The lights dimmed, and the female floated out of sight. As the carriage’s interior fell dark, I leaned against the divider sectioning off the bedroom and exhaled a long breath. What in the name of all that was holy would I do about Drayce? The Fear Dorcha had taken his soul, and it looked like his body was dying or being consumed by the moss.
I reached into my pocket and rolled the ring between my fingers. Was this the key to getting him back? If it meant giving up the magic I had gained, I would do it without hesitation.
A tiny voice in my head whispered a treacherous thought. If Queen Melusina used the ring to murder Drayce’s father, would it also turn me into a husk?
The others settled into their seats, and the resonant tunes of a harp filled the air. It was a lullaby of repeating notes that reminded me of being cradled as a child by the dark-haired woman in the village of my childhood. The tension around my shoulders melted, and I closed my eyes and focussed on the notes.
“Let me tell you about the Dearg Due,” Cliach murmured in dulcet tones.
I cracked open an eye and turned to the window, but our surroundings were a perfect black.
“There was once a maiden, beautiful and fair,” he crooned. “She fell for a penniless lad in her village and wanted to marry him. Her father was a man who valued gold more than love, he betrothed his daughter to a wicked and rich man—”
“Wait,” a male voice said in the dark. “That’s the story of Ecne.”
“Ecne was the maiden who drowned in her own tears,” Cliach replied, his words clipped with irritation. “This maiden’s husband locked her in a tower and let her pine for a lost love who didn’t come to her rescue.”
I folded my arms and exhaled a breath. Perhaps it was foolish to immerse ourselves in the dark, but with the cú sídhe riding beside us, we were trapped in this carriage until it lost interest. There was no telling how its magic would affect us if we went out with our ears plugged. We were relying on Enbarr to get us out of the Summer Court.
Cliach’s melody wrapped around my senses, and I relaxed further against the wall.
“She didn’t eat, didn’t drink, didn’t sleep a wink as desperation drove her into the depths of despair. The maiden starved to death, and the villagers laid her to rest beneath the earth.”
A clink-clink-clink sounded, like kitten claws on glass. I shook off a shudder and focused on the rest of the story.
“Her thirst for vengeance was deeper than the ocean, wider than the gulf between life and death.” Cliach’s melody turned mournful. “She rose from her grave, slipped into the house of the father who sold her like cattle and stole the breath from out of his lungs.”
The clinking turned into a sharp tapping that made my heart pound. I inhaled a deep, fortifying breath. It was just the female outside the window, trying to feed on our fear.
“Not satisfied with punishing her greedy father, she attacked her husband, drank his blood, and became the Dearg Due!” Someone, probably Cliach, stamped his foot on the wood floor, making my heart leap into my throat and eliciting everybody’s gasps.
I clutched my chest and snarled through clenched teeth, “We’re already in a cursed court, being herded to goodness-knows-where by one of the deadliest creatures known to faeries, and have a specter at the window who probably wants to come in. Stop scaring everyone.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” Cliach chuckled. “From that moment onward, the Dearg Due got a taste for blood and lured men to their deaths with her deadly kiss. The end.”
Something fell to the floor, sounding heavier than a foot.
“Turn on the lights,” I snapped.
Dim lanterns flickered to life and then brightened, illuminating the royal suite. My gaze snapped to the left of the room, to the far end of the sofa.
The red-haired female sat atop a soldier with her face pressed against his, the red-nailed fingers of her left hand holding his head into place. She braced her right hand on the window seat, where the soldiers slumped against each other, and one of them lay unmoving on the floor.
With an inhuman speed, the female shoved the soldier aside, scrambled onto Cliach’s lap, and grasped his head between her fingers. Her nails burrowed beneath his black hair, making him freeze in place.
Dearg Due.
Panic exploded across my chest, propelling me across the room toward the murderous creature. The remaining soldiers around them jumped to their feet and skittered away from the fiend.
Without thinking, I grabbed the dagger from my sword belt. My hand sizzled and burned, but I plunged the iron into the female’s back. She released Cliach with a screech, her spine arching, her mouth opening wide with a piercing scream. Instead of teeth, her maw undulated with rows upon rows of fleshy, hairlike protrusions.
My stomach dropped, and I staggered back as the Dearg Due released red streams of smoke—her victims’ mingled blood and souls. The skin on my fingers tingled and itched, and the burned flesh faded to a healthy pink.
“Your Majesty!” Nessa screamed from behind.
I spun to find Nessa pointing at another of the monsters grappling with Aengus. He wrapped both hands around her throat, keeping her at arm’s length. Behind her, Rosalind plunged a dagger into the creature’s back, releasing more of that red vapor into the air.
Bloody clouds filled the royal suite, expanding until they engulfed Aengus and the Dearg Due. I was about to help Rosalind and Aengus, when another of the soldiers screamed and pointed behind them.
The contents of my stomach turned to lead, and I forced my gaze toward the bedroom area. Another red-haired female lay face-down on the mattress, her face joined with—
My mind went blank, my body consumed by blind rage.
In the blink of an eye, I stood above the third Dearg Due with
