“What do we do now?” I ask.
He opens his mouth to speak but snaps it shut. Faster than I’ve ever seen anyone move, he whirls around and stands in front of me, one arm pressing me close to his back. “I know you’re there,” he calls out.
I don’t dare move as footsteps approach, slow and heavy. Not like a child’s. Franco pushes me closer to him again, and terror has me clinging to the back of his shirt.
“What do we have here?” says a menacing male voice.
Shadows obscure my vision, and I hear Franco hiss. My mind fills with memories of his monstrous glamour.
A low chuckle reverberates from not too far away. “That won’t work on me, fae. I know a glamour when I see it.”
“You dare address me asfae? Do you not know who I am?”
“Another entitled creature,” the man says. “Another fae noble who feasts on riches while children starve.”
“I’m your prince, human.”
A scoff. “Myprince? When have you ever beenmyprince? When have any of the unseelie royals beenmine? I’ve never been welcomed to make a petition or apply for aid—”
“That’s what your seelie king is for.”
He barks a laugh. “He might as well be in a different court for all the attention he gives the humans of the north.”
I purse my lips to keep from mutteringI told you soat the prince’s back.
“If you can’t be reasoned with,” Franco says, tone light and amused, “I have other ways to deal with you.” He starts forward but freezes at the sound of a loud click. Franco inhales a gasp. “Iron is forbidden on the isle.”
“It’s steel. Not iron. There’s no law against iron alloys.”
Franco’s tone darkens. “Guns are forbidden too.”
“Then come over here and arrest me.”
“What exactly do you want?”
A pause. “I want you to empty out your pockets.”
Franco throws his head back with a laugh. “My pockets? I travel with no purse, you fool. My face is credit enough should I want anything. Besides, aren’t my carriage wheels plenty? Take the doors while you’re at it. The opal panels should fetch you a pretty fortune.”
“What about the girl?”
He stiffens, and for a moment I think he’ll shove me at the man’s feet. “You’re not getting the girl.”
“I want her purse.”
“You’re about to get my teeth buried in your neck in about five seconds.”
“And ruin your fine clothing in the process?”
Franco takes a step away from me. “You forget your place, human. I am a prince, and you are threatening me with a gun. I may wear this seelie form, but my heart is as wild and unseelie as those who first fought your kind over a thousand years ago. I have no qualms with bloodbaths. And when I tire of tearing you limb from limb, I’ll shift into my raven form and peck out your eyes.”
“You don’t frighten me. I have worse things to fear when my children are starving.”
“You’re truly willing to risk going up against me?”
“I’m the one with a gun.”
Franco’s tone deepens. “But are there even bullets in it? I’m beginning to taste your bluff, human. It’s written in every emotion that lurks beneath your valiant posturing.” The shadows around Franco begin to darken, writhing faster. “I’m getting tired of—”
