Page 59 of The Iron Raven

A small chuckle escaped her. “I find it amusing that turning into a rosebush happens more often than assassination attempts on your life.”

“Believe me, she tries it at least once a year. I end up pulling thorns and rose petals out of my hair for a month afterward.”

The Forgotten laughed again. Standing on her toes, she leaned up and kissed me, turning my insides into a dancing pretzel party. I closed my eyes, putting my life in her hands, and let the Lady’s assassin do with me what she would.

16

THORN SISTERS AND CRANKY TREES

There were many in the Nevernever who, despite living in the wyldwood their entire life, had never seen the Briars, didn’t even know what they looked like. Which I found absolutely hilarious, because once you saw them, the Briars were impossible to miss. It was hard to see an endless wall of writhing, slithering brambles looming fifty feet in the air with bright red thorns longer than your arm and think,Oh, that’s normal.

Beside me, Coaleater stared up at the shifting wall of thorns and let out a snort. “So, these are the infamous Briars,” he muttered. “As I understand it, Ironhorse went through them once with you and the Iron Queen, Goodfellow.”

“Yep,” I answered. “Fun times, that. If you like running into things like dragons, murderous piskie swarms, and hedge wolves. Oh, and spiders the size of Volkswagens, those are always fun.”

Nyx frowned. “What is a Volkswagen?”

Her voice sent my stomach into a mess of squirming knots again. My senses were still buzzing from last night’s kiss, and the dark confessions we’d both shared. I still didn’t know if I would actually survive a relationship with the Forgotten Queen’s former assassin, but I did know that I was done trying to fight it. I might have my heart broken, by a literal dagger this time, but what was life without a bit of risk?

“It’s a car,” Meghan replied, appearing in front of us. “A type of vehicle from the mortal world. And thank you, Puck, for reminding me of that.” Her nose wrinkled with the memory. I grinned. For all her bravery, wisdom, and incredible power, the Iron Queen was still a half mortal named Meghan Chase who disliked spiders almost as much as I did.

“Anytime, princess. Wouldn’t want you forgetting all the fun times we had in the thorns, would we?”

She grimaced, mirroring my own thoughts. Truthfully, I was not really looking forward to this. Not because the Briars were one of the most stupidly dangerous places in the Nevernever, but they had an alarming concentration of creepy, skittery things with more than four legs. I had been through the thorns more times than I could count, and I still did not relish the thought of tromping through them once more.

Ash prowled up behind Meghan and softly touched her shoulder. Briefly, his gaze met mine, solemn with memory, and my stomach twisted. I knew, suddenly, what he was thinking. The last time I had been through the Briars, it had been with Ash on his quest to get a soul. We had traveled all the way through the thorns, and beyond the Briars we had found the End of the World, where the shadowy Guardian had put Ash through a series of impossible tests. Or at least, they were supposed to be impossible. No fey had succeeded in overcoming them. But Ash had survived, passing all the trials the Guardian threw at him, and in the end, became the first faery to ever earn his soul, all so he could be with Meghan in the Iron Realm.

Ash had gone to the End of the World to be with Meghan. But I had gone to the End of the World for her, too. Because I’d loved her and I wanted her to be happy, even if it wasn’t with me. And the most ironic part? Ash was strong, but he wouldn’t have made it to the End of the World on his own. If I hadn’t been there, the Winter prince probably would have died.

Turns out, Fate has a pretty twisted sense of humor.

I smirked at Ash, earning a wary frown from the former Ice Prince. “What about you, ice-boy?” I challenged. “We’ve had some good times in the Briars, haven’t we? Hey, remember that time we stumbled into the spider queen’s nest, and you ended up webbed and wrapped up on the ceiling?”

“That was both of us, Puck.” Ash’s voice was unamused. “And we only ended up that way because you had to grab that sword stuck in the webbing, which alerted the entire nest.”

“Fascinating as this is,” came Grimalkin’s bored voice near our feet, “we are not here to recount amusing tales of large arachnids. If you would follow me, the castle should not be too far from here. As always, though I do not know why I continue to repeat myself as it never seems to take, I would advise caution and stealth while traveling through the thorns. Generally, giant spiders and all their kind should be avoided, I think we can all agree upon that.”

“Yep, and if the cat poofs out on us, then we know something dangerous is coming to eat our faces,” I added as Grimalkin turned and padded toward the wall of thorns. “It’s not like we haven’t done this a million times before, Furball.”

As usual, Grimalkin pretended not to hear.

The Briars loomed over our heads, waving and rustling menacingly, bloodred thorns looking sharp enough to punch through an Iron knight’s breastplate like it was made of Bubble Wrap. Grimalkin ducked beneath a tendril and vanished like a living cloud of smoke, but as we stepped closer, the branches shivered and began peeling back, revealing a long, narrow tunnel through the thorns and brambles.

The Briars were expecting us.

We stepped into the passage, and the entrance slithered shut behind us, plunging the corridor into shadows. Grimalkin’s eyes seemed to float in the tunnel ahead, his furry body barely visible in the gloom. “This way. And do try not to get lost.”

Coaleater snorted, filling the air with the tang of sulfur as we trailed after the cat. “Ironhorse traveled these very Briars with the Iron Queen even before she took the throne,” he mused, gazing at the bristling walls on either side of us. “I cannot believe I am walking the same path as our progenitor, in the company of the queen and the very heroes of the last war.” He tossed his head, the iron cables of his mane clanking against his neck and shoulders. “Let the giant spiders come. I will protect our queen with my life.”

Meghan glanced over her shoulder with a smile, blue eyes affectionate as they settled on the Iron faery. “Hopefully there won’t be any spiders this time,” she said, one hand resting easily on her sword hilt. “We’ve learned a lot since then. When I first came through here with Ironhorse, I was younger, and much more...” She paused.

“Reckless?” Ash said quietly beside her.

“Impulsive,” Grimalkin added up front without turning around.

“Prone to shrieking?” I put in, not about to be left out.

The Iron Queen glared at us all. “All those things, I suppose,” she said in a flat voice that hinted at retribution later on. I would’ve been mildly alarmed, if it wasn’t for Ash’s almost-there smile. Coaleater looked uncomfortable, as if needling the queen of the Iron fey was something he wouldn’t have dared try, but Nyx had a slight grin on her face.

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