I snorted a laugh into my coffee, managing to turn it into a cough. It was hard to picture the calm, refined Iron Prince getting dragged into a river by a school of water faeries. Sort of like Batman falling off his batcycle; it simply didn’t happen. “Was he mad?” I chuckled. Annwyl grimaced.
“He nearly died,” she admitted, making me sober quickly. “I didn’t tell the undines how to stop him, so naturally they tried to stop him permanently. I could see them in the center of the river, the whole school, all trying to drag him to the bottom to drown. But the strangest thing was, Keirran didn’t fight back. Not lethally. I’ve seen him fight—I know he could have drawn his sword and sliced them all to pieces, but he didn’t.”
“How’d he get out?”
“He froze the whole river,” Annwyl whispered, and I raised my eyebrows. “The water turned frigid, and the surface iced over as far as I could see. Everything around it became covered in frost.”
“Geez,” I muttered.
“Undines are Summer fey, so they can’t stand cold water,” Annwyl went on. “I don’t know what exactly happened between them and Keirran once the surface iced over—they were all underwater when it happened. I do remember standing at the edge of the bank, looking at the frozen river and waiting for Keirran to surface. I thought I really might have killed him, and I was terrified.”
“I assume he finally surfaced.”
The Summer girl smiled faintly. “No,” she said. “I never saw him break out. I kept waiting for him, when suddenly, I heard a quiet ‘Excuse me,’ at my back. I turned, and he was right there, dripping wet and smiling.”
I snorted. “Show-off.”
Annwyl’s smile grew wider, though more wistful. “He wasn’t even angry,” she murmured. “I think I started falling for him that very afternoon. Though I didn’t know it until later, and even then, I thought it could never work between us. The courts would never allow it.” She gazed into her cup, her eyes far away. “We had...a few nights. When he would sneak out of Mag Tuiredh and come visit me, first in Arcadia and then at Leanansidhe’s. I wish we’d had more time. But it doesn’t matter now.” Her gaze darkened again, and she closed her eyes. “I’ll be gone soon enough. And Keirran will move on. It’s better that way.”
I started to reply, when there was a dark shimmer outside the window, like an ink blot moving through water, and my skin prickled.
Not far from where we sat, perched on the railing of a balcony across the street, a shadowy thing watched us with glowing yellow eyes. Annwyl followed my gaze, and her face tightened with fear.
I drained the last of my coffee and rose. Without speaking, Annwyl and I hurried back to the hotel room, where I dug a sprig of Saint-John’s-wort out of my backpack and taped it to the door. I also poured a line of salt across the windowsills, not caring what the cleaning ladies would think when they came in. Small precautions. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
“Get some rest,” I told Annwyl, flopping down on one of the beds. “Looks like we’re stuck here until tonight. Might as well sleep while we can.” Not that I thought I could relax enough to sleep; I’d likely stay up with my swords close by, just in case any shadowy figures slipped under the door and into the room. But Annwyl looked tired and still frighteningly pale.
Better than she had in the truck, and much better than that awful moment when she’d started to Fade from existence, but she still didn’t look great.
The Summer girl didn’t argue. Settling wearily atop the other bed, she curled into herself and closed her eyes. I waited a few minutes, then quietly eased off my bed, grabbed my laptop and swords, and settled in the armchair in the corner.
“Ethan?” came Annwyl’s soft voice after a few minutes of silence. I’d thought she had fallen asleep, and glanced up in surprise.
“Yeah?”
The Summer faery hesitated, her back still to me. “I wish I could express how grateful I am,” she murmured. “My kind doesn’t say...those words...but you’ve done so much for me and Keirran. I just want to say...”
“It’s fine, Annwyl.” I spoke quickly to reassure her. “You don’t have to say it. I know what you mean.” She relaxed, her shoulders slumping in relief. “You’re welcome, but we haven’t found Keirran yet. Just concentrate on not Fading away until we do.”
I saw her nod, and a few minutes later, she seemed truly asleep. In the silence, the urge to call Kenzie returned, stronger than ever. I missed her. I hated the thought that she was angry with me now. But I didn’t regret my decision. In a few hours, Annwyl and I would head into the dangerous, unpredictable goblin market, and it was better that Kenzie stay far away from the madness.
If I was being honest with myself, she’d be better off staying away from me, too.
* * *
The hours dragged and yet went more quickly than I would’ve liked, every minute bringing us closer to midnight. Annwyl slept most of the afternoon; maybe she’d never really gotten to sleep until now, or maybe her condition made her tired and sluggish, sort of like having the flu. I didn’t know, but she politely declined leaving the room when I headed out to get food. Fearful of having her disappear, I grabbed a couple candy bars from the vending machine outside and hurried back to find she had fallen asleep again. Restless, I watched TV and Netflix and envied the faery, still curled up on the bed. She did wake up later that evening when I forced her to go to McDonald’s with me because I was starving after nothing but chocolate bars for lunch. But she remained quiet and nervous, not speaking much. Truthfully, I was more than a little nervous, too.