“Please come with us.” The leader Nightwalker held his sword in one hand and held out an appeasing hand with the other. “No need for a fight.”
“When I let go of you, run for the portal. I got us close. It’s just down that alley and to your left.” Fear’s voice was as calm as ever. “My clan will come find you.”
“What about the Nightwalkers?”
He flashed me a smile that was half his usual cocky, relaxed self and half the terrifying nightmare. “They’ll be busy.”
“Let’s just go with them peacefully,” I said, keeping my fingers wrapped around his as he released me. “If you fight them, they’ll kill you.”
He seemed unconcerned. “Dairen will still make sure Tay is healed. He promised me.”
Why was he talking about Dairen? It took me a confused split second to understand. He thought I didn’t care about his life, that I was just focused on what his death meant for my brother, asleep in his house.
“Stop talking and come with us!” the Nightwalker said impatiently.
“I’m not just worried about what happens to Tay if you die.”
“Cara.” He gave me a grin like there weren’t a dozen heavily armed Fae inching closer. “I’m touched.”
More loudly, to them, he said, “Please let us pass.”
“You don’t seem to have a good grasp of the odds,” I muttered, keenly aware that they would cut him down and then me for being with him.
“You don’t seem to have a good grasp of who I am. Are you going to go or not?” Fieran produced his sword from over his shoulder in a burst of golden light.
And then, still holding my hand, keeping me close, he lashed out at the Fae in front of us. The first Nightwalker fell with a startled grunt, his sword clattering against the cobblestones. Fieran was already on to the next, moving with fluid grace, reeling me with him as if we were dancing.
The Nightwalkers pressed in with their midnight black blades and tight, stoic expressions. Blades flashed around us like dark lightning, but never struck either of us.
Fieran twisted, disarmed, and cut in one motion, the next Nightwalker collapsing before he even realized he’d been hit.
Another lunged from the side. Fieran threw his sword upward and in one smooth move, caught the blade with his bare hand, blood spilling down his fingers, and pushed the Fae away—before he caught his own sword again and drove it through the man’s chest while he was stumbling backward. With bloody fingers, he kept striking.
“Go, Cara.” His voice was inhumanly calm, just like his blade. His sword cut one more Nighwalker down who made the mistake of darting—wide eyed and terrified—between us and the alley. Then we were running.
We were almost to the portal when Fieran stumbled, jerking me along with him. I whirled to see a thrown blade in his side. The Nightwalkers were still behind us, further away. He fell to his knees, almost ripping his grip from mine.
I refused to let go. My fingers clenched harder, slippery with his blood.
“Come on,” I hissed, tugging at him, heart hammering against my ribs. “Get up.”
His bright gaze met mine. He rose, moving on as if the steel jutting from his side was nothing but an inconvenience.
But in front of us, blocking the portal, were the dark figures of a dozen more Nightwalkers. Other Nightwalkers pressed behind us, the remnant of their forces.
Beyond us, at the portal, bright light flared. I threw my arm over my eyes, blinking spots from my vision.
I opened my stinging eyes as the light subsided into a figure.
The Nightwalkers bowed their heads as one.
She was unearthly beautiful, terrifyingly so. Taller than any Nightwalker, inhumanly thin with long spider’s legs, sheathed in fluid blue light. Her face glowed, her silver hair swaying around her in thick, impossible waves that fell almost to the floor.
Her eyes fixed on me—onme—and I fought a sudden weaknessin my knees, an urge to kneel. Those golden eyes seemed to contain a whole galaxy of blinding bright stars, and they were mesmerizing. I was lost in them.
The Fae Queen.
Fieran squeezed my hand, bringing me back to myself. To the guards who had moved to surround us, to the sound of Fieran’s blood dripping steadily into a pool. We were going to die. I was rooted to the ground, frozen like a fawn.
