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CHAPTER SIX

“ W hat the fuck?”

Ava had broken the silence without realizing it. She slipped her arm out from Lysander’s and took a step back. She couldn’t do much except just…stare at them.

Nos and Ibin. Different, but the same. Ibin was dressed in a beautiful, iridescent gossamer dress, in the same white and black pattern as before. She had white feathers woven into her auburn hair, and her makeup had been done up.

But Nos was the most changed. He wasn’t…he looked like one man—not stitched together. All his parts matched, his hair wasn’t stringy, and he wore an elegant and expensive suit.

Both of them looked good. Rested.

And mortified as they looked back at her.

The shock of seeing them was like a physical blow.

Lysander's hand found hers, a steadying pressure. “Breathe. You will be all right. It is just a game. Remember that.” His voice was low enough that only she could hear.

But Ava could barely process his words through the roaring in her ears. Nos and Ibin—here, in Tir n'Aill. Free from the Web. Dressed up .

The pieces fell into place with sickening clarity.

They had betrayed her. It all made sense. How else had Valroy known where to find her? How else had he known where the second shard was? But that also meant...

She shut her eyes. Bitty. Bitty had led her there. Everyone had betrayed her. Everyone. Not just once in telling Valroy where to find her, but long before that. They had been working for him all along.

“Our friend has returned to us after his long time abroad,” Valroy announced, beckoning Nos and Ibin forward. “Having fulfilled his mission admirably.”

The court applauded politely, though Ava noticed several fae watching the newcomers with open suspicion or disdain. Clearly, not everyone was thrilled by Nos’ return.

Finally, Ava dared to meet Ibin’s gaze. For a moment, something like guilt flashed across her beautiful features. Nos wouldn't look at her at all, his now-matching eyes fixed firmly on Valroy.

“His task was difficult but crucial,” Valroy continued, placing a hand on Nos’s shoulder in what appeared to be genuine affection.

“After suffering greatly, he infiltrated the Web as my spy.

There, he monitored the exile's growing influence, where he was to guide his chosen vessel, and ultimately, to bring her to us when the time was right.”

Each word was a fresh betrayal. She pulled her hand out of Lysander’s, and clutched Book to her chest with both hands.

She didn’t know what she was going to do. But she felt whatever it was simmering inside of her.

Bitty had somehow materialized at her other side, her tiny hand finding Ava's arm. “I didn't know,” she whispered urgently. “I swear I didn't know he was?—”

“Working for Valroy?" Ava finished, her voice hollow. She yanked her arm out of Bitty’s hand. “Planning this all along? Bullshit. You lead me to the second shard. And they knew where to find us…because they told you where to go.”

The crushing sense of betrayal threatened to overwhelm her. All those conversations in the Web, all those moments she'd thought they were helping her, guiding her, becoming her friends—it had all been calculated. A performance directed by Valroy himself.

And she had fallen for it completely.

“To recognize such loyalty and service,” Valroy was saying, “I hereby restore Nos to his former position within my court—as Master of Secrets.”

Nos inclined his head, his expression unreadable.

“And his…associate will hold the same protection as a delegate of the Seelie. And is welcome to walk in our moonlit lands, as Lord Bayodan and Cruinn are welcome in the sunlight.” There was a murmur at that decree from Valroy, especially at the names Bayodan and Cruinn, but Ava didn’t understand the importance of them. Nor did she particularly care.

She was kinda busy having a motherfucking aneurysm.

“Furthermore,” Valroy continued, clearly loving the sound of his own voice, “they will assist in guiding the Weaver through her transformation, lending their unique understanding of the Web to its former prisoner.”

Former prisoner. The words struck Ava like a slap. They had been prisoners too, just like her. And they had bought their freedom with her trust.

The cold presence at the back of her mind intensified, and she wondered how much of this Serrik could feel. Could he feel her shock, her pain, her anger? Maybe he was taking satisfaction in being proven right about her so-called friends.

“I believe introductions are unnecessary.” Valroy’s sadistic smile was something to behold as he found Ava in the crowd. “But perhaps reunions are in order? What say you, Weaver?”

He gestured for Ava to join them at the center of the gathering.

Bitty was cowering behind Lysander now. Lysander reached out to touch her, but she shot him a withering glare. He lowered his hand. “You don’t have to do this.”

No. She did, though. She really did. Because she had the entire fucking Unseelie court staring at her. Whispering to each other. Eating this shit up like it was the next episode of some hit series on HBO. Waiting to see what she’d do. Hoping she’d cry. Wishing for her to break.

Betting on the fact that she was weak.

Fuck. Everything. Right. Now.

Fuck it all.

She was done.

And you get a train. And you get a train. And you ?—

Squaring her shoulders, she stepped forward.

She was going to do this with her damn head held high, even if she didn’t have a plan.

Or any clue what she was about to actually do.

Serrik had counseled her against using her power unless it was extremely necessary.

She’d cracked a joke about being a bazooka swatting a fly.

It was motherfuckin’ bazooka time.

As she approached, Ibin took a half-step forward, her expression a complex mixture of guilt and determination. “Ava, please. Let us explain.”

“Don’t.” The word came out sharp and angry. Good. “ Don’t, Ibin.”

Nos finally looked at her, his expression betraying nothing. “You are changing,” he observed, gaze tracking over her tattoo. “Faster than expected.”

“Apparently I'm full of surprises.” Her voice was an angry hiss. “Unlike some people, who turned out to be exactly who I was warned they were.”

Ibin flinched at that. “It wasn't like that. We were trying to help you?—”

“By lying to me? By manipulating me? By setting me up?” Each question came out louder than the last, emotion overtaking caution. “That's a real, real interesting definition of ‘help,’ Ibin.”

Everything else had fallen silent to watch the drama unfold.

Even the strange music had quieted, as if the forest itself was holding its breath.

“Tell me something.” Ava shifted her grip on Book.

“Which was the illusion, Nos? How you were before, or this prissied up version of you?” She huffed.

“I kind of preferred the Frankenstein’d version, honestly.

At least that didn’t look so damn pretentious. ”

Nos grimaced and looked away. “You would have done the same in my position.”

“Would I?” She laughed hard, unkindly, and mockingly. “You clearly know me so well! I would have never ?—”

“How many years would you have lasted before he corrupted you, Ava? How many days?” Nos’s voice remained low, but there was an intensity to it that stopped her protest cold.

“Already you slip farther into his grasp. Even if you did not use the shard to become the Web, how long would your weak human heart have lasted? How many years would you have spent watching the Web consume everyone who entered it, twist them into shapes foreign to themselves— ourselves —before you were his puppet?” His matching hands clenched at his sides. “I did what I had to do.”

“ At my expense.”

“Yes,” he admitted without hesitation. “Because in the Web, it is consume or be consumed.”

The raw honesty of it left her momentarily speechless.

“They are to serve as your new attendants, Weaver.” Valroy smirked. “Now that your emotional reunion has concluded, let us return to our festivit?—”

“Oh, fuck off.”

The gasp in the crowd as she interrupted Valroy was one of pure horror.

Now she was in for it. She’d interrupted the goddamn Unseelie King. But she’d had it. “I am not going to have these two as my attendants. And that one” —she pointed back at Bitty—“also fucking betrayed me, let’s not forget! I am not fucking done.”

Valroy’s face was twisted up in a sneer that was equal parts rage and amusement.

“I—I—” Bitty wailed. “I didn’t know what else to do! They said everybody would die if I didn’t!”

“Is that true?” She demanded of Ibin and Nos .

Ibin nodded silently.

Ava laughed. Just laughed. Laughed in that way that said it wasn’t funny, and yet it really was, because if she didn’t laugh, she was going to find a way to give Serrik his wish and murder them all.

Valroy’s wings snapped wide behind him with a crack . “They shall serve as your attendants. Such has been my decree. And so it shall be.”

No.

Nope.

Hot nope.

Book felt warm in her hands. It was showtime. She didn’t even know what she was going to do, until the words left her. “And my decree is? They can get out of my fucking sight.”

Placing Book down on a surface that wasn’t there, the iron latches clicked as Book flung itself open, pages flying wildly to a seemingly empty page.

She slammed her palm down upon an empty page that suddenly flooded with ink and drawings. The air split with a crackle of energy, and she motioned with her other hand at Ibin and Nos. And, like they were drawn by unseen wires, the two of them flew through the air away from her towards the trees?—

And simply vanished into nothingness.

Blinked away as if they had hit an invisible wall and simply…ceased to exist.

It had happened so quickly they hadn’t even had a chance to scream.

Her tattoo was now also warm as she lifted her hand from the page. Book slammed itself back shut, the latches clacking back into place. She grabbed it before it fell to the ground and tucked it under her arm.