Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely 3)

Aislinn walked forward several paces. Keenan stayed by her side. Some of their guards followed; others scattered into the room—not that they would be very effective in this crowd. Bananach was not the only threat: throughout the room were Ly Ergs, several glaistigs, the Hounds, and Cath Pulac. Aislinn shuddered at the sight of the feline faery. Like the great sphinx in the desert, she typically only watched.

Why is she keeping company with the Dark Court?

Aislinn and Keenan exchanged a glance as they took in the faeries who were sitting in Niall’s presence. Bananach’s whispering of war seemed far more frightening when they stood in a den filled with promises of fear and violence.

Niall lounged in his chair and watched them with a mixture of amusement and derision. “Why are you here?”

“I need to know what happened to Seth. Where he is. Why he’s gone.” Aislinn wasn’t sure what she was to do. Do queens curtsy to other rulers when they come seeking favors? She would. She’d beg if it meant finding Seth. “I thought Bananach might answer questions.”

Faeries laughed raucously at that.

“My Bananach?” Niall grinned. “Darling? Do you suppose you could answer the Summer Court’s questions?”

The raven-faery was suddenly beside the Dark King; she gripped his neck like she’d strangle him.

Niall didn’t react. “They have questions.”

“Hmm?” She had drawn blood and was watching it trickle down Niall’s throat.

“Questions,” he repeated.

The room stilled as Bananach looked around and said, “My war comes. Wars need lambs and cinders.”

Her wings solidified as everyone watched her.

“Unless you ruin it all, we are where we must be.” Bananach kissed Niall and whispered, “We shall bleed, my King. If we’re lucky, you might even die horribly.”

Then she took flight. Aislinn clutched Keenan’s hand as she passed them in a blur.

Once Bananach was gone, Niall made a gesture of dismissal. “You have the only answers you’ll find here. Go now.”

There were more answers to be had. Aislinn was sure of it. Niall knew something more. He cared too much about Seth to be this dismissive if he didn’t already know what she wanted. He wouldn’t be this calm if Seth were dead.

Her resolve broke. “Tell me what you know,” she begged. “Please?”

The look Niall gave her was akin to the disdain he’d had when they’d argued at the Crow’s Nest. The stillness that had accompanied Bananach’s mad muttering held. When the Dark King broke the silence, he said, “I know that you are why he is gone, and I don’t know that you deserve his return.”

“He’s okay, though?”

“He is alive and physically unharmed,” Niall confirmed.

“But…” Aislinn felt simultaneously better and worse. Seth is safe. It was just the one pain then, the one that had been weighing on her. Seth left me and is not here by choice. “You know where he is. You’ve known…”

The room was full of faeries who were staring at her as she fought not to break down in grief, or perhaps rage. They licked their lips like they could taste her feelings. Vulgar and hateful, these were the faeries she’d feared. They were nothing like her court.

Beside her, Keenan tensed. He extended a hand. She took it. “Will you tell him I—”

“I am not your messe

nger boy.” Niall’s scorn was chokingly thick. His faeries giggled and whispered.

She started toward the Dark King, but Keenan tugged her back.

“No. Come closer, Aislinn,” Niall beckoned. “Come kneel before me and ask for the Dark Court’s mercy.”

“Aislinn—” Keenan started, but she was already walking toward the Dark King.

When she reached him, she dropped to her knees at his feet. “Will you tell me where he is?”