I smirked, walking forward through the storm of Winter and Summer glamour, feeling it slide and pass over my skin. “Looks like you’re not the only one who’s destined,” I said, as Keirran’s face darkened with every step I took. A surge of cold swirled toward me, veered away and turned a nearby tree into an icicle, shattering it a moment later. “If you want to kill me, Prince, you’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
Keirran’s eyes narrowed to icy slits. “So it seems,” he murmured, and raised his own weapon as I approached. “Very well. If that’s the case, then I guess a sword through the heart is the only alternative—aagh!”
He jerked, arching back, as a slender blade punched through his shoulder, spraying blood as it tore through his armor. The Thin Man, his mouth set into a grim line, appeared for a split second behind the prince, clutching the blade sunk into Keirran’s shoulder. The prince whirled, tearing free of the sword, and slashed at his assailant with his own weapon, but the Thin Man was already gone.
“Keirran!” Annwyl cried, as the prince staggered, clutching his shoulder. Blood dripped from his fingers and spread over his shirt as he glared around, searching for his attacker. The Thin Man appeared beside me, the prince’s blood smeared across his sword, his face solemn. I grabbed his arm.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?”
“What I must, Ethan Chase.” The Thin Man wrenched his arm from my grasp. “You heard the Iron Prince. You heard the confession from his own lips. He is not going to stop, and if we let him live, he will destroy the Veil with the First Queen. I waited this long in the hopes that the Summer girl would be able to reach him, but now that she cannot, our course is clear. The Iron Prince must die.” His pale gaze shifted to me. “And you must kill him.”
My stomach dropped. “No,” I rasped, glaring at the Thin Man. “I can’t. Not yet.”
“But I can, Ethan Chase,” said a smooth, feminine voice behind us.
A streak of lightning shot from the air, slamming into Keirran as he straightened, flinging him back. Annwyl cried out as he struck the ground several yards away, and I whirled to see Titania the Summer Queen striding forward, her lips curled in a savage grin.
“Prince Keirran,” Titania called, eager and unmerciful, as Keirran staggered to his feet, wind and dust whipping around him. His eyes glowed as he glared at the Summer Queen. “I have been waiting for you. We have unfinished business, you and I.” She raised her hand, and a swirl of black clouds appeared overhead, flickering and deadly. “You will not escape me a second time. If the Chase boy will not end your life, then I will!”
“No, you will not!” A blast of snow and frigid air, and Queen Mab appeared, grabbing Titania’s arm before she could bring it down. “You will not slay any of my kin!” Mab hissed at the other queen through bared teeth. A squad of Winter knights appeared, marching toward Keirran with ice spears raised, as Titania spun on Mab. “I will not allow it!” the Winter Queen snarled. “The Iron Prince is not yours to destroy!”
“How dare you!” The Summer monarch wrenched her arm back, eyes flashing, and the two faeries faced off in the center of the field, glamour swirling around them.
Okay, this was getting nuts. I winced, afraid the two queens would lay into each other right then and possibly blow the entire camp to smithereens in the process, but Keirran threw up an arm, and a flash of light shot from his fingertips, spearing into the air and turning everything white for a split second. The ground started to shake, and a hedge of thorns and bramble clawed its way up from the ground, forming a spiny, bristling wall between us and Keirran. In the time it took for me to blink, the barrier shuddered and turned to iron, blackened and poisonous, and still crawling toward us over the ground. The knights halted, falling back from the creeping metal barrier with alarmed cries, and thankfully caused enough of a distraction to stop the queens from attacking each other right then.
The sounds of battle faded. Panting, I looked around. From what I could see, the fighting had nearly stopped, and most of the Forgotten army was in the process of fleeing. I wondered if the beam of light Keirran had thrown up was some sort of retreat signal. I looked around at the carnage left behind—churned ground, blasted trees, ice daggers sticking out of everything—and felt my heart pound. Where was Kenzie? She had, very wisely, gotten out of the way when Keirran attacked, but then everything had gone insane, and I’d lost sight of her. Had she gotten caught in the cross fire? I’d never forgive myself if she’d been hurt, again.
“Kenzie!” I called, looking around wildly. A few yards away, Annwyl stared at the wall of thorns, her gaze unreadable. Mab was ordering her knights to tear it down while Titania glared sullenly. I didn’t see the Thin Man anywhere, but he was the least of my worries. “Kenzie!” I yelled again. “Can you hear me? Where are you?”
“Here.” She emerged from behind a stack of crates, looking pale and shaken, her hair tossed by the wind, but otherwise fine. Relief flared, and I caught her as she rushed up, crushing her to me.
“You okay?” I whispered into her hair, and she nodded, though her heart was pounding wildly beneath her shirt. I relaxed with a sigh. “You didn’t jump in,” I murmured, surprised. “I thought for sure you would tackle Keirran or try to talk him down.” Kenzie grimaced.
“Well, last time I tried, I got slammed in the back with a lightning bolt and spent four months in the hospital,” she answered in a shaky voice. “And with all the lightning and wind and ice flying around, I figured it would be better to let the guy who’s immune to it all handle it this time.” She squeezed my waist. “Though you did nearly give me a heart attack once or twice, with all those near misses. He really was trying to kill you.” Her voice broke, and she pulled away, shaking with anger...or grief. “Keirran has gone completely dark side on us, hasn’t he?” she whispered, gazing at the bramble wall, where the knights had almost hacked it down. I knew they wouldn’t find him on the other side, that he was already gone. Kenzie’s eyes glimmered, and she shook her head. “What are we going to do?”