The Gossamer Gate (19 page)

“This is what I can give you,” Ronan said from the shadows in the corner. “I can give you such beauty as you have never seen before in your life. You can have wealth and comfort, the best food, the most beautiful clothes you have ever imagined, and anything else your heart desires. You will have a horse to ride through the countryside, a library filled to the ceiling with all the books you want.
You can have true power – your faerie magick, which is useless in the mortal world.”

He approached her, looking like a shadow himself
, dressed in black from head to toe.

“I am the ruler of this land and, by my side
, you would be its princess. I only ask that you stay here and love me, do what I ask of you, and I promise you will find that you are happier than you ever thought you could be.” He extended his hand to her. “Princess Khiara, we belong together.”

Khiara looked at the hand, before moving her gaze and thoughts over everything he offered her. “This is an illusion,” she answered softly, raising her eyes back to his. “It won’t last.” Her expression challenged him to prove her wrong.

“I can make it anything you want it to be,” he said. “Your dreams can become reality here, if only you want to let them. If you obey me, you will have everything.”

She considered his words as she looked up at him. “To what extent would you rule over me?” she asked, her voice quiet.

“What I say, I would expect you to do.” His hand dropped to his side as he approached her. “That means if I tell you to wear something, you wear it. If I tell you never to speak with my brother again, you never speak to him again. If I demanded that you fall to your knees, I would expect you on the floor before me. If I commanded you to serve my every whim, you would do it.”

“Or be punished.” Khiara spoke with quiet certainty. “Like your subjects or your former wife.”

Ronan smirked as he reached out to caress her face. “Punishment can be fun,” he purred. “If you disobeyed me, I would find far more interesting ways to discipline you.”

She trembled beneath his touch, but did not back down. “An interesting idea,” she said, “but my problem is that I would rather leave the discipline for fun and games. Not live my life by it
, or fear the day you would discard me.”

“Nevertheless, I believe that is exactly what you need
– a structured life of obedience and fidelity to me.” He leaned his head down to hers and kissed her.

Khiara responded to the kiss, testing her reaction. “No,” she said
, and shook her head as he moved away from her. “I could never be interested in staying here with you, and I certainly would not be happy with you in my life. I want a partner, not a dictator.”

With a shrug of her shoulders, she turned and strode purposefully back to the mirror.

“Your illusion holds no interest for me,” she threw back over her shoulder, before stepping across the mirror’s frame and back into the plain bedroom.

To her relief, she was once more in the clothes she had originally worn when Ronan had pulled her into his realm. Her hair felt cleaner, as if the journey through the mirror and the subsequent transformations had erased all the dirt, exhaustion, and hardships of her past week. She smoothed her hands over her blue jeans and black tank top, and then looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back into an even ponytail. She looked exactly as she had when she had entered the Otherworld. The messenger bag felt as though it had weight in it once again
. She reached in to find her wallet and the other usual items she kept in there.

Whatever enchantments had affected her in the faerie realm had
somehow been expunged from her mind, body, and spirit.

“And earth certainly can’t suffocate fire,” she told herself, raising her hand to call forth her magick. A flame danced on the palm of her hand and responded to her will, becoming first larger than smaller, answering to her commands, but never disappearing as a result of the oppressive earth magick.

With a renewed sense of energy and determination, she sent her senses throughout the castle, searching for the gate that would bring her home. The same energy pulsed behind the mirror, so she did the only other thing she could think to do. She raised her leg and thrust the heel of her black Doc Marten at the glass. That one powerful front kick shattered the mirror, the reflective pieces crashing to the floor to reveal a door in the wall. Khiara gingerly reached out to turn the handle and open it. To pass through, she had to crouch down and pass through the mirror’s frame. When she straightened back to her full height on the other side, she found herself in the entryway to the palace once more. There was no sign of Sean or the guards who had attacked him.

The energy of the gate was pulsing to her right, the opposite direction she had originally chosen when she had entered the palace. It became stronger and stronger with each step she took, until she could feel it thrumming all around her body. It ebbed and flowed around her like an insubstantial sea of energy. She could feel it just in front of her, behind a set of double doors.

Without hesitation, she shoved them open with both arms extended before her, to enter what looked like the ballroom from Ronan’s illusion. This time, however, it was merely a plain, earthen throne room. To her left, a variety of maps showing the mortal world and, she guessed, the Otherworld, covered the wall. There were three globes in varying hues on a long table. To the left, those same red, black, and gold hangings were on the wall, and there were low shelves of books. Before her were two thrones of ebony wood and plush red velvet.

The energy of the gate was strongest behind them, where the floor to ceiling windows looked out over the land.

The windows…

She had not paid attention to them in the illusion.

There were three altogether. The one in the middle was a large circle of delicate glass with black latticework. The other two were simply rectangles abutting it on either side. The portal, she realized, was the round window itself.

“So, you made it here after all.”

She turned to face Ronan.

“You must know I have kept an eye on you all this time,” he continued as he leaned against the wall, watching her. “You slept with my brother, you naughty mortal. This action violates the terms of the quest, as I’m sure you know.”

“Regardless of that, I’m going home, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” she said, stepping toward the window.

“Is that what you think?”

In addition to the threat in his voice, she felt a new, negative energy pulsating around her and froze in her tracks. Drawing on her own power through the element of fire, Khiara sliced through the magick and turned to redirect it toward Ronan. As he fought the flames that engulfed him, she dashed toward the window.

A strong hand closed around the back of her neck and swung her around, then slammed her down over the table. She gasped in pain and struggled as
he held her there tightly, pinning her against the wood, his other hand pressing between her shoulders. She was unable to move as he bent her over the table and trapped her upper body against it. Pressing her hands against the edge of the table, she tried to shove herself away from it, but his weight against her immobilized her.

“I think you overestimate your abilities,” Ronan hissed in her ear. “Once you finally acknowledge that you belong to me, and nobody else, I can help you become more powerful than your human world allows. If you behave yourself, I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams.”

“I don’t want power,” she growled in response. “I just want my freedom.”

“Let her go, brother.”

Khiara closed her eyes and exhaled with both fear and relief.

“So, now her lover arrives to rescue her, as always. You’ve been more trouble than help, little brother. Your loyalties have crossed the line too many times. You are going to have to pay for your transgressions.”

“She is promised to me.” Liam’s voice was surprisingly firm and Khiara perceived the threat in it.

“Is she?” Ronan’s grip on her tightened, and Khiara cried out in pain as the heel of one hand dug into her shoulders, while the other squeezed her neck. “And in what way can you substantiate this claim?”

“We made our promises on Midsummer Night.” Liam took a step toward them. “And as she is mine, I choose to let her return to the mortal realm.”

“This may be against the laws of the fae,” Ronan said softly, “but this is my kingdom
, and I’ll do as I see fit.” He raised his other hand and Liam dropped to his knees as death magick pulsed off of Ronan, the waves of dark energy palpable throughout the room.

“No!” Khiara struggled, her fingers scrabbling along the table in hopes of finding something to dislodge Ronan’s grip from her neck. Her hand closed around a candlestick. She knew she did not have the leverage to cause him much harm, but she had to try to escape while h
e remained preoccupied. Despite all the duplicity, she knew she could not let him kill Liam.

She swung her arm back, felt the candlestick connect with something, and heard a
crack
. Ronan released his grip. Khiara turned and swung again, this time with two hands. The object struck his head with a dull sound. She felt the death magick fade as Liam crumpled to the floor and Ronan raised his hand to her, blood coursing down his temple, over his check, and along his neck.

To her surprise, Sean slid between them, his arms outstretched. “Don’t even think about it, pixie boy,” her best friend snarled.

“Do you think you can stop me?” Ronan asked, looking more menacing than ever with the blood running down his face.

“I’ll die for her if I have to,” Sean answered, staring him in the eye.

“Are you really willing to do that? Because,” he said calmly, “my dear brother is already dying on her behalf. I have no qualms about killing both of you.” He looked over Sean’s shoulder at Khiara. “Make your choice or two will die because of you.”

She glanced at Liam’s body on the floor, at Sean standing between her and harm, and at Ronan’s implacable expression. “You’re asking for the impossible,” she said. “But…” She tossed the candlestick to the floor and stepped around Sean, “if you will spare them both, I will stay with you.”

“Don’t!” Sean said, grabbing her arm, trying to pull her back.

“Don’t do it,” Liam groaned.

“What I don’t want is to need either one of you to save me,” Khiara responded, looking first at Sean, then at Liam. “I realize love is far too precious to give up on after all, but I’m not sure I can give either of you what you want from me. Sean, I loved you with all my heart before I came here, and I still do. But I’m afraid that since you found me, I think about someone else during every waking moment of the day.”

She looked at Liam, who was struggling to sit upright. “You have done nothing but string me along and betray me, in service to your brother and for your own self-serving ends. You also made it quite clear that you loved me, even when I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted you. You made me doubt everything I ever thought I wanted. This isn’t something I can decide here and now.”

“So you’re going to decide to stay here?” Sean asked incredulously.

“If that’s what it takes to spare both of the men I think I love, yes.”

“That,” said another voice, “is what it takes to be released from any faerie obligation.”

“Queen Titania!” Ronan bowed and Liam managed to rise to his knee.

“If there is one thing that matters in the faerie world above all else, it is honor,” she said as she strode into the room. “Humans seem to lack this quality all too often. When a faerie has a goal, they see it through, no matter what. You have shown such integrity, that I have decided to abolish your debt to Ronan, and the geis he placed upon you.”

“No, mother, you cannot do this!” Ronan shouted.

The faerie Queen raised her hand for silence. “She will come back someday; this I know. Let her go, my son.”

“I am overwhelmed by your kindness,” Khiara said, bowing her head to the faerie Queen.

“That is as it should be.” Titania smiled at her. “But, in actuality, I just had to stop my boys from killing each other. Faeriekind has enough problems as it is.” She laid a cool hand on Khiara’s cheek. “Go with my blessing, but return quickly, my dear girl, or someone here will be quite miserable.” She leaned forward to leave a kiss on Khiara’s forehead. “Do what you have to do. You will be forgiven.” The mortal girl thought that she only imagined a hint of a whisper as the faerie queen’s breath fanned over her temple. Titania pulled back to hold Khiara at arm’s length, a sad smile on her ethereally beautiful face. With that last look, she disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the memory of her blessing.

Khiara looked at Sean. “I guess it’s time to go.”

“Ladies first,” he offered.

“Wait.” Liam pushed himself to his feet. “Don’t go. Please.”

“I have to.” Khiara turned to Sean. “Go ahead. I’ll be there shortly.”

He nodded and walked toward the window, pausing only to turn back and look at her
for a moment before stepping through the portal into the human world.

Khiara looked at the faerie
princes. She walked over to Liam, who was leaning against the wall, free of the death magick, but still weakened. “You know where to find me.” She kissed him on the cheek and said, “But I do need some time to myself, to think.”