The Vanishing Throne (44 page)

When I look at them, I don't feel joy, or elation, or relief. The response was too strong to ignore. I feel like I've gone three rounds with a redcap and almost lost. Something's wrong.

Kiaran's words replay over and over in my mind.
There are stories of the first sìthichean kingdom
.

A place of immense power, created by old magic that doesn't exist anymore
 . . .

A place of immense power. Like the strongest
neimhead
in existence.

“Derrick,” I whisper, dread filling me. “What's the
neimhead
?”

Derrick looks confused. “I told you, it—”

“No.” My tone is sharp. “What does it look like? What's it made out of?”

“I don't know! It's been there since before I was born—” I go still. Derrick's eyes grow wide as if he suddenly realizes
why I'm asking. “Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?”

I'm already moving before he can say another word, running across the balcony to the elevator. My heart is slamming against my chest, fear making my skin hot. We have to get out of here. We have to get everyone out of here
now
.

Derrick zooms next to me. “I should have known,” he says. “I bloody well should have known.”

“Don't dwell on it now.” I shove the lever to send the elevator down. “Go warn Kiaran and the others. Hurry!”

He zooms down to the crowd below. Not a second after he leaves, the blaring warning sirens blast all around me, the sharp howl piercing my ears. In the city below, I hear people already beginning to disperse.

They're already here. It's too late
.

The balcony stops and I yank open the gate. “
Kiaran
!” I see him pushing through the crowd, calling my name. When he reaches me I'm trying to speak through my rushed breath. “It's the
neimhead
. That's what Lonnrach wants. They're—”

A sudden pain lances through my skull and makes me stagger. I cry out and sink to my knees.

“Kam?”

Falconer
, Lonnrach's voice echoes through my mind, making me go cold.
Found you
.

Run
. I try to scream it, but the word lodges in my throat. Lonnrach's influence hasn't left; he has me weighted down, my tongue immobile. I feel for my powers, breathing just like Derrick told me to. Lonnrach's hold tightens and it hurts like his bite.

The siren suddenly cuts and a loud boom shakes the city, like a clap of thunder from the top of the beehive. Everyone goes quiet. I follow their gaze—it's all I can do, all Lonnrach will let me do.

And at the top of the structure, a crack forms, a fissure in the rock.
Oh god
. Another boom, a snap, and the fissure expands. The power of the crystals—Derrick's and my power keeping the other fae out—is being warped, tested. The fae above strike it again.

I cry out in pain. Kiaran grips my arms, but I can barely hear what he's saying through the agony. I can feel my powers straining to break Lonnrach's influence and keep the wards up at the same time.

Lonnrach's voice enters my mind again. I swear I hear his smile.
You won't be able to hold it for long. Give up now
.

The other fae slam against the wards again. My body shakes with the effort. I'm dimly aware of blood streaming from my nose and people jostling around me to escape. Kiaran is yelling something, but I can't hear it over the rushing heat of power inside me that I can barely hold.

Again.

And I feel the first droplets of water on my face. Frigid, just like the sea.

“
Run
!” Someone screams, and I realize it's me.

In one last, desperate effort, I push my powers out of me like I did with the crystal to sever the influence Lonnrach has over me. Only then do I realize my mistake—my hold over the wards buckles. I strain to steady my power and hold the
fae out, but I'm too distracted by the chaos all around me. All at once everyone at the ball flees for the back of the cave, jostling and shoving each other.

My control snaps, and the top of the rock structure caves in. A wall of seawater comes down.

I
GRASP KIARAN'S
hand and we race across the city square to escape the wall of water. The sea is closing in. Waves crash around us, the frigid water rushing around my ankles. The bottom of my dress soaks through, the fabric heavy.

“Kam!” Kiaran brings us to a halt once we're far enough from the cascade. Still, I can barely hear him over the chaos, the falling debris. “We have to get the humans out
now
!”

People are screaming, their cries drowned out as they're sucked under the powerful waterfall. Without hesitation, Kiaran brings us to a halt and reaches out with his palm. The burst of power that comes from him is enough to sicken me.

Then it's as if time stops. The wall of water slows to a standstill, everything quiet above us. People splash and shove their way through the water to escape, some shouting orders and encouragement.

“Can you keep hold?” I ask Kiaran.

He looks like he can barely manage his answer: “For now.”

I use the lull to yank at my dress, tearing the top layer the way Derrick showed me. Then I quickly discard the petticoats, flinging them into the flooded street. The remaining fabric fits like a long coat over my trousers, hanging all the way down to my boots. If we're going to have to fight, I want to be ready.

Kiaran's face is a mask of intense concentration, his eyes glowing that uncanny vibrant lilac. “They're fighting me,” he says. “I won't be able to prevent them all from coming through.”

I nod and race through the water to Gavin and Daniel, who are helping Catherine in her heavy, waterlogged dress. People have stopped to stare at Kiaran, at the frozen wall of water. “Go!” I urge them.

Daniel looks up at me as I approach, then glances at the people rushing out of the cave. “The tunnel leads to the underground river in one of the deeper caves. It opens to the sea. The fae built us a ship there for emergencies.”

“Take it,” I say. “Don't stop for anything. We'll hold them off.”

Then I hear it, the distant rumbles I've been dreading. The
mortair
. They're coming, pounding through the surf overhead. A massive piece of rock falls from the top of the cave and slams into the water a few feet away.

Oh,
hell
. They're breaking the top of the structure so they can fit inside.

“
Kam
!” Kiaran's warning shout echoes through the cave. “They're starting to slip through!”

A buzzing draws my attention and Derrick flies from the upper balcony. “Aileana,” he pants, flying to my shoulder. “Lonnrach's destroyed the crystals. I can't reinforce the wards—”

“I know,” I say, gritting my teeth. “I couldn't hold them.” I can't look at Derrick's face, not when I know his home is being destroyed again because of me. “Help the others get to safety.”

“But—”

A cracking above us makes me jump. Another massive chunk of the upper rock dislodges and slams into one of the tenements, sending a wall crashing to the ground. Then water explodes around me, splashing high. I can't
see
—

The water settles, and a giant catlike metal creature rises to its full height. It's sleek and shining silver, dripping with water as it towers over the tenements across the square.

“
Run
!” I shout again.

The catlike
mortair
barrels toward us. Its sleek metal body cuts through the water like a blade, sending crashing waves around the city. Its interior gears turn and twist to drive its shining limbs forward at a breakneck speed. The others will never outrun that thing. They won't make it to the ship unless I do something.

I draw the sword from its sheath in my dress-turned-coat and rush forward to meet the
mortair
. Aithinne appears alongside me, as if from nowhere. Wearing trousers and a short black jacket, no less.

“Hullo!” She grins. “I didn't miss anything fun, did I?”

“Where on earth have you been?”

“I had to make sure the other fae got out safely with the humans. Now if you'll excuse me”—Aithinne winks—“this one's mine.” She holds up a sword I haven't seen before, golden and gleaming. “I've a new weapon to test.”

Before I can protest, she takes a running leap forward to land on the
mortair
's body. As sleek and quick as a predator, she leverages herself onto its back and hacks off its head in one single swipe of her new blade.

I pause to admire how efficiently she kills.
Job bloody well done
.

My admiration is short-lived as another
mortair
leaps through the ceiling above, and another, and another. I can't keep up with them. Waves splash high and drench me in frigid seawater. I can barely stay on my feet through the deluge; the spray is so overwhelming that I can't see the metal creatures through it.

Once the onslaught stops, I barely have a moment to recover before I'm sprinting between the massive feet of two
mortair
. I arc my sword to cut them down at the ankles. The blade slices through them easily; the scent of scorched metal overwhelms my senses.

Metal groans above me as the
mortair
fall, their limbs thrashing in the water. I shield myself to block the water, the salt searing my eyes. Too late I notice a
mortair
raising a paw right at me. The light of its weapon whirls fast in its palm.

Damnation
! I dive for the water, rolling hard across the wet cobblestone street.

BOOM
. The tenements above me shatter and fall. Rock slams into the ground around me. Someone grabs my arm from behind.
Kiaran
. He shields my body with his as a wall of the building breaks over his back.

He lifts it off with an irritated groan. “I
hate
these damn things.”

“Just hold back the sea and as many fae as you can. Aithinne and I will do the rest.”

He gives me a look. “
Just hold back the sea
, she says.” With a shake of his head, he takes his position again, deep in concentration.

I rejoin Aithinne in fighting the
mortair
. She and I go after them, one by one, in explosions that rain dirt and rock all around us.

Kiaran uses his powers to protect us—but the
mortair
keep coming. There are at least a dozen, towering over the city's tenements. Their large bodies take up so much space inside the central part of the cavern that I can barely see the buildings around us.

My sight is filled with metal limbs and whirring gears. It's suffocating. Between the water and the
mortair
, the space becomes so confined—the scent of burning metal so overwhelming—that I can barely stand it.

My power unfurls inside me, strong and hot through my veins. It makes me move faster. It keeps me focused. My body
is a weapon, graceful and smooth. I whirl in the water like a dancer, like a faery, cutting and slicing just as fast as Aithinne. Together we take them all down.

Then I look up and see one of the
mortair
heading straight for Kiaran and I don't even think. I leap in front of him, a sudden memory of the Cailleach's voice flashing through my mind:
You have my daughter's blood in you, her powers. My blood
.

Time to test my powers further.

I watch the catlike
mortair
come at me, its razor-sharp metal teeth bared and its claws extended. I put my hands out and my power stretches inside of me.
Stop
. That's all I think.
Stop
. And I am awash with the burning sensation of fire through my veins.

When I open my eyes, I am surrounded by light. It's golden and so luminous that it scorches my eyes. It's so different from when I shared Kiaran's powers. It's not a force outside of me, not something that feels out of my control or like it doesn't belong.

This is me; this is what I'm meant for. It is power in my veins and light in my blood and the beautiful sensation of freeing it. It's
mine
.

I stop the creature in its tracks. The burning tang of metal singes my nostrils as I breathe deep, remembering Derrick's words.
You just breathe it out like air
.

My gaze meets the creature's, and I see a hint of a sentient being there, the pain I'm causing it, and I don't care. I push more of that light. It pours out of me, pulsating, strengthening, and I give it only one command:
Burn
.

The air between us heats, it magnifies and glimmers like a mirage. The creature glows red and melts like metal thrown into a fire. Just as I did with the metal flower I created with the clock, I warp its limbs. I force them to twist around each other.

I make the water rise, tugging at the droplets with my mind until the
mortair
is covered in water to cool the hot metal. I release a burst, a single pulse from that place deep in my blood, a push of power that shatters the metal like glass.

The creature collapses into the still water like ash. Nothing is left but a single claw the size of my palm. It floats toward me and I grasp it in my fist. A memento. A treasure. A sign of victory.

Then, all at once, all that power snaps back inside me. I have a painful sense of being filled, of stuffing all that light into my veins again, until I'm dizzy and my vision blurs. When it fades, I sway on my feet.