The Iron Princeâmy nephewâbetrayed us all.
He killed me.
Then, I woke up.
Waking after a month on the brink of death, Ethan Chase is stunned to learn that the Veil that conceals the fey from human sight was temporarily torn away. Although humankindâs glimpse of the world of Faery lasted just a brief moment, the human world was cast into chaos, and the emotion and glamour produced by fear and wonder has renewed the tremendous power of the Forgotten Queen. Now she is at the forefront of an uprising against the courts of Faeryâa reckoning that will have cataclysmic effects on the Nevernever.
Leading the Ladyâs Forgotten Army is Keirran himself: Ethanâs nephew, and the traitor son of the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase.To stop Keirran, Ethan must disobey his sister once again as he and his girlfriend, Kenzie, search for answers long forgotten. In the face of unprecedented evil and unfathomable power, Ethanâs enemies must become his allies, and the fey and human worlds will be changed forevermore.
Praise for internationally bestselling author
Julie Kagawa
âKatniss Everdeen better watch out.â
â Huffington Post on The Immortal Rules
âJulie Kagawa is one killer storytellerâ
â MTV
âA book that will keep its readers glued to the pages until the very end.â
âNew York Journal of Books
âKagawa pulls her readers into a unique world of make-believe with her fantastic storytelling, and ultimately leaves them wanting more by the end of each book.â
âTimes Record News
âKagawa has done the seemingly impossible and written a vampire book ⦠that feels fresh in an otherwise crowded genre.â
âKirkus Reviews on The Immortal Rules
âAn intense and thought-provoking series.â
â School Library Journal on The Eternity Cure
âSurpasses the greater majority of dark fantasiesâ
âteenreads.com
CHAPTER TWO
WAKING UP
The dream always ends the same.
Iâm in my room again. Or, maybe itâs my sisterâs room or a strangerâs. I canât tell. There are photos on the wall I donât recognize, pictures of a family that isnât mine. But the desk is mine, I think. The bed and the chair and the computer are mine. Thereâs a figure sleeping on the bed, long chestnut hair spilling over the pillow. Iâm trying to move about silently, so that I donât wake her, though I canât remember why sheâs here, in my room. If this is my room.
Whoeverâs room this is, itâs dark. I can hear rain pattering on the tin roof overhead, and the distant squeals of the pigs in the shed outside. Dad wanted me to feed them today; itâs going to suck tromping out there in the rain and mud. I told him I would feed them when the rain lets up. Truthfully, I donât want to go outside in the dark. I know it is out there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for me. Iâve seen it in the mirror, reflected in the glass: a tall, thin silhouette at my bedroom window, peering in. Sometimes, from the corner of my eye, I think I see long black fingers reaching out from under the bed. But when I turn and look, thereâs nothing there.
My phone buzzes on the desk. I let it ring, feeling my stomach knot and twist as the phone vibrates on the surface.
âWhy donât you answer?â the brown-haired girl asks, now sitting up on my bed. Her green eyes seem to glow in the darkness.
âBecause sheâll be angry with me,â I reply. âI left her. I promised to come back, but I left her alone. She wonât let me get away with that.â
The phone falls silent. Voices echo from downstairsâmy parents, telling me itâs time for dinner. I look at the chestnut-haired girl again, only itâs not her any longer, but Meghan, sitting on her bed, her long hair pale and silvery in the shadows of the room. Sheâs smiling down at me, and Iâm four years old, hugging my stuffed rabbit to my chest.
âGo get dinner, squirt,â Meghan says gently. Sheâs still smiling, though I can see the tears on her face, creeping down her cheeks. âTell Mom and Luke I donât feel well right now. But come back when youâre done, and Iâll read to you, okay?â
ââKay,â I answer, and pad to the door while clutching Floppy tightly in one arm. I wonder why sheâs crying, and if thereâs anything I can do to make her happy again; I hate it when my sister is sad.