Eyden dragged her down the stairs so fast, she almost tripped. They pushed through the crowd, fae shouting around them, trying to move in all directions. The music didn’t fit the setting anymore and Lora tuned it out between the yells and panic around them.
The sound faded as they exited the club and joined a small crowd that had formed there. They stood by the side of the building, taking in the guards as they dragged a half-conscious fae towards a waiting carriage. His auburn hair hid his face as his head hung almost lifeless. The battered fae’s shirt was half open, untucked from his trousers, revealing a gash on his stomach that had already stopped bleeding. He could barely stand upright as two guards hauled him forward.
Lora recognised the guard from earlier, Layken, their second target of the day. He opened the carriage door and gestured to the others to bring their captive closer. When they turned him to the side and Layken bound the fae’s hands behind his back, the captured fae lifted his head just a smidge and a frightened face looked towards the crowd.
He looked quite young—younger than matured fae. This fae couldn’t have been older than twenty, Lora decided. She wondered what he had done to deserve this treatment.
Eyden dropped her hand and she glanced over at him. He looked furious as he took a step forward. Lora instinctively grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?” Whatever was going on, Lora figured provoking the guard’s attention was the last thing they should do.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” he answered, more to himself than her, eyes never leaving the young fae as Layken pushed him into the carriage.
Eyden moved again and Lora drew him back. “What are you going to do against three guards?” She examined the scene and noticed two more guards with their own swords sheathed at their sides, standing on the other end of the street, ready to intervene if necessary. “Against five of them?”
Eyden’s eyes radiated both anger and a hint of sadness that she hadn’t noticed before. He stood rooted to the ground as the guards drove off in the carriage. The horse’s bright orange eyes flashed when they passed a street light. It had a haunting aura to it, as if it was transporting the young fae to a worse fate than she could imagine.
* * *
Eyden didn’t say a word as he walked away from the scene. When they had lost the crowd, he stopped and leaned his head against a wall, closing his eyes as if reality was too much for him.
Lora didn’t know what to say. She wanted to know everything but sensed she was on thin ice here. For whatever reason, what happened tonight was affecting Eyden differently than most other fae who witnessed the arrest. He wasn’t scared and he wasn’t merely upset. He was outraged. Even though he was quiet, she could feel his anger. Somehow, she could relate to it. Life wasn’t always fair. The cards you were handed were like empty promises, no guarantees for happy endings.
“Did you know him?” she asked carefully.
Eyden tilted his head up, opening his eyes to the night sky. “I briefly met him before. I warned him, told him not to trust anyone. To stay hidden and not seek out strangers. But he insisted he made good money there. That he would be all right.” Eyden moved and looked straight at her. “He was wrong.”
“Why did they take him? What did he do?”
“Exist?” Eyden let out a sad laugh. “He didn’t do anything but try and survive. He’s a level five. A high-level fae. He managed to avoid getting his PLI at sixteen, which means they had no idea. Until Layken found out, I suppose. He must have watched him, pretending to be a customer or even a friend. Something must have given him away.”
Eyden’s explanation confused Lora even more. Why would level fives have to be afraid? She had assumed they were regarded with respect. Only powerful fae could be guards or take on other esteemed and well-rewarded positions. And the more power a fae had, the more blessed they were by their main god, Caelo, the One who watches over the Sky, according to their religion.
“What’s PLI?” she asked, settling for an easier question to answer.
“Power Level Identification. Every fae needs to have their powers tested at sixteen to determine their level.”
Lora’s mind was spinning, trying to piece everything together. “So they took him because he broke the law? He didn’t take the test?”
“That’s part of the reason, yes.” Eyden turned towards what she assumed was the way back to his flat, but she wasn’t done getting her promised answer.
“Why didn’t he just do it? Why break the law to avoid a test?” Lora asked.
“Because fae get taken all the time. This isn’t a one-time occurrence. If your level is high, chances are the guards will show up one day and take you.” He exhaled loudly and leaned back against the wall. “Some of them even want to be taken. They want to become guards or healers at the palace, to be recruited and recognised in a high position. But the fae who are taken—freely or with force—a lot of them are never heard from again. It’s as if they never existed. They don’t become guards, they don’t become anything. They’re gone with no explanation.”
“That’s why you were following that guard? To see who he would take?” Eyden’s voice echoed in her mind. Earlier, he had said that this wasn’t supposed to happen. Could he have intended to intervene? “You wanted to prevent him from taking someone?” she asked.
He held her gaze as he said, “I’m following guards to see who they are targeting, to warn whoever could be next. And to find out who could potentially become an ally. Who can be turned to our side.”
Lora wondered who his side included. She knew Ilario must be involved, he had given him the other guard’s location. But were there others? Was there an uprising building in Liraen that the human world had no idea about?
“I’m guessing Layken can’t,” Lora said.
Eyden nodded, disappointment reflecting in his light eyes. “I wasn’t sure before. I’ve been trying to find out more about him, but he’s a hard one to pin down.” His face turned serious, a deep pain surfacing behind his gaze. “Liraen, specifically Turosian, is more dangerous than you know, Lora. Not just for humans and witches, but for fae too. The king, he can do anything he wants.”
“Why is the king ordering the guards to take level fives?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. I had hoped with the new king taking over, things might change. But they haven’t. By Caelo, Karwyn is just as bad, as far as I can tell. Another soon-to-be high king, ruling over everything with no regard, no answers for his people.”
She had heard that name before.Karwyn.He was the son of Harten Adelway, who had made the agreement to end human slavery and had ordered the creation of the border spell. The history she had studied depicted Harten as a hero. He’d ended the darkness hanging over Liraen and allowed humans to go back to their home. But of course, only after they had helped him take over Liraen from the Dark King, and with no regard for the humans who hadn’t made it back to Earth before the border spell was cast.
