Page 58 of Beltane

“Ivy!” Her name came from the depths of my soul, as if by calling it out, I could will myself to get to them faster.

“Carter!” Her cry rattled through me, urging me on. I thought of all the times I’d called her Weeds, all the times I’d taken her and kissed her like our lives depended on it. I thought of my night with Lex in London, and the tiny moments in college when we’d stared at each other from across the room andwanted.Memories of California flashed through me, when Miri and I had shared our heartbreak and spilled our secrets like we’d found our twin flame in each other. The details of every time the four of us had loved and lost and loved again came barreling to the forefront, and all that we’d survived hit me next. I used that raw emotion brewing in my chest to shove the rest of the way to Ivy, finally wrapping my fingers around her wrist.

Once I had her, the vibrancy of their shared connection flowed through me, energizing what I’d just conjured, amplifying it to such an extreme that I yanked them through the wall with hardly any effort.

“We have to stop them,”Ivy said telepathically. “Where’s the ruby dust?”

“Miri’s got it.”Lex held up his free hand to shield his eyes from the queen’s bright fury. “Where’d she go?”

“Miri!” I shouted, realizing the connection with her had been broken. While I worked to get to our spouses, she’d disentangled her hand from mine, the emerald energy thinning as it stretched between us. The ruby dust had fallen to sparkling nothing at my feet and Miri now hovered in the air just like the king and queen, a dark sword made out of the king’s mist spearing through her chest.

“You thought you could use my magic against me?” Alberich’s voice amplified the pounding of my heart, my brain struggling to rationalize what I was seeing. “Little Thistle, I am so disappointed in you.”

The sword withdrew, and Miri dropped to the ground like a limp fish. My chest clenched so hard, I thought I might throw up. Falling to my knees, I ignored the blood dripping from her mouth and nose, wiping it off so that I could see if she was okay.

“Miri!” I pulled her into my arms, ignoring Ivy’s screams and Lex’s panicked questions as they kneeled on either side of me. The fairy storm went on, loud and chaotic, drowning out all other sounds in my mind, all except the agony of watching my best friend, my lover, my spouse…my Juliet…get mortally wounded in front of me. “It’s okay,” I murmured, staring down into her wide, scared eyes while she sputtered to talk.

“Miri, no,” Ivy said, gripping her hands. “No, no, no.”

“You stupid woman.” Lex growled, putting his hands on Miri’s chest, trying to staunch the wound, but it was no use. “Why did you do that?”

Miri coughed and tried to say something, but the words died on her lips as she took one final breath and let it out on a wet sigh.

“I love you,” I said, leaning down to press my lips to hers. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

When I glanced up, Ivy held her hands to her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes wide with horror. Lex’s face had gone pale and his hands were covered up to the elbows in Miri’s blood. I, too, had crimson all over my chest and arms and down the front of my pants.

I couldn’t believe it. How had this happened? There wasn’t supposed to be a sacrifice. I knew it in my bones. My luck told me so. It had never steered me wrong before, and I didn’t believe it would now. This shouldn’t have happened…This couldn’t be real…

Unless…

I glanced up at the two royals, still duking it out four stories above us. The king had proven himself capable of fucking with people’s minds, making them think things that weren’t true, making them live inside their heads while he did whatever he wanted. Look at what he’d done to the battle maidens, to theFianna.

What if this was all in my head? What if this was a dream or a fake vision planted there by the worst creature to ever walk either realm?

I pushed to my feet and wiped the tears from my face, apathetic to the smears of Miri’s lifeblood that I left there. Walking to the place just under the king, I stared up at his vile, rotten form and willed that emerald energy back to me.

“Carter!” Ivy shouted, trying to run after me, but it was already too late.

I stuck my hand into the barrier again, grabbing at the dark mist with my own emerald energy, using our love and the power it gave us to bring him down.

Enough of this, now!

ENOUGH!

I bellowed the word in my head as I pushed our magic into the shield, screaming as it ripped from me in a devastating and all-consuming fury. Every molecule in my body burst into flames, and I wanted to pull my hand back to make it end, but no.

It wasn’t real. None of this was real.

Once upon a time, I had made a promise to Miri that I would be the one to help her distinguish reality from her dreams. Now, I couldn’t tell myself, and she was gone. I’d been forced to watch her die, and if I didn’t do this, if I stopped now, I’d have to watch all of them die.

A sledgehammer hit me in the back, amplifying the anguish in my chest, radiating through to the other side.

I looked down to find a bright sword sticking out of my heart, matching the one that had been shoved inside Miri, obsidian and gleaming with my blood.

As I took a step back and turned to face Ivy, warm metallic liquid coughing up the back of my throat, I learned the horrifying truth.

Thiswasvery real…and we were going to lose.

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