“Drayce.” My voice broke.
Nessa appeared behind me and placed a hand over his heart. “He’s dead.”
“No.” I shook my head from side to side. “He is death. There’s nowhere for his power to go but back to him.”
She drew back and stared at my belly.
“No,” I screamed so loud that the window cracked.
Somewhere deep within my soul, beyond the guilt and grief and gloom, I lamented ever having inhaled the breath of the Banshee Queen. I had just condemned us all with that terrible wail, a wail that accompanied death.
Darkness seeped into the carriage like liquid smoke. I placed the unburned tips of my fingers on Drayce’s shoulder and shook, but he rattled like a hollow shell. Chaos filled the carriage, and the laughter of the Dearg Due filled my ears.
I slipped my charred hand into the pocket of my skirt and pulled out the ring.
“Your Majesty,” Nessa said with a gasp. “If you use that thing—”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” My voice broke. “The magic protecting the coach is gone. With a cracked window, it’s no longer shelter. If the cú sídhe barks, we’ll all die.”
Nessa remained silent, but the guards in the other side of the suite scuffled and screamed. That wretched dog must have herded Enbarr into Dearg Due territory.
A breeze curled around my neck like an invisible noose. I raised my head to find the black smoke whirling into a column at the other side of the bed. It took on the shape of a female and coalesced into another Dearg Due, whose amber eyes danced and flickered like flames.
“Queen Neara,” she rasped. “The Fear Dorcha demands your presence.”
Fear Dorcha.
Fatigue set into my bones, and defeat turned my heart into lead. Slumping against the wall at Drayce’s side, I slipped the ring onto his finger and waited for the magic to pour my power into his body.
Nothing happened.
The Dearg Due clambered over the mattress toward us, her tattered gown drifting with the swirling breeze. She stretched out her long-taloned fingers. “You will come to no harm if you surrender quietly.”
“And my people?” I whispered.
Her lips spread into a closed-mouth smile. “The females will join our ranks. We will feast on your strong males.”
My heart pounded so hard that I felt its reverberations through my ears. I darted my eyes to the left of the suite. Rosalind and Aengus struggled against a pair of the monsters. Another column of smoke appeared from beneath the bed and clamped a black hand over Nessa’s face.
I was out of options. If the Dearg Due hadn’t already killed the rest of my soldiers, they would capture my friends and corrupt their souls. They would consume Aengus and Drayce. They would take me to the Fear Dorcha, who would use my body as a vessel for Queen Melusina.
No.
I couldn’t let them win. Couldn’t let that monster take control of the throne and spread her malevolence through Bresail.
“No.”
I picked up the dagger and plunged it into Drayce’s heart.
Chapter 17
Drayce bolted upright and screamed. Shadows exploded from his chest, his hands, his mouth, and pierced the Dearg Due through the abdomen. The windows smashed, spraying splinters of glass across the room. I dropped to my hands and knees, dragging Nessa down to the side of the bed.
“What was that?” she hissed.
“I don’t know.” My voice shook.
“What did you do?” she asked in a voice as hard as iron.
I couldn’t speak. Not when the red smoke covering the ceiling doubled and filled the suite, not when Drayce’s screams mingled with the cries within the carriage and beyond.
My blood turned to ice. What. Had. I. Done?
Wood splintered, metal groaned and creaked and buckled at our backs, knocking Nessa and me into the mattress. Drayce continued screaming.
“Your Majesty.” Nessa grabbed my arm. “He’ll destroy this vehicle in his rage. Stop King Drayce before he kills us all.”
Her words struck like a hard slap, and I placed my forearms on the glass-strewn coverlet and pushed myself to kneeling. Drayce sat upright, his eyes as black as the darkness that surrounded the carriage. It was as though my mate had gone, replaced by the death and destruction of his magic.
“Drayce.” I placed a trembling hand on his muscled arm, which now felt more solid but still unearthly cool. “Drayce, come back to me.”
I smoothed down his hair, pressed kisses on his cold cheek, but the shadows still poured from his chest. They pushed out the red smoke until they were mere wisps beyond the glassless windows, and swept the broken pieces of glass into the air. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, trying to suffuse him with my warmth.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I repeated these words like an incantation. Repeated them until my throat and eyes burned with tears. “Come back, Drayce.”
His chest vibrated against my arm with the force of his screams, and something cracked overhead and tumbled off the carriage. I drew back, my hand grazing something both cold and burning that sent a flare of pain up my arm.
My throat thickened. The dagger was still embedded in his chest. I wrapped my hand around the sheet, gripped the iron hilt, and pulled it out.
Drayce collapsed on the bed with a sigh. I dropped the dagger onto the floor, rested my head on his chest, and let my eyes flutter closed. His chest rose and fell with deep, even breaths. Whatever I had done had pulled enough of him into his body to drive out the Dearg Due. Now, we needed to return to the palace and see if Osmos could heal his soul.
“Thank the saints,” I whispered.
“It’s too early to celebrate, Your Majesty,” Nessa wrapped a hand around my shoulder
