Cailey’s murmur sounds at my shoulder. “That is Catalina Shield. She is the champion of the human Queen, who is now the younger woman, Rachel Solas.”
Erik told me what happened back at the city. Mother Solas and Rachel didn’t treat him like an enemy, but they have new responsibilities now. Rachel will now bear the weight of an entire human population on her shoulders.
Catalina surges ahead first. She has dark-brown hair, consistent with most of the humans I’ve met, light-brown skin, and a birthmark across her left cheek and jaw. Her armor appears to be made from leather, but she’s wearing a black metal glove on her right hand. I consider it with some wariness, since it looks like the type of glove Thaden designed for the humans.
She quickly reaches Concord and shouts a command up to the fae woman who has remained on Concord’s back. “Get down on the ground. Slowly!”
I recognize the fae as Dusana. She was the one who attacked me in the mountains before Elowynn escorted me to the fae castle.
My sister told me it was Dusana who delivered the message to her at Thaden’s village. That message had no real substance but contained a clear threat: If I want my brother to live, I will do whatever Queen Karasi asks.
Now, it seems Dusana is finally here to tell me what that is.
But the dynamic between her and Catalina tells me that Dusana is certainly not in control of this situation.
She slides from Concord’s back without waiting for the bird to extend her wing, wobbling during her landing and taking a long minute to right herself.
“Walk!” Catalina orders her, at which Dusana stumbles toward me.
“Stop,” Catalina barks. “Down on your knees. Keep your hands where we can see them.”
Again, Dusana obeys.
When I first encountered Dusana, she was wearing raven-black armor and carrying multiple concealed weapons. She held her head high. Now she’s dressed in an old, stained tunic and tattered pants. Her hair is matted, and her cheeks look gaunt.
She shivers in the wind, and her eyes are hollow when she looks up at me.
I take a closer look at Concord, unhappy to make out missing feathers around her neck and red marks on her exposed skin. She was either beaten or chained. She sinks to the ground, her head low.
I may not be friends with any fae, let alone Concord’s rider, Elowynn, but Concord chose to help me at a time when I desperately needed it.
“We’ve brought you to Asha Silverspun, as you demanded,” Catalina snaps at Dusana. “Now speak your message.”
“No,” I say before Dusana can open her mouth. “Donotspeak.”
Not yet.
Catalina blinks at me. I’ve surprised her, but she will rally soon enough.
“Cailey,” I say, quickly drawing the star to me.
“Yes, Asha?”
“Will you bring some water from the stream?”
Cailey doesn’t question me. “I can do that.”
She darts away toward the edge of the forest.
Then I incline my head toward Blackbird. “Concord must be thirsty, too. Blackbird, can you show her to the stream?”
Blackbird makes a growling sound in his throat before edging toward Concord. I learned early on that fae thunderbirds understand speech, even if they can’t speak back. Only the Dusk fae have the power to commune with them fully, reading their minds and speaking silently with them.
Dusana is a Dusk fae.
It means she doesn’t control sunlight or wind or other elements that could kill a person, but she could silently command Concord to lash out…
I watch her carefully while Blackbird moves toward Concord. The female thunderbird glances at Dusana before she turns her attention to Blackbird, blinking slowly at him.
