The Iron Traitor

“I will.”

And then, as she had so many times before, she left. Glamour shimmered around the Iron Queen as she faded from human vision—though my Sight still allowed me to see her clearly—and walked to the invisible carriage waiting for her on the sidewalk. The driver leaped down, opened the door for the queen to enter and sprang back onto the seat. At the flick of a shiny wire whip, the carriage rolled off down the sidewalk and was quickly lost to the darkness.

I braced myself for the questions as we returned inside; Mom would certainly want to know what Meghan and I had discussed behind closed doors. But all she said was “I don’t feel like cooking tonight, Ethan. Would you be all right with ordering pizza?”

“Sure,” I said, wondering what Meghan had told her before I came in. She gave me a shaky smile and wandered upstairs, probably to her bedroom. Probably to lock herself in and cry for a little while before returning to act like everything was normal. Like her daughter wasn’t an immortal faery queen who hadn’t aged in thirteen years and her son wasn’t a juvenile thug who attracted trouble at every turn.

I figured it was actually a good thing she didn’t yet know that she also had a defiant part-fey grandson who could be anywhere at the moment.

I returned to my room, placed the pizza order online and gazed at the spot where my sister had been moments ago.

So, Keirran was out there now. The Iron Prince had run off again, and no one knew where he was. Not that I was surprised; even in the short time I’d known him, Keirran had never been one to follow the rules. Not that he was spiteful or malicious; my nephew didn’t have a mean bone in his body and was unfailingly polite, amiable and soft-spoken. But he was also stubborn, rebellious and in love with a girl from the wrong court. He’d already demonstrated the lengths he would go to keep Annwyl safe; I wondered if she was the reason he had gone AWOL.

What are you doing, Keirran? I thought, trying to shake the ominous feeling creeping over me.

My phone chirped, indicating I had a text message. Curious, I grabbed it and clicked on the screen.

Brrwed nurse’s phone, she thought u were cute (me 2). Dont reply just wanted 2 say thanks for coming in 2nite & they decided 2 release me tomorrow, yay! So don’t come in cause I won’t b here. Miss ya, tough guy. -Kenzie.

A second later, it was followed with:

P.S. Why do all hospitals think green Jell-O is food? *Gag*Dies*

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as I clicked the phone off and set it back on the desk. I couldn’t worry about Keirran now. I had something else, someone else, to focus on. Kenzie deserved more than I could give her, but I wanted to try to do this boyfriend thing right, despite her father’s warning to stay away from his daughter. Obviously, I wasn’t going to listen to that, though he was more right than he knew when he said I was no good for her. To say I sucked in the relationship department was a huge understatement; I just hoped Kenzie could be patient with me as I figured it out. And that her dad wouldn’t make things too unbearable.

And that, for once, They would leave us alone and not screw everything up.

Wishful thinking.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE LAST NORMAL EVENING

The next day at school was fairly uneventful. I parked close to the school building, right outside the principal’s office window, to prevent further ambushes in the parking lot. I kept my head down in class, only engaging teachers if spoken to first. I ignored the constant whispers and looks thrown my way in the halls. The normal routine.

When lunch rolled around, I was heading to my favorite corner of solitude when my phone vibrated. Another text had come through.

Guess who has her phone back, the new message read. I grinned, hurried outside and called the number on the other end.

“I hope you’re at lunch right now,” Kenzie said by way of greeting, “and not cutting class just so you can call me.”

“Actually, I’m taking a break between car heists,” I replied, making her laugh. I smiled at the sound of her voice. “Where are you?”

“Home.” She gave a little sigh. “Cleaning my in-box. Being bored. Wishing I was at school right now.”

My gut churned. “Where’s your dad?”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Her voice turned defiant. “He got roped into some important out-of-town meeting and won’t be back until tomorrow.” She snorted. “I can’t believe him, telling me I had to stay away from you. Like that’s going to happen.”

Relief spread through me. “So, what do we do now?”

“Well...” She pondered that, then continued in a strangely hesitant voice. “As luck would have it, Alex has a volleyball game tonight, and my stepmom already promised she would go. No one will be home if you happen to drop by and pick me up. Let’s say, sometime between five and six?”

Right. This was the whole boyfriend thing. Picking her up, taking her to dinner. Normal going-out stuff. So why was I suddenly terrified? “I’ll pick you up at six,” I heard myself say in a voice that sounded perfectly calm, a stark contrast to the twisted mess within. “Is there anyplace you want to go, a movie you want to see?” Anything to give me a hint of what I’m supposed to do?

I heard her bitter smile without seeing it. “Anywhere but here.”

* * *

School the rest of the day was a lost cause. I couldn’t concentrate in any of my classes, couldn’t think of anything at all except the coming night. I wasn’t so distracted that I didn’t notice Brian Kingston glaring at me in the halls, however, his two cronies at his back. Thankfully, he didn’t attempt a repeat of the day before. I felt a small, vindictive pleasure knowing I’d kicked his ass yesterday and gotten away with it, but it was never a good idea to tempt fate. At least now he knew that I couldn’t be abused like some stray dog, but knowing him, the next time I would be facing the entire football team.

I went home, surfed around online, attempted to do my homework and drove myself crazy glancing at my watch every three minutes, cursing it to go faster. When evening rolled around, I showered, changed into my “nicer” clothes—nonripped jeans and a shirt that didn’t scream “I’m a thug”—and flopped onto the living room couch with the TV on to wait out the last few minutes.

“I’m going out,” I announced when the clock finally hit five-thirty. Bouncing upright, I turned off the screen, not even remembering what I’d been watching. Mom wasn’t in the room, and I raised my voice to shout down the hall. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t wait up for me.”

“Ethan,” Mom called as I snatched my jacket from the back of the couch and headed for the door. Her face was suspicious as she came out of the kitchen, eyeing my clothes and the keys in my hand. “It’s not karate night, and hospital visiting hours are long past. Where are you going?”

I stifled a sigh. “I have a date,” I said simply.

Mom’s eyebrows shot up. “A date?” she repeated, like she couldn’t quite believe it.

“Yeah. With a real girl and everything.”

I expected her to ask where we were going or to at least warn me to be careful. But unexpectedly, a smile broke across her face, almost like she was...relieved. Relieved that I was acting like a normal teen, maybe. Or that—and I cringed at this thought—I was finally “making friends.” Whatever the reason, it was nice to see her happy with me for once, even though this wasn’t quite as normal as she thought.

“Where did you meet her?” Mom asked excitedly, and I stifled a groan. “At your new school? Do you have classes together? What’s her name?”

“Mom, I’m going to be late,” I said, backing away. “I’m picking her up now. Back before eleven.”

“Ethan.”

Impatient, I turned in the door frame. Now what?

Mom still wore that faint, relieved smile. “Midnight,” she said, shocking me. “Curfew is at midnight.”

I blinked, astonished, but I wasn’t going to question it. With a quick smile, I nodded and let the screen slam shut behind me.

Tonight was going to be normal, I told myself as I hopped into my truck. A normal evening with my girlfriend, no weirdness or craziness allowed. However, as I was pulling out of the driveway, I caught a hint of movement in my side-view mirror, a shadow moving through the trees behind my house. The silhouette of a tall, impossibly thin man paused in the space between trunks, glowing eyes fastened on me.

I stopped the truck, turning back to look, but there was nothing there anymore.

I muttered a curse. This was nothing new. I’d been seeing things move my whole life: silhouettes in the trees, shadows from the corners of my eyes, brief glimpses of things in mirrors, doorways and reflections. That was the world of the fey, and you either got used to it or you became a neurotic freak. I just wished they’d stop hanging around my house despite all the anti-fey charms I’d placed inside and around the property. And I really wished they would quit popping up at the worst possible times.

Whatever. I wasn’t going to worry about the fey tonight. They couldn’t get into the house, Mom wasn’t going anywhere, and Dad wouldn’t be home from work until early morning. Tonight, I had a date with Mackenzie St. James, and I wasn’t going to miss it. The damned fey could just go bother someone else for once.

Putting my truck into Drive, I shoved all thoughts of invisible pests from my mind and roared off down the street.

* * *