Everywhere they go, it appears the fae are very thorough. If I had still been in Ranhold Castle when they’d come…I’d be dead too.
I shiver with the thought, and then another crash sounds in the distance, like an entire building has toppled, and I’m ready to jump right out of my skin.
“Enough!” I hiss out before I stalk toward the front door. I can’t stay here. Ican’t.
“Lady Rissa, what are you doing?” Cran calls with alarm.
“Manu got the better house to watch the battle from,” I say over my shoulder. “We’re going there. Right now.”
When I reach for the doorknob, Cran’s hand lands on my arm. “My lady, we can’t go out there!”
I turn to him, arching a brow. “You were just staring out the window. Are there any nefarious fae out on the street?”
“Well…no, but—”
“Great, so we won’t have any trouble walking up the block to the estate where Manu is,” I say before dropping my eyes to where he’s still gripping me. “And I can assure you, Captain Osrik will not be pleased if I tell him you wouldn’t unhand me.”
His grip releases like his palm has been seared with fire.
“Let’s go.”
Cran curses as I yank open the door. I peer out, but the shadowed street is just as empty as it was when I was dumped here several hours ago. I step down from the stoop and ontothe frosty cobbles while Cran sticks himself to my side, sword in hand and head swiveling.
The view out here screams of a hasty retreat. There are abandoned carriages, barrels and chests overturned, food and clothing left behind in piles, and body-shaped clumps of snow that I avert my attention from.
“Which one is it?” I whisper to Cran. Despite the bravado I’m putting on, my heart is pounding in my chest. Any one of these clustered houses could be hiding a fae. Every shadowed alley we pass could reveal an enemy about to jump out at us and attack.
But I couldn’t stand being in that other house a second longer. I need to know what’s happening. I need to know if Osrik is okay.
Our steps seem far too loud, even with the sounds of the fierce battle coming from the direction of the castle. I can see its stone walls looming ahead, the top of the turrets visible even from the bottom of this hill.
Cran and I crest it, steps hurrying up the slope, and then he points. “Queen Kaila’s brother is there, Lady Rissa.”
My eyes narrow on the white-painted estate. The iron gate lies knocked off its hinges, and I believe that oblong shape in the snow is a frozen corpse, but this place has a far better vantage point, which is probably why Manu chose it.
“Why does his house have a tower?” I say to Cran, gesturing upward. “We didn’t have a tower.”
He gives me a sidelong look and then walks ahead of me. “Let me announce us…so we don’t get stabbed.” He mutters that last part, but I choose to ignore it.
We walk past the bent gates, and I wait in the yard while Cran hurries up to the door. He opens it, calling softly, and I hear an answering voice. They go back and forth for a moment, and Ihear something like, “Why?” Then, “I don’t know, but I can’t just say no!”
I leave them to it, craning to look in the direction of the battle, but even here, the rows of houses along the road make it impossible to see. My hands twist in front of me, fingers twitching over my thick fur coat.
“Lady Rissa?” Cran calls.
I quickly turn and go into the estate. My gaze sweeps through the dark house, and I hear the guards shut the door behind me as I make my way through the entry. “Where’s Manu?”
“Up in the tower room, Lady Rissa,” the Third Kingdom soldier answers. “This way.”
“Of course he is,” I mutter.
I follow him up a set of spiral stairs, my own guard hot on my heels. “Lady Rissa,” Cran says quietly, “Captain Osrik will not like you being in the same room as Manu…”
“Then Captain Osrik should’ve put me in a house with a tower so I could adequately see what the hell is going on.”
He doesn’t have a reply to that.
“Besides, are you going to let Manu hurt me?”
