“Are you okay?” He looked bruised and a little bloodied, but otherwise intact. Lex stared up at me as though I’d announced I was an alien queen here to abduct him. “Umm, here’s your spear back.” Sheepishly I held it out to him, and he stared at both it and me for a long, strange moment.
A series of loud, rumbling thumps echoed through the courtyard, and I turned to see the members of the shambling horde collapsing like marionettes with their strings cut. My father was nowhere to be seen, and the place was filled with battered but victorious Silverleaf faeries. Lex got to his feet and stood next to me, gently taking his weapon from my grasp.
“Thanks, Cat.” The spear melted from view, returning to the thin air it had been drawn from. Taking my hands in his, he turned them over and examined them closely.
“It’s not that bad,” I said, assuming he was looking at the forearm burn. He nodded, distracted, but before he could reply Lex was cut off by a piercing shriek that made me shudder. A heartbroken wail filled the air, and I instinctively hurried toward it, spotting Portia crouched over something across the courtyard, her frosted wings drooping with sorrow. I stopped next to her and stared down at the figure cradled in her arms.
Tybalt.
“Oh no,” I said, my throat squeezed tight with emotion. “Lord and Lady, no.”
Portia sobbed hysterically as she hugged her brother’s body. Tybalt’s head lolled at a very unnatural angle, and I realized Dorian must have snapped the faerie’s neck with that damned staff of his. My knees wobbled and Lex wrapped his arms around me. Resting my head against his chest, I wept bitter tears, and wished none of this had ever happened.
Chapter Thirteen
For the first time since the formation of Faerie, the Silverleaf clan buried one of their own.
The call for vengeance was immediate and unanimous. They were eager to execute some vampires, and from what I could tell they intended to kill every vampire and necromancer connected to my father, from Lovely Laura on down to the lowliest minion she controlled. The scary part was that they could do it too, which made me wonder why Dorian had been stupid enough to try to attack me while I was within Castle Silverleaf. Sure he might ensure his position as Oberon if I was out of the way, but what good is the position when everyone he associates with is dead? All-the-way dead, not the average, everyday vampire dead.
My cousins were busy planning their elaborate revenge, and I had to admit that angry, bloodthirsty Portia was the most frightening thing I’d ever seen in my entire life. Listening to her describe their plans in her sweet, sing-song voice was even more disturbing than watching the glee in the imp’s beady eyes as it recounted the plane crash it’d caused.
They were going to kill everyone, and it was going to be glorious.
My weapon training continued, but my heart was no longer in it. Lex spent most of his time with me, consoling me when I needed it and just generally keeping me sane-which was a tough job considering all the worries buzzing around in my brain. I wondered if I had gone after Dorian, would Tybalt still be alive? What if I failed the third test? What if Dorian became Oberon? Would I have to spend the rest of my life in Faerie, hiding from him? Would the vamps infect Faerie and spread through it like a plague?
All that stood between me and the answers was the final test.
One moment I was enjoying a peaceful sleep, safe in my bed, wrapped in my lover’s arms, and the next I found myself standing in the middle of the earthen room beneath the faerie mound of the Underhill clan. For a heartbeat I thought it was a dream-one of those horrible walking-down-the-hallway-of-your-high-school-while-naked-without-your-homework nightmares-but with a quick glance down I discovered I was wearing my usual clothes, and with a pinch to my arm I proved to myself that it was real. After adjusting my top hat I let my hand rest on the hilt of my rapier as I surveyed my surroundings.
This time the cavern had been lit with a series of glowing spheres floating along the ceiling throughout the room. There wasn’t a dragon, but three other people stood near me, one of which was Lex. I reached out and took his hand, and he gave mine a reassuring squeeze. Cecelia of the Silver Crescent stood in front of us, looking as serene and perfect as ever, and on the other side of her stood my father, dressed in his somber black robes with a dour expression on his face.
I snarled at him, filled with rage and grief, and Lex tugged me closer to him before I could do anything. I wanted nothing more in the world than to fulfill my oath and see Dorian dead.
“Stay where you are, Catherine,” Cecelia warned. There was a subtle threat in her voice that made me pause. Balling my free hand into a fist, I took a deep breath.
“What is he doing here?” Dorian asked, pointing an accusing finger at Lex. “He has no right to be here.”
“Actually, he has every right to be here, but that is not your concern,” Cecelia informed him. “Each of you has progressed this far. This will be the final trial. Recent events have reminded the council of an important aspect of the position of liaison: the ability to survive an attack by one’s enemies. Your objective here is simple: to live. The test begins now.”
“What the hell-” I began to protest, but Cecelia vanished from view. Dorian wasted no time in turning on me. Without a staff this time, he conjured a ball of fire and whipped it at me. I flung my arms up to protect my face as my shields snapped into life, surrounding both me and Lex and deflecting the fireball so that it bounced back at him.
“Dumbass!” I shouted as he dodged out of the way. Shoving my anger down into the pit of my stomach, I resisted the urge to draw my sword, and instead poured more strength into the protective barrier.
“Now that’s just mean spirited, Dorian,” Lex scolded. The silver spear appeared out of nowhere again, and he held the weapon in front of him. One by one the glowing lights overhead winked out, plunging the room into darkness. “Guess they forgot to pay the bill.”
“Looks like it,” I agreed. I moved closer to Lex, and we stood together in the darkness as I debated our options. I could cast a light spell, but it’d weaken my shield. Sadly my lightstone was sitting in my apartment with a lot of my other trinkets, so that option was out. Though the darkness was terrifying, we were safe in my magical bubble, and if we were real lucky some big bad monster was out there eating my dad in one tasty bite right now. That deserved a victory cigarette, didn’t it?
Dragging my smokes out of my pocket, I placed one between my lips and then held up my lighter, flicking it on. The small circle of light revealed my father inching close, a dagger in his hand. Startled, I forced myself not to flinch, and continued to light the end of my cigarette, blowing a stream of smoke in his direction. The smoke hit the invisible wall of my shield and curled back toward me, and I smiled.
“If you light yourself on fire again, I’m not pattin’ you out this time,” Lex warned me dryly.
“So noted,” I replied. “Careful, Dorian. You might hurt yourself with that thing.” Dorian lunged toward me, swinging his weapon, and it bounced off the barrier with an audible crackle and a small flash of light. “Not so tough without your evil trinkets, are you?”
“Your mother thought her shields would keep her safe. She was mistaken,” he informed me in an annoyed growl as he rubbed his wrist. “It takes more energy to protect two people. You’ll tire soon enough.”
My anger surged and the flame of my lighter shot two feet high. I nearly dropped it in response, but instead I took my thumb off the button and killed the fire. “Well, my shields are plenty tough, and you’re out there in the dark, completely unprotected, with whatever icky bad the faeries decided to throw at us. I’m just gonna stay in here and enjoy my smoke. I may even conjure up some popcorn while I wait.”