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THEO STARED AT EVERON silently.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, Theo thought. He had always imagined taking his vengeance on a faceless creature, one with no remorse or pity.
From what Rose had told him of Everon, he had expected someone incapable of sadness or compassion, or anything of the gentler human emotions. Looking at him now, Theo could easily see his heritage. Magdalina had been a half-fairy, the offspring of Queen Lucia and a human sorcerer. Everon’s hair and wings were black. He was tall like Magdalina, and seemed to favor darker colors. His eyes, while they gleamed red with angry power, had a background of blue-green that made Theo pause.
The image of Queen Lucia from his childhood, the image on his mother’s tapestry, flashed before him. Lucia was known for her beauty, and her various children. As Theo thought about it now, as he stared at his enemy, he realized that Magdalina had originally been a princess of sorts, he imagined, with beauty and goodness in her heart.
What had changed? Theo suddenly wondered. Did her father die, or leave them? Did Lucia leave them? Was it the loss of her mother to Benedict’s power that drove her to where she was?
Everon advanced on him. His dark fairy wings folded down against his back as he drew out his sword. “Where is she?” he asked, his voice torn between terrified and taunting.
“She’s gone,” Theo told him. “She died fighting me.”
“Did you kill her?” Everon’s voice was full of hurt and anger. He took a menacing step toward Theo.
“Yes.” Theo was about to explain he had also tried to save her, but before he could say a word, Everon attacked.
Theo ducked and rolled to the side, wincing as a flash of Everon’s power hit him in the arm.
“I’ll kill you for taking her away from me,” Everon vowed.
Theo managed to pull out his sword. “You killed my family, too,” he told Everon.
“Is that so?” Everon stalled a moment, caught off guard by the remark. “So you killed my Annalora in revenge?”
“I tried to save her,” Theo yelled, as Everon attacked again. Their swords clashed together as Theo parried with his blows. The cut in his arm screamed in pain, but he kept fighting.
Everon slashed at him again, narrowly missing his leg. “Annalora was my true love,” he said. “I have fought against everything to be with her—our families, our bloodlines, everything—all so we could be together. And you took her away from me!”
“Didn’t it bother you that she was a mortal?” Theo asked, jumping back and took a moment to catch his breath. If I can keep him talking, I might be able to distract him long enough to destroy him.
“I’m not my mother,” Everon scoffed indignantly. “Blood doesn’t matter to me the way it does to her. I hid Annalora here for years, trying to keep her safe from my mother.”
“She shouldn’t have been in the Magdust trade then,” Theo remarked. “She was hurting other people with her skill.”
“What are other humans to me, and what did I care if she was hurting them or killing them?” Everon roared. “No one should have been able to break through that barrier of hers. You must be a powerful sorcerer, if you managed to overcome her power.”
“I’m not a sorcerer,” Theo said. “She was my aunt.”
It was Everon’s turn to step back. “And yet you still killed her?” he shouted, before he charged at him once more.
“She was the one who attacked me,” Theo argued through gritted teeth, as their swords clashed.
Everon sent out a burst of power, hitting Theo squarely in the chest, sending him flying back into the cottage door.
Theo grimaced as his head hit the door once more; the small bump on his head from Bachas’ earlier strike groaned at the burst of new pain.
He saw the glitter of Magdust on Everon’s sword as he regained his balance.
A new idea came to him. Theo reached out and pulled out the ruby from his aunt’s mantle. In the palm of his hand, he felt the warmth of the jewel as the magical barrier once more encased him. Theo felt the burning sensation in his arm from Everon’s earlier attack dissolve.
It’s working.
With new confidence, Theo unleashed an attack of his own.
Theo felt the titanic power clash between the two of them, as he met Everon’s strength with his own.
Keeping hold of his sword and the ruby, Theo fought off Everon’s power. He met each thrust of Everon’s blade with his own, and he could tell Everon was increasingly frustrated as none of his magical attacks hit their mark.
“Augh!” Theo roared in triumph as he managed to knock the sword out of Everon’s hands. He held up his sword high, ready for the killing blow.
This is it, Theo thought. Now, Everon will die.
The large fairy, still angry, tried to lash out spell after spell, but nothing slowed Theo’s blade. He fell back, unable to protect himself any longer.
Then, it happened.
Theo caught sight of his enemy’s eyes. They were full of tears—tears of loss and acceptance. Instantly, he felt himself falter.
He is ready to die, Theo realized.
Shocked, Theo slowly lowered his sword.
“What are you waiting for?” Everon asked. “Aren’t you going to kill me?”
“I want to,” Theo admitted quietly. “You killed my mother. You killed my father. And while you might have loved my aunt, you allowed her to hurt other creatures and other people.”
“So kill me for it then,” Everon shouted. “Unless you’re too scared.”
Theo stepped back.
“Go ahead,” Everon yelled again, this time more painfully than before. “Do it! Do it, so I can be with Annalora again!”
Theo decided it was not the time to correct Everon’s theology. He sheathed his sword, but held onto the ruby as he grabbed Everon’s fallen sword. As he held it, the Magdust, twinkling in its pink and green sparkle, disappeared. “No,” he told him.
“Why not?” he growled, angry tears in his eyes. He clenched his fists, punching out toward Theo. “Why not end it now? You have me at your mercy!”
Theo twisted out of Everon’s reach, using his enemy’s power against him. Everon slammed into the ground, and Theo stood over him.
He was right, Theo realized. Everon was at his mercy. Why wasn’t he killing him?
His parents, and his uncle, even if they had made mistakes, were still capable of being good people. Everon had taken all their chances for good away, and he rightfully deserved to die.
But Theo knew, even after tonight, even if he killed Everon, he would still dream of his uncle in his last moments. He would wonder if parents really loved each other, and he would wonder what his life would have been like had they lived.
But it no longer held the same power over him. He wanted something more than revenge—something greater than revenge—to live for. Theo knew in that moment, he had nothing to gain from killing Everon. In fact, he thought, in some ways, he had lost himself.
And so much more, he thought, thinking of Rose.
He almost smiled. Rose was the one who would tell him that it was a knight’s highest calling to protect the kingdom, and that he should finish Everon before he hurt other people.
He had known for a long time that Rose was more important to him than revenge. Now that he was able to take his revenge, he did not want it. Seeing Everon was also bereft from the loss of his loved one, Theo knew that he had no place here. While delivering the deathblow to his enemy might have given him momentary pleasure, killing Everon in revenge was wrong.
Perhaps it was even too kind, Theo thought, but he took another step back from the fallen fairy.
“You might be at my mercy,” Theo said quietly, still holding Everon’s sword against him, “but it’s not my mercy you should be asking for.”
“I’m not asking for your mercy!” Everon yelled. “Kill me. Just kill me now.”
Theo stepped back from him. “Not today,” he said quietly. “I have somewhere else to be.”
Everon cried out. “You will pay for this!” he said. “I swear by the blood in my veins, I will make you pay for what you have done here.”
“I already have paid for it,” Theo told him, which only seemed to anger the fairy further.
Before anyone else could say anything, Bachas appeared beside him. “Be gone, fairy!” he cried out, his own power beginning to spark between his small fingers.
Everon rolled to his feet, wary at the sight of Bachas. “This is not over,” he warned Theo, before he spread his wings and took off.
Theo watched Everon’s retreating form disappear from his sight, and then he turned to Bachas. “Thanks for coming.”
“I wanted to make sure Elva was safe first,” he said. “She wanted to come and fight with me, but I told her no. Everon might have recognized her, and I didn’t want her to get into any further trouble now that she is free.”
“What kind of trouble would she get in?” Theo asked. “Her life debt is canceled now that Annalora is dead.”
“Still, pixies and fairies have complicated relationships with each other,” Bachas said. “Annalora’s death could easily be seen as her fault, since she did nothing to save her.”
“She tried, didn’t she?” Theo said. “I was trying to get her out of the ruby’s barrier so we could do something.”
“I guess so, but you know for Everon, it would never be enough. A pixie has a duty to protect his or her master from unnatural death. If he wanted to, he could accuse her of breaking the code. The penalty for breaking the code is death.”
“One day,” Theo said, as he sheathed his sword, “I will have to learn your rules.”
Bachas snorted. “Don’t worry about it. I think we have plenty of other things to concern ourselves with before we get to that point.”
Theo gave him a smile. “Good. I’d like to go home.”
“To see your princess?”
“Yes.” Theo gripped the ruby in his hand, thinking of the power he had just witnessed. “I have a present for her, and I think she’s going to like it.”