Segonax rolled his eyes. “Tarrah has told the king that she hasn’t heard from her god about this blasted battle, so he’s taken that to mean he should go ahead with it. It seems Unseelie has suddenly gone mute.”
“If he ever spoke at all,” Reyna muttered.
Every eye in the room turned her way.
“I’m just saying that he doesn’t seem to be veryconsistentwith his visions,” she answered. “Sometimes, he’s happy enough to pop in with some advice, but other times, like when people are getting shot with poisonous arrows, he’s off doing another death god thing.”
“Hmm,” Segonax said.
Reyna noticed he did not argue.
“So, it seems that regardless of what we think, we must go through with this foolhardy plan. The gods have mercy on us all.” Segonax looked up at the ceiling and sighed before vanishing out the door to round up more warriors.
Nollaig hesitated, shook her head, and then followed the commander. At long last, Reyna was finally alone in a room with Lorcan again, but the circumstances were not forgiving.
“I’m not thrilled by the idea of heading back into the wood fae lands just as we escaped it.” Reyna glanced down at her clean trousers. It wouldn’t be long before they were bloody again. “I’m even less thrilled about fighting against them for your father.”
Lorcan let out a heavy sigh and dragged a hand down his face. “If I knew how to free us from our bonds, I would.”
But the both of them were stuck. They were forced to go along with whatever plan Lorcan’s father concocted. The shadow king might not have Thane and Eislyn held captive, but he didn’t need them now. Reyna’s vow bound her to his will, and Lorcan still had his mark. He’d been able to defy it a handful of times but not always. And she knew in her heart that he would never step into the light as long as she was stuck in the shadows. He would stay there until she found a way out.
Reyna sighed and glanced down at the map. “So, who do we want to win?”
Lorcan tucked a finger beneath her chin. “Us.”
* * *
It took two days for the entirety of the shadow fae army to march its way through the hidden tunnels beneath the border wall and out onto the fields that stretched beneath the shadow of Findius. This night, the city seemed to glow like a thousand fires burning. In expectation of a brutal and glorious victory, High King Bolg Rothach had left behind a handful of trusted servants to light the infamous fire pits where he would torture his captured enemies.
Reyna thought it odd a shadow king would be so fond of the flames. But it was merely a fleeting thought. There were far more important things on her mind.
Namely, survival.
The camp sprawled across the rolling hills at the base of the looming Findius wall built from pure black stone. The great fae sky glimmered with the light of a million stars scattered across the inky splendor. Ten thousand burlap tents had been erected almost seemingly at once, servants and warriors bustling around the camp like ants beneath the boot of the king. Every tent had been dyed grey, the better for blending in with the darkness. No torches were lit this night. The camp was bathed in shadows.
Reyna sat in the commander’s tent without her familiar, having left Wingallock in the safety of the castle, tensely watching Segonax attempt to make sense of the king’s plans. A single candle sat on a table holding the map of the realms.
“Have you seen anything in those damn visions of yours?” the commander grumbled at Tarrah, who merely stared hollow-eyed at the map of Tir Na Nog. She pointed at Findius,insidethe very city itself rather than outside of the walls on either side.
“Unseelie has only shown me a battle there,” she said softly, as if in awe of her god’s powers.
His very limited powers, Reyna thought.
“You’ve said that!” Segonax wiped the map of the table. It tumbled to the floor of the tent, painted kingdoms stained with the dirt. “But that’s not the battle that’s happening now. What we need to know about isthis one.”
“Seg,” said Nollaig quietly. “This isn’t the poor girl’s fault.”
“She’s the one who has bolstered our idiot king,” he said, seething. “It is, in fact, partly her fault.”
Reyna jerked up her head, and the entire tent fell silent. Her heart flickered, hope and curiosity battling for dominance.
Did he just insult his king?
“I didn’t mean that,” he said, running his fingers through his short-cropped dark hair. “I’m just on edge because of the impending battle. We all are.”
“Bolg Rothach is our High King,” Tarrah said before clearing her throat. “And he is the one who will lead us to victory. It doesn’t matter what we think of him. All that matters is seeing this battle through, so that we can get to therealbattle.”
“Child.” Segonax said, sighing. “This is a real battle, whether you have visions about it or not. There will be real blood. Real death. And all the shadows in the world cannot change the fact that we are currently camping in the realm of the enemy. I fear…” His jaw rippled, and he glanced away.
