Page 91 of The Fallen Kingdom

I search along the mirrors until I find the small remnants of the portal the girl opened to Aithinne’s camp. It’s barely more than a thin sliver, just enough for me to use. Enough for me to get out of here.

I release all the energy and blow open a massive, gaping hole to the outside world. And I stumble through it.

As the darkness closes in, I fall to the ground and pull Derrick’s body against me. I hold him next to me where he’s always been. Where he belongs.

His voice is the last thing I remember before everything goes black.

I wished for you. I spent two and a half months wishing for you. To see you one last time.

Before what?

I don’t know yet.

CHAPTER 40

IWAKE TOa warm bed, the scratchy feel of rough wool blankets over my body. When I try to move, the pain is so agonizing it feels as if my skin is on fire. Sensitive to the touch, fevered and damp with sweat.What happened?

Images flash in my mind. Kiaran biting me. The tattooed girl. The Morrigan’s bright blue eyes staring out at me from Kiaran’s face. Derrick—

Derrick is dead. Derrick is dead. Derrick is dead.

Sudden hot tears wet my cheeks. A rustle to my left—just out of my line of sight—makes me open my eyes. Catherine leans over me, her long braid grazing my arm.

She’s been crying. Her eyes are red-rimmed and wet. “Hullo, you,” she says, voice hoarse.

“Where am I?” I croak. My throat aches.

Does it matter? Derrick is dead.

I push the thought away and try to raise my head, but the pain is too much. All I can see is the stonework of the inside of a cottage. The grass of a thatched roof. An open window on the opposite wall reveals lifeless tree branches outside. They groan as if the wood is rotting, shallow and ready to fall.

Beyond that, the sky has lost its luster. Even on cloudy days, the sky had a silvery glow mixed with shades of black and blue to break up the monotony. Now it is the dull, pallid gray of dead flesh. As if the earth were hanging on to her last breath. As if she were fighting to stay alive and failing. Just like me.

Catherine looks away. “You’re back at the camp. You’re safe. So are the others.”

Not all the others.Derrick is dead.

I struggle against my tears. “How did I get here?”

Catherine draws in a breath. “We heard a noise like thunder. At first I thought it might be more land breaking apart, but it was you. You created a rift between the realms. You and the others came out, and you were bleeding everywhere. You collapsed onto the ground.” She swallows. “Derrick is...he didn’t make it.”

Derrick is dead.

I shut my eyes.

Even faeries die.

“I’m not supposed to mourn him,” I tell her. “He was supposed to outlive me. He was supposed to live forever.”

“I know,” she says.

“It’s my fault.”I should never have called for his help.

Catherine’s gaze turns sharp. “He died doing what he’s always done.”

“What I asked him to do.”

“Oh, Aileana.” She sighs and grips my hand. “He wanted to save the person he loved most.”

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