Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) Gwen Rivers (sneezy the snowman read aloud .TXT) 📖

inside my head. Underhill’s knowledge of them has been transferred to me along with her power. Addy had said I would know how to use them when I needed to. “I think…I’m okay now.”

“Nic.” Aiden points to my ankle where a thin silver chain twines around my skin. “It’s Gleipnir.”

I look over at Pharaildis' body. The chain which had perpetually bound her ankles is gone.

“You’ve taken her place,” Aiden breathes. “You’re the new Underhill. You’re a prisoner.”

“It was the only way.” I shove hair back from my eyes. “Aiden—”

His expression morphs from concern to determination. His hand ignites and fire burns into the shape of a sword. “Duck.”

I dive onto the cavern floor. He swings the sword in a powerful arc and beheads the Draugar approaching from behind. Its body smolders as it hits the ground beside me.

“Why aren’t they stopping?” Aiden asks.

Because they haven’t been commanded to. The dead are mindless servants and will carry out their last order until given a new one.

“Get behind me,” Aiden barks. The Draugar stalk closer.

“I need something sharp,” I say to Aiden.

He extends a hand that shifts to a wolf’s paw. I don’t hesitate as I swipe it across my arm. Then I take the blood on two fingers and trace the rune in the sky.

Rest.

As the last marking is made, the rune sparks gold. The Draugar crumple to the ground.

Aiden’s sword disappears. I glance over to where Pharaildis lays among the corpses. The sight of her there, my latest victim, disturbs me more than it ever has before.

Aiden pulls me into his arms. “Do you want me to burn her?”

I can’t speak so I nod.

He extends the sword again and touches it to the hem of her dress, then pulls me away.

The fire burns hot and because Aiden controls it, it burns straight up in a jet that touches none of the dead fey.

Her pyre alone.

The tears fall freely for the young woman who’d danced so beautifully, who’d once had a passion for life and who in the end, chose death. She may not have been my mother, but the two of us had been linked.

We watch until nothing remains but a pile of ash. I can’t stand the sight of it lying in this dark space. There should be air and light here.

“Hold on to something,” I tell him.

He asks no questions, just grips my waist in one hand and then a nearby outcropping of rock with the other.

I pull in a deep breath and nudge the faucet to a slow drip. Then I lift my hands.

A great roaring fills the catacombs. The ground beneath our feet shakes as the world reforms to my will. The peak above descends while the Underground palace is lifted higher. The solid wall of rock parts, making way for the palace to emerge.

It soars up until it sits for the first time under the night sky.

As if it had been waiting, the North Wind blows in through the open doorway. The ashes swirl up and are taken out through the other chamber.

“She’s free at last,” I breathe.

“You traded your freedom for hers.” Aiden’s gaze holds mine.

I can’t read his expression. Anxiety bubbles up. Is he upset by my choice? My lips part but I don’t know what to say.

“Hi.” His thumb strokes along my cheekbone in a tender caress.

A smile breaks, but I need to know. “Are you bothered because I have to stay here?”

“You postponed the end of the worlds.” He presses his forehead to mine. “As long as you are content to be where you are and I get to stay with you, I’m happy.”

I throw my arms around him. “Missed you. You’ll never know how much.”

We hold each other. Just breathe one another in. It’s over. It’s finally over.

“How long?” he rasps. “How much time did I miss?”

“How do you know you missed any?”

“Your scent.” He puts his hand on my stomach, covering my womb. “It was different when you were pregnant. So, how long has it been?”

“Too long.” So many lonely nights, the constant pressure of knowing he was in danger. “It was torture.”

“Our daughter?” The tone is laced with worry.

I grin up at him. “Safe in Midgard. She’s sixteen.”

His eyes round in horror. “Sixteen?”

“Don’t worry, she hasn’t killed anyone yet.” I cup his whiskered cheek in my hand. “She repaired the Veil, Aiden. She’s the One True Queen.”

The sound of running feet and then Harmony bursts into the room. “Váli?”

I step back, knowing Harmony has longed for this moment almost as much as I have. Aiden grins. He scoops the seer up and spins her around. Freda follows close behind, Nahini at her side.

“Gods, Nic. I thought you were done for,” Freda shudders.

“I was.”

Nahini doesn’t speak, just moves close and extends a hand. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for sending Nightweaver. For a while she was all that kept me sane.”

“She volunteered,” Nahini admits. “I think she was tied more tightly to you than we ever knew.”

I blink. “She hates my guts.”

“There’s a thin line between love and hate,” Nahini murmurs.

I think of Pharaildis and John. “You’re right. Is everyone all right?”

“The others are up in the throne room.” Freda moves as if to go collect them. “The ghosts protected us until you did….whatever it is you did.”

“I need to speak to them.”

“In a bit,” Aiden says and then pulls me tight against him. “Give everyone some time to clean up and catch their breaths.”

He’s right, of course. “Meet in the throne room in two hours?” I look to Aiden with my brows raised.

His hands sift through my hair. “Better make it three. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

With that, we dissolve in a shower of sparks.

Aiden reforms us in my old bedroom. The view out the windows is incredible and stark all at once. Stars shine brightly in the cloudless night sky, but the land itself is barren and pitted like the surface of the moon.

“Some view,” I murmur.

“I like what I’m looking at.”

I turn in Aiden’s