“If he were fae, the poison would not hurt him,” Regin cried out. “This is irrefutable. Daigh is no longer a fae.”
How is that even possible?
Kelly wriggled around the bonfire. From where I lay I had a good look at her face. She was petrified, her skin white and covered with cuts and bruises, but there was a grim determination in her eyes that reminded me of her sister. I shoved off the ground and inched forward again, sending another fireball at the annoying guy on my back. The fire hit the invisible wall again and slammed back into my body.
Maeve, if you can hear this, I need you. I need your power now.
“I command you to come down here and suck this poison out of meeeee...” Daigh slurred. He gripped his leg above the knee, but the forward movement caught him off-balance. He toppled forwards, his forehead cracking against the dirt.
Regin spat on his head. “He’s no king of mine.”
The second fae removed the bow from his shoulder and threw it at Daigh. The heavy wooden weapon bounced off Daigh’s back, buckling his body. Others stepped out of formation to spit and kick their king. Regin tore the crown of bones and vines from his head.
“No,” Daigh raised a hand to grab the crown. “I’m still…your king…”
Regin wrenched it out of reach. “We will bring this to Liah,” he called, raising the crown above his head. “She will lead us in our triumphant march across the reclaimed earth.”
“Noooooo…” Daigh wheezed. He grabbed Regin’s leg, but the soldier kicked him off.
Regin stared up at the wooden stakes. I noticed a dark shape pierced through on the end one, and a cold fear settled between my shoulder blades.Is that a person? It can’t be, we’re all here…
“This isn’t our work,” Regin said, his words sending a clatter of agreement from the ranks of the fae. “Let the humans have their witch burnings. They have the stomach for it more than I. We’ll be back in three days time to claim the earth for ourselves.”
He tore something from around Daigh’s neck and tossed it into the fire. Daigh howled. The earth cracked and spluttered. A crack split the meadow, running between me and the stakes. Inky tendrils rose from the crack, calling the fae back to the realm of the dead.
“What the fuck?” The guy on my back cried.
“Get back!” That female cop, DS Judge, yelled. “That’s the same stuff that was at the church!”
The crack split through the meadow, severing the bonfire. Kelly screamed as the ground beneath her buckled and the inky gloom crept over her skin.
“Kelly!” I yelled as her face disappeared behind a wall of darkness. Fear and rage welled up inside me.They are not taking Kelly, too.
A fireball shot out of the end of my hand, blasting the guy off my back. He screamed as he rolled across the grass, pounding his sleeve into the dirt in an attempt to staunch the flames.
I got my powers back.
I roared in triumph as the wall around my magic broke free. I sent a fireball into the ranks of the fae as they raced for the crack. Green-clad soldiers leapt out of the way as one went down screaming, flames devouring his clothes and blackening his skin.
Something heavy jumped on my back.Not this shite again.I flung my body to the side and kicked out with my boot.
“Oof!” someone moaned, and a dark shape behind me went down. Light glinted off something on the ground.
My sword.
I used my feet and stomach muscles to shuffle forward like Kelly had done, twisting my body around so I came in sideways. My hand clasped around the hilt of my sword, fingers stroking the leather the way I touched Maeve’s body. I swung around and wrenched my arms back, slamming the hilt into the guy’s cheek. He screamed and went down. I shuffled my body so I could slide the rope over the blade, and just like that, my hands were free.
I stumbled to my feet. For the first time I could properly see the rest of the coven. Flynn shot jets of water into the villagers, sending them cowering toward the blazing castle. Blake had already freed himself, and was working on untying Rowan’s bonds. I couldn’t see Corbin anywhere, but the field hung withthick smoke and black fog, obscuring places not touched by the light of the flames. Aline and her motley army moved across the meadow, firing spells to shake the earth beneath the fae and spray the weapons from their hands. A tiny red fox leapt from behind Clara’s skirts and bit a fae soldier’s face, sending him down.
Maeve rolled onto her back and kicked her legs at DS Judge. Waves of spirit magic radiated from her body as she fed nightmares into the cop’s head. DS Judge dropped to her knees, clutching her temples and screaming for help. But the villagers were too terrified to care about us witches anymore.
“Arthur, get Kelly!” Maeve screamed.
Kelly’s shriek tore through me. The crack formed a barrier between us. It was too wide for me to jump now, and even with Aline’s baptism, I didn’t want to risk falling in.
I ran along the edge of the crack, ducking and dodging around the black fog. Here, the crack split into smaller fissures, and I leapt between them with all the grace of a ballet-dancing porpoise, My feet landed on the grass on the other side, and I dived into the darkness, led by Kelly’s screams.
Acrid smoke burned my lungs. I bent low, gasping for air, and barrelled forward. The fog slid over my skin, leaving burning trails that sucked precious breath from my lumps. My foot caught on one of the stakes and I fell to my knees, my hands brushing something wet. I turned to see what it was, and hot rage rose in my throat as my eyes captured the outline of the body in the gloom.
