A small group of Dark Fae lunged, but Eimear’s magic slammed into them, throwing the creatures into the sky, far away from her path.
Saoirse glanced back to ensure Zylah was following, her heart unwilling to leave either female behind. For a split second, Saoirse feared Zylah might not be able to keep up, but once again, Zylah proved she carried far more Fae blood in her body than human.
Saoirse sprinted faster, the back of her mother’s head barely visible amidst the unfolding chaos. Her magic was another story. It was like a storm following in the High Lady’s wake, unwilling to be contained.
Saoirse knocked away a spear of ice aimed for her head. Then she extinguished flames crawling across the ground, moving and pivoting as she gave chase. Then a scent hit her that had a violent growl ripping from her throat. Not just because of what he’d done to Eimear, but because of what he’d stolen from her as well.
Saoirse pushed through another cluster of beasts, leapt over a tree of her mother’s creation, then paused just behind Eimear. The female’s shoulders rose and fell, her mother panting, not from exhaustion, but in anticipation.
A small group of Fae circled around, their magic fanning wide. Niall stood at their center.
The male looked worse for wear. His face was smeared with blood, teeth coated in it, too, as he snarled at the warriors surrounding him and the last of his companions.
His once brilliant golden hair was in disarray, half out of the low ponytail he’d tied it in. His left arm hung limply at his side, dislocated at the shoulder. The clothes he’d worn—not battle leathers, but a fancy tunic with a velvet trim—had been shredded to ribbons and barely concealed his muscular form underneath.
Eimear stalked forward, sword at her side.
Niall snarled upon seeing her. Bodies littered the ground. Their comrades. More lives Niall had stolen. Saoirse clenched her fists, but forced herself to remain still.
“Back away,” Eimear commanded. The Fae obeyed. Eimear’s magic tore from the ground, replacing theirs, surrounding Niall on all sides. He looked around frantically, seeking escape. But there would be no escape for him today.
A second of silence. Of two Fae staring one another down. Then the ground beneath Niall’s feet sprang to life. Vines and thorns ripped from the earth, grabbing each of Niall’s companions. They screamed, summoning blades of air in an attempt to fight back. But Eimear’s magic moved faster, too fast for Saoirse’s liking. It wrapped around their necks, diving down their noses and throats, strangling them from the inside out.
Niall watched in horror, trying to back away, yet unable to move.
Saoirse smiled with a sense of satisfaction when flowers emerged from Niall’s companions’ eye sockets. Vines protruded from their fingertips and their final breaths came in agonized gasps. Their bodies hung, suspended by greenery, nothing more than fodder for the life around them.
And she’d thought her father’s magic frightening as a child.
The Fae surrounding Eimear, her allies, all snarled at Niall, each wanting nothing more than to rip the male from the world. But most knew Eimear’s story and everyone recognized that Niall’s life belonged to no one else but her.
“My, my how the tables have turned,” her mother said in a voice laced with venom. Niall’s magic spread in a wave, a glamour trying to rise. It cloaked the world in shadow for a moment, but Saoirse found the shimmer at the edge of her vision and broke it.
Eimear laughed. “Really? After all the torment you subjected me to and you think a glamour is going to save you?” Her magic snaked out, grabbing his ankle, thorns digging deep. “I have my magic now, you coward.”
“Do you?” His voice shook. “How can you be sure you’re even here? Who’s to say you aren’t still in the dungeon, being shown the freedom you so desperately crave?”
Eimear stepped forward, undeterred. “You made a mistake,” she said with lethal calm. “You should have killed me when Vairik commanded you to.”
“I showed you mercy,” Niall hissed.
“Mercy?” Eimear bit out. “That’s what you call mercy?”
“I spared your life.”
She growled, and another vine shot up from the ground, wrapping around his opposite ankle. Niall winced again. Blood trickled into his muddy boots. “You only spared me for your own amusement. I have no such motive.”
“Then why am I still alive?”
Eimear cocked her head. “Who says you are?”
Saoirse furrowed her brow, looking between the pair.
“You had the opportunity to change,” Eimear said. “You could have risen against your father and become something great.”
Niall spat blood onto the ground. “This battle isn’t over just because your brat found his animal shift.”
Reverence filled Eimear’s gaze as she lifted her eyes toward Rion in the distance. “Animal. Such a trivial word for what he has become.”
