“It seems the Forgotten do not share your views after all, my lady,” he said in a quiet voice, as the queen’s expression shifted to fury. “Perhaps if you had truly listened to them, you would have known what they really wanted. But I am sorry that it has come to this.”
The First Queen stiffened, power and glamour beginning to swirl around her, whipping at her hair. “Ingrates!” she raged. “Traitors! Obey my commands, or I will destroy you all, every last one of you!”
The Forgotten still didn’t move. The Lady swelled with fury and rose higher into the air, raising her arms. “Very well,” she growled, as lightning flickered around her. “If that is your choice, then you will all—”
She faltered, dropping several feet from the sky, her eyes going huge. The wind and lightning sputtered and went out. “What?” she gasped, as Keirran bowed his head, looking pained. “What is...? No. No, how dare you! Stop, I order you all to stop!”
Confused, I looked around. The Forgotten were still in the same spots, but their eyes were fixed on the First Queen as she flapped and wobbled overhead, trying desperately to stay airborne. I felt a chill go through the air, a faint, sluggish, pulling sensation, and suddenly realized what was happening.
They were draining her glamour. Sucking away her magic and her essence, as they had done to the exiles and half-breeds long ago. Dazed, I watched as the queen hissed and cursed and threw out lightning and wind and ice shards, but all of these sputtered and died before they reached any of the Forgotten. There were too many of them, I realized, hundreds of yellow eyes staring at the First Queen. Even her tremendous power was no match for the combined stares of the Forgotten.
“Iron Prince!” the First Queen cried, searching frantically for Keirran. I glanced at my nephew and found him watching her calmly, though his expression was grim. “Stop! Tell them to stop! You are making a terrible mistake!” Keirran didn’t reply, and the queen dropped lower, just a few feet off the ground now, her wings beating the air desperately. “All I wanted was to be remembered,” she whispered. “That’s all I longed for. To not be forgotten. And to finally defeat the Fade, for all of us. Is that...so terrible? Is it so terrible to be remembered?”
“No, my lady,” Keirran answered, as calm and polite as ever. “But there is wanting, and there is doing whatever it takes to achieve it, at the cost of everything around you.” His brow creased. “I didn’t understand that until recently. How obsession can rob you of everything, even your soul.” His gaze flicked to me very briefly. “Sometimes, holding on too hard is dangerous. You have to know when to let go.”
With a final cry, the First Queen collapsed to the flagstones. She was losing color now, wisps of glamour rising off her like smoke. A few feathers broke away, fluttering across the courtyard, and Keirran bowed his head.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “But I won’t allow you to hurt my family anymore.”
“You,” the queen panted, baring her teeth. Planting her palms on the ground, she pushed herself upright, eyes blazing. The Forgotten continued to stare at her, but she staggered forward, her jaw set in determination. “You are more than a monster, Prince. You turned them against me. You destroyed everything we worked so hard for.” She raised her hands, black nails growing from her fingertips, and Keirran took a step back. “I may die here, forgotten by all, but I will take you with me!”
She lunged, clawed hands reaching for Keirran’s face. I jumped between them, raising my weapon, and felt a jolt run up my arm as the First Queen slammed into the blade, the point sinking deep into her stomach.
Her eyes bulged, but she turned on me with a hiss, and her hands were suddenly around my throat, squeezing hard. I felt curved claws sink into my neck and cut off my air. Gagging, I tried shoving her off, but she clung to me with the strength of the dying, forcing me to my knees, and my vision started to go black.
There was a cry, as a furious, snarling Kenzie lunged to my side, bringing my other sword slashing down at the queen. The Lady shrieked and reeled away, one pale arm writhing into mist, as Keirran stepped up, his face hard and remorseful at the same time, and drove his blade through the Lady’s chest, all the way to the hilt.
The First Queen staggered, her face going slack with shock as she stared at the prince. Keirran met her gaze sadly.
“Goodbye, my lady,” he said. “You won’t be forgotten, I promise.”
He yanked the blade free and stepped away. The Lady shuddered, trembling hands going to her chest, as if she couldn’t quite believe she’d been stabbed. Her mouth moved, her gaze again seeking the prince, before she bent forward and collapsed in a pile of bones and feathers. Her color faded, leaking out until she was a pale, nearly transparent ghost. The razor-sharp wing feathers dissolved, leaving behind shattered bones. With a final tremor, the First Queen frayed apart, mist and shadows boiling over the ground from where she lay, and writhed into nothingness on the wind.
Kenzie shivered, clinging to me, as we watched the last traces of mist fade away. “Did we win?” she whispered, as I pulled her close and held her against me, just listening to the sound of her heart against mine. “Is it really over?”
Keirran took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s done,” he said. “The First Queen is gone. The war is over.”
As usual, the Forgotten were silent. No cheers, no shouts, no jumping up and down in celebration. They surrounded us, dark and unmoving, their eyes solely on Keirran. One shadow disentangled from the rest and edged forward, until he was a few feet from the prince.