Chapter Nine

Salome

I squeezed my eyes shut, awaiting the onslaught. But it never came.

“We won’t hurt you,” the ghost whispered, his breath bringing out goose bumps.

My back pressed against the wall, and cold seeped into my bones. At last, my lids fluttered open.

“How do I know I can trust you?” For all I knew, they brought teen girls down here and possessed them or something.

“We saved your life from the Hell Hound.”

Well, there was that—although I was the one who’d stabbed it to begin with. My gaze drifted to the lone door in the room. Blue light pulsated from the beings, casting shadows that crawled across the floor. “Why? Why did you save me?”

“Because we need you to set us free.” The phantom floated closer. “We’re trapped here, until she wants us.”

“She?” Could this guy, or whatever he was, be any more vague?

“The queen.” His voice sounded hollow.

I stiffened. “You mean the Winter Queen?”

“Yesss…”

“Oh, hell.” I’d had one too many run-ins with her already. I so didn’t want any more.

“You must help us,” he repeated.

Water dripped down my face from my wet hair. I raised a hand to brush it away. “Listen, I’m grateful you saved me—but I have no idea how to free you. I mean, you can probably tell I’m not from Faerie. I’m human. I have no powers.”

At least none I was sure of, and definitely none I knew how to access.

He moved closer, his eyes turning a warm cocoa color. For a split second, I saw auburn strands of hair sweep across his forehead, like he’d come to life. He opened his mouth, blowing warm breath over my face. The scent of autumn and leaves wrapped around me. It reminded me of the breeze when Gareth and I had rode through the Kingdom of Autumn.

“But you do have powers—already I feel the court reawakening.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible,” I said, even as I remembered what had happened with the horse. The sense of warmth flooding through me and out…

I glanced away, noticing a worn tapestry dangling on the wall behind him. I sucked in a deep breath. No way. No freaking way.

I moved across the room, slowly until I stood beneath it. The tapestry had the same picture as my grandma’s fairytale book. It depicted an auburn haired woman—a queen—giving her magic to a small girl. “W-where did this come from?”

“It was made during the time of the Faerie Queen, Genissa. Some say she or one of the elders had had a vision…to ensure this vision was not forgotten, it was woven with magical thread—powerful enough to withstand time. This tapestry was made to archive what they saw. When the wars broke out, it was brought down here for safe keeping. A reminder that not all is lost.” His gaze focused on my face as if he were trying to read me like a book.

“This child, she’s supposed to come back and save Faerie?”

“That is how the tale goes.”

I stared at it, then back at him. “Who are you really?”

His transparent hand reached for mine and went right through me. My skin pricked with goosebumps once more, as if a frigid wind had swept across it.

“My name is Lord Darach—one time heir to the Autumn Throne,” he said. He backed away from me and immediately lost what little color he’d had. “The others you see here were once a part of either the Spring or Autumn Courts. The Ruined Courts.” His voice burned with anger.

“What happened?”

“What happened?” He gave a bitter laugh. “The Winter and Summer Courts happened.”

My breath caught in my throat, and I stared at him. “No way did the Summer Court have anything to do with this.” I pointed at the ghosts. “Gareth and Nevin wouldn’t do something like this.”

Darach fingered the two arrows protruding from his chest. “They may not have shot the bow, but they betrayed us nevertheless.”

“I—I don’t understand.” I licked my dry lips. He had to be wrong. Nevin might be a giant jerk-off sometimes, but he’d never do something like that—I mean, Gareth wouldn’t let him.

Darach drifted to the stone table and sat in one of the chairs. He gestured for me to join him.

I hefted up my heavy skirt then moved to the seat facing his. A couple other ghosts joined us, while the rest gathered around.

“Perhaps I ought to explain to you how we came to be this way.”

He glanced at me, and I nodded for him to continue.

“There was a time when the four courts—Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn—lived in peace. We took turns ruling the land. Each season had its time. The courts came here to rule with the Queen of Faerie for their season—then, when it was over, they would return to their own estates.”

That explained the rock circles with the symbols etched into them, which I’d seen when we first arrived.

Darach focused his attention on the far wall, his features tightened as if he was lost in nightmarish thoughts.

“None of us realized right away how strong Winter had grown. Once the Winter King died, Grisselle found a way to delve into the darkest magic. Some say she traveled to the Forbidden Swells to master her powers—a place where no faerie or mortal should step foot. Soon, Winter became longer—the nights colder, more vicious.” He shifted his sight to me, eyes filled with sorrow. “By the time we recognized Grisselle’s power, she’d already attacked and destroyed the Spring Court—extending her hold on the seasons.”

I reached across the table; my fingers clenched his ghostly hand. More than anything I wanted to give him comfort, some sort of reassurance. With a sigh, I wished for him to feel my sympathy.

“Wh—what happened next?”

He gave me a startled look as he squeezed my hand. “I feel you. How is this possible? How did you do it?”

“I don’t know. I only wanted to offer you comfort.”

“Your warmth—it radiates like the sun.” His eyelids closed as if he were absorbing me. “I’ve been cold for so long…”

My skin glowed where I touched Darach. Tingles ran up my arm like a jolt of electricity. “Um—what’s going on?”

“I’m unsure.”

I drew my hand back. No way did I want any more crazy stuff happening. Instead, I shifted in my seat, avoiding the many pairs of eyes staring at me.

“Maybe you should get on with the story now.”

“Of course.” Darach floated out of his chair to the other side of the table, as if to distance himself from me. “As I said, Grisselle destroyed the Spring Court. We knew it was only a matter of time before she came after Summer and Autumn. We devised a plan to ambush her here. Autumn court arrived first. We set ourselves in place around the palace. Nevin promised to send his troops through the woods, near the back of the castle. We’d have her surrounded. But Nevin never came. He deserted me—or rather us.” He gestured to those standing around him, with jerky, anger-filled motions.

“Wait, what?”

“Nevin never arrived. They betrayed us. He betrayed us. We weren’t strong enough to fight Grisselle by ourselves. So when she appeared, she easily destroyed us. The spell she used tethered us between life and death. We’re stuck here as phantoms—ghosts of our former selves. We cannot move on from this place, nor can we go back to our former lives.” Anguish washed over him; his lips were drawn downward and his eyes empty of hope.

My chest tightened. “But Summer wouldn’t do that—not intentionally,” I said. Nevin was a manipulative jerk, but at his core, he was honorable; he wouldn’t have let his kind die. Would he?

Darach’s hardened laugh echoed off the walls. “They never came. No amount of your arguing will change that.”

None of this made sense. Summer hated Grisselle. No way in hell would they have allowed her to just take over Faerie. Not to mention this still didn’t explain why Darach thought I could do something to help them.

“How does this involve me—I mean, how do you expect me to free you or whatever?”

He smiled for the first time and in that gesture, I saw his humanity. His desire to live. “Because you are not of Faerie, and yet you are somehow marked by us—as if you are one of our own.”

“I’m not sure I follow.” I quirked an eyebrow. “I’m human, that’s it. I was born and raised in the human world. The only ties I have to this place are my boyfriend. I mean, I knew when I became Gareth’s betrothed, that at some point I’d become immortal, but I didn’t think that would give me super powers or something.”

“Nevertheless, it’s you who must free us. I can feel it.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” I leapt to my feet. “I don’t know what I could do to help you. I’m just a regular girl.” Because even if those weird events hadn’t been coincidences—the shield that’d formed around me and Adaba, or the Blade of the Four Kingdoms appearing to me—it was part of a mystery I didn’t understand and couldn’t yet control.

Darach disappeared then reappeared at my side. “There’s nothing regular about you, Salome Montgomery. Word of you travels throughout Faerie. The girl who broke the Summer King’s curse and battled death and won. No. You are the one we’ve waited for. You will free us. And in the end we will fight side by side.” He pointed at the tapestry as if that answered everything.

Problem was, all my earliest memories were of Grandma and Mom. In the human world.

And the voices in the woods.

I opened my mouth to argue. Who was this guy to think he could tell me what I would do? But he raised a finger to my lips.

“Shhh…someone comes. Whatever you do, don’t mention us to anyone.”

“Hold on, where are you going? What if this person tries to kill me?” Panic shot through my veins as I glanced around the room.

“You’ll be safe, for he has a need and use for you. Until next time, Salome.” He bent forward and touched my cheek.

My skin prickled as I watched the ghosts vanish. Then I heard a familiar voice.

“Salome!” Nevin shouted.

Okay, so it was my ex-whatever-you-wanted-to-call-him. How was it that Darach thought I’d be safe with Nevin if he’d supposedly betrayed the Autumn Court? Crap, should I even go with him? If he’d really wanted to hurt me, however, he could’ve already done so. I glanced around the darkened ruins and shivered. More than anything I wanted to get out of this place.

But why did he come instead of Gareth?

Again I had next to no answers, but I had no choice but to move forward.

“I’m here.” Tears blinded me as I moved to the door. I looked behind me one last time to where the specters had disappeared. As much as I hated keeping Darach a secret, I knew I had to until I figured out why Nevin bailed on them. Right now, I had no idea who to trust. A ghost? My boyfriend? The King of Summer?

Or maybe I shouldn’t trust any of them. Because in all the stories I’d read as a child, Faeries were always tricksters…and they used humans to get what they wanted. So the question was, what did they want? And how did I fit into the big picture?