Page 54 of The Iron Raven

“What do you think she meant?” Nyx asked, her voice grave as we made our way through the wyldwood, following the cat once more. “Do you really think she believed it is soon to be the end...of everything?”

I shrugged. “Oracles are like sphinxes,” I said. “At least the ones I’ve met. Always talking in riddles and metaphors, and that’s when they’renotcompletely raving and delirious. Besides—” I snorted “—do you know how many End of the World prophecies I’ve heard in the past few centuries? It’s never as bad as they make it out to be. Hell, Keirran was part of one of those doomsday prophecies himself. Poor kid was ‘fated to destroy the Nevernever’ from the get-go. But we’re all still here, and thankfully he got over his Destroyer of All Things phase.” Nyx raised a brow, and I grinned at her. “I think we’re gonna be fine.”

I saw Ash glance back at me, narrowing his eyes, and realized he had heard my comment about Keirran. For a second, guilt prickled. The pain of having to exile their son from the Nevernever was still raw for the rulers of the Iron Realm. I knew they would much rather have him home, but Faery law was Faery law. Keirran had betrayed the courts; his only choices were banishment or death, and the Forgotten did need someone to look after them in the Between. Keirran was proving to be a good king and a competent ruler, but that was small comfort to his parents, who I’m sure missed him and hated the fact that he couldn’t come home.

Ash brought this on himself, that evil part of me whispered.It was his stubborn quest to be with Meghan that sent us through Phaed where the Lady was sleeping. His fault that she woke up. If he had just let Meghan go, none of this would have happened.

“Do you still love her?”

Ice flooded my whole body. For a second, I didn’t think I was hearing correctly. I blinked and glanced at Nyx, who was watching me with a grim look on her face.

“Sorry, what was that?” Tilting my head, I stuck a finger in my ear and wiggled it around. “A fly or something must’ve flown down my earhole, because I was almost sure I heard you imply that I was in love with the Iron Queen.”

The Forgotten didn’t smile. “I’ve been around a long time, Puck,” she said. “Part of the reason I’m so good at my job is that I’m observant. And I know that in Faery, grudges never go away. They can fester for years, sometimes without our knowledge, until they finally consume us. Because we are fey, and we can’t let anything go. You were in love with the Iron Queen.” Nyx stated this calmly, glancing ahead to where Ash and Meghan walked side by side. “And she chose him. Simple as that.”

“You wanna rub the salt in a little deeper? I don’t think you’ve ground it in far enough.”

“I know vengeance, Puck.” Nyx glanced at me again, her golden eyes both sympathetic and cautious. “I know it all too well. Revenge was something the Lady specialized in, and I was often the one she used to carry it out. But my question to you is this... This desire for revenge against the prince consort—is it because you’re still in love with the Iron Queen, or is it because you lost?”

I scoffed. “I don’t lose well, lady assassin,” I told her. “It happens so rarely. But you know nothing of the years, thecenturies, of the time ice-boy kept trying to kill me. Over a girl. So, don’t think you understand what’s happening between the two of us. It would take an oracle to untangle all those threads.”

Nyx gave me an unreadable look and seemed about to say something more, but at that moment Meghan paused and turned around, raising a hand to bring the group to a halt.

“We’ll stop here for the night,” she announced as I realized we had reached the banks of a greenish-black lake, mossy trees with twisted branches rising out of the water like grasping claws. “Grim says that the entrance to the Briars is on the other side of the lake, but since this is also lindwurm territory, I don’t want to attempt to cross it in the dark. I hope none of you object to making camp for the evening.”

No one did, and sometime later, a cheerful fire crackled in the pit, and several large lake eels sat cooking on sticks close to the flames. I would’ve preferred fish, but hey, you took what you could catch in the wyldwood. Judging from the eels’ size and rather large teeth, I’d say that they were at least partially responsible for the severe lack of fish in the water.

I lounged against the log Coaleater and I had dragged close to the firepit, while Nyx perched on the end, drawn into her hood and watching the dancing flames. On the opposite side of the pit, Meghan sat on the ground with her legs crossed and her sword resting on her knees. Ash sat behind her on a rock, his arms resting lightly on her shoulders, and I still had no idea how he managed to look completely at ease and insanely protective at the same time. Coaleater had wandered down to the lake, and Grimalkin had vanished in that obnoxious feline way of his, so it was just the four of us, sitting around a campfire. Except for Nyx, it was just like old times.

Only, it really wasn’t.

Meghan let out a long sigh and leaned back against Ash, resting her head on his knees. “It’s nice to get out of the palace every once in a while,” she murmured, looking less like a queen and more like a normal girl again. “Even if it is for another catastrophe. I hope Fix doesn’t have a nervous breakdown while we’re away.”

“Glitch will be there,” Ash assured her. “Between the two of them, they should be able to handle most emergencies. And they’ll send a gremlin if something truly disastrous comes up.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Meghan raised her head, glancing at the Forgotten across the firepit. “You came from the Between, is that right, Nyx?” she asked, and the Forgotten’s hood lifted as she met the Iron Queen’s gaze. “From Touchstone? How is Keirran faring nowadays?”

“He is a good ruler,” Nyx replied immediately. “A fair king. He cares for his people, that much is obvious. Although...” She paused, drumming her fingers on her knee in thought. Meghan watched and waited patiently as the Forgotten struggled with what to say.

“He...carries a great deal of guilt with him,” Nyx finally said, and Meghan closed her eyes. “He blames himself for events of the past, and that can sometimes cloud his judgment, make him question himself. He can also be...reckless with his own safety, if it means protecting the Forgotten and the Between. It has made my job more difficult, when the king insists on standing between his subjects and every creature that means them harm.”

A tiny smile crossed Ash’s face, and he shook his head.

Nyx paused again, contemplating her next words, before she continued in a soft voice. “He wants very badly to redeem himself for past mistakes, but he doesn’t believe he will ever be forgiven.” She grimaced then, giving the rulers of the Iron Realm an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I’ve spoken out of turn. Please excuse my forwardness, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t apologize.” Meghan opened her eyes, giving the Forgotten an appraising look. “I asked a question, and you answered truthfully. I appreciate your insight, Nyx. I know Keirran can be reckless. I’m glad he has someone like you watching out for him. Especially since that creature showed up in Phaed. And now that we have a bit of time...” She glanced at me, her blue eyes suddenly sharp. “I would like to know more about this creature you fought. You were both there with Keirran—you experienced its attack. If the oracle’s thief can’t tell us anything, we might have only your knowledge to go on. What happened that night?”

I shrugged. “Not much to tell, princess. We fought the thing, it kicked us around like soccer balls and then hightailed it into the Nevernever as soon as the way opened. All the magic and glamour we hurled its way didn’t even phase the thing. Even Keirran’s Iron glamour didn’t put a scratch on it.”

“Maybe the answer isn’t magic, then,” Ash mused. “Maybe the solution is a solid blade through its heart.”

“What a brilliant plan, ice-boy. Why didn’t I think of that?” I sneered. “I’m telling you, this thing isn’t like any monster we’ve faced before. Nothing seems to hurt it or slow it down. We stabbed it, poked it, blasted it with Summer, Winter, and Iron magic, and the thing barely sneezed. But by all means...” I waved a hand at him. “Feel free to shove your sword up its butt. The last time I tried poking it with the sharp end of my knives, I ended up with a few extra appendages.” I tapped my forehead, smirking at him. “This is what happened to me, ice-boy. Just think of what the former Unseelie prince could become if it got its claws intoyou.”

Ash stiffened at that, and Meghan’s jaw tightened as a somber air descended around the campfire. We all knew, to varying degrees, what Ash was capable of should he turn, well...evil. Yeah, Robin Goodfellow was a dangerous menace that you didn’t want to cross, and his pranks were a bit on the cruel side, but he wasn’t a murder-hobo. I’d seen a glimpse of a—thankfully avoided—future where the son of Mab had basically flattened the entire Nevernever in a war that decimated all the courts and left all Faery a frozen wonderland. Oh yeah, and in that vision, he’d also killed me. Not something I wanted to undergo in real life.

Ash’s expression darkened; I could tell he was starting to fall into that melancholy that sometimes overtook him when he remembered certain things about his past. But Meghan reached back, placing her hand on his forearm and squeezing gently. “That’s not going to happen,” she said. “Not with all of us here, supporting each other. There are rules in Faery. Nothing is completely indestructible.”

“That is true, Iron Queen,” came Grimalkin’s voice near the firepit. The cat was curled up on a flat rock, as close to the flames as one could get without catching fire. How the cait sith’s wispy gray fur hadn’t spontaneously combusted yet was a mystery. “The Nevernever ensures that there is always something to exploit,” the feline went on in a sage voice. “Some small weakness, no matter how slight or insignificant. A tiny hole in the dragon’s armor, just big enough for an arrow.” His gold eyes narrowed, and the claws on one foot flexed, scratching the rock. “Although, from what I have heard, I fear this beast might be different. I do not think it is fey, or anything that is part of the Nevernever.”

---