“Yeah, yeah,” Tarrin said, raising his hands. “Because someone had to,right?”
Artton’s self-satisfied smirk was enough to make our human companion grind his teeth, and honestly, it was the first time since he’d woken up that I had to give Tarrin credit—personally, I would’ve been more inclined to smack that smirk right off the commander’s smug face.
Knowing he’d made his point, Artton turned his focus back to me. “I appreciate your concern, Spark. I do. But we’re already being as careful as we can be. I just got back from doing a wide perimeter sweep. We’ll continue to be vigilant, but unless your dream can provide concrete details, we’re going to continue as planned.”
Frowning, I played the short dream fragment several times before I sighed. He was right. Other thanfeelinglike something was wrong, I had no information to share, and if I were in his shoes, I’dmake the same decision. I couldn’t imagine being Artton, having to face his High Lord after defying direct orders only to say we turned back becauseI had a feeling.But damn it, it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Okay,” I finally conceded. “We continued as planned.”
We traveled east through aspen woods dense enough that we were forced to turn our bodies to this side in some places. As we weaved through the papery white columns of trees, I reveled in their deep, sweet earthy scent. The leathers on my arms had long since retreated again as the warmth of the autumn sun melted away the morning frost, the tiny billows of white creeping up from the ground dancing around us as we passed through.
It was no secret that autumn represented death and decay to the fae, but in a land covered by a tapestry of rustic hues that glittered with droplets of sun-captured dew, I couldn’t help but muse as to how far from lifeless this place truly was as the breeze ran her fingers through the changing leaves like a musician across a harp. And stars, if this was death?—
A twig snapped to my right, and I had my daggers out faster than my next heartbeat.
“Fuck, Spark. It’s just a fawn,” Artton grumbled from my side. We watched the speckled youngling continue to make noise as it picked up each hoof with great exaggeration, looking as if he could topple at any moment as he made for his mother’s milk a few paces away. “You know,” he said as the suckling sounds reached us, “I’m fairly certain fae can’t die from our hearts failing, but given you’ve had mine jumping out of my chest every ten minutes, I’m beginning to question that,” he said, mouth pursing.
I slid my blade back and rolled my eyes. “It’s not every ten minutes.”
“No, it’s every twenty minutes on average,” Sidrick said, on my other side.
“Traitor,” I shot at him with narrowed eyes.
“Yeah, Ny, you forget how old we are,” Tarrin chimed in.
“You too?” I groused, the corners of my mouth ticking up.
“Give her a break,” Kaelun said, and I could’ve kissed him for coming to my defense. “If you knew how wound-up she actually was, you’d be impressed that it’s not every five minutes.”
“Hey,” I said in protest, “what is this, pick on the new girl?”
Artton snorted. “The new girl? Given you’re the spark, you’re older than any of us.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“Technically—”
“Finish that sentence, fetus, I dare you,” I shot at Kaelun before he could finish making Artton’s point.
Laughing, he raised his hands in defense. “Sorry, Uncle Arty, you’re on your own. I’m not going to mess with the Sp?—”
Kaelun cut himself off abruptly, his neck snapping to the left, and a dark seriousness I’d never seen from him had the tiny hairs on my body stand on edge.
Artton leaned across me toward Kaelun. “What is it?” he demanded in a whisper.
“Something brushed along the westernmost reach of my unara,” he explained.
“Magic?” Sidrick asked.
Tarrin and I exchanged a glance before he focused on the others, and I found no comfort in the calculating commander I saw waiting for answers.
“Yes. But it felt… wrong,” my shadow said. He took a half-step forward, then another, before closing his eyes and tipping his head to the side as if trying to hear something.
A moment later, his power called to mine before his eyes snapped open, quickly looking to the south, then the north, then the east.
Terror prickled through my heating blood, and without understanding how I knew this truth, I breathed, “We’re surrounded.”
Kaelun looked at me with wide eyes as if my words had allowed him to believe it for himself. “Yes,” he said, his focus still on me.
