Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3)

Emma turned to Julian. “Does he mean—”

“He means the Inquisitor sent him to kill us,” said Julian. “He’s wearing one of the medallions Horace gave us. The ones that prevent time slippage.”

Dane put a hand protectively to his throat, but not before Emma saw that Julian was right.

She glared at Dane. “So Horace sent you to get the Black Volume and kill us and return with it alone?”

“And then he’d tell everyone we were murdered by the Fair Folk,” said Julian. “Extra bonus for him.”

A flicker of fear crossed Dane’s face. “How did you guess that?”

“I’m smarter than you,” said Julian. “But I wouldn’t give myself big props. So is sawdust.”

“There’s a difference between sending someone on a dangerous mission and sending someone after them to stab them in the back,” said Emma. “When the Clave finds out—”

“They won’t find out!” Dane shouted. “You’re never coming back from here! You think it’s just me?” He staggered to his feet; Emma took a step back, unsure what to do. They could knock Dane out, but then what? Tie him up? Return him to Idris somehow? “The Cohort has a long reach and we don’t need traitors like you. The fewer of you there are in the world, the better—we got a good start with Livvy, but—”

Julian’s sword flashed like lightning as he drove the blade into Dane’s heart.

Emma knew it was Dane’s heart, because Dane’s body spasmed and arched, like a fish caught with a hook through its body. He coughed out blood in a red spray, his eyes fixed on Julian with a look of incredulity.

Julian jerked his sword free. Dane slid to the ground, his mouth half-open, his expression glassy and flat.

Emma whirled on Julian. “What did you just do?”

Julian bent to clean the blade of his sword on a patch of grass and flowers. “Killed the person who was planning to kill us.”

“You murdered him,” Emma said.

“Emma, be practical. He was sent here to murder us. He would have done it to us if I hadn’t done it to him. And he said there might be others, too, other Cohort members. If we left him alive, we could have been facing a lot more adversaries pretty soon.”

Emma felt as if she couldn’t catch her breath. Julian had sheathed his sword; the flowers at his feet were stained with blood. She couldn’t look at Dane’s body. “You don’t just kill other Shadowhunters. People don’t do that. People with feelings don’t do that.”

“Maybe,” said Julian. “But he was a problem, and now he’s not.”

There was a rustle in the underbrush. A moment later the kelpie reappeared, shimmering green in the sunlight. It nosed its way over to Dane. Emma wondered for a second if it was mourning its previous master.

There was a crunching sound as it sank its needle teeth into Dane’s bloodstained side. The coppery smell of blood exploded onto the air. The kelpie swallowed and looked up at Julian, its green teeth glinting red, like a disturbing vision of Christmas.

“Oh God.” Emma stepped back, revolted.

“Sorry,” said the kelpie. “Did you want to share? He’s very tasty.”

“No, thanks.” Julian looked neither bothered nor amused by the grisly spectacle.

“You are very generous, Julian Blackthorn,” said the kelpie. “Be sure I will repay you some day.”

“We need to leave,” said Emma, trying not to gag. She looked away, but not before she saw Dane’s rib cage gleam white in the sun. “We need to get out of here now.”

She whirled blindly. She kept seeing the blood on the flowers, the way Dane’s eyes had rolled up in his head. The air was suddenly thick with the copper smell of blood, and Emma reached out to steady herself on the narrow trunk of a birch tree.

“Emma?” Julian said behind her, and suddenly there was the explosive thunder of hooves, and two horses, one gray and one brown, burst into the clearing. A faerie rider sat astride each: a fair-haired woman on the gray horse, and a wheat-skinned man on the brown.

“Is this Faerie Grand Central?” said Emma, leaning her forehead against the tree. “Does everyone come here?”

“Emma Carstairs?” said the fair-haired woman. Emma recognized her through blurred vision: It was Mark’s aunt Nene. Beside her rode one of the Seelie Queen’s courtiers, Fergus. He was scowling.

“Is that a dead Shadowhunter?” he demanded.

“He took me prisoner and these kind people freed me,” said the kelpie.

“Go, kelpie,” said Fergus. “Leave this place. The words of Seelie courtiers are not for you.”

The kelpie gave a whinnying sigh and dragged Dane’s body into the underbrush. Emma turned slowly, keeping her back to the tree. She was fervently glad the corpse was gone, though the ground was still wet with blood, the petals of the flowers weighed down by it.

“Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn,” said Nene. “Your course was bound toward the Seelie Court. Why?”

“No, we were on the way to the Unseelie Court,” said Emma. “We were—”

“We know which paths in the Lands lead to what destinations,” said Fergus sharply. “Do not try your human tricks.”

Emma opened her mouth to protest—and saw Julian shake his head at her, a tiny fraction of a negation, but she knew immediately what it meant. They had been traveling the wrong way. For whatever reason, he had lied to her; every time he had consulted the map, it had brought them closer to the Seelie Court.

The taste of betrayal was bitter in her mouth, more bitter than the copper of blood.

“We have the Black Volume,” Julian said to Nene, to Fergus, and Emma stared at him in total astonishment. What was he talking about? “That is why we have returned to Faerie. The Queen asked us to retrieve it for her, and we have, and we have come for what she promised.”

He straightened, his head thrown back. His face was very pale, but his eyes were shining, bright green-blue, and he looked beautiful; even with blood on his face he was beautiful, and Emma wished she couldn’t see it, but she could.

“We formally request audience with the Seelie Queen,” he said.





9


UP KINGLY HALLS


Soaring through the air with Gwyn, Diana felt free, despite her nagging worry over Emma and Julian. She supposed they were safe in the house, but she didn’t like not being able to see them. It made her realize how much they had become her family over the past five years, and how disconnected she felt from Alicante.

Walking through the streets, even familiar faces felt like the masks of strangers. Did you vote to bring Horace Dearborn in as the Inquisitor? Do you blame the Blackthorns for their own sister’s death? Do you believe faeries are monsters? Who are you, really?

She held Gwyn more tightly as they landed in their now-familiar small clearing among the linden trees. The moon had thinned, and the glade was full of silence and deep shadow. Gwyn dismounted first and helped Diana down; this time he had not brought saddlebags full of food, but a blunt sword at his waist. Diana knew he trusted her, and he had asked no questions when she’d requested that he bring her here tonight. He didn’t trust other Shadowhunters, though, and she couldn’t blame him for that.

A light sprang up among the shadows, and Jia stepped out from behind a tilted rock. Diana frowned as the Consul approached them. The last time Diana had been here, the earth had been green under her feet. Now Jia’s shoes crunched on dried moss, brown and sere. It could simply be because fall was approaching, but the blight . . .

“Diana,” Jia said. “I need your help.”

Diana held up a hand. “First I need to know why I am not allowed to see Emma and Julian. Why am I being kept away from them?”

“Everyone is meant to be kept away from them,” said Jia. She sat down neatly on a flat stone, her ankles crossed. She didn’t have a hair out of place. “Horace says he doesn’t want to compromise their testimony.”