The world around me slows, then grinds to a halt in a surreal stillness.
Roaring from the immense effort, I summon every ounce of my magic to bend to my will, directing the events that unfolded within the past ten minutes to undo themselves.
Things begin to rewind, slowly at first, then quicker. Shock registers on Edevane’s face as the spear is ripped from his hand, reversing its deadly path through Finn’s now upright body and flying back to him.
He struggles to hold onto it, but he’s no longer the one in control. It flies out of his grip again. Dmitri rises, his wound healing as if by magic as soon as the spear has gone through him backwards. Again, and Conall and Connor repeat their attack on Edevane in reverse until they’re back in place on either side of us.
And, finally, I watch with relief as my mother’s eyes open. She lifts back up to a kneeling position like she was when we arrived, but I hold on a little longer, my muscles vibrating as I approach my limits. Once she’s standing and the damage to her wings has been undone, I stop the backward motion and hit pause, locking time temporarily, which is much easier to hold.
Now it’s just me and him. Exactly how I wanted it.
The scene is reset.
Except, this time, the Spear of Assal is in my hand.
Edevane blusters, his face reddening again as he looks from my hand, to his, to everyone he killed standing hale and hearty, if momentarily statuesque. He glares at me accusingly as though I’ve performed a magic trick that he can’t make sense of, denying its possibility out of pure stubbornness.
The One True Power is a blazing river that flows freely through my veins now. It no longer feels like an unnatural stowaway that needs to be contained. I’m at peace with it, ready to use it for the good of Faerie and her people.
After I use it for this one bad thing first. “Hey, Edevane, guess what time it is.”
“You bi—”
“Time to kill a king.”
I snap my fingers and flames of neon violet instantly engulf the Light King, giving him no warning or time to counter.
He screams as he’s consumed by the inferno of the Dragon’s Breath, the magic he used to trap me and Finn with the intention of drowning us.
Then I whisper the command and throw Lugh’s legendary weapon, adding insult to the already fatal injury as it buries itself in Edevane’s chest.
I don’t bother calling it back to me. Instead, I let it suffer the same fate, so that neither can hurt anyone ever again.
I wait the few minutes until there’s nothing left but ashes scattering in the wind. Then I release time to march forward once again.
As the world snaps back to the moment before it all went wrong, I watch as those I love blink back to life, confusion and relief mingling on their faces. Finn, Dmitri, Conall, Connor, and my mother all look around, their eyes widening as they realize the horrors of the past few minutes have been erased.
“Taryn…” Finn’s gaze locks onto mine. I’ve never been so glad to see those golden pools as I am in this moment. We crash together, my arms wrapping around his neck as his band around my waist and lift me against him. “How?” he asks, his voice a mixture of awe and disbelief.
“I finally believed in myself,” I whisper, my voice trembling with the enormity of what I’ve just accomplished.
“I’m so fucking in awe of you, you know that?” Setting me down, he gives me a brief kiss, then glances past me. “I think your brother might punch me if I don’t let him talk to you. Go on, little sun, then hurry back,” he says with a grin.
I spin around and launch myself at Dmitri. “Thank Brigid, you’re okay.”
“No, moy sever, thank you. I did not like leaving you,” he says, his voice thick with emotion.
Stepping out of his embrace, I give him a watery smile. “Me either. What do you say we never go through that again, okay?”
He sniffs and pulls his shoulders back, composing himself. “I say it is a good plan.”
A cold nose on my arm brings me around to face Connor and Conall. “Man, am I glad to see you guys are okay. Mission’s over. Aren’t you going to shift back?”
They both sit on their haunches, their gigantic heads still level with my chest. Finn steps in at my side. “They’ll be too weak to shift from all the exertion of the battle and then running as far as they did. Once they rest and get something to eat, they’ll be good as new. Right, furballs?”
Twin sets of golden eyes narrow at their friend as they bare their teeth and growl. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just jealous,” I say. I start to reach out my hands but stop. “Is it insulting to pet you? I’m not sure what the— Oh!”
Both wolves stand and rub the tops of their heads against my palms. Laughing, I get into it and start scratching them behind the ears, ignoring the gross reason their fur is matted and darker than normal. They nuzzle against me, their silent gratitude palpable.
“All right, that’s enough. Go jump in a lake, both of you,” Finn says, pulling me away from them. “No, seriously. Either you go wash off in a lake or we give you baths, your choice.”
I don’t know if wolves have the ability to look offended, but Connor and Conall manage to pull it off. Then they take off in a lope, presumably to take care of their own bathing needs.
“Taryn.”
The regal tone snap my back straight, as though I’m an adolescent all over again. Turning, I face my mother as she approaches, so gracefully she appears to float even without using her wings. She stops in front of me and pauses, a well of emotions between us that neither of us know how to breach.
“Mother,” I say, my voice unsteady.
Finally, she takes the final step to close the gap and folds me into her embrace. I’m frozen briefly, stunned by the rare show of affection from the female who was more often my queen than a doting mother.
But then the shock wears off, and I wrap my arms around her, leaning into her embrace and this moment for as long as they last.
The weight of centuries of unspoken words and unresolved feelings begins to lift. There’s a hint of reverence in her words as she speaks to me in Faerish. “You saved us. You saved Faerie. I have never been prouder. Thank you, daughter.”
She pulls back, her hands dropping to clasp in her usual pose, but the emotion in her gaze remains and mirrors my own—a mixture of pride, love, and a shared understanding of the burden I now carry.
The magnitude of possessing the One True Power no longer frightens me, but as my gaze returns to the ashes of Edevane and the spear scattering in the wind, the weight of responsibility that comes with it settles heavily on my shoulders.
