“You were thinking about another person?” Corbin looked shocked.
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t sound so incredulous. It’s been known to happen. Iamhuman, after all.”
“So you spoke to your friend Liah and she told you that the fae had found some way around our wards and were coming to attack?“
“Not exactly.”
“Well then,whatexactly?”
I opened my mouth, shut it again. Corbin’s gaze stung my skin worse than the citrus juices the Princes used to squeeze into my eyes. I took a deep breath.
Submit yourself, Blake. Show them you know what it means to be human.
“Liah tricked me. She played on my loyalty to get information – about me, about Briarwood, about us – which she gave directly to Daigh. She’s the one who smashed Maeve’s instruments.”
“Buthowdid she do that? And how are those fae going to get here if they can't go through the portal?”
“The how of it isn’t important.” I glanced over at Jane, who hugged Connor tight. “We can’t stop them, not where they are now. But we can fight them when they get here. I know you all hate me and you want to throw me back through the gateway and leave me to Daigh’s mercy. I don’t blame you and Iswearon the tiny shred of honour I possess that as soon as Maeve gets here and we canalltalk about this, I’ll submit myself to your justice. If the coven decides you can’t trust me, then I’ll go. I’ll leave Briarwood, no hard feelings, no questions asked. I won’t even stop to pick up a farewell curry. All I ask is thatright nowwe focus on what’s important – preparing ourselves to battle the fae and save that child from an undeserved fate.”
Corbin’s eyes flashed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Rowan cut him off. His voice trembled over the words, unused to the strain of carrying a verdict. “Blake’s right.”
“It’s his fault the fae are coming back,” Jane shrieked. “They’re going to take Connor away again!”
“No, they’re not.” Corbin placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes flashing. Jane rested her head against his hand, mollified just by the sheer determination behind his words, although her eyes still burned with anger.
It was almost like compulsion, the way Corbin affected people. I’d seen him do it to Maeve, to Rowan, to everyone – made them feel like he held the whole world upon his shoulders for them.
It was a little bit annoying.
No one had ever held up the world for me. In fact, my world was dangerously close to smashing to pieces and cutting me up like a fillet.
Rowan gestured at the books on the wall. He kept his eyes on the ground, his voice so quiet I had to strain to catch the words. “We haven’t found any answers in these books, so I don’t know what another day of looking will achieve. I hate fighting, but we can’t run from this. If we don’t show up at the church when they’re expecting us, they won’t leave empty-handed. We have a responsibility to protect this town.”
“How do we know we’re not just walking into a trap?” Corbin asked.
An excellent point.Liah had come to me, after all. By telling me to expect the fae at the church, she’d pretty much guaranteed we’d be there. That was obviously what they wanted.
“I’m a hundred percent sure that we are walking into a trap. What other options do we have? We could just not show up, but I wouldn’t like to see what Daigh did to your little village without us to check him. Take it from someone who knows – he’s pretty imaginative when it comes to torture.”
Flynn glanced at his phone. “We have seventeen hours until the baptism. That’s enough time to gather a decent arsenal.”
“Give me the biggest sword you’ve got and I’ll chop his balls off myself,” Jane growled.
“We’re going to achurch.” Corbin kept his hand on Jane’s shoulder, but he looked like he wanted to throttle us all. “They’re not exactly going to let us walk in with a bunch of weapons.”
“Ah, but I am a master of concealment,” Flynn grinned, pulling up his pant leg to reveal one of his small hand-forged knives sticking out of a sheath. “Arthur’s got a bunch of holsters and belts and things in his room. I reckon we can make us all lean, mean, fae-slaying machines.”
Corbin looked at Rowan, who was still staring at his shoes. “You sure this is what you want to do?”
Rowan looked up. His face creased with pain that seemed so deep, I wondered if it had a bottom. I’d been tortured by my adopted father and I didn’t even look that sad.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” he murmured. “Not when we could have done something.”
Corbin dropped his arm from Jane’s shoulder. He moved across to Rowan, and wrapped his arm around the other guy’s shoulders. Rowan’s whole body stiffened in surprise. His head shot up, meeting Corbin’s eyes with pupils that was as dark as his skin.
Corbin flicked one of Rowan’s locs as he stared into his friend’s eyes. His expression remained fierce, but there was a new determination there, something that made the edges of his irises sparkle. I wanted to tell them both to hurry up and fuck, but I figured the less I said now, the better.
Finally, Corbin grinned. “We’re doing this. We need every magical talisman, every stone of protection, and every concealable iron weapon we can hide under our Sunday best. We’ll show those fae what happens when they come up against the Briarwood coven.”
