Epilogue

 

 

 

 

“We can’t retreat now!” Aveta fidgeted on her black kelpie horse, which huffed in protest of her movements. “We’re so close now. How can you ask me to pull the army back now?” she hissed, pushing her long, black hair back, away from her face.

Arthas, the Unseelie Ancient King, snarled at her, snapping at her to shut up. As he turned back toward the scene of the battle, he grinned at the unholy soldiers retreating from the Scren Palace.

“Because you don’t understand how things must play. I’ve seen it already in my visions, and this is all we need to do for now.”

“But Shade’s in there. I have her in the palm of my hand, and you want to let her slip through my fingers, just like that?”

“She hasn’t slipped through my fingers. I have her just where I need her to be.”

Aveta’s confused look made him laugh, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“If you must know, dear, dear Granddaughter, I need her to find Kilara, the Summer Ancient. I want each and every one of the other Ancients to pay for what they did to me. They dared seal me in an eternal slumber against my wishes, and they think they got away with it? They don’t even know I’m awake. I won’t let them know I’m here until it’s too late. For now, let her find them for me. Once the other Ancients are awake, I can take my vengeance.”

Aveta shuddered at his determination. She wondered if awakening him had been a good decision. She’d had some satisfaction in seeing the wards of the boundaries of Faerie fall until the witches they had employed had used up all their magic and withered to death. But now the land was going up in flames, and her goal of taking over the four realms and ruling as supreme queen seemed to be slipping from her grasp.

She bit her lip as Arthas turned his horse around and galloped away, joining the retreating army. She suddenly wished she hadn’t awoken him. She wished she’d never discovered that, being a descendant of Arthas, she was able to awaken him herself after stumbling upon the spell from one of the elder faeries she’d imprisoned and tortured for the information.

Stanis had been hard to break, but he had caved in after endless hours of tortuous pain clasped in iron cuffs. He’d given up Shade’s plans and the information on how to find the Unseelie Ancient, Arthas. It had been a simple blood summoning, since Aveta was his direct descendant. She had managed to do it successfully, awakening him and bringing him to the Withering Palace, her home. Such a simple act, yet the consequences of it had altered her plans so drastically, there was no turning back now.

Or was there?

She jerked at the reins of her kelpie, urging it to follow Arthas back into the Unseelie camp. She was exhausted, but she had schemes on her mind, including how to rid herself of not only Shade but of Arthas as well.