Chapter 247: Gatekeeper Required
The moment the Gate's power released the seal between worlds, I threw my power at it and created my own.
I think I was more shocked it worked than I was relieved.
They were clearly visible, the horde of the Sluagh, pressing against my magic, already worming their way to the edges, looking for a break, a chink in my armor, a place I was weak. But with Liam's Keeper blood tied to the barrier I'd erected, the Gate responded by welcoming my shield and feeding it with its own magic.
For now.
"Now what?" His voice was a little high-pitched, palm sweating in mine.
I wished I had a clue. "Galleytrot, we need Fergus!"
The faces of the Unseelie gathered behind the barrier were coming into view. I wanted to look away, afraid of what I might see. But Shaylee forced me to focus, to look on her people, and I realized then that as evil as we humans might perceive them to be, they were beautiful to her.
Large, as big as bears some of them, larger, with distorted features and patches of hair hanging from their misshapen bodies. Claws on one massive hand while a perfectly formed human hand hung from the other monstrous arm. Small, almost tiny were others, bits of fluff and sparkle, with eyes looking so human I wanted to weep for the unfairness of their existence.
A few of the Seelie stood among them, tall, achingly beautiful, flawless in their perfection on the outside, while inside their souls and magic were as alien as the Unseelie. I held my ground, my vision wavering from time to time as tears rose and fell in a nearly steady stream.
When he appeared, making his way between the others to come to the front of the group, I felt my heart wrench in agony at his perfection. More, the aching sadness Shaylee felt at the sight of his flawless, ageless face forced a choking sob from my lips.
He stood there, shining silver hair flowing around his shoulders, eyes the greenest I'd ever seen seeming to peer into my very heart. One of his hands lifted with the utmost grace, gestured for me to come closer. I did, Liam clinging to me as I approached, halting only a nose from the shield I'd created, so close I could study the poreless satin of his skin, the emeralds of his eyes.
"Shaylee," he said, voice reaching through the barrier like a caress. "Your Highness, well met."
"Thalion, Prince," Shaylee said. "Well met."
Thalion de Danu, Prince of the Seelie, bowed his head to me, silver strands of his flowing hair sliding over each other like a waterfall of moonlight. "I had never hoped to see you again, my Princess."
Shaylee recoiled slightly from the term, but I didn't have time to figure out why.
"I need your help." It was me asking, and I'm sure he knew it, but the Prince just nodded.
"The Gate must not remain open," he said. His eyes drifted to Liam who trembled beside me. "Gatekeeper, why have you failed us?"
"It's not his fault." I quickly told the Prince what happened, the Unseelie involvement. Even the horde at the Gate seemed to retreat slightly as Thalion's rage sparked and his magic flared against them at the sound of Venemeth's name. Most collapsed at his side, begging and groveling for his forgiveness.
"This must not be." Even the deep scowl and his anger could not erase his absolute beauty. He stared for a long moment at Fergus, at Galleytrot. "Can you not heal the Gatekeeper, hound?"
"I cannot, my Prince," Galleytrot said. The weariness was more pronounced, the rumble of his earth magic fading. "He dies from the taint of Unseelie power."
"We aren't prepared to make the realms one again," Thalion said, "least of all at the hand of the traitor, Venemeth." A sorrow so great crossed his face and I started crying again. "You will pursue him, then?"
"I will," Shaylee hissed around my sadness, "though it take me my lifetime or my second chance at life, I will see the evil one dead."
"There are so few Gates left." Thalion paused, troubled. "But the rules must be obeyed. They are all that keep us from destruction." His eyes lifted, held mine. "There is a way to end this, Shaylee, to reseal the Gate. But it comes with a price."
Galleytrot grunted suddenly, at the same moment Shaylee sighed in my head. Of course. Tricky Sidhe. There was always a price.
"It must happen tonight," Thalion went on, "before dawn lights the land over this Gate."
"And the price, my Prince?" If Shaylee already knew, she wasn't filling me in.
Instead of answering right away, he reached out, fingertips brushing over the barrier. "Your mother and father will be pleased to know your spirit survived," he said. "As am I. I shall bring word to them, to prepare them for your return, after all this time."
The price. Shaylee understood before I did, though I wasn't that far behind her, about in line with my demon. We all protested in one great surge of power driving Thalion back from the barrier, away from the combination of our magics.
"I must hunt the evil one." Shaylee's voice snarled out between my lips, the Prince clearly as startled by our power as he was her sudden fearlessness. "My place is here."
"And yet," Thalion said, "that is the price. To seal the Gate, to return the balance, power must replace power, Sidhe spent, Sidhe returned. You must cross over, Shaylee. You must come home."
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