“Right. Well. Um. I know why that is, that’s the problem, and it’s not that I don’t, uh, appreciate the offer, it’s also that your plans to wipe out all of Earth…”
Valroy laughed again. It was shockingly kind, even if it was abitlike the laugh an adult gives a child when they say something particularly stupid, if harmless. He let go of her wrist but settled his hand on her shoulder instead. “Oh, Ava. That is not a fight for you to wage. Or a barricade for you to hold. You must worry about extricating yourself from this dilemma that others have placed you in. The Spider lured you into the Web. None of this was byyourdoing. None of this wasyourchoice.”
That was true. Serrik had started this.
“And all you have seen here,all of it,has been nothing but the dregs of my people.” He gestured aimlessly around him. “Hardly providing you a fair assessment by which to judge.”
“I mean, just to be clear, I don’twantto help Serrik kill everybody. If there was a way out of this, I’m all for that. I just don’t know if—if—” She shut her eyes.
“Look at me, Ava.” With shocking tenderness, he turned her face to him. “It needn’t be this way. You needn’t suffer so. Reject this—all of this. This war is not yours.” His smile was suddenly cheeky and a little lopsided. “My wife does a plenty good job of reigning me in on her own.”
It all suddenly felt so hopeless. All of it. What hope did she have, standing up to someone like the creature in front of her? Or Serrik? She had no business getting in between them. Her shoulders slumped.
She was just Ava Cole.
A human.
A very tired human, who got mixed up in the wrong things.
She shouldn’tbehere.
These creatures were basically demigods.
“The spider is manipulating you. Making you dance upon his threads. That is what he does best. And in you, he has a real chance of success. You are dangerous, Ava Cole. No one has ever been forced to intercede until now.” Valroy chuckled, as if that were some kind of compliment. “You will be a delight amongst the Din’Glai.”
“The what?”
“The Moonlit Court, dear.” He turned from her and started walking toward the other side of the room. With a gesture of his hand, a portal in space—a literalportal—tore open in front of him, swirling wide. He was still holding the key.
On the other side was a forest, bathed in moonlight, shimmering. It was beautiful. It looked…peaceful. And not like a twisted nightmare landscape of fucked-up horrors.
King Valroy turned to face her, and held a hand out to her. “Come with me, Ava Cole, to Tir n’Aill. Be forever free of the spider’s machinations. I will even let you bring that cowering little thing at your back, if you wish.”
She took a step toward the portal.
“Ava.”Serrik’s voice came from behind her, pushing into the waking world. She’d only seen him do it once before, when she first took the book from Gregor.
She cringed.
“You cannot trust him. You must not go!”
“I can’t trust you, either,” she muttered under her breath. “And he hasn’t fucked me over at least twice so far.”
“He calls to you. Beckons to you.” Valroy laughed. “Ofcoursehe does. Because he fears he will lose you, Ava. He knows that once you leave here, you will never have a reason to return. You will see the hospitality and generosity of my kind for what it is and see that he is wrong!”
That was a good point. She hesitated. “Will I be free to leave Tir-butt-fuckery if I want to? Whenever I want to? No contracts, no nothing?”
Valroy huffed a laugh. “Modern women and your language. I fear you and Alex will get alongswimmingly.Void be kind upon the rest of us. Ava, my dear—do you not realize what has happened to you?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I haven’t been given a lot of details. And what I have been given, I can’t trust.”
“Well, my sweet abomination.” He grinned viciously. “I am not sure if you will receive this as good news or not—but soon, no one could stop you from leaving Tir n’Aill if they tried.”
Ava blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Hm. Have they all been telling you that you have to finish unlocking the prison door to complete your transformation into the vessel of the Web?” In the perfect insultingly-fake-innocent tone, he gestured aimlessly up at the mirrored shard he was still holding in the talon of the wing. “I wonder why they would all lie to you about that. Odd…”
“Wait—what?”
