Page 34

Nox

I have encountered—and fought— monsters beyond knowing. There is no terror like wading into a pack of feral mermaids or knowing a water horse is on your trail. This is worse. I’ve never felt so small in my life, never felt so much like prey . There’s nothing I want more than to press Bastian into a small space and hide with him until this is over.

But they took Siobhan.

“Stay here.” I climb shakily to my feet. The strange mist that obscured the ceiling and walls is fading; I can see the door now.

“Nox!” Bowen has his arms around Evelyn. “It’s too dangerous.”

“They took Siobhan.”

“She went willingly,” Lizzie says.

I shake my head. “No, she fucking didn’t.” I exchange a look with Bastian. He was right when he said she was saying goodbye. This was the outcome Siobhan knew would happen, and this is why she didn’t want Maeve to blow the horn. I’ve listened to Evelyn talk about the myths surrounding the Wild Hunt. Some folks they sweep up are deposited elsewhere. Some ride with them forever.

I have a feeling I know which fate awaits Siobhan.

He rises as well. “I’m coming with you.”

I want to argue, but there’s no time. We stagger our way through the door, the air so cold that my breath ghosts the space before my lips. The voices of the C?n Annwn are fading, a great sound rising in its place. It takes my exhausted mind a few steps to place it.

Screaming.

Bastian picks up his pace, and I match him without hesitation. We burst past two spatters of blood on the walls, but don’t see a single soul until we shove through the doors and out onto the street. There’s no point in subterfuge now; no one is paying us the least bit of attention.

Lyari is a relatively flat island, and the city itself is nestled in between two small hills on either side. I catch sight of riotous clouds overhead, but I can’t see anything. “We need to get higher.”

“We need to save her .”

“We can’t do that if we don’t know where she is.” I don’t wait for Bastian to argue further. I grab two fistfuls of air and shove it down, propelling myself up onto the roof. I put too much power behind it and nearly topple off before I find my footing.

When I see what the Wild Hunt is doing to the city, I almost wish I had fallen. It’s…massive. Beyond comprehension. The only hunting parties I’ve seen are among ships, but I thought I had an idea of what a hunt on land might be. I was wrong. This is no gathering of dozens of warriors, eldritch or otherwise; this is a horde .

It sweeps through the streets of Lyari like a tsunami, mist and hounds and warriors on horses. Some of them look similar to the creature that answered Siobhan’s call. Some of them are more humanoid…and some significantly less. As they ride away from us, I catch sight of a hunter that seems to be made entirely of tentacles and wet laughter.

“Do you see her?” Bastian calls from the ground.

I shake my head slowly. “There are hounds, but I don’t know which one is Siobhan.” Or Morrigan, for that matter. The giant beasts dance around and under the hooves of equally giant horses with glowing eyes, whose every exhale seems to add to the mist following the group.

“We need to go after them!”

How? Even if we could find her, how could we possibly fight this ?

Despair rises in me, so strong that I choke on it. I’ve barely come to terms with the reality of wanting —of loving . It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If we were on a suicide mission, then we would go out together, martyrs to the greater good. She wasn’t supposed to sacrifice everything and leave us to pick up the pieces.

I love Bastian—I don’t think I ever truly stopped, for all that it turned to hate for a time—but I love Siobhan, too. One is not a replacement for the other. The relationships are similar, but not identical. How am I supposed to go on when half of my heart now rides with the Wild Hunt?

“Nox.”

“Coming.” The descent is just as chaotic and rushed as the ascent. I hit the ground too hard and my knees buckle, but Bastian is there to grab my arm, already rushing us in the wake of the Hunt.

There’s no way we should be able to close the distance, but magic is a strange thing and sometimes the rules of reality bend around it. That’s the only explanation for our reaching the docks seconds behind the Hunt. Bastian almost keeps going, but I grab a fistful of his shirt and yank him to a stop before he can enter the mist churning around the C?n Annwn—the true C?n Annwn. “You’ll join them.”

“You don’t know that!”

Yes, I do. I don’t know how, but I just know . I take a step back, even though it’s pure agony to put more distance between us. The Hunt surges from one ship to the next, sending up screams and cries with each pause. I can’t tell if they’re killing their victims or sweeping them into the Hunt itself. Possibly a combination of both.

It takes seconds for them to clear every ship docked and start out across the water of the harbor, racing across the surface of the water as if it’s solid dirt. “We can’t catch them.”

Bastian takes one step farther and then hits his knees. “Siobhan!” he roars.

In the distance, one of the massive white hounds misses a step and slows. I rush forward and grab his shoulder. “Again! I see her!”

He draws in a full breath and, when he calls her name again, he puts the full force of his glamour magic behind it. I use my wind magic to increase the range, desperation pushing me hard. The result is amplifying the sound until each syllable rings like a bell out across the water. “Siobhan, come back to us!”

For a moment, I think it might work. She hesitates, going so far as to turn around and look at us. But then the C?n Annwn call and a horn sounds and she’s gone, sweeping after the Hunt as they leave the harbor and descend upon Threshold.

Bastian’s shoulders shake against my palms. “What have we done? Did it even work or was it all for nothing?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper. “Come on.” I make myself release his shoulders and head slowly toward the closest ship with crimson sails. It’s nestled between two mundane trading ships, both of which seem to have their entire crews on their respective decks.

A burly person leans over the railing and shouts down to me. “What the fuck was that?”

There’s no reason to lie. For better or worse, today is the stuff legends are made of. “The Wild Hunt.”

They frown. “I don’t know what the fuck that is, sailor.”

I don’t expect them to. “Have you suffered losses?”

“No.” They shrug. “Swept through that one.” They nod at the C?n Annwn ship. “But left us alone.”

That, at least, is a good sign. I don’t know what metric the Wild Hunt might use to define “rot,” but at least they’re confining it to the C?n Annwn and not all of Threshold.

Walking aboard the crimson-sailed ship makes my skin break out in goose bumps. I almost tell Bastian to stay on the docks, but he won’t listen and I’m not keen to face whatever I’ll find alone. “Hello?”

There’s a sound belowdecks, and it takes me several long beats to realize it’s the sound of someone weeping. I glance at Bastian. “Stay behind me.”

“Let’s go.”

It’s not an agreement, but it’s the best I’m going to get under our current circumstances. I head to the hatch and carefully raise it. Down below, there’s no pocket dimension to speak of, just a rank and filthy room with gently swinging hammocks. I inhale carefully and wince at the coppery scent that lingers. Blood.

We follow the sound of weeping to find a trio of people huddled in the corner. One is barely more than a child, clothed in the same robes Orchid and the people of Drash favor, their head bowed and their thin body shaking. The other two are older, but not by much. From the wideness of their eyes, they’re in danger of going into shock.

I crouch down, trusting Bastian to watch my back without a second thought. “You’re safe.”

“They came,” whispers the one on the right, a woman with deep purple skin and too-large eyes. “They took them all, but I think they killed the captain and the quartermaster.” She shudders. “Good. They deserved it.”

I want nothing more than to find a proper ship and sail after the Hunt to call Siobhan home to us, but…I can’t. If this trio, obviously traumatized by more than just the Hunt, are any indication, we’re going to have a significant number of refugees to either see settled or guide back to their home realms. I can’t just drop that task into someone else’s hands.

Siobhan wouldn’t want me to.

“Fuck,” I breathe.

Bastian finally gathers himself enough to speak, directing his question to the man who looks slightly steadier than the other two. “We need to search for anyone else aboard. Can you show me the way?”

The man reluctantly nods. I busy myself herding the woman and child up onto the deck. By the time we reach the dock, the rest of our party has arrived. Bowen takes in the situation with a single glance. “Maeve, start with the C?n Annwn ships on the far side of the docks. Lizzie, let Maeve lead.” He ignores the vampire’s hiss. “Evelyn and I will start on the other side. We’ll bring all the survivors here. Once they’re gathered and safe, we’ll come up with a plan for what to do next.”

The sheer enormity of the task sets me back on my heels. It’s not just docked ships that will be affected. If the path of the Hunt is any indication, they’ll hit every ship with crimson sails. There will be some crews left more intact than others, but the latter are in active danger. Most of the ships are too large to be sailed by a handful of even the most knowledgeable people, and I doubt any of the survivors will fall into that category.

“Fuck,” I say again.

Bastian leads another dozen people down to the dock. He speaks softly, reassuringly. “We’ll get you sorted shortly. Please just sit here and rest in the meantime.” He crosses to take me by my arm and speaks in a low voice. “I questioned them briefly. Every single one of them is a conscript who didn’t want to die. Half of them want to return home. The others just want a new start.”

I close my eyes and try to think . Being captain of a single ship was one thing. What we’re looking at is a widespread catastrophe. “We need to move, and fast. But we have a scattered network, no central communication, and—”

“Nox.” This time, it’s Bastian who takes my shoulders. His expression is absolutely haggard with grief. “We can make it work. The C?n Annwn ships have the ability to contact the Council, so we just need to find that room and set up someone to gather information and locations. You and I can both get word out to our respective contacts. It will take time, but we’ll make it work. Even if Siobhan is…gone.” He sucks in a pained breath. “But we have to deal with Lyari first. If we sail off, we’re going to leave this space wide open for some aspiring noble to undo the potential for so much change.”

It’s both amazing and horrific to understand exactly what’s needed—and the sacrifice demanded. “You have to do it, Bastian,” I say softly. “You’re the only one who can.”

He flinches. “What? No. I can’t. They won’t follow me. I’m only a second son and—”

“You won’t be alone.” The pieces snap together, faster and faster. “Lizzie has participated in more court politics than most of the current nobles combined. She can stay and guide you. Or at least watch your back. Maeve was one of our best informants for a reason. She will help.” The reality of the situation spins out, faster and faster, pieces clicking into place in my head. “Once we have the locations of the ships most in danger, Bowen and Evelyn can take one of the ships left here and a crew of volunteers on rescue missions. I’ll head back to the Audacity . From there, we’ll coordinate and condense, gathering up folks left stranded. Once we’ve managed that, then we can work on getting everyone home.”

He looks at me, the shattered heart I can see in his dark eyes a perfect mirror to mine. “But…Siobhan.”

“I know,” I whisper. “But she’s not in active danger. The people at the mercy of the sea are. We have to do this, and we have to do it now, Bastian. Otherwise, she sacrificed herself for nothing.”

He pulls me into his arms and holds me tight—as tightly as I hold him. “We’re going to get her back, Nox. I swear it. No matter how long it takes.”

“But first—”

“But first we’ll ensure her sacrifice is honored.” He releases me slowly and presses a gentle kiss to my forehead. “Let’s get to work.”