“The night mares choose our monarchs. We’ve been waiting for them to choose for months,” Suits said.
Night mares? Is that what they’re called?I peered at my equine friends, who seemed entirely unconcerned with our fae visitors.
Solstice bumped my shoulder. I patted his head. “Why are they called night mares when I know that some of them are geldings?”
Suits rolled his eyes. “It’s a title—not meant to be a description. It describes the type of animal they are.”
“They could have just called them night horses,” I grumbled. “I bet that they got named so one fae could tell a half lie to someone.”
The older fae sighed. “And after our pleas,thisis what they chose? A mutt?”
“We should return to the Court, to see what can be done to restart the selection process,” Suits said.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” I said. “But there’s no way I’m letting you take these guys back.”
Suits turned to me, the smooth skin of his forehead marred with a wrinkle of confusion. “What do you mean?”
I gestured to the horses around me. “They’re skeletal thin and in horrible condition.”
“Nonsense. It is merely that they have taken on the state of the Court,” the older fae woman said. “As the Night Court is unwell, so are the creatures embraced in its bosom.”
“Yeah, no. This is what happens when you don’tfeedthem,” I said. “And you can bet the Curia Cloisters are going to hear all about it. Until then, they stay with me.”
The fae woman sniffed. “Empty threats. Guards—prepare for our departure.”
A guard turned back to the fence and raised his sword at my poor fence again.
“Don’t you dare!” I snarled.
The guard froze mid-swing.
I suspiciously glared at him, but relaxed when he didn’t move.
“What are you waiting for?” the older fae woman demanded.
“I…can’t,” the guard slowly ground out.
Suits and the older fae swung around and stared at me, varying degrees of horror and terror flickering across their expressions.
“No, no it can’t be possible.” The older fae shook her head as she stared at the night mares. “They haven’t bound a monarch in a century. They couldn’t possibly bind us to you. It would send the Night Court on a path of destruction!”
Suits tugged on his tie, losing some of his prim-and-proper-edge. “They chose. We’re not needed—we can’t do anything. She’s already bound!”
I rolled my eyes at their theatrics—blissfully ignorant, or I probably would have been rolling around on the ground.
I wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with fae. Since I was an Unpledged half fae there was always a chance one of the fae would decide Ihadto join them—and because the Courts have absolute jurisdiction over all fae, half or otherwise, it would have been hard to fight.
But I knew very little about the Night Court. My bio father was from the Night Court, and given how he had abruptly divorced my mom when I was a toddler, I didn’t have a burning desire to get to know his Court.
The fae moaned for a few moments as my irritation grew.
“That’s enough,” I said, using the same, firm, no-nonsense voice I used when I was working with the Drakes’ dogs. “You either explain, or you leave here knowing that you are never getting these horses back.”
The older fae turned her attention to me, her anger making her expression cruel. “They choseyou.How could they have chosen you? It was supposed to be Lady Chrysanthe—or someone proud and noble. Not a halfhuman!”
“Get off this property, now,” I ordered. “I don’t want to see you again.”
“We can’t leave you,” Suits pleaded.
