“Being a prince isnothingcompared to being a king. The only one who could possibly understand is Gabriella. She has given everything to remain by my side.”
I cast a look to Gabby and Emma. They were still fighting several feet away, though I could feel Emma’s weariness through our bond as she continued to battle Gabby. She wouldn’t last much longer.
“You believe you are so special.” I gave a dark note of skepticism. “But you’re jealous. There will always be someone more special than you and your mate both, and she is my own.”
At the mention of Emma, Elijah’s eyes flashed. “You think the gods only give messages to you and your pitiful little friends,” Elijah spat. “But I have been to the Pool of Memory. Droga has given me a vision, too. A vision of another great war, a battle between all magical races. One that will end the very world.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “No. It can’t be true.”
“Yes, cousin. What we all feared. The witches rising against us, the explosion of a supernatural calamity— a second Great Supernatural War. One the fae cannot survive— that no one can.”
“I refuse to believe it. This is some kind of trick.”
“Don’t you understand?” Elijah’s voice scared me now, because he was pleading. “The Crystals of Harmony can be used topreventthis war! Their power can ward off the inevitable. If this great war comes to pass, magic itself will be wiped from the face of the Earth. The gods will come down, and judge us all. If you don’t give us the Crystals, it’s not only the fae who will perish. It will beallof us!”
My nose crunched up in a snarl. “And what of the Black Claw? I’m certain you know what they have done— how they’ve treatedchildren!”
Elijah paused. His tone was slow, but remorseful as he said, “Sometimes… for the greater good… we must do terrible things.”
I felt nauseous. “You would accept that a child should be tortured and abused, so you could use the cult’s power to your own gain?”
“The children of today must be sacrificed so the children of tomorrow can have a chance!” Elijah hissed. “War is coming. You wish not to seek it, but it’s on the horizon. Eventually, therewillbe another Great Supernatural War. The other magical races will want vengeance for what we’ve done. It’s my duty to try to prevent it, and if I cannot, to make sure the fae are ready when it happens.”
“By striking them before they strike us? What madness is this?”
“It’s strategy. Mark my words, the witches, the Elementai, the merpeople— they’ll want revenge for what we did to them eighty years ago. They’ve merely been biding their time. And I won’t sacrifice a single Malovian life at their hands.”
“No. You’d rather kill your own people yourself.”
“Better a fae dies at the hands of one of their own kind, rather than suffer at the whim of some filthy witch.”
An idea formed in my head— my tooth that Elijah knocked out. I could use it to pull Unseelie magic from. My last Unseelie spell would have to be worth it, and be strong enough to beat him.
Elijah raised his sword to cut off my head. That’s when I reached up to yank out what was left of the broken tooth in my mouth. Blood spattered onto my tongue as I wrenched it free and held it in my palm, pulling Unseelie magic from the broken remnant. I’d been holding the dark energy inside of me, and now, I was unleashing it. I called to the realms of Edinmyre, and from that command formed my spriggan— the dark creature that was obligated to obey me.
Elijah jumped backward as the spectral figure took form in front of him. The monster’s jaws unhinged, showing off the deadly teeth, and I watched the smoky claws on the creature glint against the pouring rain as it readied to take a life. Any life.
“Very good,” Elijah murmured as he observed the spriggan. “But nothing impressive.”
Elijah conjured his own spriggan. The creature was identical in form to mine, just as terrifying and just as deadly. The two monsters took sight of each other, and sprung. The spriggans twisted into a mad, cloudy battle, slashing each other’s forms with malicious intent and spilling black blood upon the roof tiles.
Elijah channeled power into his spriggan, but I had nothing left to give, and I was too weak. I observed as the two spriggans dueled, hoping mine would come out on top.
Then there was a scream, and Elijah’s head whipped to the side. His smug expression gave way to horror as he saw Gabby was on the ground, clutching her side, which was spilling blood. Her sword had fallen off the roof, and Emma was advancing, ready to cut off her head.
“Gabriella!” Elijah screamed. He abandoned his fight with me and ran toward her, to save his mate.
I heard a terrible screeching sound, like nails on a chalkboard, and I watched as my spriggan tore Elijah’s apart. The enemy spriggan died with a wretched gasp, dissolving into wisps upon the wind. My monster floated over the bloody array with hissing laughter.
He didn’t even notice. Elijah pushed Emma aside, and she went flying backward. Elijah crouched beside Gabby, putting a hand on her bleeding wound and eyes wrought with worry.
But the move had made him vulnerable, and my spriggan had seen an opportunity. The spriggan jetted toward Elijah, teeth and claws extended. My cousin’s back was turned. He never saw it coming.
I lost my nerve to kill my cousin at the last moment. This was wrong— it was unjust. I needed to spare him. He was my own family, for the gods’ sake!
No. Come back, I thought, but the order ceased to leave my lips. I tried to speak, but found that I’d lost my voice— my tongue would not move in my mouth.
I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t speak, what magic held me back. I could not call the spriggan off.
