Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception Book 2) Read online

  Another shot over my head, and the rest convened on the shadowy monster.

  One hydra opened its mouth and closed it around the white skull of the shadow creature. A vicious yank, and it ripped the skulled head free from the magic that held the monster together. Its silver teeth gleamed as it crunched down on the skull—which drained of shadow magic. Bone splintered, then shattered entirely.

  Another hydra head ripped one of the clawed legs free, destroying it with a chomp of its teeth. The biggest head went for the tail, ripping it off and biting through it. The tail turned into shadows, then disappeared like darkness retreating from light.

  The hydra made quick work of the rest of the monster, ripping the body apart and separating the magic, which drained away.

  In seconds, they’d dismembered the monster, and the only trace of it left was the path of wreckage it had left behind it when it chased after Eclipse and me.

  I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as I looked from the empty shore, to the hydra heads stretched high above me.

  Oh boy. I hope this wasn’t a mistake.

  The lake water churned, as the hydra’s many necks moved. The creature roared—a deep, throaty noise that shook the realm.

  T-thank you, I stammered, trying to project my thoughts to the creature, even though I had no idea how.

  One of the heads lowered until it sat just above the lake water, and then it inhaled deeply.

  “Leila!” Lord Linus shouted.

  I stayed still as the monster brought its head closer, letting me see the lake scum and seaweed that was caught in the crevices of its scales.

  YOU ARE THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT COURT, the hydra said. AND YOU HAVE SEEN ONE OF MY KINSMEN.

  It took me a moment to remember the much, much, much smaller hydra I’d seen in August. Ahah—yes. Yes I have. He was very…um…cute?

  A few of the heads swiveled around, taking stock of the realm.

  WE WILL RETURN TO OUR SLEEP. WE DO NOT CARE FOR THIS REALM NOW THAT THE ELVES DO NOT WALK IT. BUT YOU INTEREST US, LITTLE QUEEN. WE WILL LISTEN FOR YOU, AND RISE WHEN WE WISH TO.

  That’s great, I weakly thought. Just wonderful. I’ll keep an eye out for you.

  The hydra abruptly retracted the head closest to me. All nine heads gave me a tiny nod, and then the necks lowered, snaking downward. The hydra dove back underwater, splashing up enough lake water to create waves bigger than cars.

  I lifted the staff above my head and ran farther up the sandy shore, making my way to my friends as the last hydra head disappeared underwater. I had to run as water surged up the shore, splashing my already soaked blue jeans.

  “It’s fine,” I called to my friends as I cleared the water and staggered closer.

  “Fine?” Fell sneered—evidently he’d woken up, though it looked like Indigo had bashed him pretty hard because a bump was forming on his forehead. “Fine? You just woke up a hydra—and you call that fine?!”

  “It’s going back to sleep.” I frowned, then scowled. “And what are you complaining for? You brought that monster here! Do you have any idea how much that thing could have damaged my realm or hurt my people?”

  “It would be your fault for being weak,” Fell haughtily said.

  “That’s it,” I said. “I can’t stand hearing his annoying voice anymore. Someone knock him out, again, please.”

  “Knock me out?” Fell narrowed his eyes. “I am the King of the Autumn Court and a member of the Fae Ring! You can’t just—”

  Rigel became my second favorite person of the day—Indigo was going to stay first due to Fell’s original beatdown—and struck Fell on the side of his neck.

  Fell’s eyes rolled back, and he crumpled. To keep him from smacking the ground, Rigel caught him by the back collar of his tunic, so the Autumn King dangled in his grasp, choking and helpless.

  “I did a good day’s work when I married you,” I said.

  Rigel very expressively shrugged.

  “Eclipse!” I called to my mare. “I need your help—I want to throw Fell at his realm before he wakes up and I contemplate killing him. Can you make me a gate?”

  “Are we seriously just going to skip over the fact that you’re using the Original King’s staff and that you just called the biggest hydra I’ve ever heard of from the realm lake—which, I’m not embarrassed to say, I am never going near again.” Indigo shivered.

  “Isn’t the skull monster proof that Fell’s the one who’s been trying to kill you?” Although Lord Linus was asking me, his eyes flicked to Chase.

  “The monster used the same magic as the shadow snakes from the movie theater, and the shadow creatures at the market,” Chase confirmed. “I can smell it. But I don’t know if it’s as clear proof as one would think. Those other two attacks were laced with fae magic, but this one lacked it entirely.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “It had that ancient magic I’ve felt a few times now. Do you know what that is?”

  Chase shook his head. “Nothing I’ve come across. I asked my packmates, and none of them recognized the scent, either.”

  “That’s troubling,” Skye said. “Though perhaps it is merely an indication that King Fell is taking more serious action against my Sovereign?”

  I tried to shove the staff deeper into the ground—the thing weighed a ton and was going to be a pain to drag around. But even I—a vocal hater of the Original Creep—had to admit as far as artifacts went, it was top notch. “Someone call the Paragon and tell him to get over here—he might be able to help us, and he owes me after that tea party of his.”

  Chase nodded, and got on his phone.

  “I must admit, I thought you’d be madder about this.” Indigo nodded to the gurgling-and-blessedly-still-unconscious Fell.

  “Oh, I’m furious,” I said. “But I just had an ancient hydra speak with me mind to mind. I’m kind of numb at the moment—or I’d be beating the stuffing out of Fell like he’s a scarecrow. Eclipse?”

  The mare swished her tail, and the familiar archway of stone and iron appeared.

  “Wait, you spoke with the hydra?” Skye asked.

  “Yeah—I had to ask it for help somehow.” I peered around the lakeshore—which had seen better days; the hydra’s waves had pretty seriously mucked the place up. “What happened to Fell’s sun stallion?”

  “We’ll drop it off later, or he can get home by himself.” Rigel fearlessly entered the gate when it opened, dragging Fell along by the tunic and jostling the Autumn King over every large rock that was between them and the gate.

  I seriously love that fae.

  “You spoke with the hydra,” Skye repeated—this time as more of a statement than a question.

  “It’s fine,” I said. “He—er, they?—seemed okay.”

  Skye’s eyes were huge. “Leila, that hydra had to be ancient!”

  “Yeah, he said something about not liking our realm anymore since the elves were gone.”

  Lord Linus made a wheezing sound, and I’m pretty sure the only reason Skye wasn’t emptying her entire antacid tin in her mouth was because she was still processing the shock.

  I held one finger up to them. “Hold that thought, I’ll be right back.”

  I hurried through the gate with Eclipse trotting along behind me and walked straight into the Autumn Realm.

  Dazzling with massive trees dropping colored leaves the size of my head, and a white castle that was decorated with splashes of crimson red, flaming orange, and shining yellows, the Autumn Realm was a place of beauty.

  And it was crawling with fae so frenzied, they didn’t even notice our arrival.

  A bunch of fae rushed around, carrying bottles of potions that they handed out to the injured. Others were trying to lift or dispose of some of the colossal trees that had toppled over.

  In my second inspection of the area, I realized it looked like something had torn a path of carnage through the realm.

  Besides the fallen trees, there were huge gaps and holes in the ground where it looked like entire
trees had been turned to ash. Something enormous had raked its claws across one side of the castle, slicing deep gashes in the stone walls and destroying a dozen windows.

  On the second inspection, I also noticed a few spots on the outer walls of the white castle that were distinctly singed, and the wispy feeling of fae magic remained in the air. Previously I’d assumed it came from the fae using their magic to handle the trees, but if I concentrated, I could feel it ripple out from the castle as well.

  I looked from the castle to the trees. “Rigel?” I stepped closer to my consort. “Do you think…?”

  Someone—a black-haired fae—finally caught sight of their monarch dangling from Rigel’s grasp. “King Fell,” she said, seemingly in shock.

  She looked from Fell to us, and while her expression didn’t change she took a step back. “Queen Leila, Consort Rigel.” She bowed her head to Rigel, but didn’t do anything to me.

  Seems like the Autumn fae are just as charming as their king.

  “What happened here?” I asked.

  “That is the business of the Autumn Court,” the fae said. “I should think it would be rude of us to burden you with such information.”

  I thoughtfully studied the claw marks on the castle and watched as a stone loosened and dropped from the wall. “I don’t think Fell just stumbled on the monster. It looks like it attacked the Autumn Court first. Where did it come from?”

  “Your question is rather vague—I can’t answer you for certain,” the fae said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Can we stop playing around? Fell dropped the monster in the Night Realm and announced his presence. I know the monster was in this realm and he brought it to us. So, where did the monster come from?”

  The fae folded her hands in front of her—which made me think her response was going to be useless. “I still cannot say for certain I know to which monster you are referring.”

  Yep. Useless.

  Rigel twitched the collar of Fell’s tunic, and the sagging king groaned. “It came from the south,” Rigel said. “And moved toward the castle.”

  “How can you tell?” I asked.

  Rigel pointed at the fallen trees with his free hand. “The pattern the trees fell in. They indicate the direction the monster moved in—it was clearly heading to the castle. There are signs of a fight by the castle—that’s likely where Fell opened a gate to the Night Court.”

  Huh. Does that mean Fell didn’t spawn the creature, but someone dropped it here instead?

  “Was Fell in the castle when the monster attacked?” I asked the unhelpful fae.

  She lifted her chin. “My king’s movements do not concern such a small and disrespected Court as yours.”

  The thin string of patience I had with the Autumn Court snapped. “Okay, let’s start over from the top—and this time I want some serious answers.” I kept my voice pleasant even though I activated my staff, and I let my purple magic wrap around me. “I just summoned a giant hydra to deal with the monster drudged up by your still unconscious king, so I’m not in the greatest of moods. What. Happened. Here?”

  I wasn’t a huge fan of intimidation, but I didn’t believe in letting people push you around just because they’re rude, snotty, and malicious—which seemed to be the exact description of my small sample of the Autumn Court.

  I didn’t know if it was my comment about the hydra, my magic, or Rigel slipping one of his daggers out of his bracers that inspired the previously-unhelpful fae to finally speak.

  “It appeared in the woods and came to the castle, laying waste on its way.” She swallowed and glanced at my staff.

  “And?” I prompted.

  “King Fell was in the castle. He came out with some of the soldiers and did battle with the monster. The monster…King Fell…” Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to phrase her next sentence without lying. “When the monster proved it could not be destroyed, King Fell opted to relocate it.”

  “Huh. Spoiler: you can kill it,” I said. “You just have to separate its limbs to cut it off from the magic that powers it. Or find something bigger than it to destroy it.”

  I peered up at Rigel. “You wanna drop King-Irresponsible over there and head home? I don’t think we’re going to get much more info just yet.”

  Rigel nodded.

  The fae curtsied. “If you would allow me to call for servants to tend to King Fell—”

  Rigel ignored her and casually tossed Fell, as if the tall king was a dog toy.

  Fell flew through the air and landed on the leaf-padded ground with an oomph, then rolled an extra foot or two.

  The fae stared at us in horror. “How dare you treat King Fell with such disrespect?”

  “Oh, we’ll dare as long as he keeps dumping his messes on us.” I said.

  The fae frowned and seemed like she was going to yell at us—or just me, because there was no way she was brave enough to yell at Rigel—when a shadow passed overhead.

  I had just enough time to wonder what caused the shadow, before three autumn griffins landed in the grass—their wings up and the talons on their front feet digging into the ground.

  The autumn griffins—the animal that graced the crest of the Autumn Court—were beautifully frightful. Roughly horse sized, with a seamless meld of hawk and feline grace, the griffins had the head and front legs of a hawk with the body, back paws, and tail of a lion.

  Their most stunning feature was their enormous wings, but their colorings were gorgeous, too. The one closest to me had dark brown feathers that looked like a burnt red under the sun, and had cream accents. One in the back seemed to glow orange, while the last was a meld of gold and brown.

  I love my trash griffins…but wow, seeing these autumn griffins makes me realize how adorably homely mine are.

  The orange griffin preened itself while the gold-brown griffin looked at Fell and then pointedly hopped away from him.

  The black-haired fae we’d been talking to backed up a few steps—which was not at all reassuring.

  At the same time, the burnt red griffin prowled closer to me.

  I swallowed, but did my best to smile and remain relaxed—animals always respond better to someone who is calm and chill. “Hey there,” I said. “We were just going…”

  Words died in my throat as the griffin invaded my space, his beak—orange with brushes of black—was uncomfortably close to me.

  I jumped when he lowered his head—pointing the top of it at me—then thumped it into my forehead.

  What the—

  Magic that started at my toes and bubbled up shot through me like a geyser.

  Leaves crunched under my feet, and the cool tang of the first autumn frost filled my lungs while the sensation of a crisp breeze played in my hair. The dry chuckle of leaves slapping each other teased my ears, and I could feel the days shorten.

  When the magic released me I stumbled, suddenly able to see and hear again.

  The griffin caught me, leaning in so when I flailed I smacked into its chest, feeling its sleek feathers and the downy softness of its fur.

  It was a familiar sensation—I’d experienced it with Verdant’s stag and my own night mares—but I was more than a little confused as to why the griffin had done it.

  Are they thanking me for bringing back Fell, or for taking care of the skull monster?

  I jerked away as soon as I recovered, almost bouncing into Rigel. “Thank you? That was, uh, thank you,” I babbled.

  The burnt red griffin bowed its head to me while the orange griffin glared at the black-haired fae.

  All three griffins folded their wings against their backs and then prowled into the forest, disappearing as the colored leaves camouflaged them.

  “What do you think that was about?” I asked Rigel when I could talk again.

  “It appeared to be a thanks, of a sort,” Rigel said.

  “That’s what it felt like, but why? Do crest animals frequently extend their thanks?”

  “Not as far as I know.” Rigel
glanced at the black-haired fae, who was approaching her king. “But if you still want to leave before Fell regains consciousness, I’d suggest we go.”

  “Yeah, that’s important. Let’s move out!”

  Rigel offered me his now freed arm. I took it, patted Eclipse as we passed her, and then entered the gate again, where my thoughts strayed from the griffins to the attack on the Autumn Realm.

  Why would my would-be assassins attack Fell? Unless the other monarchs have been fielding assassination attempts from this shadowy magic all along? But I would have thought they’d spill their guts at the tea party if that was true.

  My problems had just gotten a lot bigger. And as long as the other Courts were fighting, it was only going to get worse.

  “I find the entire situation troubling—and dangerous,” the Paragon announced. “A monster that essentially devours magic? Very troubling indeed.”

  “The hydra had no problem taking him down. Perhaps the key is that you have to have enough magic to overwhelm the spell that allowed the monster to feed on magic,” Indigo pointed out.

  The Paragon shivered, nearly jarring Aphrodite from where she was draped over his shoulders. “Ew. The hydra. I would prefer not to dwell upon such a creature—we do not wish for it to stir again.”

  “He—they? Whatever, the hydra helped when we needed it,” Lord Linus said.

  “Indeed,” King Solis said. “And it returned to sleep willingly. I believe the creature is to be commended—preferably without reawakening it.”

  I fussed with my dessert plate—today Indigo had made unicorn cupcakes and gingerbread cookies decorated like Star Wars characters—turning it in a slow circle as I thought.

  We were seated in one of the mansion’s dining rooms—yes, the gaudy place had more than one—and had been discussing the monster since Chase read Solis and the Paragon into the situation about half an hour ago.

  We hadn’t gotten very far, mainly because we had so little to go on. The Paragon had busted into the Autumn Realm, but Fell hadn’t told him much more than his crabby citizen told Rigel and me.

  The skull monster came out of the woods and attacked the palace. Fell and his people couldn’t fight it off. Rather than call for help, he decided to be a twerp and lure it into the Night Realm.