“You can have my life,” Devlin interrupted. He put himself back in front of Bananach. “You can have my allegiance if you stop this.”

“You. You betrayed me. You took her, hid her. Why?” Bananach looked devastated. “You were my own. Our child…” She lunged at Ani with two bone knives—one in each hand now—as she spoke.

Irial shoved Ani to the side, and Bananach drove both knives hilt-deep into his stomach. Instead of falling, though, he stayed upright between Ani and Bananach, keeping his body as a barrier to reaching Ani.

“Iri!” Ani screamed. She wanted to go around him, to launch herself at the raven-faery, but to do so belittled the sacrifice Irial had made. He’d taken the wound that was to be hers, and she wasn’t about to ignore that in order to satisfy her own rage.

Not now at least.

Devlin grabbed Bananach and pulled her away from Irial and Ani. She didn’t resist as he held her to him. Instead, she released the knives, sliding her hands over the white bone and letting Irial’s blood coat it.

Only then did Irial move. Now that Bananach was contained, he stepped backward. Niall caught him and lowered him to the ground at Ani’s side. Irial’s characteristic grace was absent; instead, he moved with almost mortal clumsiness as he tried not to jar the blades that pierced his abdomen.

The abyss-guardians that clung to both the former Dark King and the current one suddenly stood like warriors in the room. Ani had never seen so many of the shadowy figures. The entire room seemed populated with them. Steady flames of darkness formed an impenetrable wall of shadows encircling the Dark Kings—and Ani.

War smiled at them from the other side of the black wall, and behind her, Devlin, Seth, and Gabriel fought the Ly Ergs.

Inside their shadow fortress, Niall knelt beside Irial and pulled back the shredded shirt that covered Irial’s wounds. “Iri…” He looked like he was in as much pain as Irial.

“Hush.” Irial reached down and yanked out the first knife. Blood spurted from the wound, and Irial let out a small grunt of pain.

“Hold on for—” Niall started, but Irial had already taken hold of the second one and pulled it free as well.

In Irial’s hand was a bloodied hilt: the blade itself was missing.

“Left hand for poison. Not solid now.” Irial turned his head and smiled at Ani. “Not your fault, pup.”

“Iri…” She dropped to the floor. “We need… you can’t…”

“Devlin’s what you need. Go with him.” Irial looked away from her then. His gaze was only for Niall. “Trust yourself. I…” His words faded as a spasm of pain shook him.

Niall pulled off his own shirt and pressed it to the bleeding gashes. “You’ll be fine. Just—”

“No. Listen.” Irial wrapped his hand around Niall’s wrist. They seemed to forget that there were others in the room, that War was there, that a battle waited outside their shadowy barrier.

Irial kept his hand on Niall’s wrist and whispered, “Wish I hadn’t been king when we met.”

“Iri—”

“Get them gone. Safe. Not here.” Irial let go of Niall and pulled himself away. “You too. Get out of here. Now.”

The expressions that crossed Niall’s face were ones Ani didn’t dare name, but she tasted everything. Irial wasn’t the only one wishing things had been different. Hoping they still could be. The Dark King stood. Niall’s softness was only for Irial—and Irial had asked him to repress that tenderness. The shadows in the room shuddered as Niall crossed the barrier that they’d formed.

Ani started to stand, but Irial took her hand in his. “Not yet.”

Niall was every bit the King of Nightmares in that moment. The rage that played under the edge of his emotions welled up like black tar. Ani thought she would choke on it—the loss, the fury, the vengeance. Here was the true Dark King.

“Twice now you’ve struck what is mine.” Niall bit the words off as he stalked toward Bananach. “The girl Tish was mine to keep safe. Irial is mine.”

“Was,” Bananach pronounced. “He’ll not survive the fortnight. He knows it.”

A roar filled the room as Niall gave voice to the rage and grief that they’d all felt. He punched Bananach, shoved spikes of dark light into her skin. “You do not hurt what is mine.”

She stayed motionless, said nothing.

Niall didn’t look away from her as he spoke. “Leave here. Leave Ani alone. You are banished.”

Bananach tilted her head, looking inhuman, but her words were calm. “War cannot be banished. You know that, Gancanagh. You aren’t going to win. One by one, you lose. I grow strong as you fall.”

Niall didn’t take his attention from Bananach. “You gave me a vow of fealty. I could kill you for—”

“No, you couldn’t,” Bananach crowed. “My betrayer told you. Sorcha will die, and then all of you will die. Kill me, and I still win. Is the little Hound worth it? Is your anger over Irial reason enough?”

Then Gabriel’s voice whispered inside Ani’s mind: Go to Faerie.

Ani looked up and saw her father in the doorway to the kitchen with Rabbit and Seth. They were opening a path for her exit.

Ani, Gabriel snarled inside her. Get them out of here.

She felt it then: the Hunt was here. The Hounds filled the too-small house.

Now, Gabriel added.

Seth, Devlin, and Rabbit weren’t making much progress against the Ly Ergs, but they were keeping the tide from reaching her and Irial.