was deep rock and shadow. Myst might fancy herself the Queen of Winter, but she had stolen the title and was co-opting the storms. A thought crossed my mind as we hurried along the corridor.

Ulean, when Myst is defeated, will I gain her power over the winter? I am the Queen of Snow and Ice, yet I'm a wind witch.

You already have power over the winter; you just haven't had the time to learn how to use it.

Her answer startled me and set me to thinking. If I had been given the power over snow and ice when I'd taken the throne, why hadn't I known about it—or at least been told about it? And how long would it take me to learn how to use it? Could I possibly use it as a weapon against Myst now?

Ulean—can I—

No. I know what you're going to ask, Cicely, and the answer is no. You don't have the power to use it against Myst. She's too well versed in the energy, and you would be like a child trying to code a complex program. You're new to the realm you now rule, even though you were destined for the throne. Just because you wear the title doesn't mean you can claim the power yet. Once this is over, Strict and the shamans will help you learn to control the winter storms. You will be more powerful than most other Fae Queens, save for those in the Great Courts.

How so?

Because you already can summon the winds and you are half magic-born, which increases your ability to use those powers.

I'm a hybrid, like Myst, then.

A hybrid, yes—in a way. But like Myst? No, never. Not even though you were her daughter. You may find yourself to be more stoic than others because of that lifetime, and because of that life, you will wear the power of the throne well once you discover your confidence, but Cicely, trust that you'll never become Myst. You have heart, and you have love and compassion. And those three things cancel out whatever heritage she may have left your soul.

Somewhat comforted, I studied the walls as we passed through the tunnel. “What is this rock?”

Hunter gave me an odd look. “Rock is rock.”

I grinned at him. “No, I mean is it granite or basalt or . . .”

“Ah, yummanii terms. I don't know the definitions, but this rock is lava rock and came from deep in the world, uplifted by a great force and pressure as the mountains folded under the earth's plates. The rock tempered over time. And here it exists both in the world and yet outside of it, as do all lands within the scope of the Barrows, and Barrow places. But yes, it is a hard, unyielding stone.”

“But how did Myst create this? She was one of the Unseelie—the Dark Fae. But she wasn't a queen, and she wasn't, I gather, particularly powerful compared to the shamans. Even though she was turned by Geoffrey, how did she end up as . . . well . . . as the great and powerful Myst?” I grimaced at my own pun, even as I said it. The wizard of Oz had been a charlatan, illusion and parlor tricks. Myst was far more than that.

From directly behind me, Hunter laughed. “I can tell you a little about that. Live as long as I do, hide in the forests and shadows long enough, and you learn things. When my son, Wrath, took the throne of Summer, he kept in touch with me, and I was privy to many secrets that would have otherwise gone untold.”

A shiver raced up my spine, but it was a good one. My grandfather had stories to tell me. The thought that I might spend years to come curled up by a fire with him, learning about our people while the winter raged outside our Barrow, sounded positively delightful.

“You know the story of how Myst and Geoffrey plotted to seize control of the Unseelie Fae and the vampires by working together?”

I nodded. “When she found out she was more powerful than he, she double-crossed him and killed most of his men. That's what started the war between the true vampires and the Vampiric Fae, right Lannan?”

Lannan grunted but pushed a few steps closer. “Yes, that's right. Both of the fools were mad, if you ask me. But then, it takes a madman to think he can be so wanton and fly in the face of established order. The Crimson Court only kept Geoffrey around after that incident because he was more dangerous to let go. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and all of that folderol. I think, too, there may have been some sort of misguided loyalty in letting him remain alive, but it was not our place to speak up. Even my sister doesn't understand the reasoning of our Queen at times. It's not up to us to question her motives, however. We are to simply obey.”

Check pointed out a root in the floor, and I skirted it, in turn pointing it out to Hunter and Lannan.

Hunter lithely hopped over it. “Well, after communications broke down and Myst and Geoffrey had established their feud, Myst went into hiding. She knew she wasn't powerful enough yet to take on more than the handful of vampires she already had. So she and her fellow companions, all of whom she had turned, first returned to the Fae Barrows, but nobody knew what to do with them there. They retreated into the wilds. I believe it was about that time that the Shadow Hunter nature began to exert itself, and they were exiled from the Fae communities for good.”

“So it was sink or swim for her.” I tried to imagine what she might have felt—alone with just her few companions, disowned by her people and knowing the vampires were out to get her. No wonder she'd gone a little nuts.

“Don't feel too sorry for her. Myst was power hungry before she was turned, and the transformation only left her more so. She went into hiding and began ordering her people to kidnap whatever Fae they happened across. They started turning them to increase their forces, but it didn't always work right.”

“So they started abducting Fae . . . but what about children? I know they can breed.” What I wanted to ask, but wasn't quite ready to, was
When was I born
?

“Around that time, one of the women found out she was pregnant and the baby was born vicious, changed—more powerful than the parents themselves. That was when they realized they could still reproduce, and so began to build their community through forced breeding. Because of the cerulean cast to the children's skin, Myst named her realm the Indigo Court, and firmly punished anybody who tried to go up against her. I gather she was gifted with a knack for torture, and her people began to fear her.”