Chapter 49

“Darrius, Darrius.” I shook his shoulder, but his dark whiskey-colored eyes were glassed over. His skin was ashen, and his breathing was so shallow my chest hurt hearing it.

With trembling fingers, I opened his clenched fist. Blood welled up from a cut along his palm. The metallic scent of blood with an acidic order filled my nose.

“Helga,” I screamed. My wings unfurled from my back and fluttered frantically. I placed my ear to Darrius’ chest, nearly weeping in rhythm to his heartbeat that sounded like a distant drum and not as strong as it should be. “Don’t you dare die on me, you stubborn Fae.”

Where was Helga?

I brushed Darrius’ auburn hair off his forehead. He was already sweating from whatever toxin affected him. Was it the same one he’d told Simeon and me about days ago? Hopefully, Helga would know and be able to cure him.

I stood, my legs shaking, and examined the lockbox. There was nothing inside except an arrow coated with blood on one edge.

My stomach clenched at the sight. I knew better than to mess with Fae stuff and there was no guarantee that the shaft wasn’t coated in whatever had affected him as well. I couldn’t take any chances. And neither should Darrius have. He’d been distracted by me and our conversation and I squeezed my eyes shut briefly from the guilt that trampled through my mind.

“Majesty?” Helga whispered, and I spun.

She stood in the doorway, peeking inside, but not entering.

“Hurry, it’s Darrius. H-he touched a poisoned arrow.” My voice caught and I had to force the words past my seizing throat.

“I’m not permitted in the weapon’s chamber.” She paled.

“Please.” My throat closed up. I didn’t have time for Fae politics or long-winded ceremonies of blessings and protocol.

“All right.” She straightened and took a step past the threshold like she was walking across a minefield. “I will tell everyone ye, as the queen, ordered me inside.”

“Thank you.” I nodded while tears burned the back of my eyes. Everything would be fine now. She’d heal Darrius like she’d helped me, and he’d wake up pissed that a dark Fae had gotten the best of him. I wanted so much to hear his grumbling.

Her gaze darted around the chamber like something might jump out at her. Kneeling next to Darrius, she took his hand in hers. After she stared into the wound, she brought it up to her nose, sniffing at it.

“Requirity seeds.” She blew out a breath, shaking her head.

“What’s that?” I looked at Darrius so still and so pale and back to her.

“A dark Fae plant,” she spat, but her brow pinched.

There was something she didn’t want to tell me. Her posture was rigid as though she prepared for me to lash out at her. I didn’t have time to comfort whatever she was worried about and chalked it up to her freaking out about being in the weapon’s chamber without a formal invitation.

“But you can use your magic to heal him though, right? Draw out the poison.” At least we know what type of toxic substance it was now.

Her lip trembled and she looked away from me. “Magic can’t fix this.”

“Then we can make an antidote, right?” My chest heaved, and I felt like the room was getting smaller. “An herbal remedy or—”

“I’m afraid not. All we can do is make him comfortable during his last days.” She reached out, placing her hand on my arm.

“No.” I moved away from her grasp. No way was I going to give up on him. My gaze drifted back to Darrius and my heart stuttered at seeing him like this. There had to be something more… I wasn’t going to let him go, not without a fight. My soul felt like it was cracking apart. I couldn’t lose Darrius. I turned back to her. “No, we can’t just leave him like this. T-Take him Earthside and the doctors can help him. Draw out the poison.”

“There is no cure. The Requirity seeds are deadly and we burn them down whenever they’ve tried to grow in Seelie lands. Even their smoke can be harmful to those who are weak.”

Her words were like shards of glass jabbing into my mind. “I refuse to believe there isn’t a cure.”

This couldn’t be happening. I’d gone half my life hating Fae and only recently fell for Darrius and the others. And I needed more time with him. I couldn’t imagine my life without him now or never.

“Please.” I grasped her hands. “There has to be something we can do. Anything.”

She looked away, shaking her head.

But I sensed a hesitation in her. “You know a way. What is it?”

“Impossible.” She took a shuddering breath, her hands in mine trembled. “It cannot be done.”

“Helga, please, just tell me.” I held my breath, fearing that if I didn’t, she’d change her mind and clam up again. “There’s a cure, isn’t there?”

Her dark eyes stared up at me with fear and loss in them. “Dragonroot.”

“Please don’t tell me that I have to find a dragon,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, but inside I was falling apart. There had to be a catch to this, and I didn’t expect this to be some herb or plant I could find in the forest outside.

“Worse.” She bit her lip, her cheeks losing their color. “It only grows in Unseelie lands that border the Shadow Realm.”

“Shadow Realm?” I searched my memory of the limited amount of Fae folklore and history that Maggie and I had collected over the years.

“It’s where they conjure their monsters. The shadow kin.”

Sounded like Simeon wasn’t going to have to find a way to bring Maggie here. I needed to go to her. She might know where exactly I could find this Dragonroot. Though tramping into dark Fae territory made my skin crawl. Sure, I’d spent over a decade fighting monsters, but I didn’t skip through their habitat either. Forced exploration into uncharted lands that I knew nothing about sent ice through my veins, but I would do anything to help Darrius, even if it meant jeopardizing my own life.

“How much time does he have?” Saying the words made me want to throw up.

“I’m not sure. I can weave a spell around his heart to keep it pumping, but I don’t know how long it will last.”

My stomach knotted. “Give me your best guess.”

“Two days. Any more than that and I’d be lying.”

“Do it.” I stood, my legs feeling like they’d buckle underneath me.

“Where are you going, yer majesty?” she asked, her eyes widening. “Ye can’t mean to go into Unseelie territory. They’ll eat ye alive.”

“I have to.” Even going through the Fae forest of Simeon’s lands bordering Malcolm’s had been dangerous. Landing on that hive when I’d tried to escape Darrius and Malcolm still gave me nightmares. This would be worse. Like dancing with devils and demons and hoping I didn’t get trampled. Fear skated down my back, but I put on a brave face for Helga. If she suspected how terrified I was, she’d put me on castle arrest or something to keep me safe. But I wasn’t safe. Not without Darrius and not as long as two shadow kin roamed these halls. I needed my men whole and well and by my side to root out this enemy. “I’ll take the other princes and guards with me.”

“No, yer majesty. The dark Fae would kill the lot of ye before ye ever saw them. Going across Darrius’ border will be seen as an act of war.”

“I can’t do nothing.” I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling like I was being ripped apart. “Then I’ll just take Malcolm and Simeon with me. And I’ll disguise myself, so they won’t know I’m the queen.”

“Send an envoy and ask for the Unseelie’s aid,” she suggested.

Trust Darrius’ antidote to someone else and risk them failing? Of having others endanger their lives while I stayed here behind castle walls? Not a chance. I would never be able to live with myself. Darrius’ life meant too much to me to allow others to take this excursion alone.

“After they sent two shadow kin to assassinate me and planted this dangerous weapon that they knew we’d need the cure for? They’ll expect us to come to them.” I shook my head. “No, I think the best way is to sneak in and out as quickly as we can.” And find Maggie if I was lucky. I had to rescue her from these monsters. I would get the antidote even if I had to blast through every Unseelie to do it.