“Do they know what iron does to us?”
“When will you bring them home?”
The questions came hard, fast, and unrelenting. Each unanswered question pounded against my temple. Pain bloomed in my chest and I pressed a palm to it, rubbing,grounding, trying to keep myself upright as my people’s panic threatened to buckle my knees.
Teddy slipped her hand through my arm and kissed my shoulder. I leaned into her, needing her and the support she offered. Her warmth bled into me, making my heavy limbs relax.
With my throat tight, I spoke through the tension, my voice low and even. “I don’t have answers for you. I don’t know where they are. I don’t know if humans are holding them captive.”
The moment the words left my mouth, the room erupted with overlapping voices. There was so much anger, so much fear. So many accusations.
I raised my voice, louder, sharper. A boom that echoed off the stone walls in a way that reminded me of my father. “But I will find them.”
Silence rippled.
“I will bring them home. You have my word. I will not rest until each one is back.”
Dead or alive.
Teddy peered up at me, her lips thinned as if she’d heard my thoughts. Her free hand found mine, still curled tight against my chest.
Guardians, she was magic, somehow calming the storm raging inside me.
“Wewill bring them home,” George said, his voice steady.
His narrowed eyes held a challenge, knowing I’d counter him.
I’d chosen him as my commander, unofficial for now, although the title would be formalized after my coronation. But I hadn’t allowed him or any of my closest friends to help retrieve our people. Instead, I’d relied on others. Warriorslike Hayden and Ximena, who had fought alongside us in the mage battle. I’d also sought Alastor’s help along with his lirio. The ancient mage considered himself Teddy’s cousin, which, in a way, they were. Except that thousands of years separated their births, and had it not been for his sister’s greed for power and revenge that extended his life, they would never have met.
I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek to keep the thunderingnofrom bursting out. But I wouldn’t let George return to the human realm. I didn’t care that my council thought his seer magic could be useful. His magic wasn’t like that of other seers, but more personal, only having visions regarding those he was closest to. I wouldn’t allow Everly or Brenton to go either. Already, they’d gone through enough because of me. I wouldn’t further risk their lives.
“With your permission, I’d like to go too.” Finley, the female my uncle had entrusted to be his second-in-command before his death, eased her way through the crowd. When she stood before me, she bowed.
I felt Brenton’s ire the moment it rose. Teddy turned her head toward him but didn’t say anything.
Finley hadn’t just been my uncle’s most lethal warrior, but was also Brenton’s soul-bound mate; something they’d learned at an early age. While she hadn’t exactly rejected their bond, she hadn’t accepted it either. Their connection had since hovered in a painful, unresolved limbo.
“Etienne is missing.” Her silver eyes flared pure white, blinding against the black curtain of her hair.
Etienne was the male Finley took on as her intended, rather than accepting Brenton as her mate.
“I’d like to aid in finding him and the othermissing fae.”
“Why am I only hearing of Etienne now?” I asked, suspicion rising.
Where Finley had been my uncle’s second, Etienne had been his most trusted adviser. I should’ve known the moment he hadn’t returned.
She tipped her chin. Not a lot, but enough for me to see that note of stubborn defiance.
“When Everly and George came to our region to inform Commander Hudson of . . . everything, Commander Hudson sent Etienne beyond the perimeter to keep watch. I thought you assigned him some kind of reconnaissance work while you handled the retrievals.” She drew in a shaky breath, then shrugged like it might deflect the emotions rising behind her words. “When he didn’t come home this morning and I heard there were still fae unaccounted for . . .” Her voice faltered. “I knew he was one of them.”
I needed to move, to do something, to simply not fail . . . again. I rubbed my chin, immediately wishing it was Teddy’s hand on my face, bringing me that sense of comfort and home.
“I am truly sorry I don’t have the answers you deserve,” I told the anxious crowd. “Tonight, I will discuss matters with those you see standing at my side. We will craft a plan to find our missing kin and will leave at first light tomorrow morning.”
Dismissed, Brenton and Ximena ushered the people out. While many cast me worried looks, no one spoke as they left. The silence that followed left me unsettled.
I paced the large room, passing unused sofas and empty silence until I reached the fireplace, its flame kept alive through magic. I braced my hands on the mantel, gripping the stone until the wood beneath groaned.
