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Chapter Seventeen

The birds, the rocks, the rain, the pixies.

.. all of Faerie came to the dark woods, singing to the bride of her journey, giving her courage to find and save her king.

They helped her remember all that she had conquered and brought back the light that shone within her.

The enchanted pool’s curse was broken by her love for her king.

—Anon., Tales from the Twilight Court

K ate could feel a strange pulsing, like a slow but steady heartbeat deep in her chest, but it was not her heartbeat. It was Roan’s.

“ Find him... ”

Whispers came from above Kate as she ran. Glancing up, she spotted glittering green and blue pixies swirling like a murmuration of starlings above her head.

“Find him, Kate of the Winslows. Find the king. Wake him.”

Their voices were like the chatter of birds after a storm. Eager and hopeful, despite the gloom of the decaying labyrinth around them.

As she moved through the darkened space of tunneled archways and entered a courtyard, she spotted a tall, silver-haired beast at the far end of the open lawn that was strewn with dead grass. Her heart leapt with joy. It was Magda. She would recognize her friend anywhere.

The troll turned, a holly leaf crown resting on her horns. She wore silver armor and held a deadly axe in one hand. Several other trolls stood around Magda as she gave orders to them. They bowed respectfully and checked their weapons before splitting up in different directions.

“Magda!” Kate cried out once the troll was alone.

The troll’s mouth opened, and she lowered her head to see Kate better as she approached. “Kate?” Magda had changed since Kate had last seen her... but she reminded herself that for Magda it had been a century. Her silver fur was thicker, her body stronger, bulkier. She held her head higher.

“I’m so glad to see you, Magda.” Kate said her friend’s name again, suddenly uncertain if things had changed for Magda in the last hundred years.

“You’ve come back.”

“I didn’t know I would be gone so long. It took me a while to find the way back,” Kate said. “Do you know where Roan is?”

Magda tipped her head up to the moonlight.

“No one does. Be careful, Kate. He is lost deep inside this maze of walls. None have seen him since Queen Thalia laid him to rest. She opened a path for Rath to carry the king to his final resting place, and once the path closed behind them, it was lost forever.”

“What are you doing in the labyrinth?” Kate asked. “And who were those trolls?”

“Lady Eudora put me in charge of the palace troll guard. We fight any wild creatures that stray out of the labyrinth.”

Kate couldn’t stay and talk to her friend, no matter how much she wanted to right now. The pulsing inside her was growing more insistent, more desperate. Time was running out.

“I have to go... I’ve got to find Roan.”

Magda opened her arms, and Kate hugged the troll. “You will find him. I know you will. Be safe, Kate.”

Magda hadn’t lost faith in her, even after all these years.

“Thank you for believing in me.” Kate’s throat tightened. “I never knew how much I needed a friend like you.”

“You saved my life, Kate,” Magda said quietly, her dark eyes luminous.

“I had no one to believe in me, no one but you.” She squeezed Kate a little tighter before she let her go.

“But you must go—you have to save the king.” The troll gave a sad smile.

“Find him. Bring him home. I will be here for you, waiting.”

Kate managed a shaky nod. “Wish me luck.”

“You do not need luck . You have love, and that is infinitely more powerful.” The troll let Kate go, and once more Kate was running as if her life depended on it. The pulsing kept pushing her forward.

The first sign of trouble was the sight of a cloud of fire sprites in the sky as dawn crested the horizon.

She had just passed through a glen of trees when a bunch of the blinding orange creatures darted around her, screeching and spitting flames.

Kate gasped as embers fell around her, burning her hands and face like the sting of wasps.

Hissing sounds like laughter filled the air as she scrambled backward.

The sprites flitted about her hair, and she feared they would set her on fire.

It seemed the armor that she wore kept her clothing from burning, even when several of the little creatures shot flames at her chest. With an inward moment of thanks to Babbitt and Eudora, she pulled the dagger from her belt and shouted at the creatures.

“If you don’t stop, I will make you.”

One of the little creatures laughed, and its high, tittering voice gave a mocking cry. “Who are you to make us do anything?”

Kate stared at the creatures as they swirled in the air, leaving behind dizzying, glowing patterns of embers. She let out a slow breath, trying to calm herself. The labyrinth was Roan, and Roan wouldn’t hurt her.

“Chase them away,” she whispered as she reached out to touch the nearest wall of the labyrinth. The once beautiful, dangerous ivy was gone, and the rough-hewn stone was cold to the touch. Hear me... help me . She sent the thought out as loudly as she could within her mind.

A distant roaring sound came from the north, a violent rush of wind that traveled through the passageways with the force of a tornado.

Kate flattened herself against the wall, shutting her eyes as the wind ripped past her.

Shrieks and screams from the fire sprites were soon drowned out beneath the train-like torrent of wind.

Kate dug her fingers into the stone, hanging on for dear life, praying she wouldn’t get swept away as well.

And then... just as quickly as it had risen, the wind died away, leaving silence and the faint scent of burning things lingering in the air.

The sprites were gone. Exhausted, Kate sank to the ground, her legs shaking as she caught her breath.

She closed her eyes briefly before she dragged herself up to her feet again. She had to keep moving.

Next, she entered a canyon-like part of the labyrinth. She had the terrible sense that a thousand eyes in the dark shadows of the caves lining the canyon were watching her. Her steps quickened and she kept hold of her dagger, ready for anything, or so she hoped.

She was halfway through the vast passage when she heard the strains of eerie music.

It was no melody she recognized, yet her feet itched to dance.

She paused, listening, and began to sway, feeling the rhythm move through her.

A melancholy pleasure rippled through her as she spun in circles, humming along with the now familiar tune.

Figures slithered out of the darkness from the corners of the canyon and came toward her.

Women in white flowing gowns, their dark and pale-blonde hair as loose and flowing as their dresses.

Barefoot, they danced with her, eyes glowing red in the dim light.

The music swelled, making every cell of her body vibrate.

The women drew closer, their full red lips gleaming as they watched her with hungry eyes.

Baobhan sith—Vampire Fae... The words drifted through her mind, disrupting the relaxed state she was in like a stone cast into a still lake. It was Patch’s voice she was remembering, warning her of the creatures who would dance her to exhaustion and then drain her of her blood.

Panic lanced through her dazed mind. She had to get away, find a way to stop them. But the music...

A vision of Roan at the ball flashed across her eyes. Yet it wasn’t just a vision. She had conjured a ghost of him here in the canyon.

“Dance with me,” he said, his voice an echo of the real Roan. The shining vision of the man she loved stood before her, hand outstretched.

Kate placed her palm in his, allowing the spectral form of Roan to lead her into a waltz.

She couldn’t feel his touch, and it made her ache that much more for him.

He was so beautiful, so masculine and powerful.

Yet he’d always been tender with her, compassionate and loving, even when he had believed he wasn’t capable of it.

He was everything she had never known she wanted in a man.

But what she wanted most was to be in his arms, to feel his heartbeat again and know that he loved her.

It was his love she could not live without.

“Will you show me your shine?” she asked the vision, the memory that lived so brilliantly within her head.

His lips spread into an amused smile as they swirled around and he began to shimmer... then shine. The bright starlight of his glow was almost too much for Kate to bear, but she held on to him, not wanting to let go.

The women dancing close to her screamed, their suddenly clawlike hands covering their faces as they fled into the shadows.

The music stopped, the danger ebbing away, but she didn’t want to let go of him.

“Stay with me?” she begged this vision of Roan. “Please... don’t leave.”

Roan lifted her hand up to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “Find me, Kate. I’m waiting for you. Find me .”

The vision faded, the starlight dying away. Kate choked on a sob.

She glanced around, her feet aching, but she couldn’t stop. “I have to keep going.”

The next thing she came across as early evening approached was a marshland.

Vast, sweeping patterns of thick grasses formed narrow places where she could tread through the dark, murky water.

A foul stench rose from the marshes, and as she walked deeper along the path, she glanced down once and froze.

Bodies lay beneath the glass-like surface of the water, their milky-white forms visible despite the darkness of the waters. Men and women... kobolds, goblins, pixies, even a few trolls... their bodies here forming a silent graveyard. How had they become trapped beneath the water?