Page 43 of Beltane

I swallowed and hugged my sweater tighter around myself, ignoring the way Lex walked quietly at my side, equally lost in his own thoughts. I hadn’t forgotten how he’d lied when he’d come out of the conversation with Diana, and once we had a moment alone, I planned to let the others know. Whatever she said, he couldn’t face this on his own. No more secrets.

“What do you think we’re gonna find on the other side?” Carter whispered to Ivy as they walked a pace or two ahead of us.

“Utter fucking chaos?” Ivy said, shrugging. “An orgy full of bloody fairies?”

“How am I ever going to get that out of my head?” Carter rubbed at his temples, and I agreed.

“I can’t believe we left them there,” I said, grimacing as we kept walking.

“What were we supposed to do? Go around, smacking them all until they woke up?” Lex scowled, his frustration clearly getting the best of him.

“We don’t have time for that,” Ivy said, glancing at me. “Alberich is close. He’s already in Killwater, if not in the woods.”

The echo of his voice chilled me, sending another shiver down my spine. Focusing on the image of Ivy and me reinforcing the tower together, I psychically gripped her hand and sent another bout of energy to my mental fortress.

Diana seemed unperturbed by it. She said she couldn’t fix it and we’d best let it be before wandering into the forest. To her, people desiring each other so much theyliterallytore themselves to pieces was no big deal.

One day in the future, I would probably look back on this night and wonder how I could live with myself. It wasn’t like I had other options, and I certainly didn’t want to get ripped apart myself. But shame burned up my neck and into my cheeks all the same.

What would my father think? What would my mother do?

Despite the horrors that would undoubtedly haunt me to the grave, I wanted to stay strong for Diana…for my spouses and Siobhan…for myself.

We reached what had once been a veil in front of a giant wall of thistles, nearly thirty stories high, wrapping kilometers around in either direction. Now, there was nothing, just scorched earth and a broken shimmer to the atmosphere.

The veil.

When we’d left on Samhain, it had been damaged from the king’s magic, fragile and unpredictable, but certainly still intact. We weren’t sure we’d make it back. It should have been imperceptible, only visible to those who were fairy or had been invited. Now, it appeared unstable, like any second it might cave in on itself. Its sharp edges shimmered with brilliant jaded magic in the shape of an oval several meters in diameter.

“Fuck,” Finn said, drawing my attention. “The gateway is fraying.”

He walked around us to stand next to Diana, reaching his hand out to the border, but the queen stopped him, tsking her teeth. “Do not touch that.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Diana eyed the opening, tilting her head to the side as she considered. Her face remained annoyingly stoic, revealing little of what she thought or determined about the unstable magic. Finally, she straightened and turned to the rest of us. “Come along. It will allow our entry.”

She held her palm out, gesturing us to go ahead of her with Siobhan leading the way. Ivy went next, followed by Lex, Carter, and Donnelly. I held back, a sickening weight lining my stomach as dread crept up the back of my spine. I looked over my shoulder one last time, whispering a silent goodbye to the trees.

“Be careful,”came their solemn reply. “And fare well.”

Perhaps I knew, even then, it might be the last time I ever heard them answer back.

* * *

Crossinginto the realm of fairies always skated over my skin like being dropped into a warm tub of pure ecstasy. There existed no other feeling like it. Despite missing its queen and king for months, the air still buzzed with euphoric energy. I could stay here forever and never know another problem.

The great fairy village, however, looked entirely different. At Samhain, white tents had been set up in a grid pattern, forming a sprawling community that had stood for centuries. Now, it had expanded, stretching much farther in either direction.

Fairies stopped and stared when we walked by, Diana and Finn at the head of our small party, Siobhan and Donnelly bringing up the rear. And in the middle, four lowly humans looked around like we had any right to be here, like we were just another part of this conflict.

Did they know about our gifts? Did they know about the promise we made in their sacred ruins, how we’d taken their magic and mutated it without knowing how or why we’d done it?

Some grimaced. Some shot angry stares. Others dropped to their knees in recognition of the queen and her chosen court. Diana walked with her chin tilted up, her shoulders pulled back, her arms out to either side, wisps of her magic coasting behind her like a train on a wedding dress.

Siobhan suddenly broke away from the crowd and darted into the arms of another female fairy.Ashley.Her sister. When we’d come here last time, she had been the one to escort us around the village, the one who gave us her tent and her bed for the evening. She had the power to distort reality, to make people see whatever she wanted them to believe.

I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she was here.

---