Midnight End

16

He lifted his piercing eyes to gaze at me through his thick lashes. “Some would say you are evil.” His words made my chest ache, which only made me angry. There was no room in my world for sentimental weakness. “Sometimes it takes evil to fight evil.” “And what evil is it that you fight? Guin?” I kept my eyes locked on his without an ounce of doubt or regret. “Yes.” “I’m going to need more than that, Morgan. Tell me why she’s evil.” I absently picked up a small stone and tossed it toward a nearby tree. “That right there is precisely what makes her so terrifying—the fact none of you see it. If everyone knew what she was capable of, maybe they wouldn’t follow her like mindless sheep,” I spat with frustration. “Like what? Tell me what she’s capable of doing.” Where did I begin? Should I even bother? She had them all so fooled, I doubted telling him anything would change his opinion of her. None of the others I told in the past believed me, why would he be any different? He’d probably just add ‘liar’ to my list of shining commendations. And yet, the words bubbled up inside me like a geyser. I gave up caring what anyone thought of me long ago, but for some godforsaken reason, I cared what Knight thought. I didn’t want him to see me as a monster. Most likely, I was setting myself up for disappointment, but I took in a deep breath and let the words flow out of me to release the intense pressure. “Back when I still lived in Avalon, I fell in love with a man.” No matter how softly I spoke the words, they boomed in my ears with a deafening force. It wasn’t the actual sounds themselves but the brutal affect they had on my heart as they took shape and became real. “When Guin discovered our relationship, she exiled the man to Earth. She had been intimate with him before our relationship, and although their time together ended many months before, she was a jealous woman. Their tryst had not ended well, and she didn’t want anyone else to capture the man’s heart. The exile was particularly harsh on the man because he had already been cast out of the Hunt for his relationship with Guin, so her sentence was doubly painful. Now, he could not live in Faery, nor was he a part of his brotherhood. He was sent off, alone.” “Is that Lancelot you’re talking about?” My lips lifted with the hint of a smile. “I see I’m not the only one you’ve heard rumors about over the years.” He angled his head back to rest against the tree, keeping his golden eyes trained on me. “Yeah, I’ve heard all types of rumors. One of which was the story of you tricking Lancelot into sleeping with you to lure him away from Guin.” My shoulders curved in to ease the ache in my chest caused by the ugly accusation. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it, and doubtless, it would not be the last. I wished his words had not affected me, but it had been too painful a memory not to trigger the emotions. Knowing how keenly observant Knight was, I had no doubt he had noticed my change in posture. “I’m familiar with that rumor as well,” I conceded, my eyes landing anywhere but on his. “It wasn’t true. I have no proof, so you’ll just have to decide for yourself whether you believe me.” “If you loved him, why didn’t you follow him to Earth?” “I didn’t learn about his sentence until weeks later. When I did, I confronted Guin. She exiled me to the Wilds. By the time I found a way onto Earth, it had been years. I used spells to help me locate him, and each time, the result was the same. He was dead.” I paused with the remembered pain of losing yet another piece of my heart. At the time, the grief had been immeasurable—it was still there in the form of a hollow pit in my stomach. So much loss in one lifetime. Some days, I wondered if it would ever stop haunting me. Others, I relished the pain because it was all I had left of them. “Anyway,” I said as I stood and wiped the dirt from my bottom and legs. “I know it’s just one small example, but there’s more to what she did to me than I can say. Plus, I know I’m not the sole victim of her cruelty. She has a habit of removing anyone who opposes her and destroying all evidence of her wrongdoings. Guin is wholly self-serving and without empathy. She is calculating, devious, and utterly heartless. She doesn’t deserve to live, let alone rule over the lives of others.” “I thought your goal was to get the cauldron. How does killing Guin play into that?” “My primary goal is the cauldron. Until now, I believed the only way to get on Seelie Lands and acquire the cauldron was to kill Guin so her wards would fall. The two goals were entwined.” “And now that you’re here without having to kill Guin, does that mean you will no longer attempt to kill her?” I could hear it in his voice; he would still defend her. I gave him an icy glare. “I will do what’s best for the Seelie people.” After a tense silence, Knight rose and resumed leading the way through the dense undergrowth. “So, you still want to kill the queen over the death of a man that happened centuries ago?” “What? No! Did you even listen to anything I said?” “I heard you,” he said as he stepped into a small clearing. “You hate Guin for stealing the love of your life.” I bellowed a groan of frustration and shoved at Knight’s back, barely budging the hulking male. “I can’t help it if you’re too dense to understand.” He turned around, eyes narrowed. “You’re just like all the other pea-brained idiots out there.” I shoved his chest, and he took a step back as I continued. “You believe every little bird that whispers in your ear.” Shove. “And you never think to question authority because it’s just easier.” Shove. “But I see the truth.” Shove. “Guin is rotten to the core, and I. Will. Take. Her. Throne.” Shove, shove, shove, shove. With my last shove, I whipped around and began to pace, needing an escape for my furious energy. I didn’t care that Knight gaped at me like I’d gone mad. I was too angry that he was just the same as everyone else. My gut had told me to explain myself to him, but it had been pointless. He only saw the parts he wanted to see and discarded the rest. Crazy, pathetic Morgan and her personal vendetta against the perfect Faery Queen. “What the f**k?” called out Knight with an edge that instantly caught my attention. I spun his direction and stilled as I witnessed Knight slowly sinking into the ground. Pockets of air bubbled up from the quicksand-like dirt that was already rising to his knees. He attempted to lift a leg to step away, but the motion only sank him further into the soil. “Knight, stop playing around. Get out of there,” I hissed anxiously.