drivel about honor for even one more day.
Maybe not, Killian replied dryly. But I’m not sure how you intend to become queen. I have it on good authority that Flynn is in love with someone else.
Morgan took a step toward him. I am an ancient being, and I will be the hundredth ruler of Tuatha Dé Danann, even if it means murdering you, your brothers, your little banshee, and every other person who stands in my way. She laughed that creepy laugh again. I didn’t want to do this the hard way, but I will. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.
As if on cue, at least a dozen portals opened, and leaders from Tuatha and the neighboring kingdoms stepped out of them.
“Surrender, Morgan.” Flynn said, taking the lead. “There’s nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.”
Slumping her shoulders, she smiled prettily at the men and women now surrounding her. “I don’t know what you mean. Your brothers have clearly lost their minds if they think I’ve done anything wrong.”
“Give it up,” one of the men from Emain Ablach said. “We all heard everything. You murdered the king and attempted to do the same to Prince Killian.”
Her head snapped back in surprise. Seeming to finally understand that she was well and truly caught, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I only did what I had to. I deserve to be queen of Tuatha Dé Danann.”
Closing her eyes, a look of calm came over her before the magical restraints around her wrists cracked and fell away. “See? None of you have magic that can rival mine.” She sneered at Flynn. “Especially you.”
Morgan lifted her hands, but before any magic could fly from her fingertips, Flynn and Ronan struck her simultaneously. Unlike Ronan’s earlier shield, this one was visible, as though looking through a bubble. She tried to speak, but no sound came out. Her hands moved, but no portal or defensive magic appeared. She was helpless.
Finally.
Killian appeared by my side and wrapped me in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in all of this.”
I stared up into his fathomless blue eyes shimmering with gold. It’s not your fault.
Staring at my collar, he said, “We need to get this off of you.”
I smiled. Yes, please.
He sighed, the perpetual fatigue that had been clinging to him for the last few weeks seeming to disappear. “It’s finally over.”
How did you and Ronan pull it off? I couldn’t resist asking. If Morgan truly was The Morrígan, she was more powerful than the three princes put together.
He grinned down at me. “We tapped into the power of the trees. I read about former contestants doing so in one of those books I read.”
I smiled back at him. Holy smartypants was right.
With Killian’s arms wrapped around me, we watched as a portal opened and the warden of Nightmare Penitentiary himself stepped through it, followed by at least a dozen guards. The collar at my neck clicked and I braced myself for pain.
But it never came.
Chains magically fastened to Morgan’s waist, wrists, and ankles, and the collar I’d worn—the collar that had been a sign of my stolen voice and stolen freedom—appeared around her throat.
And I smiled.
Imogen
Morgan opened her mouth, probably to scream and curse, and the collar blasted her. I’d never seen it on another person, so I stared in shock as she writhed on the ground. The warden—a man who’d enjoyed hurting me—didn’t once glance at me. Instead, he kept his gaze on Morgan.
Next to me, Ronan made a move as if to follow the warden, but I stopped him. “There’ll be time for that later.” I didn’t have it in me to seek revenge. Killian was alive. Flynn was king. And Ronan had broken into the prison to get me.
We had way too much to celebrate and all the time in the world to right the wrongs I’d suffered in NP.
“Killian.” The portal closed, and we turned to face Flynn. His face was serious, but his eyes sparkled as he approached his oldest brother. “You were born to rule Tuatha, and I want you to take the throne.”
Killian stared at him, swallowing hard. He glanced at me and Ronan before shaking his head. “Flynn. I might have been raised to do it, but you were meant for it. You prevailed in the King’s Tournament, and I have no doubt you’re the leader we need.
“I won’t take the throne. It’s yours, and it will stay yours.”
“Your brother is right.”