“She’s right,” Silas growled, though his eyes were fixed on the river. His tone was meant for whatever was happening out there, not for me. “We don’t have enough people, weapons, or potions to fight this war. You are our only hope, Alessia.”
Silas looked into my eyes then, and I knew he wouldn’t put that kind of pressure on me unless he believed it. I also saw the worry etched on his brow—not for himself, but for losing me, the island, everyone on it.
I thought of Liza, her tiny hand in mine. I considered what would be best to save her. And I knew in my heart, that while I wanted to stay and fight with my fellow islanders, the only way out of this was through Fae Queen magic.
“Where’s Liza?” I asked urgently. “I need her taken to safety.”
“She’s with Millie,” Ranger Z said. “They’re already in transit to Ranger headquarters. Millie will protect Liza with her life.”
It was a good answer, even if it wasn’t completely the one I wanted. I didn’t want anyone protecting anyone else with their life. I wanted everyone safe and protected by my wards, the wards that were supposed to shield my island, my court, my people. It angered me that I wasn’t able to hold up my end of the bargain. I needed to fuel that anger into action, and even as I did, I noted the rage steadying me.
“I do need a weapon,” I said. “But aside from that, you’re right. We need to go.”
“Here.” Silas slipped something into my hand. “It’s yours anyway.”
Before I looked, I knew what it was. My dagger.
“It should work,” Silas said. “I’d expect Fae magic to work whether the spirits are in their spirit form or solid.”
“You didn’t tell me that before?” I looked up at him curiously. “I didn’t think you knew of a weapon that could harm the spirits.”
Silas spared a wry smile, a gem so rare and precious these days, that even in this moment I didn’t take it for granted.
He leaned closer to me. “I didn’t want you getting close enough to test it.”
“If we’re going,” Ranger Z said, “we need to move now. This way, into The Forest.”
The three of us jogged down the stairs of the castle and onto the snowy banks alongside it. Almost at once, however, Ranger Z stopped short. Her Comm chirped, and though I couldn’t make out the words, I could see that her face went ghost-pale in a sign that something was wrong.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’d they say?”
“Crimson lycanthropes are taking over. There’s a whole horde coming down from the volcano to the northwest, and they’ll be flooding The Forest. It’s not safe for us to cross the river. There’s another horde coming up from the south, near the Lower Bridge.”
“Hordes?” I echoed, my throat feeling raw.
One crimson lycanthrope had been enough to cause massive casualties. If Silas and I hadn’t been there, the end result could have been bloody. It had taken a Fae Queen and an extremely experienced Hunter to fell a single creature.
“There have already been fatalities,” Ranger Z said. “We need to move. We’ll go toward the cottage; it’s the safest place for now.”
Without argument, the three of us switched paths and headed toward Wisteria Cottage. I remembered the patch of dead lands near the hut where I’d trained with Seer Goddard, and I directed the others toward it.
The snow was up to our knees, some places our waists. We trudged through relentlessly. Before long I’d lost sensation in my toes. Even Fae Queens, it seemed, weren’t immune to winter’s bite.
“By the way,” I asked around a shiver. “Has anyone heard from Seer Goddard? He was with me when I went into the underworld.”
“He was?” Silas glanced at me. “We thought it was only Liza.”
I shook my head. “They were both there.”
“Liza didn’t say anything about it.”
I found that curious. “Did Liza tell you what happened? How did I end up at the castle, anyway?”
“When you didn’t wake up, Liza came looking for me at dusk on the first night. She explained that you’d traveled to the underworld, that she’d been with you as a spiritual guide but that your connection had been severed.”
“All that is accurate,” I said. “It’s just, she wasn’t there alone.”
“Well, she was alone when she came to retrieve me, and when we went to retrieveyou,you were alone on the hill as well.” Silas paused. “We brought you to the castle, brought in Healers and medics and Rangers, but nothing we tried could bring you back. We waited until you awoke on the sixth day.”
