“For your most loyal fae, they’re untrusting.”
“Theyarefae. You and Blake must come alone.”
“The guys aren’t going to let us do that. They’ll be hiding in the forest, watching. That’s the best I can offer.”
Daigh sighed. “You drive a hard bargain, daughter. Fine. They will hide, but if they are seen, this will not work.”
“I’ll tell them to be extra careful. What happens once we’ve convinced these fae of the truth of the vision?”
“They will spread the word amongst the rest of our kin. Once the fae have returned to my power and Liah has been dealt with, I will call off the Slaugh.”
“Let me get this straight – Blake and I take a huge fucking risk by stepping outside the protective boundaries of Briarwood to show your fae this vision, and the only guarantee we’ve got that it’s even going to stop the Slaugh is yourword?The word of a lying fae.”
“Why do you care? If The Slaugh comes, the humans detonate this nuclear weapon.” Daigh steepled long fingers against his chin. “Problem solved.”
“War against the Slaugh meanshumans die too. We can’t breathe in that poisonous atmosphere or live without nutrients any more than you can. It’s mutually assured destruction, not the best-case scenario.”
“Then you’ll help me?”
I thought of Flynn’s statue drawing power from the village’s hatred of us, and the other artworks that would soon be joining it.
If Daigh is lying, then we still have a way of stopping the Slaugh and sending the fae back to their realm. But if he’s telling the truth, then we might be able to end the feud between fae and humans once and for all.
“We’re helping each other. If that makes you uncomfortable?—”
Something crunched out the window.
I spun around. What was that? Because this was the ground-floor bathroom, and the window looked into the inner courtyard, the glass was frosted. A shape moved in the corner of the frame, but I couldn’t make out what it was.
I raced to the window and flung it open, squinting into the courtyard and straining my ears for a sound. I thought I heard something scrape against stone, but no other sound followed it.It’s probably Obelix, chasing some small defenceless furry creature.
I turned back to the mirror, but Daigh was no longer visible. “Hey, come back!” I pounded against the glass, but he didn’t show his face.
Another scraping sound outside.Okay, that definitely wasn’t a cat.
I ran to the window again, shoving my shoulders through and leaning right out so I could see around the edge of the inner gate. I could just make out a long shadow retreating down the drive. I shoved the window open further. “Hey, who is that?”
The shadow didn’t answer. It sped up, disappearing around the corner of the drive. I flung the bathroom door open and ran through the kitchen, shoving my head out the kitchen door. “Guys, come quick!”
Hopefully, they heard me over all the banging and soldering.
I didn’t have time to find out. I tore back through the house, flung the front door open and raced across the courtyard. As I rounded the first corner of the drive, my chest heaving, I caught a glimpse of a car parked over the front of the drive. Someone – the shadow, I guessed – yanked the passenger side door open and climbed in. The tyres squealed as the car sped off, heading back down the road toward Crookshollow.
“Bloody hell, Maeve.” Arthur puffed as he came up next to me, his sword clattering against his leg. “You gave us all a heart attack. We thought the fae had got you.”
“Someone was in the courtyard,” I said.
“Who?” Corbin appeared on the other side of me, his expression grave, his hands clenched into fists.
“I didn’t see, but they made a run for it as soon as I saw them. They had a car waiting at the bottom of the drive.”
“Maeve, look.”
We turned around. Flynn stood under the portcullis at the entrance to the inner courtyard. He pointed a shaking finger at the high wooden door. A message had been scrawled across it in red.
DIE, WITCHES.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
