Page 33

Bastian

We all freeze as Morrigan fills the doorway. She’s a handsome woman, though where Siobhan has always tried to downplay her strength and blend in, Morrigan seems to embrace it. She wears a sleeveless vest that shows off her powerful arms, and tight pants tucked into knee-high boots. There’s no weapon in sight, but why would there be? She is the weapon.

“How did you find us?” I don’t mean to ask the question, but we took such precautions. She shouldn’t have known our destination.

Morrigan shrugs. “Ace is a shark shifter.” She grins, revealing too-sharp teeth. “Come now, Bastian. After losing you in the storm—neat trick, by the way—we figured out you were headed to First Sister. Siobhan, you know better than most how I hunt.”

Siobhan practically vibrates with tension. “You drew our attention with Bull’s display and sent Ace to place a tracker on our ship.”

“I knew you wouldn’t come so close to Lyari unless Lyari itself was your destination, and you wouldn’t come here if you weren’t hunting the Council. Now, as much as I like appreciation for my brilliance, we have business to attend to.” Morrigan’s long fingers shift longer yet and gain a wicked curve of claws. She holds them up and finger-waves at us. “The whole gang’s here. Traitorous captains, an equally traitorous selkie, a vampire never properly sworn in to the C?n Annwn, a witch who should have been executed the moment she broke her vows, and a noble convicted of using illegal magics.”

“I wasn’t convicted,” I protest weakly.

“The trial was held this week in your absence.” She examines her claws. “The trial for your family will quickly follow. We’ll discover exactly how much they knew—and how much they’re hiding.”

Cold unlike I’ve ever known courses through me. I knew the risk, but I truly thought their legion of connections would keep my family safe. “They know nothing.”

“We’ll see.” Morrigan shrugs before turning her attention to Siobhan. “And you . I’m disappointed, Siobhan. I thought you might finally be an opponent worthy of me, but you’ve been wasting both our time chasing fairy tales.” She motions at the horn. “That relic lost whatever magic it had generations ago.”

“Maybe.” Siobhan shrugs. Her body is coiled, ready to burst into motion. “I suppose we’ll see.”

“We won’t.” Morrigan rolls her neck and bounces on her toes a little. “I should thank you. You’ve handed me the path to leading the Council. All I have to do is kill you, and it kills your cute little movement. They’ll beg me to take the position after this.” She grins, her teeth too large for her mouth. “Now be a good girl and offer me your throat.”

“Fuck you.” Siobhan launches herself at Morrigan, who meets her in the air. They’re moving so quickly I can barely follow it.

I spin to Bowen, who’s taken a step toward them. “The case! We have to blow the horn!”

He turns and slashes his hands through the air. The glass parts, each pane moving independently away from the horn. Without missing a beat, he spins toward the fighting women. “Siobhan!”

She drops to the floor as if they’ve practiced this move. The panes of glass hit Morrigan in the chest, one after another. By the third, she gets her arms up, her face a mask of fury as she’s driven back several feet, her blood splashing the floor and walls.

It’s the opening Lizzie needs. The vampire slashes her own arms, her blood surging out as if it’s an independent creature, forming into a whiplike weapon that she uses to lash at Morrigan.

Nox skids to a stop in front of the horn and wraps their hands around the smallest bit. Siobhan’s eyes go wide and she throws out a hand. “No!”

I’m moving before I have a chance to think it through, responding to the desperation in her voice. I grab Nox around the waist and haul them back before they can press their lips to the horn. “Wait!”

Then there’s no more space for anything because Morrigan has rallied. She tears into Lizzie, easily dodging the vampire’s strikes and ignoring the way her blood pours unnaturally quickly from the few wounds she has. It’s not enough; they’re already closing, healing faster than we can hurt her.

Lizzie goes down from a vicious backhand, but Evelyn throws up a shield before Morrigan can finish the vampire. She pivots easily to attack Bowen, who barely gets a shield of his own up in time to stop her from disemboweling him.

Siobhan hits her sister hard enough to slam them both into the wall and shake the entire building. Dust cascades down from somewhere overhead, and I pull Nox to the floor, half expecting the roof to cave in on our heads. Nox shoves at me. “Let me up, you fool. We have to stop her.”

I don’t know which her Nox means…until Lizzie cries out. “Don’t you fucking dare !”

While everyone was distracted, Maeve has reached the horn. The selkie gives Lizzie a small smile filled with sadness and then blows the horn. Every person in the room freezes, even Morrigan, expecting…I don’t know. The Wild Hunt, I suppose. Or something so much worse.

Nothing happens.

“No,” I whisper. I was so sure that this would work. It has to work. “It can’t be.”

Harsh laughter fills the room. Morrigan shoves Siobhan off hard enough to send her rolling across the floor. She laughs. “All for nothing. Just like your little rebellion, sister. I’m going to enjoy crushing every single member, stringing them up on my mast for all to see.”

Siobhan struggles to her feet. She’s bleeding from half a dozen cuts that I can see, and likely more that I can’t. She wipes a river of it from her face. “No, you won’t. Not today. Not ever.” She staggers a little and looks at Bowen. “Hold her.”

Morrigan sneers. She takes a step forward…or she tries. Instead, she rams up against an invisible wall. “Cute. Not good enough.” Even as we watch, she sinks her claws into the barrier of Bowen’s magic and begins to shred it.

He grunts in pain. “Can’t…hold her…long.”

“I only need a few seconds.” Siobhan staggers to the horn. I try to get there first, but I’m tangled up in Nox and they’re attempting the same thing. We topple and hit the ground just as Siobhan reaches the horn. She places her hands gently, reverently, on it and looks at us. “I love you. Both of you.”

Did I think the last few days were a goodbye? I’m a fool. This is goodbye, and it feels so final I freeze. “Siobhan, wait!”

She blows the horn. I hold my breath, hoping that nothing will happen, that no one will respond to her summons. The horn doesn’t make a sound in the traditional sense. Instead, a wave of pure power radiates out from it.

My ears pop and Maeve cries out in pain. It’s nothing compared to what Morrigan does. She stops fighting Bowen’s barrier, leans her head back, and howls . The sound is even worse than the pressure. It’s the call of a hunt, the promise of bloodshed and violence. She doubles over and then sinks to the ground.

When Siobhan changed on First Sister, it was with a shimmer of magic both strange and beautiful. That’s not what we’re witnessing now. Morrigan’s skin shreds, revealing bloodstained fur. Her claws grow, swallowing her fingers. I can’t be sure, but I think I hear bones cracking over the sound of rushing in my ears.

Oh gods, she’s going to kill us all.

Instinct tells me to scramble back against the wall, to put as much distance between me and the monster growling into being a few feet away, but Siobhan is still standing there, her heart in her eyes. Nox wiggles out of my grasp and hauls themself to their feet. “Siobhan, what—”

She begins to change. It’s nothing like what’s happening to her sister. Siobhan bends in half, shifting to paws instead of hands and feet. Her skin shimmers and then it’s silvery white fur, her dark eyes changing to a deep crimson. Her howl joins her sister’s, louder and louder. A call to action. A warning.

An invisible band wraps around my waist and hauls me back to the wall. Nox hits the wall a few seconds behind me, quickly followed by the others in our party. Bowen stumbles to his knees in front of us, his hands up as if physically holding something back. I can’t see what’s going on. I need to see , to reach Siobhan. “Stop! We need—”

It’s too late.

The first warning is mist coursing from the ceiling, so thick that it quickly obscures the dome. It doesn’t stop there, giving the illusion of the walls of the room fading into nonexistence, taking the bookshelves and other obscure magical items with them. I tentatively reach out to where there should be wall but find only icy emptiness. “Fuck.” I jerk my hand away and shake the feeling back into my fingers.

A tall figure steps out of the mist, dressed in a layered robe of varying greens. They look mostly humanoid, though their features are a little too sharp, the bones protruding too overtly, and horns are curving back from their curly brown hair. Their eyes are perfectly black and set too wide on their face, too large.

They stretch out a clawed hand, so similar to Siobhan’s and Morrigan’s partially shifted forms. “You’ve summoned me, little sister. Ask your boon.”

Siobhan woofs softly.

They tilt their head to the side, the movement too abrupt and uncanny. “How far our progeny have fallen, to not be able to speak in this form.” They casually wave a clawed hand and Siobhan falls to the ground, her soft sound turning pained and agonizing.

I try to stand, but my body is locked in place. I don’t think it’s Bowen’s magic that’s responsible. It’s this creature’s.

Siobhan rises slowly. Her toothy mouth opens and a garbled voice emerges. “Purge the rot from Threshold. Eliminate those who use your name and pervert your true purpose, but leave those who have been forced into a life they never would have chosen for themselves.”

The creature smiles, and I truly wish they hadn’t. They have too many teeth, and they’re shaped entirely wrong for a humanoid mouth. “Do you think I have the power to know mortal souls?”

“Are you not C?n Annwn?”

Their smile widens, seeming in danger of splitting their face in half. “I am the leader of the Wild Hunt, little sister. I am more than C?n Annwn. Much more.” They straighten. “It has been a long time since my Hunt has ridden in Threshold. Very well. I’ll grant your boon.”

My breath leaves in a rush. It’s happening. We did it. The Wild Hunt will ride and…

“Come along, little sister. It’s time to join your people.”

No.

Their gaze goes over Siobhan’s head to where Morrigan cowers against where the wall used to be. “And you. Come as well. You’ll do well with a few centuries of proper training.” They turn away.

“Wait!”

“Stop!”

Nox and I shout over each other, but it’s too late. The creature walks into the mist, Siobhan and Morrigan trotting on either side of them. She never even looks back. She’s just…gone.

“What the fuck ?” Evelyn whispers. “That wasn’t the Welsh god of their Otherworld. I’d stake my life on it.”

“Arawn only leads the Wild Hunt in some myths,” Lizzie says absently. She crouches next to Maeve and takes the selkie’s chin in her hand. “Don’t you ever try some shit like that again, do you hear me? You could have died.”

“I didn’t.” Maeve seems untouched by the vampire’s anger. She covers Lizzie’s hand with hers. “I’m okay. We’re all okay.”

“Not all of us,” I say dully. Outside, howls have started, so many that they weave in and out, creating a haunting melody that makes my skin crawl. Then the hoofbeats come. An army’s worth. Laughter and calls in a language I don’t understand and yet it’s familiar in a way I can’t put into words.

The Wild Hunt rides.

And it took Siobhan with it.