“What’s happened?” I ask, not wanting to beat around the bush.
“It’s not good,” Morgana answers, not looking up from the paper.
I follow her gaze and take in the hastily drawn map. The coastline and roads are traced in highlighter, and small notes are scattered throughout.
My stomach drops.
It’s Sarah’s handwriting.
This is a map of our coastal college town.
“No…” I whisper, disbelieving.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Ragna confirms. “The fae armies have begun to mobilize. They’ve apparated to the Mortal Realm.”
Varian points to an ‘X’ on the map. “This is where they’ve been setting up camp. Your friends say this is a large stretch of rocky hills and forest, not far from their town.”
I give a shaky nod. “Yeah. Uhm, there aren’t many houses out that way,” but even as I say it, I can see they’ve already included the few I can remember.
“How many of our armies are ready to mobilize?” Sin asks, looking over the map.
Morgana finally looks up, and shock ghosts across her face when she sees him. But she masks the reaction a moment later.
Nausea wells up in my gut as I realize she just saw his soul.
Ragna’s hands clench on the edges of the table. “Not enough. The rebel army leaders are already mobilizing their soldiers, but they need to move quietly. If the Fae or Angelic Realm authorities notice, they’ll be captured. My soldiers began apparating in yesterday, but it’s a slow effort. My army has always taken a defensive stance, and many of my soldiers can’t apparate. We’ve brought in about five hundred so far, but moving them to the Mortal Realm will take time.”
“With our allies and enough time to apparate in the Shifters, we could have a standing army of about six thousand, but we need a few days to get them there,” Morgana adds.
“Fuck,” Sin growls.
Bile rises in my throat, but I push it back down. Maybe we still have time, maybe our enemies are moving just as slowly. “What about the fae and Otherworld armies? How soon will they be ready?”
Something that looks like pity ghosts across Morgana’s face. “A couple of hours at most. Every member of the fae army can apparate, and they’ll be able to carry any Otherworld soldiers who can’t. Their armies have been ready to mobilize for weeks. We’ve also received word that the Angelic Realm army has begun apparating out.”
“Will they hurt mortals?” Sarah’s soft voice wavers, but the room goes silent as we all turn to her. Her browis furrowed, like she’s putting on a brave face, despite feeling terrified.
Same, bestie. Same.
Ragna’s expression turns grim. “Absolutely, she will. We were counting on the rebel armies to help us apparate our people. I’m sure Need already knows this and plans to use mortals as leverage to force us into battle before we’re ready. The wisest move would be to wait until our reinforcements arrive. We’ll still be outnumbered, but we’ll have a chance.”
My stomach drops at her unspoken meaning. She’s suggesting we leave the mortals to die.
I wait another beat for someone to speak up and argue with her, but no one says a word.
They’re all waiting on me.
“How badly outnumbered would we be if we fight now?” I manage to choke out.
We were already outnumbered three to one. How much worse could it really get?
Varian shakes his head a bit, like he can already tell where my thoughts are headed. “Altogether, they likely have at least twenty thousand soldiers. The Fae army alone makes up half of that. If we let Need force our hand, we’ll be lucky to apparate in a thousand soldiers. We’ll be as good as dead.”
Twenty-to-one. The entire world seems to fade away to nothing but those numbers.
“It’s your choice,” Sin murmurs, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I lean back into him, as if it will let me borrow some of his strength.
