“Annwyl,” Kenzie said, stepping around me. “What’s going on? Are you hurt?”
“No,” Annwyl replied, looking up at us. “I’m...well, I’m not fine, but this isn’t about me.” She brushed back her hair and sighed. “I apologize, Ethan, Kenzie. I know this is unexpected, and I didn’t mean to barge in. But I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. It’s...about Keirran.”
A chill ran through me. “What’s happened to Keirran?”
“I don’t know,” the Summer girl whispered. She looked tired, worried and frightened. “I haven’t seen him. Not since...that night.”
“How did you even get in here?” I asked, frowning. “The whole house is warded, not to mention all the deterrents outside. Not that I was trying to keep you out, but I make pretty sure no fey can get in unless I want them to.”
Annwyl fidgeted, nervously brushing back her hair. “The protective charms and wards around your house are quite good, but they are also very old. I’ve seen them before, back when my sisters and I still accompanied the Summer Queen to the mortal realm. Lady Titania was very good at finding loopholes in the protective wards. I learned from her.”
Well, damn. I was going to have to find some new anti-fey charms. Something that would deter even the sidhe of the Summer and Winter courts. Less plants and more iron, maybe. It made me think, though. Should I be concerned about Annwyl? She was so unassuming and quiet, easy to overlook. But she was an ageless Summer sidhe, just like Titania and the most infamous faery of the Seelie Court, Robin Goodfellow. I knew that if Puck wanted to get into a house, no anti-faery charm in the world would stop him short of building the whole place out of iron. And even then, he’d probably find a way. Annwyl might not be on that same level, but the fact that she’d gotten around my wards and into my room was proof that she was more than she appeared.
“I am sorry, Ethan Chase,” Annwyl went on, perhaps sensing my unease. “I did not mean to alarm you. I would have waited for you outside, but—” she shivered “—the Thin Man was coming, and I had to get somewhere safe.”
I jerked up. Annwyl saw my reaction and wrapped her arms around herself, looking frightened. “I don’t know what he wants, or even what he is,” she said. “I think he might be a Forgotten, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him. He was waiting for me at the trod to Leanansidhe’s when I went to find you. I would have come sooner, but when I left the Between, the Thin Man came after me, so I ran back to Leanansidhe’s mansion and used another trod to the mortal realm. Perhaps he is also looking for Keirran and hoped I would lead him to the Iron Prince.” She frowned and lowered her arms, her voice taking on a faint edge. “He would be disappointed.”
Everyone was looking for Keirran, it seemed. And now I had another faery nuisance hanging around my home, waiting for Annwyl. Great. “So, you don’t know where he is, either,” I said. She shook her head.
“No. But he sent me this.” She held out a roll of paper, tied with a blue ribbon. Her hand trembled as I took it and unrolled the note, which was handwritten in neat, simple black lines.
Annwyl,
Forgive me for not giving this news to you in person. But my parents know about us now, and Leanansidhe’s mansion would be the first place they would look. If the rulers of Mag Tuiredh come to you asking about me, it’s better that you don’t know where I am. That would be best for everyone.
I don’t care what the courts say; I cannot stand by and watch you Fade from existence, knowing what I do now. One way or another, I will stop this. If I have to search the world over, I won’t stop until I find something to keep you here. The price doesn’t matter; I’ll do whatever it takes. I think you know by now that I love you, and even if we can’t be together, I will accept that, if I know you’re alive and well. It will kill me, but I can let you go if I know that you’re out there somewhere, living, dancing, smiling your beautiful smile.
You’re always in my thoughts, Annwyl. Please try to endure until I return.
Your prince,
—Keirran
I lowered the note, handing it to Kenzie, and looked at Annwyl in alarm. “What’s Keirran up to?” I asked, studying the faery on my bed. She looked down as tiny yellow flowers began unfurling from the vines coiled around my bedposts. “What’s going on, Annwyl?”
“I didn’t want him to go,” Annwyl said, closing her eyes. “I don’t want him making deals, putting himself in danger, for me. It’s too late. There’s nothing he can do, now that it’s started.”
“What has started?”
Annwyl took a deep breath and opened her eyes to look at me. “I’m Fading, Ethan Chase,” she said. “Whatever the Forgotten did to me when I was with them, I think it accelerated the process. I can’t remember...a lot of things now.” She gestured to the vines on my bed, startling the moth into taking flight. “I can’t control this anymore. I’m honestly not trying to turn your room into a forest.” Shivering, she closed her eyes. “But worst of all, sometimes I’ll blank out, and when I come to, hours will have passed and I can’t remember anything. Like I’m not there anymore.”
Kenzie looked horrified. “You’re dying?” she whispered, but Annwyl shook her head.
“Faeries don’t really die,” she answered. “We can be killed, but our ‘death’ is more of a vanishing from existence. Nothing is left behind. For exiles cut off from the Nevernever, we just...fade away.”
“And there’s nothing you can do?” Kenzie asked.
Annwyl shook her head. “The Between normally slows the process a great deal, that’s why it’s a haven for exiles, but it’s not working for me anymore. Once the Fade starts, nothing can stop it, except returning to the Nevernever. And that’s not an option. Titania herself would have to lift my banishment, and we all know how likely that is.”
“So Keirran is trying to find a way to stop it,” I mused, and Annwyl nodded. Well, at least we knew what he was doing, even if we didn’t know where he was. “But why come here?” I asked. “What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know.” The Summer faery covered her face; she seemed on the verge of tears. “I’ve just...I’ve tried everything else. Everyone else. I even tried to contact Grimalkin, but he’s vanished, too. Or he’s not answering me.”
“What about Leanansidhe? She has a whole network of minions. If anyone could find him, she could.”
“She’s been trying. After a visit from the Prince Consort of Mag Tuiredh, she’s had her people out looking for him, too, but no one can track him down.”
The Prince Consort of Mag Tuiredh meant Ash. Both Ash and Meghan were out looking for Keirran, and they probably had others scouring the Nevernever for him, too. After I told Meghan about Keirran’s promise to the Forgotten Queen, it wasn’t surprising.
“A place where the fey come together to deal, sell and make bargains,” Annwyl replied. “You can find almost anything there, if you know where to look.”
“So, a faery black market.”
“Pretty much,” I said. “They’re all over the place, and they sell almost anything for the right price. If I were trying to find something without being asked too many questions, that’s where I would go.”
“So, we need to find a goblin market?”
“It’s not that easy,” I told her, still scanning the list. “You can’t just walk into one. Most goblin markets move around or are only in a particular spot at a particular time. Even if Keirran is hitting the goblin markets, I don’t know where to find...” I trailed off as my gaze rested on one of the market locations. Dammit. Of course this would happen now, just when my life was starting to be normal.