“She looks exhausted,” was all he said to my Autumn companion. And then he glanced at the horses. “Why are they covered in blood?”
“Nice to see you too, Liam,” Rourke said in a voice clipped short. “Glad to see you’re not among the fallen here.”
Liam turned back to me. “Norah, are you all right? What took so long? Did you get the stone? I’ve been worried out of my damn mind, which is why I came here. And then I found…this.”
I’d almost forgotten that Liam and the other Summers would have no idea why we’d taken longer than expected.
“I’m so sorry, Liam,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his hands. “Things got…complicated.”
Rourke and I filled Liam in on what had happened. How the shopkeeper had betrayed us, and how the Autumn Court had taken Rourke as a prisoner. How I’d snuck in to free him and how I’d overheard the plans of the Spring Court. We even mentioned the storm, but we kept the details fuzzy there. Still, Liam didn’t miss how I stumbled over my words or the blush that began to creep up my neck.
“Something has changed between you two,” he said. “Hasn’t it?”
I swallowed hard and glanced at Rourke. He looked as calm and as undeterred as always. “We may have…realized we have some feelings for each other.”
“I see,” Liam said quietly before giving a nod. “Well, it was only a matter of time.”
“You’re not…” I lifted my eyebrows. “Upset? Mad? Jealous?”
Liam and I had never defined the relationship between us. We hadn’t yet had the chance. But we both knew there was something there, something neither of us could shake, no matter who tried to tell us we had to do. That didn’t stop me from feeling what I felt toward Rourke, and toward Kael. I just hoped this—whatever this was—didn’t cause any of them to turn away with pain and anger.
“If he were any other Autumn fae, I would be very jealous. So jealous I would probably challenge him to a fight.” Liam shook his head with a chuckle. “But for some reason, the idea of you with Rourke doesn’t bother me at all. Maybe because I saw it coming a mile away.”
“You do know this doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for you as well. I still…want you, too.” God, this was so complicated, and kind of embarrassing.
“Relax.” He grinned and winked. “You’re a Greater Fae. Of course you’re going to have feelings for more than one male.”
“Alwyn isn’t going to like this,” Rourke said to Liam. “And don’t forget about the Barmbrack Ring.”
Liam scowled. “Alwyn can bite it. And as for that ring…hell, maybe she’ll end up marrying us all.”
* * *
Irode between Liam and Rourke when we returned to the castle grounds. Two Lesser Fae immediately scurried over and took our horses and our stash of weapons, whispering about soap and water and brushes. They would clean the poor creatures while we took to the war table to discuss my findings with the Hunters. As I turned to go, one of the horses nudged my hand with his nose. Shocked, I turned and met his brown eyes. There was something in them, something soft and fierce and strong all at once. He nudged my hand again and whinnied lightly before nuzzling my neck. My heart throbbed and a strange sensation of pure unbridled love filled my soul.
“You’re welcome,” I whispered.
With one last nuzzle, the horse turned and trotted away.
Liam and Rourke fell into step behind me as we turned toward the hall where the Hunters were waiting for us.
“You know, Marin was like that,” Liam said so quietly to Rourke that I almost didn’t hear. “She and animals had this intense connection. They’d stare into her eyes and look at her like that, like she, I don’t know,belongedto them.”
“Yes,” Rourke said in return. “Norah calms them as well, instead of controlling them. Not to mention all the other things.” A pause. “I truly believe the realm would rally behind her if they could see what she can do. What she’s like. We shouldn’t keep hiding her in secret, not when the realm is in turmoil.”
“You’ve seen these Hunters and how they’ve reacted. It doesn’t matter what she can do. She’ll always be a changeling to them.”
“I can hear you, you know,” I called out just before we strode into the hall.
A part of me felt as though I should be angry that they were trying to discuss me without me knowing, but I was certain they’d been doing that long before now. Besides, it wasn’t anything I didn’t already know. Rourke thought I was some kind of gift from the realm because of my varied powers and that the Courts would rally behind me. Liam, on the other hand, knew the gritty truth of it. Changelings, while fae, while born here, were Other to most of those who called this world home. They would only rally behind someone they would truly consider a Queen.
And a Queen I was most certainly not.
As we strode into the hall, Phelan glanced up from where he still stood hovering over the map. I wondered if he had moved at all while we’d been gone, or had he merely stood there, endlessly pushing his wooden pieces around, trying combination after combination, never able to solve the puzzle of the war.
“They said you were on your way.” He pointed at the map. “Show me what the Autumn Court plans to do.”
Wordlessly, I strode over to the map, right past the territory markers that belonged to the Autumn fae. Instead, I grabbed the block that represented the Sprint Court and shoved it across the table and into the Winter lands.
