Queen of Blood and Vengeance (Secrets of the Faerie Crown #4)

74. Veyka

74

VEYKA

For the first time since Baylaur, all of the Knights of the Round Table were present. Cyara, Lyrena, Gwen, Arran, and I took the same positions we would have at the actual table. But we were not in the goldstone palace, with that mighty stone creation to anchor us, names in glowing golden scrollwork.

We stood in the center of a massive command tent, on a compacted dirt floor where a circle had been sketched out, and within it, two identical maps. One of the Effren Valley, one of the valley below Eldermist that the humans called Camlann.

Osheen took the spot that would have belonged to Parys. I could think of none among us more deserving. I tried to smile at him, but it must have come out as something else, because the terrestrial winced and then nodded in acknowledgment instead of smiling back at me. I’d cleaned the blood and black bile from my skin. But that did not make me any less of a monster, and after that display with the rift, we all knew it.

Mordred and Mya held the other two positions. Standing, rather than sitting . One is not yet known, and the bravest of the five shall be his father. Arran’s son, and the Siege Perilous.

Others listened and waited on the outskirts of the circle. Elora, Agravayn, Evander. The human called Sylva and another human leader I’d never met. Taliya and Isolde stood on opposite sides of the tent, the Faeries still not keen on one another.

The first true meeting of the Knights of the Round Table. And if I could not keep this monster inside of me under control, quite possibly the last.

I understood what I needed to do to banish the succubus back to their realm forever. None of the others had asked it of me yet, though it had to be on their minds. Every moment I lingered in this form I was a danger. But whether it was out of respect for what I’d offered and now endured, out fear of Arran, I did not know.

The realization of what I must do had come to me during the long day, opening rift after rift, battling the succubus for control of my mind. Letting this thing inside of me had bestowed a new power—the shadows. Tendrils of the void that I could pull into this realm with me and wield like weapons. I’d paid with my soul for this new power, so it must be integral to banishing the succubus.

But if I could not keep control long enough to do it, then the sacrifice would be for nothing and Annwyn and the human realm would fall.

“How much time do we have?” Mya asked.

I’d been so busy in my own mind that the debate had begun without me.

“Not much. The succubus in the human realm are trying to scale the mountain. Thus far, the Faeries and our archers have been able to pick them off before they make much progress. But there are too many for us to hold them off forever,” Gwen said. Our. We . Gwen spoke of the humans as her own. I expected a mixed reaction from myself, but found only a surge of pride.

“The Aquarians and remaining elementals will go through the rift and join you in the fight there. The Faeries of the Fen will fall back and protect the rear. We need fresh troops at the front,” Arran said, using Excalibur to draw corresponding marks on the maps. He was the only one I’d trusted to hold it. I still wore my scabbards, for all the good they’d do me, but they were empty. Shackling me wouldn’t mean much if I still had access to my daggers.

“Would it not be wise to split the terrestrial army instead? They are more seasoned and used to fighting as a unit,” Elora questioned. “They would help steady the myriad groups already in the human realm.”

“No—"

“You are sending your weakest forces to the human realm and keeping the best for yourself.” The unnamed human leader had decided they were entitled to an opinion.

I have not yet tasted human blood…

No. The only blood I needed to taste was Arran’s. And not now. Not with this monster lurking inside of me. Exhaustion clawed at my mind and the succubus took advantage. I forced myself to gulp down the tea that Cyara had prepared, safely warm in the special cup that Osheen had fashioned for me months and months ago. It seared my throat on the way down, but that was a small price to pay for the stimulant she’d ground into the brew.

Arran lifted Excalibur. Not a threat—it was much too loose in his hand for that.

As if he needed a blasted sword to be lethal.

The human’s eyes widened.

A nightingale swept into the tent, gliding over our heads and shifting into a slight female form just behind Arran’s shoulder. I was at his side, but even I could not hear what she said. Arran’s face showed no hint. He whispered a response, she shifted, and then was gone again.

“The horde forming in the Effren Valley is bigger,” Arran said simply.

The group erupted at the news. There had never been a true hope of hiding an army of this size. The succubus had found us—found me. I wondered if the pull was stronger now that one of their own squatted within my body.

The human kept arguing. “The fae are stronger. You’ll last longer against them—”

“If your alliance cannot hold, then it is not an alliance at all,” Arran countered.

“Enough.” I may not have the actual Round Table, but I was still the High Queen of Annwyn. And according to Arran, my eyes were now an eerie black. If the crowd would stop for anyone, it would be me.

The human stepped behind the elderly Sylva. I rolled my eyes, black as they were. At least he was silent. As was everyone else.

“We need the terrestrial army here in the Effren Valley to hold off the succubus,” I said. I hated the rasp in my voice, but I kept going. “They must hold the succubus back long enough for me to reach the Tower of Myda at the center of the valley.”

Where all of this had begun, less than a year ago. Or seven thousand years ago.

“What about your void power?” Mordred asked. He had not been among those who’d witnessed my loss of control, but I was certain everyone had heard of it. The High Queen of Annwyn is a succubus. Hotter gossip had never been spread.

Enemy.

“I cannot touch my void power, not until the last moment.” That realization had come later, while Arran rocked me back and forth on the ground. Opening the rifts was dangerous. Going into the void gave the succubus in my mind too much power. If I was going to maintain control long enough to drag the succubus back to their realm, I could not use the void until the very last possible moment. “The void, the shadows… they are too closely intertwined with the succubus.” My head began to tilt to the side, but I snapped it back forcefully.

Mordred is not my enemy. Mordred is precious to Arran, whether he realizes it yet or not. Mordred is not my enemy.

The darkness receded. All eyes were still on me. Worried faces, all. I could hardly blame them. I took another deep drag of tea.

“Uniting the Sacred Trinity has made me the master of death. The succubus are death. I am High Queen. I will use my power of the void and the new powers this thing has given me, and I will rip them from these realms forever. The tower is the highest point in the valley. From there, I will open a rift and force the succubus back to our realm.”

Our .

I could not even control my words. Suddenly, the shackles and my wrists and legs did not seem like enough. The monster was going to get out. I was going to kill everyone, feast on their flesh, taste their souls and open the way for my sisters—

“I will stay at your side.” I hadn’t even noticed Mya moving. But her hand on my arm was warm, her sapphire blue eyes clear and unafraid.

“You will not—”

She silenced her husband with a wave of her hand and a few droplets of water. “I have spent my entire life helping my people face the darkness within themselves. That is how I have used my ethereal gift. I can help you, Veyka.”

She’d said as much before, but I hadn’t really understood. Now, I was desperate. I jerked my chin in a nod.

Her eyes softened around the edges, the lines of determination less prominent but by no means gone. She leaned in so only I could hear. “I have learned to stay grounded in myself, dealing with so many others’ emotions. You can do it too, Veyka.” She squeezed my arm a little tighter, the pale blue of her grip lightening. “I know you can.”

She knew, because she was inside of me now. She could see the light and the darkness. Surely she could see that I was losing, the monster a wrong word from wresting away control and devouring the remaining shards of my soul.

“We will have to fight our way across the valley,” I said.

“Not alone. I will accompany you.” Evander’s tone brooked no argument, and I was not going to give one. Mya may be confident, but I wasn’t. She would need protection. Not just from the succubus horde, but very likely from me.

“And me,” Lyrena said. Her golden sword had been in her hand since Avalon. Goldstone armor, golden hair, golden rings, a flash of a golden tooth. My faithful golden knight. I could not refuse her.

Arran captured the attention of the group before it could dissolve again.

“This is the war,” he said, looking around at each face in turn. “There will be no more skirmishes or battles. The last battle of the Great War was fought in the Effren Valley seven thousand years ago. This is where it all ends. This is the final battle.”

He reached for my hand, holding it even as the shackles rubbed against our skin. “Tonight is for final preparations. In the morning, we must be ready.”