The Iron Traitor

“Not after he’s already done so much,” she finished, and I knew she was lying. Well, not lying, since technically the fey couldn’t tell an outright lie. But there were a thousand ways to bend and dance around the truth, and they were experts in all of them. It was one of the key things that made them so dangerous.

“Why is he doing this?” Annwyl continued. “He knows there’s no way to halt the Fade.”

“He loves you,” I said, shrugging. “Love can make us do stupid things sometimes.”

“My existence is nearly done.” Annwyl picked up the book and held it in her lap, staring down at the cover. “There’s nothing I can do to stop it. But I want to see Keirran before I’m gone. Before I Fade completely, I want to make sure Keirran is safe, that he won’t get himself bound to a contract he’ll regret forever.”

“We’ll find him,” I told her. “Tomorrow. We’ll head up to New Orleans, find out where the goblin market is being held and look for him there. And if he’s not there, we’ll just keep asking around until we find out where he’s hiding.” Someone had to know something about the whereabouts of the Iron Prince, even if the price for such information would probably be very high.

She gave a faint smile. “It’s...easier with you around, Ethan Chase,” she murmured, making me frown in confusion. “Your belief in us is very strong. Your emotions are very powerful. I think I can hold out against the Fade, at least until I see Keirran again, if you are with me.”

And then what? I wondered. What are we supposed to do after that—watch you cease to exist? You think you’ll be able to convince Keirran to just let you go?

Collapsing into my computer chair, I jiggled my computer to life and stared blankly at the screen, my mind in several places at once. I tried to focus. Find Keirran. That was the first issue. All the other stuff we’d worry about later. We would figure out this thing with Annwyl, Meghan and the Thin Man after we tracked down the Prince of the Iron Realm. And I smacked him on the back of the head for all the trouble he put me through.

The prophecy cannot come to pass without him, the Thin Man had said, causing a chill to crawl up my spine. Great, one more thing to drive me crazy. What kind of prophecy? Did it involve me? Annwyl? Kenzie? Was Keirran meant to do something, or were certain events destined to unfold around him? I suddenly felt like Glinda the Good; is it a good prophecy, or a bad prophecy? Could it be avoided if I stayed away from him, or would that just make certain it came to pass? Whatever it was.