Night's End (36 page)

I looked up to find Grieve standing there, holding himself upright by the throne. Check struggled to his feet, and then, the others straggled in. The Snow Hag. Hunter. Fearless. Mort had survived. Lannan's other vampires.

But the rest of our men were gone. Kaylin was gone, back to the Court of Dreams. And when this was done, Luna would be offered up on the plate of her own sacrifice. Lainule and Wrath had been forced to leave. We had lost Heather, Anadey, Rex, Leo. So many of the townspeople. All sacrificed to Myst's thirst.

It felt like I should say something. This was a pivotal moment in our history. An enemy thousands of years old . . . And we had come to her end. But there were no words.

In silence, I placed the heartstone on the ground and raised my dagger.

Ulean, will this kill her? Will my dagger do the trick?

Oh, my dear Cicely, how can you still ask me questions? You are the Queen of Snow and Ice. Trust in your power. Trust in your intuition. Trust in yourself.

Thank you. Thank you for being with me. For staying till the end. You mean more to me than anyone.

I have your back. Till the day that you die, I will stay with you.

Lannan . . . is he dead? Do you know?

I can't give you an answer. I don't know. Maybe . . . maybe he lives. Vampires are resilient.

I suppose . . . it's time. I watched Krystal kill herself. I lost one mother already. I helped kill Heather after Myst turned her. I saved Lainule's life but lost her in the process. And now . . . now I'm killing the only other mother I've ever known.

Sometimes, life sucks.

Yeah, sometimes, it does.

I raised my dagger high above the heartstone and plunged it down. As the blade met the stone, it fractured slowly, a web of cracks spreading across the stone, and then—with one last shove, I let out a shout, and the stone shattered into pieces, the shards flying. And Myst's light went out. Forever.

Chapter 18

And so there will always be an ending. All stories come to an end, even if it's only to open out into yet another tale. The hero begins his journey, unsure where the path will take him, and then, after the darkest hour, he emerges victorious. But there's always an after.
Happily ever after
may play true in some faerie stories, but it doesn't hold true in the world.

After Myst's heartstone shattered, her light went out, and we knew she was dead. As I knelt by the remnants of what had been her essence, we heard a terrible shriek from outside and turned to see a silver streak rise into the air, soaring upward, to vanish in a shower of sparks.

Myst was gone. Truly dead and forever out of our reach.

I forced myself to my feet, then struggled over to Grieve. “Are you all right, love?”

He wiped his hands across his face. “I think so. I am hurt, but I'll survive.”

Check managed to drag himself forward. Mort helped him. “Your Majesty . . . there are no words. You have saved us all.”

“We will have to hunt down all her minions. We must eradicate all of the Shadow Hunters.” But in my heart, I knew there would always be two still living. For my own soul bore the blood of the Indigo Court, and Grieve was still part of that hybrid race. We would never be free of the taint, but then again, was anything ever 100 percent clear and good and pure? Black and white were mere concepts, with a thousand shades existing between the two extremes.

Weary beyond counting, I stumbled to peer over the drop-off and stared into the blackness. Lannan was down there. Lannan had sacrificed himself to take Myst with him. He'd given me the chance to destroy her heartstone.

“Please, be alive. Please, be down there . . . still alive.” Vampires weren't easily destroyed. But if he
was
down there, and sunrise hit, it would kill him. I whirled around. “We have to find Lannan—we have to rescue him if he's still alive, before sunrise.”

Grieve shook his head. “Do you know how far of a drop that is? No one could survive it.”

“Myst did, because her heartstone was still beating when I destroyed it. Lannan is a vampire. We can't just assume he's dead.” I gazed at my beloved, pleading. He stared at me, and I knew that he could see into my heart. I loved Grieve more than life, but I also loved Lannan, and I knew that now. I'd hated him, I'd despised him, and part of me always would, but I needed him.

“I'll go looking for him. I'm still in good shape.” Mort strode up beside me. He gazed over the edge. “I can make it down there.”

“One of the Wilding Fae might be willing to navigate the drop with a bloodsucker, without a bargain struck.” The Snow Hag gazed at me. “But only if a queen returns to her home to rest and heal.”

“How do we get down? There is no path from here. I can fly, and so can Hunter, but Grieve, Check, and Fearless . . .” I looked around. There was no path from here, and we couldn't go back the way we came.

“Worry not, my granddaughter. I have called for help on the slipstream. Even now, our people are winging their way to us, and they will be able to safely transport the King and your guards.” Hunter wrapped his arm around me and gave me a long hug.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, several owls flew into the cavern. The storm had died down and the clouds were breaking. For the first time in a long while, the stars shimmered into view. The Uwilahsidhe brought ropes and harnesses and all things needed to get Grieve, Fearless, and Check out of the cavern. Hunter and I shifted into our owl forms and flew out into the night, on calm winds, heading toward the forest below.

Except for Mortimer and the Snow Hag, we all met back at the Veil House. By now, the temperature had risen a few degrees and the blizzard was gone. The snow would take weeks to melt, but the long winter was ready to give way, and as I flew over the yard, circling before I landed in the branches of the great oak, I thought about my life and the strange sequence of events that had brought me to this point.

I shimmied down the tree, leaping to land in the soft snow below, and stared at the glimmer of lights in the house, suddenly missing Heather again. She had given this house its heart, but now she was gone, with all the rest, and our lives had taken twists that we never could have expected.

As I headed toward the house, Hunter followed behind me. Grateful he had survived, grateful that we had come through with as few losses as we had, I turned to him and held out my hand. He took it, and we silently crossed the top of the snow banks, dancing along the crust, under the watchful eyes of the moon.

Ysandra welcomed us in with hot mugs of coffee and chocolate. A chicken was roasting in the oven, along with biscuits. As I looked around at the signs of normalcy, it was hard to take in. We'd done it. We'd destroyed Myst. Peyton approached me, a question in her eye. I knew that they wanted to know where everyone was. Who had come through safely, and who remained behind, but I wasn't ready to speak. I needed to breathe. To walk through the house and know that we were safe.

After a few minutes, I peeled off my clothes, right there in the living room, and Luna hurried to bring me a robe. I slid into it, and then sank into the rocking chair, still mute. Hunter shook his head as Ysandra started to approach me, warning her off.

Another breath, and another. And then, as I accepted a hot cup of coffee spiked with chocolate and the fragrant steam rose to fill my lungs, I finally let out a long sigh and nodded for them to sit.

“Myst is dead. We destroyed her heartstone.” How could I describe the battle? How could I explain the storms we had raised? There were some things too powerful for words. “I . . . We fought. Lannan helped kill her.”

“Lannan . . . He is . . .” Luna's question hung heavy in the air.

“We don't know. Mortimer and the Snow Hag are searching for him now.” I swallowed a catch in my throat. “Kaylin saved our lives, but he gave in to his demon to do so, and he's gone back to the Court of Dreams. His demon had to take over to keep him from dying.”

Luna let out a cry and pressed her hand to her mouth. She hung her head and Peyton reached out to stroke her back.

“Grieve and Check and Fearless survived. The Uwilahsidhe are helping to bring them home. They were wounded.”

“And the rest of the men? The rest of Lannan's men?” Ysandra reached out but stopped short of taking my hand. Something had changed. There was a gulf between us, and I could feel it, even though I hadn't been the one to create it.

“Our men are dead. So many have died. The town will never be the same.”

“Maybe not, but we'll revive it. We'll make it stronger.” Peyton bit her lip and looked at Luna. “Strict, your advisor, showed up while you were gone. They found Zoey. She killed herself before they could catch her. She must have felt Myst fall.”

Luna let out another choked sob. I caught her gaze. There was something in her eyes—a fatal vision that stared back at me. We'd won. She would have to make good on her promise. I wanted to ask her what would happen now, but too much had passed this night. Too much water under the bridge. We'd lost too many people. I didn't want to know when we would lose her, too.

“I suppose I should call Regina.” But I made no move for the phone. There were so many things that we needed to do. Aftermath was almost worse than the actual battle.

“And so . . . what next, my friends?” I looked up. “What the fuck do we do now? All our focus has been on destroying Myst. And that's done.”

“Clear out the Shadow Hunters. Heal the wounded. Bury our dead. Count our blessings that the world won't fall to Myst's rule. And plan for what happens next time someone gets it in their head to create an empire. Because you know that there will always be another time, another enemy, another power-crazed fool ready to destroy the world in their attempt to hold it in their grasp.” Ysandra laughed, but her voice cracked, and she began to cry. Luna followed suit, and Peyton. And I sat there, devoid of tears, because I felt so numb that I didn't know if I'd ever be able to feel much of anything again.

Even with my apathy, I forced myself to place a call to Regina. She dispatched a host of men to go in search of Lannan. By morning, we hadn't heard word one from her, and I could only pray they'd found him before the sun drove them back to their lair for the day.

Grieve was hurt, but he would heal. The same with Fearless and Check. The Snow Hag had vanished, but I expected to see her again. Kaylin—I had no clue what happened to Kaylin, and once more, I could only pray he'd found his way to the Court of Dreams safely.

Rhiannon and Chatter returned from the town, where they'd been leading their men in routing the Shadow Hunters from New Forest. They were covered in blood, but unhurt.

And now my cousin and I stood on the back porch of the Veil House, staring as dawn broke in the east. The rosy streaks shimmered across the sky, and though it was still icy cold, the edge in the air had worn off, and here and there we could see icicles melting as the sun rose. It would be weeks before the snow was gone, but the worst of the winter was over, and we were on our way to spring.

“When I came back, I had no clue . . .” I stopped. There was no use in chewing over the past. What was, was gone. What was to come, would be here in good time.

“Was it hard to kill Myst? Were you sorry at all? She was your mother. Once, long ago in a dark faerie tale.” Rhia gave me a smile, and the warmth of her eyes filled me with hope. She was the summer, bright as the sun, and I realized that any time I ever needed to bask in the light, I just had to meet her for lunch.

“You know, there was one point where it all felt so pointless. Where I felt like we were all pawns—including her—in one big joke the universe decided to play.” I paused, then let out a long breath. “But . . . Lannan . . .”

“You mourn him. With all he did to you. . . .”

“With all he did, I miss him. I hope to hell he survived. Tonight, I'll contact Regina and find out what happened. If they even know. But he saved me. Rhia, Lannan gave me the time I needed to finish Myst for good. He sacrificed himself for us.”