Free Fever 4 - DreamFever by Karen Marie Moning Page B

negotiated between our races,
apportioning shares of the planet, Aoibheal had jury-rigged an extension of those
ancient walls to separate Fae and human realms. Unfortunately, her tampering had
weakened the prison walls, enabling Darroc the Lord Master to bring them all crashing
down on Halloween.
      So why didn't Aoibheal just sing them back into existence?
       Because in typical Fae infighting fashion, the Unseelie King had killed the long-ago
Seelie Queen before she'd been able to pass on her knowledge to the next one.
Aoibheal, latest in a long succession of queens to rule with diminished power, had no
idea how to sing the Song of Making. They needed me--OOP detector extraordinaire--
to find the one remaining clue to re-creating the Song: the Sinsar Dubh, a deadly book
that contained all the dark magic of the Unseelie King. The king had been close to
discovering it when his mortal concubine killed herself, and he'd abandoned his
experiments that had created the dark half of the Fae race.
      "And only I can find the Book she needs to do it," I said coolly. "So who's
expendable?"
       His eyes narrowed minutely and he glanced sideways. Pink Mac wouldn't have even
noticed it. I wasn't her anymore. My spine snapped straight, and I went nose to nose at
the ward line with him. If I could have reached through it and grabbed him by the
throat, I would have. "Oh, God, you actually thought that through and decided it was
    me! You knew I was in trouble and didn't help me!" I snarled. "You believed I would
survive it! Or was it that you figured I'd be even easier to use if I was Pri-ya?"
      His iridescent eyes blazed. "I could not be in two places at once! I was forced to
choose. The queen would not have survived the night. It was imperative she survive."
      "You son of a bitch. You knew they were coming for me."
      "I did not!"
      "Liar!"
      "By the time I learned what they'd planned, it was too late, MacKayla! Despite my
powers, I failed to foresee how dangerous Darroc had become. None of us foresaw it.
We believed the walls would weaken further on Samhain, we even believed more of the
Unseelie would escape, but we did not believe Darroc could succeed in bringing the
walls down completely. Not only did he accomplish the unthinkable, he managed to
block all Fae magic as thoroughly as he demolished your human grids. For a time that
night, not one of us could sift. Not one of us could change form. Not one of us could
draw upon the birthright of our magic. I was forced to carry my queen to a new hiding
place on human"--he sneered the word--"feet."
      "While I lay on my human ass and your fairy"--I sneered the word--"brethren
fucked my brains out and nearly killed me."
       "But failed, MacKayla. But failed. Remember that. You are queenly in your own
right."
      "So the end justifies the means? Is that what you think?"
      "Do they not?"
      "I suffered," I gritted. "Horrible, unspeakable things."
      "Yet you stand here now. Toe to toe with a Seelie Prince. Impressive for a human.
Perhaps you are becoming what you need to be."
       "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger? That's what you think I should take away
from this?"
      "Yes! And be glad for it."
      "Let me tell you something." I fisted my hand in the collar of his shirt. "What I will
be glad for is the day the last one of you is dead."
      He went oddly, completely still.
      I shook him. He didn't budge.
       I blinked, then got it. He was frozen. I'd Nulled him. Nulling is a rare sidhe-seer
talent and, according to Rowena, I'm the last Null alive. I can freeze a Fae with the
mere touch of my hands. I can turn it on or off at will, the same way Fae Princes can
control their lethal eroticism. I hadn't even been thinking about Nulling, but apparently
my hostility toward his race in general had come across as intent to Null. Since he was
already frozen, I punched him a few times, indulging my rage at all things Fae.
      Then I focused on my sidhe-seer center and