Darkthings had destroyed Olivia’s village. It was how she and her sisters came to the castle right when my mother was born. They had lost everything and took to my mother instantly.
Hovering in the air, she coddled the babe, humming.
The soft, high song always eased my worries. Her silent words echoed in the lilts of her voice. A lullaby without speaking.
That same hum had soothed my cries after the darkthing attack. For days, I couldn’t sleep without the pixies curled beside me.
Where my disappointed father had seen cowardice, they had seen innocence and made sure I understood that cowering was what had saved my life.
“I need to keep looking,” I said, needing to shake off the old memories. “There’s more to this story than what we’ve seen so far.”
Holding the tiny pixie, Olivia flew back to my shoulder, huddling closer to my neck.
I kept moving through the various dead, searching for answers to what befell these fae. All of these dead, and yet I had failed to come across a body belonging to any of the attackers, which seemed odd. Surely, one of them would be here.
A human male lay over a fae as if it had protected the female with its life.
What was a human doing in one of my settlements?
And why would it protect a fae?
Shoving the human over with my boot, I rolled him onto his back.
His neck had been ripped apart. Not a wound from adarkthing. There was only one type of creature who went for that vital point, and if it was still here feeding, I needed to stay sharp.
Calling my magic to my hands, I created two short black blades and gripped them in my hands.
“Return to the castle,” I ordered Olivia. “Take the transporter rod out of my pocket and go.”
“How will you get home?”
“I’ll fly. I’ll be fine. Take your kin and go. This is no place for a youngling.”
Olivia was not one to leave my side, but I understood the precious cargo she carried.
“Stay safe. If you don’t return by nightfall, I’m coming back here with the guard.”
I shooed her away. “Don’t be ridiculous. As if I needed my own guard to come to my rescue. Now be gone.”
She pulled the transporter rod out and held it with her other arm, adjusting the youngling to her hip. You would think something the size of my forearm would not be so strong, but a pixie could carry four times their weight, an endearing quality I enjoyed putting to the test.
Once Olivia had disappeared through the portal, I continued my search, intrigued and extremely annoyed that humans had been in one of my settlements.
There was no love between our kind. In fact, anyone found courting a human was shunned from their village, and the half-breeds were a complete disgrace. Something transpired in this village and I needed to understand what.
I followed the trail of blood the human had left to another home, the door ripped off its hinges. Broken wood covered the grass, and I stepped through the entryway.
Slowly, I entered, my blades ready to dive into anything daring to attack.
A slurping noise came from somewhere in the home.
Using the shadows to hide myself, I waded into the dimly lit home.
A lantern sat on the table, the last of its oil almost gone. I followed the odd sound into one of the back bedrooms.
A figure huddled over what I assumed was a fae. It gripped the fae in its pale hands. I held my blades, watching the creature devour the being in its grip.
I took a step forward and the floorboard creaked.
