My parents.

They towered over me, resplendent in flowing black cloaks. Their horses’ midnight manes streamed behind them, gold thread braided into the dark hair. And those faces…

Even though I’d only been a babe when Daigh stole me from their home and killed them to hide his crime, my body remembered their warm embrace, their gentle rocking and their soft coos. My arms itched to reach up and embrace their bony shoulders, to have their skeletal fingers encircle my wrists and pull me up onto a horse beside them.

Something tore inside me as I stared down everything that had been taken from me, at the life I could have had.

“Our Blake,” the woman’s teeth clattered together. “We’ve waited so long to see you again.”

“Join us, son.” My father outstretched his hand.

Any human would’ve crumpled under the weight of the shock and grief. But I’d been schooled in the classroom of Daigh. Nothing shocked me. Not even this.

I drew the sword from my belt, twining the blade through the stream of magic until filaments of light darted along the blade.

I swung with everything I had and vaporized them to dust.

“Fuck you.” I spat in the circle of scorched earth. I was Blake Beckett, born to humans, raised by the fae, lover of the greatest witch alive. I didn’t need the ghoulish embrace of a couple of shades.

I had more love than I ever could’ve hoped for. And I would fight until I died for that love and for my new family.

I turned back to Maeve, shoving the sword back into my belt and throwing out my hand. She clasped her fingers in mine, and pressed her lips against me. Spirit magic surged between us, feeding into the great net of light that held back the Slaugh.

My eyes fluttered shut and I lost myself in the kiss, in the love that flowed between us and become the most powerful force on earth. Because I believed in her, and in myself.

A roar rushed over my body – a cold ice that was beaten back by a burst of brilliant warmth, like sunlight penetrating a dark pool.

I opened my eyes.

Light streaked across the sky as the net tightened and closed, trapping the riders and their mounts, tugging them back through the tear in the cosmos from whence they came. Magic crackled through the sky as the filaments tangled with black tendrils of darkness, grappling for a hold on the earth. The light won. The shadows retreated, taking the dead back to their own kingdom.

With a final surge of heat, the light exploded. A great wind knocked me to the ground. I scrambled onto my hands and knees in time to see the light fade into a single brilliant star that dominated a crisp, clear sky. A few scattered shades loped around the lawn, their horses whinnying as they searched for their mates. One skeleton had to leap down from its horse as the creature spied flowers in one of the parterres and decided to have a snack.

“Be still my wee Irish heart.” Flynn pointed at the rider trying to shove his horse away from the geraniums. “Isn’t that Albert Einstein?”

Rowan burst out laughing. I didn’t know what the famous scientist looked like, but the shade had a head of frizzy white hair sticking up in all angles and a pained expression on his face. He dug his heels into the dirt, but his horse didn’t budge.

“That’s Maeve’s expression after trying to make us do the dishes. Maeve, did you see—” Flynn turned around, his words dying on his lips. My blood turned cold as I stared at the spot where Maeve should have been standing.

She wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere on the field.

Maeve had disappeared.