Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely 4)

“You cannot.” Devlin gripped his sister-queen’s hands. “Think. If you’re wrong, if you’re still bound like that… would you kill us all?”

“If she hurts Seth, I would.” Sorcha yanked free of his grasp. “Maybe it’s time that she’s not the only one to go back and forth to the mortal world. Maybe things need to change.”

“You’re the Unchanging Queen.” Devlin forced his voice to even, despite the growing panic he felt. “You cannot go over there for more than a few moments. Reality will—”

“Adjust. Yes, but is that so awful?” She had the look of a zealot. “Faerie bends to my will, and look how good it is here.”

Devlin felt alarmed by the sensation of a sudden unraveling around him. He closed his eyes, and he saw them, threads tangling and weaving together, lives altered and possibilities ended, deaths they couldn’t overcome. As long as the veil between worlds was open to the twins, but their balance was missing, Sorcha was in danger—and all of Faerie was in danger.

He went to his knees in the garden. “I’m sorry I failed you.”

“I wanted you to be my son,” she whispered, “but I couldn’t have her child as my child. You’re still my brother. Family.”

“I know.” He kept his worries hidden from her. If she learned that Bananach was trying to find a way to kill her son, if she learned that her twin-no-more had asked Ani to kill Seth, the queen of Faerie would be enraged, and an omnipotent angry queen pursuing War in the mortal world was not in the best interests of either realm.

Separating from Bananach meant that Sorcha was feeling emotions she’d never known. It meant that the one faery who held perfect clarity had lost her balance. Until balance was returned, there was little chance of stability.

So how do I rebalance her? He was the only other strong faery in Faerie, and he didn’t have an answer. The answers he needed weren’t going to be found by waiting in Faerie either. He needed to return to the world of mortals.

CHAPTER 34

Devlin stood in his rooms with Ani and Rae. After he explained what he’d learned, he added, “I don’t plan to be gone long, but I need to talk to Niall.”

“No.” Ani gestured with the blade of the knife she’d been cleaning. “Did you forget the fight we left over there? It’s not safe for you, and… you aren’t going anywhere without me, Devlin. Just no.”

“Bananach came here when the queen slept, Devlin. Here is not safe either.” Rae sat stiffly in one of the uncomfortable chairs as if she had physical form. She didn’t shudder, but there was horror in her expression. “War was awful. The bodies… She will come here.”

“We shouldn’t be apart,” Ani snarled. She continued cleaning her already spotless knives. According to Rae, in his absence Ani had begun cleaning every weapon in the chamber. Her own knives were laid out on a table with several of his. The sight made him smile. Ani’s scowl, however, did not. She furiously polished one of the short blades he’d had on a low table alongside the settee. “I can’t believe you think I’m going to sit here while you go face Bananach.”

“Ani,” he started.

“I waited here while you talked to Sorcha, who, by the way, is crazy. Now you are off to the mortal world where the crazier one is?” She crossed her arms. “I was there, Devlin. Bananach could’ve killed you, and really? We’ve been bound together for like five minutes and you’re suddenly darting off into danger without me. I don’t think so.”

“She has valid points,” Rae murmured.

“See?” Ani shoved one sgian dubh into its sheath. “What happened to logic?”

“And taking you back there is logical?” Devlin’s voice was calm, but the emotions he felt weren’t. The image of Bananach launching herself at Ani was still too fresh in his mind. “One trip, and then everything will be better.”

“No.” Ani glared at him. “If you fight, I fight. Not negotiable.”

“You don’t need to go there in person.” Rae did not rise from the seat where she appeared to be resting. She stayed, hands folded demurely in her lap, and said, “Not everything is a fight.”

Ani and Devlin both paused.

Rae looked at Ani. “You have a close bond with one of the kings, correct?”

“Irial, but it’s not a bond like we”—Ani shot a look at Devlin—“have.”

Slowly, Rae stood, keeping the illusion of solidity. “I can find Irial through you. Devlin can come into the dream too because I’ve already tied your dreams together. Let me in, and then we’ll all curl up to nap.”

The Hound frowned at them both. “Let you in where?”

Devlin stilled. He hadn’t quite explained the possession detail to Ani yet. “Rae is incorporeal. Outside of dreams, she only has a body if someone—”

“Just Devlin so far,” Rae interjected.

“If I let her animate my body.” Devlin added, “It’s a not- unpleasant experience.”