“Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad to see you’re okay. Does this mean you got theStarlight?”
Quickly, I filled her in on everything that had happened. My immunity to the venom. My encounter with the Dark Fae. The impending attack against us. And the fae’s desire for an alternative, one I’d yet been able tofind.
She perched on the edge of the bed and stared out at the falling snow, her face a reflection of everything I felt inside. “Okay, so whathaveyou managed to find out about the DarkFae?”
“Not as much as I’d like.” I shrugged and plopped onto the bed beside her. “They need energy to survive. Human energy. When the magic of this place twists you inside out, they’re somehow able to draw that human energy to themselves, even though they’re in a different realm. And, interestingly enough, they can’t go into the human realm themselves. That’s why they have the Light Fae doing the dirty work forthem.”
She raised her eyebrows. “LightFae?”
“Us.” I gestured at the room, though no one was in here but the two of us. “Me. The fae in this realm. We’re the Light Fae. Or at least that’s what we’re called in thesebooks.”
“And then the Light Fae releases the new Redcaps back into the human realm, and…every time a new human gets infected, the Dark Fae gets moreenergy?”
I gave a nod. “Exactly.”
“So, they basically have to feed off humans to survive, though they can’t do it directlythemselves.”
“And now you see my dilemma. How am I supposed to come up with an alternative? It seemsimpossible.”
“Well, you basically need a different way for them to feed onhumans.”
I made a face. “That’s not really ideal, is it? They would still be feeding on innocentpeople.”
Bree’s face suddenly lit up, and she jumped from the bed in one fluid motion. Pacing from one end of the floor to the other, she whispered animatedly to herself before taking my hands in hers and practically jumping up anddown.
“Bree?” I cocked my head, letting out a light laugh. “You’ve got that evil genius look in youreyes.”
“I’m not the evil genius.Youare.” Shegrinned.
A horn sounded in the distance. Long and low and wrong. Bree dropped my hands and twisted toward the sound. Frowning, I jumped to my feet and rushed to the window, peering through the frosted glass. In the distance, the horn sounded once again, sending a wave of shivers through mybody.
“Maybe it’s just the Rebels returning from the Autumn lands,” Bree whispered as she stepped up behind me. She leaned forward and pressed her hand to the cold glass, her breath forming a circular fog on the frostedpanes.
“Yeah.Maybe.”
The door of the room flew open, and all four of my mates stormed inside. They were each armed, swords slung across their backs and daggers strapped to their sides. At the look on Kael’s face, my heartbeat ramped up speed. He looked like he was ready to rip the Dark Fae King’s headoff.
Mouth dry, I arched my eyebrows in a silentquestion.
“Are you certain the Dark Fae said they would give us three days?” Liam asked in a lowgrowl.
Swallowing hard, I nodded. “That’s what the son of the King said. In three days, they would invade, but it was less of a ‘giving us three days’ and more of awarning.”
Rourke and Kael exchanged grim looks. “Then, for whatever reason, they’ve decided to invade early. That was the horn of the Dark Fae. They will be here bymidday.”
I clenched my hands into tight fists. “By midday? That soon? Have any of our fightersarrived?”
“The Spring fae won’t be here until the end of the day. The Summers and the Autumns might arrive by noon, but we can’t be certain we have that kind of time,” Kael said. “Unless they’re traveling faster than expected, it will be us and the Winter Hunters against what I imagine will be an entire army of DarkFae.”
“We need to send a scout,” Finn said quickly. “I cango.”
“No.” My voice was harsh as I turned on my Spring mate. “Absolutelynot.”
“I can move quickly, Norah,” he said. “We need to get a look at their army before they arrive at thecastle.”
“If something happened to you, Finn…” Tears filled my eyes at the thought, and I took a deep breath in through my nose to steady my nerves. “Someone else can scout ahead. A Winter fae. Someone who knows these lands and is more comfortable with the cold. And no, Kael. I don’t mean you. Please. I need you all by myside.”
Kael gave a nod. “I’ll go speak with Desmond and get a scout sentahead.”
