“A power and a path.” The voice paused. “Inishfall has deemed you worthy. You may have what you seek. But you mustchoose.”
Reyna could not help but notice that this invisible voice was stubbornly refusing to chat about anything other than the choosing business. She wanted to know so much more. What the Ruin was and how these powers would help her stop it. And what would happen when she made her choice. She wanted to know it all, but when she tried voicing her questions aloud, the voice went silent.
“All right,” she said, whispering to herself. “Step up to the pool and look inside. Nothing terrifying about that, right?”
Squaring her shoulders, she knelt beside the cool, slick water. It was a beautiful blue. The color of the sky after a fresh snowfall when the clouds had blown so far away that nothing was left but an endless expanse of cerulean. She pressed her hands against the edge of the rock and leaned forward, gazing into the very depths of the pool.
Reyna saw her own face. Her silver hair was wet through, hanging in clumps around her shoulders. Her eyes were hollow and full of fear, but there was strength in them, too. Rosy lips, long slender neck. Her mother’s ice glass ring dangling to her chest from a chain.
“I only see myself,” she said.
The pool began to shimmer, transforming Reyna’s face into blurred ripples. A featureless face. When the waters stilled, she was still there, but she was different. Older, stronger, wiser. A crown perched on her head, and a glorious golden light filled the sky behind her.
The voice was back again, speaking in an insistent tone. It sounded as though it were behind her, lurking in the shadows. “If you choose this power, you may have everything you want and more. There will be a crown on your head and fae will kiss your feet. The powers of the fae will fill your mortal form, blessing you with immortality. The elements will bow to your will. Your wings will take flight. You will be unconquerable.”
Reyna’s heart thundered. “Will I be able to defeat the Ruin?”
A small pause. “You will be able to defeat anything or anyone that you wish, Reyna Darragh.”
A thrill went through her. This was it. The answer she had been searching for all this time. She imagined Eislyn’s face when she finally told her. Glencora would awaken from her unending slumber. She would be able to see once again. Villages would be restored. Lives would be saved. So many lives. The Ice Court would be a great kingdom for centuries to come.
“But,” the voice whispered, and her heart froze. “You must give something in return. A very, very small piece of your soul. You will give it up, and it will belong to me.”
Reyna frowned. “A piece of my soul?”
“Oh yes. Only a tiny little piece. It is a small payment for such a great gift, is it not?”
Reyna’s frown only deepened, though the reflection’s smile never died. Her face began to shimmer once again, replaced by a very different version of herself. This one was older as well, and strong, but she looked sad. There was no crown or golden skies. Just Reyna, surrounded by a grey murkiness.
“This is your second choice. Much like the first, you will gain everything you might need to defeat your Ruin. Immortality, strength, power over the elements. You will become what the fae once were, before the terrible Fall that stole their strength. And you will keep all of your soul.”
“What’s the payment for this one?” she whispered, terrified to know the answer.
“You must give up your greatest desire.”
Her blood churned hotly through her veins as she stared at the sad Reyna in the pool before her. “My greatest desire is to stop the Ruin.”
“It is not,” the voice replied sharply. “Inishfall can see into the very depths of your soul, Reyna Darragh, and you desire something else far more.”
“What is it?” she asked, her voice cracking, knowing at once what he would say.
“Your greatest desire is to live a normal life with Lorcan Rothach.”
Pain was a knife in her gut. She sucked in a sharp breath and pulled back from the pool. The vision of her sad eyes vanished into the blue, leaving nothing behind but a blank, unending darkness. Trembling, she stumbled back, desperate to get away from the voice, this strange power, and the choice that it demanded from her.
She could give up a piece of her soul. Or she could give up Lorcan.
“This isn’t fair,” she hissed, hot tears bubbling up in her eyes. Her chest felt on fire, as if her very soul was burning up inside.
“Power, Reyna Darragh. You will have the power to change the world. That cannot be given freely. You mustchoose.”
It was an impossible choice. She new what the first power would do. It would take a part of her, and it would use it for its own ends. Much like her vow to the shadow king, she would be trapped. Forever bound to it, for as long as the world continued to spin.
“You must make your decisionnow, Reyna Darragh,” the voice whispered harshly in her ear. “Nowor we will offer up our power to another soul. Someone else. Someone who is willing to make the choice that you resist. And then you must go and destroy the Ruin in the place where it began.”
That first power, the one that wanted her soul, was Unseelie. She knew it in her bones, even as the voice whispered his own name into her ear.I am Unseelie. I am that power, it hissed.
But the second power was something else, a forgotten power that the fae of Tir Na Nog did not know. It wasn’t the Dagda. Suddenly, memories of the world sparked to life in her mind as the powers washed knowledge through her like a storm.
