Solstice (Midsummer #3)

30. Ivy

30

Ivy

A ll of the mist sank back in on itself, churning together like water in a drain. It formed a man with a black cloak draped over his shoulders, hanging down to his shins. His dark hair had gotten longer since we last saw him, now shoulder length and slicked back away from his face. His beard remained the same, pitch against his mouth, matching the shadows in his eyes.

“Jesus Christ, that’s him?” Kit asked.

Lex and I leaned forward, putting ourselves between our family and this monster, this fairy-tale villain come to life.

“What is that?” Henry screeched.

“Shut up,” I said. “Everyone, shut the fuck up.”

For two years, we’d tried to prepare for this moment. Now that it was here, anything we could have done would have fallen woefully short. What idiots we were to think we could ever take him on by ourselves. We were so fucked.

There was no stopping the king. Whatever he’d done to Poppy had squashed any hope we thought we had. Siobhan, Finn, Donnelly? They’d likely run for the hills, or worse. Smythe had tried to warn us. The king was all-powerful and all-consuming, and I had no fucking clue how we’d defeat him or get him back to his own realm.

For as terrifying as he was, he was equally mesmerizing in the same preternatural way the queen had once been. If I had to guess, I’d say he’d stolen whatever the queen had to amplify his own magnificence. The last time I’d seen him, it hadn’t felt this crushing or overwhelming.

Maybe it was this newfound link to him brewing inside of me, but when he coalesced into a physical being, everything in my body wanted to be near him. I wrapped my hand around the oh-shit handle to make sure I didn’t jump out of the car and launch myself in his direction. I didn’t know where that impulse came from or why, but it terrified me.

“Alexei.” I heard the words, but the king’s mouth didn’t move. His dark eyes met mine through the windshield before shifting to Lex at my side. His gaze slithered over both of us like cold molasses, sticky and encompassing, holding me in place. “Ivette. Please get out of the vehicle.” He crossed his hands in front of him and took a step forward. “We are long overdue for a chat.”

“About what?” I said, my chin tilting up in defiance. “We don’t have anything to say to you.”

“You have something I want.” Another slow step brought him around to the passenger side, his incredible eyes leering into the window at my side. “And I have something you need.”

I swallowed.

“We don’t need anything from you.” I shook my head, remaining strong, but being this close to him made me tremble with recognition. I’d seen him somewhere before, and not just in my nightmares. No, this was a long time ago, some ancient place that I could hardly remember. Nostalgia settled in my gut, warming me to him, making me want to give in to his demands.

That is his magic. Stay focused.

“No? Nothing?” He arched both eyebrows and paused, glancing from the front of the SUV to the back. “You want this… gift… removed, do you not?” He said the word like it held more weight than we knew. “I want my wife. This is an easy deal to make.”

Of all the scenarios that had played out in my head, I did not see this one coming.

“Why would you help us?” Despite my rattling nerves, my voice stayed calm and steady. “I thought you despised humans.”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head as he tried the door handle. Locked. Something about this silly human movement struck me at the time, but I put that in a compartment to analyze later.

“That does not mean I am unreasonable.”

Lex grabbed my hand and whispered, “Careful,” through our bond. Fairies offered gold-encrusted dreams on silver platters with a thousand invisible strings attached.

“We were told no one could undo the gift.” I straightened and held his gaze with a firm one of my own. “Not even the one who gave it to us.”

He let out a soft, sardonic laugh. “I am the king of fairies. I can do whatever I want.”

That pissed me off even more because it was that bullshit that got us into this in the first place. No, he couldn’t do whatever he wanted. No one could, especially not in my fucking realm.

“No deal,” I said. “Go back to Faerie and terrorize your own kind.”

The king’s sparkling eyes widened as his gaze shifted again between Lex and me, his lips twisting into an amused smile. I’d expected anger, but he seemed delighted in the way a rotten kid revels in burning insects with a microscope.

“Very well.” His attention went to Jon and Kit behind me as the darkness fogged out of him again, deep, dark wisps of smoke that crept in through the windows and the doors, through every crack in the vehicle, filling the interior like gas. “Since you have taken two lives that belong to me, I shall do the same.”

The black clouds surrounded me, blocking out the light, blocking out everything. Lex thrashed against it, flailing his arms to get it off him, but I embraced it. I closed my eyes and let it wrap around my throat to choke me.

The memories assaulted me again.

Poppy asking for his help and refuge from her human captors, her big eyes welling with tears.

A relentless search for the queen that had yielded nothing.

A visit with Miri that ? —

“Ahh, Ivette.” Alberich’s voice slithered down my spine like battery acid, poisoning me from the inside out. “I see you poking around in there.”

The tendrils squeezed my windpipe harder, but I knew he wouldn’t kill me. He didn’t have his queen, and this would have been far too easy a victory for him if he could. By the way he’d showboated this afternoon, I’d bet he wanted to pick us apart slowly, bit by bit.

I ignored him and went deeper in his mind, sifting and searching for the heart of him. I’d experienced that last night with Lex. I’d seen the bright ball of our existence when we climaxed together, and I’d held his love for me inside my soul.

If the king had once loved the queen, that same kind of affection must still exist somewhere inside him.

I can find it. I can find what makes him tick.

I focused on the queen, flipping through memories, forcing him to relive the best of their multiple lifetimes together, and just when I’d gotten to one he kept deeply buried inside his twisted soul, he realized what I was doing.

Pressure rebelled in my mind, and he shoved me out of his head, out of his fog. But oh no. I wouldn’t go down that easily. He wanted to put on a show, the big scary king and his big cloud of smoke.

Well, guess what? I’m Ivy fucking Washington, and this is my realm.

You wanted me? Now you got me.

I pushed against his mental barriers harder, gritting my teeth, clenching my eyes shut, using every bit of energy I had to bang my telepathic battering ram at his immense force of will. Lex’s hand was still in mine, so when he realized what was going on, he joined me.

Our link strengthened us. Siobhan had given us this gift, connected Lex and me like this for a reason.

“Get out of my city!” My battle cry hit the king like a blinding white sledgehammer, and the pressure in my mind snapped. A weight lifted off my chest and throat. When I opened my eyes, the king had disappeared, the tendrils had evaporated, and the sky had cleared.

Alberich was gone.

No…

I’d forced Alberich to leave. We’d forced him to retreat.

And when I threw my arms around Lex to celebrate, Abigail’s scream from the back seat stole my attention. Henry and my youngest sister still sat in the third row.

But Jon and Kit were gone.