At the wordsnightmare wraith, my stomach dropped through the floor. Images of hooded figures flashed through my mind. Hands pinning me down, horrific screams ripping from my throat. I tightened my grip on mysword.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Which was honest. I didn’t. Sure, I was Lugh’s mate, but what did that have to do with nightmare wraiths? Those creatures of darkness and pain hadn’t been seen in this realm for centuries, save for once. Most of them had never even come through the portal. They’d stayed in Faerie, according tolegends.
“Your precious mate is a nightmare wraith,” Fiona sneered, striding toward me. “Or did he not tellyou?”
I flicked my eyes toward Lugh, who was avoiding my gaze. He kept his own eyes locked on his feet instead. Confusion rippled through me, as well as a heavy dose of fear. “Lugh is not a nightmarewraith.”
Nightmare wraiths were creatures of the night, spectres of evil. They didn’t have souls, and they didn’t care about anything but feeding on the fear of everyone else. They chased you down, pinned you, and squatted on top, pouring horrifying images into yourhead.
They’d done it to me, once. When I’d been just a fae child, some nightmare wraiths went on a spree through the English countryside, terrorising everyone they met. It was the most horrifying thing that had ever happened to me, and I still had nightmares about them to thisday.
But they’d been stopped. And none had been seensince.
“Oi, prophecy girl,” Fiona snapped. “Tell the sword master thetruth.”
Saoirse sagged against her chains and sighed. “It’s true, Moira, in a way. Lugh was once a nightmare wraith. In fact, he was the commander of an entire clan of them. Uisnech...helped him. He found a way to give Lugh a real life, but nightmare wraiths cannot have souls, so it couldn’t reside in his own body. Uisnech found a way to put the soul in the spear and link the two of themtogether.”
Shock hit me square in the gut. I stumbled backward, my mouth opening with soundless protests. This couldn’t be real. It was some kind of trick, another trap to distract us from thetruth.
But Fiona hadn’t been the one to speak those words outloud.
Saoirse had. And Lugh was doing nothing to rebukeher.
“Lugh,” I whispered as tears burned my eyes. I glanced across his face. That strong, fierce jaw. His cheekbones as high as the sky. The coal dark hair that looked like night. He did not look like a nightmare wraith at all. “Is thistrue?”
“I tried to tell you earlier,” he said tiredly. “I thought you would run screaming from me when you found out, but it turns out, I didn’t even have to tell you to get yourunning.”
Guilt tripped through me, even as horror churned in mygut.
Lugh—myLugh—was a nightmarewraith.
“So, you terrorised people?” I stepped back toward the door. “You filled their minds with death and gore and horror? Youfedonthem?”
“Not since I’ve had my soul.” He slumped even further against his bonds. “Not since Uisnech savedme.”
Now it all truly did make sense. Why he felt such a bond with the little hobgoblin. Why he’d made his Court the way he had. Why he felt the need to hide and save others that were lost. He was a fae—the nightmare wraiths were very much fae, but a different kind than the ones who had found their way into the mortal realm—but he was one of the deadliestalive.
“So, now you see why it’s okay for his life to be a sacrifice for the greater good,” Fiona said, cutting through my wheeling thoughts. “The magic of a wraith is powerful, particularly one who has been bound with a soul. We were going to use his spear for the cauldron, but that proved difficult tofind.”
My gut clenched, and my head shot up. “You want the spear instead of Lugh? I’ll give it toyou.”
“No,” Lugh growled, finally looking up to meet my eyes. “If they destroy the spear, I’ll lose my soul. It’s the only thing binding me to who I amnow.”
My heartthundered.
“And if I lose my soul,” he continued, “I’ll be the commander of wraiths once again. I won’t be able to stop myself from ordering them to flee from Faerie and swarm this realm. I willwantthem to feed on everyone who lives here. Because I won’t be meanymore.”
My entire body shuddered in response to his words. I’d faced a lot of things in my long life. The walking dead, vampires who wanted to rip me to shreds, murderous psychopaths who wanted to bury me alive. But his words sent a new terror through mysoul.
If he brought the nightmare wraiths out of Faerie, they would swarm this realm and feast on every last human alive. No one would besafe.
“Oh dear. Looks like we’ll need to sacrifice Lugh instead, afterall.”
“No!” I sprang into action. Sword whirling, I aimed my attack right at her head. Her bodyguards jumped into place, and one of them took the hit instead. The male fell, blood spraying onto my blacktrousers.
Grimacing, I turned to the next. They all rushed me, and my instincts took over. I sliced to the right, and the next one fell. Another lurched toward me, and I ducked low. When he was busy recovering from his attempt, I lunged forward. The blade sank deep into hischest.
Two more were left, not including Fiona, who was back to muttering at the cauldron again. She’d grabbed a small dagger and was slicing it through the air in some kind of pattern. It was a ritual, one that obviously required blood and deep, dark magic. She was two seconds away from sacrificing Lugh, and I had to stopher.
