THE IRON SWORD by Julie Kagawa
On sale: February 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1335418647
Inkyard Press
Teen & Young Adult; Epic Fantasy
$19.99 / $24.99 CAN
304 Pages
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Excerpted from THE
IRON SWORD by Julie Kagawa © 2022 by Julie Kagawa. Used with permission by
HarperCollins/Inkyard Press.
1.
The Missing King
I’ve lived a long life.
Not as long as some in Faery. Robin Goodfellow, for example,
is older than me by several hundred years (though you wouldn’t know it by the
way he acts). King Oberon, Queen Titania, and Queen Mab are older still,
ancient beings with the power to rival anything in the Nevernever. I’m not as
old or as powerful as the kings and queens of Faery, but even by fey standards,
I’ve lived a goodly while. I’m known in the Nevernever; my name is recognized
and even feared, by some. I’ve been to the farthest reaches of Faery. I have seen
things no one else has. Nightmares, dragons, the End of the World. I’ve passed
impossible tests, triumphed in unwinnable challenges, and killed unbeatable
monsters.
None of it prepared me for being a father.
Meghan stared at Glitch, her face pale in the sickly light
of the wyldwood. At the Iron faery who had just turned both our worlds upside
down with his announcement.
Touchstone is no more. Prince Keirran, King of the
Forgotten, has vanished.
“Explain, Glitch,” Meghan demanded. Her voice was calm, steely,
though I caught the tremor beneath. “What do you mean, Keirran has vanished?
What has happened to Touchstone?”
“Your Majesty.” Glitch bowed his head, the lightning in his
hair flickering a subdued purple. “Forgive me, I only know what the messenger
told us. That Touchstone has disappeared, and Prince Keirran is gone. I wish I
could tell you more.”
Keirran. Fear twisted my insides. Not for me, but for the
son who, despite all his assurances, couldn’t seem to keep himself out of
trouble. Even before he was born, he had a prophecy hanging over his head that
proclaimed him either a savior or a destroyer, and the entire Nevernever
watched to see which he would become. For years, Meghan and I raised him with
that knowledge, trying not to let it influence us, but knowing that one day, we
would have to face the consequences of Keirran’s decision.
The prophecy finally came to a head when a powerful new foe
rose up to threaten all of Faery. The Lady, the first queen of the Nevernever,
furious that Faery had moved on without her, gathered the Forgotten to her side
and waged war on all the courts. She promised them a new world, a world where
humans would fear and worship the fey again, and where no faery would Fade away
from being forgotten. She demanded the courts be dissolved, and that the rulers
of Faery step down and acknowledge her as the true and only queen of the
Nevernever. Naturally, the other rulers refused, and the war with the Forgotten
began.
At that moment, Keirran made his choice, and it was
Destroyer. He betrayed his court, turned his back on his family, and joined the
Lady in her quest to conquer the Nevernever. And even though I had known it
could happen, even though the prophecy had foretold it, it was still a
devastating blow for both Meghan and myself. Keirran was stubborn, idealistic,
and once he set his mind to something there was no changing it, but I hadn’t
thought him capable of betraying his entire court.
Meghan took a quiet breath. I could sense the struggle
within; the desire to know what had happened to our son, balanced against the
duties and obligations of the Iron Queen. Faery wasn’t safe. We had just
returned from the wyldwood, after battling a vicious new monster that nearly
killed us all. I still ached, muscles battered and bruised, from the power of
the creature’s attacks. There had been five of us: myself, the Iron Queen,
Robin Goodfellow, an Iron faery named Coaleater and a Forgotten called Nyx, and
even then we barely managed to bring down the creature. Only to discover the
threat to the Nevernever was far from over. In fact, it was only beginning.
Meghan knew this. A shadow had fallen over Faery, the echo
of a new prophecy hovering over it like a storm. The end has begun. Evenfall is
coming. Faery and every living creature that exists under the sun are doomed.
I stepped close to Meghan and put my hands on her shoulders,
feeling them tremble beneath my palms. Leaning in, I murmured, “I can find him,
Meghan. If you need to return to Mag Tuiredh, I’ll take Puck and Grim, and
we’ll go look for Keirran. Grim can lead us to Touchstone, and from there we’ll
see what happened to the capital and where Keirran could have gone. You don’t
have to come with us this time.”
“No.” She reached up and squeezed one of my hands. “I need
to know what happened to Touchstone, why it suddenly vanished. If another one
of those monsters is responsible for its destruction, you’ll need my help to
take it down. Besides…” She paused, a shadow of pain crossing her face. “If
something happened to Keirran, if one of those creatures got to him like they
got to Puck, I want to know. I want to see it for myself. If both of us are
there this time, maybe that will be enough to bring him back.”
My insides felt cold. The Monster we had fought and killed
was unlike anything I had ever seen before: a physical manifestation of hate,
rage, fear, and despair. It poisoned the land around it, tainting everything
with dark glamour and negative emotions, and worst of all, it was able to bring
out the shadow side of any living creature it touched. I had seen this
firsthand with Puck, where he had been transformed into a faery consumed by
jealous anger and vicious spite. The Robin Goodfellow of old. The Robin
Goodfellow who was still furious with me for stealing away Meghan, who held a grudge
for all the times I tried to kill him.
Not that I blamed him.
Fortunately, Puck had been able to fight through that
darkness and return to his normal, carefree, irreverent self. But I knew what
Meghan was thinking, and I shared her fear. Keirran had already shown himself
capable of turning on and betraying everything he loved. Would we venture into
the Between to find our son had turned into a soulless enemy once more?
I leaned close to Meghan, feeling her grip on my hand
tighten. “We’ll find him,” I said quietly. “We’ll find him and whatever it
takes, we’ll bring him home.”
She nodded once, then stepped away to gaze down at the
still-kneeling Glitch. “You’ve done well,” she told the Iron lieutenant.
“Return to Mag Tuiredh. Keep our people safe. I am going to search for Prince
Keirran. I will return as soon as I am able.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Glitch said, though I knew he
wanted to protest. The First Lieutenant never liked it when both rulers of Mag
Tuiredh left the Iron Kingdom for unknown amounts of time. But he had been with
Meghan long enough that he simply bowed his head and replied, “Good luck and
safe travels to you both. I will keep the city safe until you return.”
Meghan turned, her gaze seeking the rest of the party behind
us. Puck stood under a tree with his arms crossed, bright red hair making him
stand out in the gloom. Beside him, a cloaked, hooded figure watched the
proceedings silently, seeming to blend into the shadows. It took Meghan a
moment to
locate her. “Nyx,” she said, “you are a Forgotten, and a
member of Keirran’s court. Right now, it appears Touchstone has disappeared,
and the Forgotten King has vanished. Can you part the Veil and take us into the
Between?”
The silver-haired fey with the twilight skin and golden eyes
raised her head, a steely expression on her face. “Yes, Your Majesty,” she
answered. “If Keirran is in danger, I must find him right away. When do you
wish to go?”
“Right now.” Meghan turned her gaze to the others, to Puck
and Coaleater, watching intently. “This is an uncertain time for all of us,”
she said. “Faery is under threat. Something is coming, and none of us know what
it is or when it could arrive—only that it is close. The rulers and leaders of
Faery must be made aware of this threat. Coaleater…” She glanced at the large
Iron faery, who straightened as her gaze fell on him. “I know you want to help
us find Keirran, but I need you to return to the Obsidian plains and warn
Spikerail of what happened. He needs to be aware, and should the time come when
we must call on the Iron herd, I want him to be prepared.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The big man bowed his head, and I saw
the shadow of his real self behind him: a huge warhorse made of black iron and
flickering flame. “The Iron herd will stand ready to aid you against all
threats. You will have our support for as long as you need it.”
Meghan nodded gratefully, then turned to the red-haired fey
beside him. “Puck?”
“Come on, princess.” Robin Goodfellow flashed his toothy
smile. “You know where I stand. You don’t even have to ask.”
“I believe I will come as well.”
A fluffy gray cat sauntered into view, waving an
exceptionally bushy tail. His golden eyes regarded us all with bored appraisal.
“If Touchstone has disappeared, I would like to see it for myself,” Grimalkin
said. “Someone with an ounce of intelligence should be there to make sense of
things and point out the obvious. And to point you in the right direction should
you become lost. Not that I doubt the Forgotten’s abilities, but you will need
a guide should you happen to lose your way.”
The Iron Queen gave a decisive nod. “Then let us go,” she
said. “I fear time is slipping away, and the longer we wait, the more difficult
it will become to find Keirran. Nyx…” She gestured toward the Forgotten.
“Whenever you are ready, take us into the Between.”
Nyx immediately stepped forward. Closing her eyes, she put
out a hand, fingers spread wide, as if searching for something that could only
be felt. “Keirran showed me how to enter the Between,” she murmured, taking a
few steps forward. “He said that only the Forgotten remember how to do it, and
that the Lady gave him the gift when she was alive. You have to find a spot
where the Veil is thin.”
“Like a trod?” Puck asked, referring to the magical paths
that led into the Nevernever from the mortal realm.
“Similar,” Nyx murmured, still walking steadily forward with
her hand up. We trailed the Forgotten as she continued to search. “The Veil is
like a mist,” she went on, “constantly moving and changing. Those weak spots
you find might not be there when you return to them. But, if you search long
enough, you should be able to find… There.”
She stopped. Paused a moment. And then, as I had seen
Keirran do only once or twice before, pushed her fingers
into the fabric of reality and drew it back like a curtain. A narrow gash
appeared where she parted the Veil, and beyond that tear was darkness. A few
tendrils of mist curled out of the hole and writhed away into nothing.
Standing at the mouth of the gash into the void, Nyx shook
her head. “The Between,” she murmured. “It feels…different. Angrier than it was
before. That’s not good.” She opened her eyes and looked back at us. I saw
concern on her face, but it was overshadowed by a somber resolution. “Guard
your emotions,” she warned. “Calm your mind, and your feelings. The Between can
manifest physical representations of strong emotions. So, if you are not
careful, we might be facing your worst fears, or the darkest parts of your
anger.”
I took a furtive breath to quiet the tangle of emotions,
searching for the cold, empty calm of the Winter prince. It didn’t come as
easily as it did in the past. Before Meghan and Keirran, when I only had myself
to worry about, I feared very little. I wasn’t afraid of venturing into the
unknown. Whatever came at me, whatever monster, nightmare or horrific
abomination I would face, the worst that could happen was that they would kill
me. And I was exceedingly hard to kill. Fear for my own life had rarely been a
concern.
Things were different now. I had a family. I had a wife, and
a son; two people that meant more to me than anything, in any world. If they
were in danger, my entire being was consumed with wanting to protect them, to
utterly destroy whatever evil they faced so it could never threaten them again.
I could feel that anger in me now, rising up to dominate my thoughts, and
breathed deep to find my center. If Keirran was out there, we would find him,
and I would cut down anything that stood in our way. Simple as that.
Puck gave a loud, noisy sigh and glanced at me. “Well,
ice-boy,” he said, “here we go again. Another adventure through the worst Faery
has to offer. Oh, wait, you’ve never been through the actual Between before,
have you?” He grinned, green eyes shining with mischief as he stepped toward
the gateway. “You’re in for all sorts of fun surprises.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in Sacramento, CA, Julie Kagawa moved to
Hawaii at the age of nine. There she learned many things; how to bodyboard,
that teachers scream when you put centipedes in their desks, and that writing
stories in math class is a great way to kill time. Her teachers were glad to
see her graduate.
Julie now lives is Louisville, KY with her
husband and furkids. She is the international and NYT bestselling author of The
Iron Fey series. Visit her at juliekagawa.com.
Social Links:
Author website: http://juliekagawa.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jkagawa
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Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52735443-the-iron-raven
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2995873.Julie_Kagawa
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