His hand closed over the sword and he pulled it from me.
His smile was filled with regret as he raced away, a roar of challenge leaving him.
Ambush.
Magic burned everywhere. Arrows raining down.
Liam charged a group of Fae, laying waste to any who got in his way. Nathan joined him, killing any who got close.
"This way, Aileen." Inara went right, keeping to the edge of the room.
For a moment, I hesitated. Leaving Liam and Nathan to fight alone felt wrong.
One of the strange Fae spotted me and pointed.
Others joined him. I knew the second they spotted the crown. Greed filled their faces.
I whirled, darting after Inara.
How the hell was I supposed to choose an heir with everyone trying to kill me?
I didn’t get far when a body tackled me. I hit the floor hard, somehow the crown staying in my grip. Inara cursed, circling us as I maneuvered onto my back, kicking up while scooting across the floor.
Callie appeared over my attacker’s shoulder; her face merciless. Her snakes struck and the Fae went limp. Callie grabbed him and hurled him across the room.
Facing me, she froze, her eyes on the crown. Yearning filled her expression.
“Aileen,” Inara warned.
“Find help,” I told her. Inara wouldn’t be able to fight Callie, not with her snakes.
With a nasty curse, Inara spun, darting into the hallway.
Callie’s gaze held me mesmerized as she crouched. She touched the hand that held the crown, a question in her eyes.
Like with the captain, my vision expanded, her potential fates unfurling.
Unlike Travis, she wouldn't go blindly to war. She'd resist the crown's darkness harder than most, but eventually she would fall. I saw her walking amid a hall filled with the statues of her former friends. She was consumed by a loneliness so absolute it burned her soul with cold.
My lips parted. She must have read something of what I’d seen in my face, because regret and disappointment moved through her expression before she nodded.
The paralysis that had held me vanished.
"Go. I'll protect your back," she told me.
"You're not going to stop me?"
She touched my hand again. "If this came to you, it's for a reason. If I'm not it, then you must find the one who is. It's not my place to stand in the way of that."
Don hovered behind her. The shadows he normally used to cloak his face were gone. His horns now resembled tree like antlers curling from either side of his head. Tentacle like shadows drooped in place of hair.
The same power I'd used on Callie started to bloom. With a gesture, he gently pushed it aside.
"No need, little niece. I've never desired that crown. Such things are for beings much more foolish than me." His last words seemed to be aimed at Callie.
"Can you stop this?" I asked them, gesturing to the fighting.
The Scattered Fae had multiplied even in the short time we’d been occupied. Liam and Nathan were holding their own, but it wouldn’t be long before they were overwhelmed unless we got reinforcements.
