“She told you about the uprising?” Brunilla shakes her head slowly. “She wouldn’t. Did you hurt her? Torture her?” She raises her blades again.
“I didn’t.” I let all my magic dissipate and hold my palms out to Brunilla. “I didn’t harm her. I’ve only just returned from the Nightkeep.”
“I heard the king of night has fallen.” The pixie drops onto Brunilla’s shoulder. “Is that true?”
The others don’t bolt, so I consider that a win. I back away until I’m standing in front of them.
“Listen, everyone. Lunarie is at the Shard right now. She’s working to save my mate. I’ve already set Emma’s mother free from the farmhouse, and she’s right there with them.”
“There goes our backup plan.” The horned fae sits heavily and crosses her arms. “Lunarie’s betrayed us.”
“No. Not at all. Lunarie told me about the uprising, about the things you want. I know you each represent a different faction of the day realm. You control thousands if not more. So though I come to you as your king, I also come to you to ask for aid.”
“Aid?” The redcap snorts. “Fromlesserfae and changelings? What do you need from us besides changing your sheets and wiping your arse?” He bristles.
“I need an army.”
“You have one.” Brunilla blinks slowly. “I just painted a large canvas of them to hang in your war room.”
“I have an army of high fae soldiers. But the threat from the night realm requires more than that. I saw the Nightkeep.” I scrub a hand down my face. “I saw how many fae were turned. How many lay in heaps of blood and gore. The seekers don’t fight like a seasoned army. There is no honor on the battlefield, no peace to be had. They will overrun the border, and they will do it soon. It will take the entire day realm working together to stop them.”
“And your mate? What about her?” The redcap sneers. “I heard she’s a seeker as well. Do you need me to stop her?” He palms a curved blade.
My feral reacts, and I snarl as my lion form flashes to the fore. “No one touches Emma.”
Even the redcap backs away.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my feral. “Lunarie trusted me enough to tell me about your plans and this meeting. She believes in my cause. The seekers aren’t a threat to my throne; they’re a threat to the survival of all the peoples in this realm. Eraldon brings an army and seeks to raise yet another. Each one of us he turns, he adds to his legions.”
“He can’t turn everyone.” The pixie flits closer. “You’re exaggerating.”
“He turned my mate. He turned what was left of the night realm’s nobles.”
“Surely not all of them.” She wrinkles her nose.
“Yes, all.” I step forward, and she floats away. “If Eraldon takes the borderlands, he will turn everyone there. Each move he makes, he adds to his army. We would have no chance. We have to hold them there to save the realm.”
“Maybe being a seeker wouldn’t be so bad.” The redcap spits on the stone floor. “Better than bowing and scraping to the nobles here.”
“Don’t say that.” Brunilla moves forward. “You don’t mean it.”
He sighs, some of his temper dissipating at Brunilla’s calm aura. “No, I don’t. But I’m not fighting some war for a king who’s never given two clods of unicorn shite about me, either.”
“Yeah, what’s in it for us?” the horned fae asks.
“Other than being able to continue living?”
“Other than that, yeah.” The redcap nods.
“I had a long talk with Lunarie. She mentioned several changes to our laws. When I first took my father’s throne, I had my librarian begin to create a list of the old ways that would be better off as history. He’s been diligently compiling the information, and I had it within my plans to take up these matters with the nobles.”
“You noble lot won’t help us.” The horned fae glowers.
“It would take time, yes. And I know you want change now.”
“Wedeservechange now,” the redcap growls.
“I don’t disagree.”
