She presses closer to me. I snarl at him, a dagger already in my hand. Warden lifts his hand and backs away.
“Or not,” he says. “Or you can take your mate.”
A familiar click-clack sound reaches my ears.
“Too late,” I growl. “They are here.” I glare at Warden. “Your timing is terrible.”
Warden shrugs. “I came to warn you. I didn’t expect them here so soon.”
“Is there another way out?” Kaitlyn asks as the sounds get louder.
“We make our stand here,” I respond. “Kill as many as we can and leave.” I shoot a glance at Warden.
How can I trust him if he can’t even get it right about how close our enemies are?
The door to the throne room slams open, almost the same as the day I was taken, the sound reverberating around the room. Only this time I am ready for the Faerie. I’m ready for what they might do, what theythinkthey can do.
This time I will not attempt to manage the situation. This time I will simply attack.
The first wave of Redcaps enters, teeth bared. I let them in. There’s no point in wasting energy on this grouping. The ones I need to defeat will come later.
Instead I leave them to Warden, whose hooves make quick work of the creatures. The second tranche enters, and this time I leave my position, hitting each one with a deadly volley of throwing daggers.
I am not considered a deadly assassin by reputation. I am good at what I do.
The third group enters, tightly gathered around their leader.
“Linton,” he says.
Warden clatters, his hooves squelching occasionally in the blood of the fallen. I tuck Kaitlyn behind my wings and unleash some of my favourite daggers which I haven’t had in my hands for a long time.
“Warden.” Tam Lin nods at the Brag. “It’s been a long time.”
“I’m keeping a cell especially for you,” Warden snarls at him. “Providing Linton doesn’t rip your wings off first.”
Tam Lin laughs, and it makes all of me bristle with anger. He shouldn’t be enjoying any of this. He should be marking time until his last moments in the Yeavering.
My blades are of the finest steel with an iron core. The best available to kill a Faerie.
“The Bluecap will do no such thing. He will surrender the human female to me and walk away.”
“My mind is now my own, Tam Lin,” I snarl. “You have no power here. And you will not take my mate.”
“Ah, yes,” he says. “Of course, you mated her, didn’t you? I thought you might. Your kind have a habit of being drawn to the light.” He bares his teeth, his skin glittering with the sickly sheen all Faerie have. “But it doesn’t mean you get to keep her. That human belongs to me.”
Behind me, I feel Kaitlyn move.
“Linton, you can’t let him hurt you.”
I look at her, daggers glinting in my hands. “He cannot hurt me, my Kaitlyn. But I can hurt him.”
“I can’t lose you. This isn’t your fight.”
“As long as he wants to take you from me, this is my fight. I swore I would protect you, and I will. You are my moon, my Kaitlyn. You are my light. Until the earth encloses me, I will be here for you.”
KAITLYN
Linton fixes me with his red gaze, and one hand, mostly filled with a dagger, caresses my hair. Before I can stop him, he’s in the air, bearing down on the gaggle of Redcaps surrounding Tam Lin, who smiles smugly.
