“Just say it,” I said.
“We have not the power,” he said. “They are as thick as ten fae set lengthwise. Their sunlit arrows and trebuchets decimate us before we’re able to put so much as a dent in the stone.”
“And what of our magic?”
An almost-smile touched his lips. He managed to keep a straight face. “Our magic is weak outside our kingdom. Too weak to have much effect. But…”
“But?”
“You have the dagger.”
My fingers touched the grip of the dagger at my side. Even a slight touch sent a chill through me. My eyes closed. That was no chill.
It was power. Pure power.
Cirevan had called ustoo weak.That was ridiculous. In a flash, the night of the attack on the Kingdom of Storms returned to me. I remembered the sight of it, the green flares passing overhead. The sounds of our wall being destroyed.
Fae had not been too weak then.
Something had changed between Carys’s time and my own. This battle was decisive in history. Something had happened to change the tide between humans and fae.
And this dagger was part of it. One touch of it imparted power.
My eyes opened. “Gather the archers.”
“My queen?”
My gaze narrowed on Cirevan.
My second-in-command jolted under it and gave a single nod. “I’ll see it done.” He strode from the tent, the flap fluttering behind him.
Alone, my shoulders slumped. I breathed out, feeling like Eury again. I didn’t know what this trial was or exactly how I was being tested. I only knew I had to do the next best thing, whatever the moment called for.
And right now, I needed to breach those walls. I needed to rescue my lover.
From one of the chairs, a plum robe called to me. It hung resplendent over the chair’s back, draping in layers to the animal skin rug. I reached for it, my fingers sinking into the plush fabric.
This was a queen’s piece.
I lifted the robe and swept it over my shoulders. A glittering gold clasp offered itself, and I secured it at my neck. The robe draped to my boots, kissing the ground. I took in a long breath, then straightened.
I emerged from the tent to a different scene. Archers—men and women—stood with bows slung over their chests and arrow fletching blowing in the quivers secured at their backs. But…
“Cirevan?” I said.
He shouldered his way past the group. “My queen?”
I set my hand on his shoulder, drawing him close. “Where are the rest?”
He paused. “This is all, my queen.”
My fingers dug into his shoulder. “But there can’t be more than a dozen.”
“We have lost many already.”
A vise tightened around my chest. Why the fuck would I make a promise to breach the walls when we had only two dozen archers?
Beyond, the far-off sounds of battle continued. The kingdom’s wall rose like a mountain in the distance. I shifted my eyes away from it to the archers standing before me.
