LITMIR.BIZ

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up from the roots, crumbled into jagged pieces around the Dark Queen. She flicked a hand, sending Grnlllll flying into the side of the building.

      The ground immediately stopped shaking, and her bottomless black eyes looked straight into the diner. “I want the Empty One.” Her voice rippled out like a shock wave; I felt it go through me, felt it pierce my heart, overwhelm it, leave nothing in its wake but a vacuum that only she could fill. Yes. I would go.

      I started to stand, but Reth pushed me to the floor and put a hand over my heart. I gasped as the heat invaded, pushing out the vast emptiness the Dark Queen had put there.

      “Give her to me, you golden fool, or I will unmake you.”

      I felt Reth’s hand tremble on me; he’d turn me over. He had to. He wouldn’t die for me. I was shocked to realize I didn’t want him to die here, either.

      Suddenly Arianna’s voice rang out from above us. “Hey, witch! That’s the fugliest dress I’ve ever seen!”

      I looked up to see the Dark Queen pelted with the contents of our apartment fridge raining down from the second floor window. She raised a hand and I screamed. Not Arianna, I couldn’t lose her, too. Then a plate smashed against the Dark Queen’s perfect white arm from the side, distracting her.

      Kari and Donna stood in the doorway of the diner, loaded with every dish they could hold, throwing them with remarkable aim. Cups and bowls crashed off the Dark Queen, not doing any real damage but sure as anything pissing her off.

      “Dad! The pans, in the kitchen! Iron!” Lend said. David nodded and ran back.

      “Behind the counter, now!” Lend hissed, grabbing Reth’s arm and pulling us both back to the flimsy shelter where we all crouched. “We’ll wait until my dad distracts her with the iron and then get away through a faerie door.”

      Reth nodded, and I let myself hope for one second that we’d get out of this, that we’d escape her and somehow be okay. Then there was a horrible noise like an animal in pain that cut off far too sharply, and Donna screamed, sobbing Kari’s name.

      “Enough,” the Dark Queen said, her voice pushing out and somehow making the very air feel different, thicker. Reth’s golden eyes widened in horror; he put a hand out on the wall.

      Nothing happened.

      Lend watched, and I saw his face as it sank in. We weren’t going to get out.

      “It’s okay,” I said, my voice breaking. “It’s okay. You guys stay back here. Try to help the others. I can’t let her hurt anyone else. She won’t leave until she gets me.”

      “You,” Lend whispered, then looked at Reth. Something unspoken passed between them. “Keep her safe,” Lend said fiercely.

      Reth nodded. “Always.”

      Lend leaned forward and smashed his lips into mine, kissing me desperately, then pulled away. “I love you,” he said, his glamour melting off so it was him, just him for a heartbeat, and I got ready to stand and be lost forever. Then he replaced his water self with: Me.

      “No!” I screamed, but Reth wrapped his arms around me and traced one finger down my throat, freezing my voice.

      I screamed and screamed, ripping my throat to shreds but no sound came out. Lend-as-me stood up, lifting both hands in the air.

      “I’m coming,” my voice said. “Stop.”

      He walked out from behind the counter and I couldn’t see him and she’d kill him and I’d lose him forever and I couldn’t live in a world where he wasn’t.

      I kicked against the counter as hard as I could, trying to force Reth to let me go, but his arms weren’t flesh, they were permanent, there was no give. I slammed my head back into his chest again and again, but then I felt more than heard her faerie door closing as the air thinned again and I knew it was over and my world had been destroyed.

      Lend was gone, and it was my fault.

      I slammed my head against Reth again in rage; he pulled me closer and said, in a voice tender and sad, “Sleep.”

      And then it was black.

      

      Shh, shh,” Vivian said, cradling me and stroking my hair in our dark, star-filled dreamscape. “Where have you been? I’ve been feeling strange lately; I wanted to tell you. But what’s wrong? What happened?”

      “Lend. She took Lend. The Dark Queen took him, and I’ll never get him back again. It’s over. Everything.”

      Her hand stopped, even her breathing stopped. “She—she came out of the Faerie Realms?”

      I nodded, sobbing so hard my stomach hurt.

      “It’s … she’s never done that before, Evie. Ever. Something must be happening, something big. Things must be changing.”

      “They want to leave. The elementals and everyone, they’re working with the Seelie faeries. They asked me to make a gate. It doesn’t matter now, nothing matters now. Maybe I should make them a gate so I can burn myself into oblivion.”

      “Don’t say that! Don’t you ever say that. Your soul is worth more than any of them can ever understand.” She pushed back and took my face in her hands to glare into my eyes. “You hear me?”

      I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

      “Don’t be stupid, Evie. It always matters. Now, listen: Did she kill him?”

      “I— No, I don’t think so. She just took him. He … he changed into me. She thought she was taking me.”

      Vivian laughed, a short, mirthless sound. “Go, Lend. Bet she’s not happy when she figures out she dirtied herself with the mortal realms to bring back the wrong person.”

      “You don’t think he’s dead?” I whispered, not daring to hope.

      “No, he’s too interesting a prize. The faeries who raised me talked about the Dark Queen all the time. She loves collecting pretty things, and if she’s going up against the Seelies and all the elementals, she’s not going to throw away the son of a water spirit. She’s too smart for that, too cunning. She’ll cut her losses and figure out how to use him to gain an advantage.”

      I let out another sob, thinking of Lend in her clutches, remembering what she had done to those poor people I saw when I was in the Faerie Realms with Jack. She’d done more than break their bodies—she’d stolen everything that made them human. The thought of what she could do to Lend …

      “Deep breaths, Evie. This is good. I promise. She’s not going to hurt him. Yet.”

      “Yet?” Gee, thanks, Viv. That was really reassuring.

      “Exactly. Yet. Which means that you had better get your butt in gear and figure out a way to save him and take her down.”

      “How am I supposed to do that? She’s the freaking Dark Queen. Have you ever seen her?”

      “No.”

      “Well, I have! And both times it was all I could do not to throw myself at her feet! Around her I’ve never … I’ve never felt so nothing. I’m nothing compared to her. Not even a grain of sand in eternity. She’s everything.”

      Vivian rolled her eyes. “She’s totally overrated. And she has your Lend. You can do this. You have to.”

      I wiped my tears away, clenching my jaw. I could do this. I had to. Lend was the only choice I’d ever wanted to make, and as long as he was alive, I wasn’t about to stop fighting.

      “I love you, Viv,” I said, needing her to know that it was true, that someone could love her in spite of everything she’d done. I might never get a chance to see her again. Oh,

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