Reyna had officially run out of time. The High King knew she was here, and he likely knew why. Soon, Wingallock would return to her side, and she would be unable to hide him. She had to make her move fast. Picking up her pace, she rushed through the camp in the direction of the air fae tents. There was a large contingent of them on the eastern side, situated with a large chunk of blackened earth separating them from the rest of camp.
The largest of the tents squatted in the very center. Reyna made a beeline for it and ducked inside.
A dozen pairs of yellow eyes turned her way.
“Hi,” she said.
The nearest air fae scowled, a golden-haired female whose long limbs made her tower over everyone else. “What are you doing here? I thought you lot didn’t want to have anything to do with us, even though we’ve come down here to help your asses with this stupid siege.”
“There’s something I need to tell you, but I need you to promise to hear me out before rushing off to do something drastic.”
The golden-haired female edged closer, eyes narrowed. “I heard there was some kind of ruckus going on about a wood fae murdering another wood fae. That’s you, isn’t it?”
Reyna frowned. “That’s the least of our worries. You didn’t see what just happened out there?”
“What happened out where?”
“With the king.” Reyna pointed at the tent’s flap. It obscured the fire pit from view. “He rounded up a bunch of his own warriors and started to feast on their blood and—”
“Oh.” She sighed, her face hardening into ice. “That again.”
Reyna frowned. “What do you mean, ‘again’?”
The cluster of air fae warriors shot each other uneasy glances. The golden-haired female cleared her throat. She stood taller than the rest, and her armor was more refined. Tassels of gold and red hung from her breastplate, signifying her as a captain for the army. The hard set to her jaw said everything her words did not. She wasn’t too fond of the wood king.
“Nothing for you to worry about,” she quickly said, palming the pommel of her sword. “Now, tell me why you’re here before I alert the Grand Alderman. He might be curious to know why a wood fae seems to be hiding out in our tents.”
“I am not a wood fae.” Reyna lifted her shirt to show the hilt of her ice dagger pressed against her stomach. “I am ice.”
Confusion rippled across the captain’s face, replaced quickly with doubt. “You could have stolen that.”
“I could have, but I didn’t.” Reyna shrugged. “Also, I spoke plainly. There is no hiding the truth, or twisting my words to convince you that I am something I am not. Ask me anything you want, and I will answer it.”
They didn’t know that Reyna could lie, though she didn’t plan to do anything but give them the brutal, honest truth.
The captain pursed her lips. She glanced behind her, meeting the eyes of her fellow warriors. Several of them gave her a nod. When she turned back to Reyna, her eyes had sparked with fire.
“Alright then. You said you’re ice. That could somehow be a twist on words, so I will ask you more plainly.” She stepped in closer. “Are you an ice fae? Were you born in the Ice Court? Are you loyal to the Ice Court? Did you somehow join the Wood Court even though you’re an ice fae? Answer all those questions, and then I might believe you are what you say you are.”
Reyna merely smiled. “I am Princess Reyna Darragh, daughter of High King Cos Darragh, former Shieldmaiden for the Ice Court army and currently first-in-line for the ice throne. The once-betrothed to your High King Thane Selkirk. Now, tell me,” she said, chest burning with the heat of her words, “am I what I say I am?”
The captain could only blink.
“Princess.” One of the warriors standing just behind the captain lowered his head. “Forgive us. You do not look yourself.”
“Of course I don’t. I never would have gotten this far if I hadn’t dyed my silver hair. But itisdye. I am not a wood fae.”
The captain cleared her throat. “Princess, I don’t quite know what to say. I must admit, there are a million and one questions swirling through my head. But before I ask them, can I just say how glad I am you’re here?”
Reyna smiled. It had been a risk, revealing herself to the air fae. She’d had a hunch that they would not be pleased about the king they were now fighting for. Sloane Selkirk had sent them here. They’d been following their leader’s orders. But that did not mean they would be thrilled to fight for a king who killed his own.
They likely did not even know that Thane wanted them back home.
“I could say the same to you,” Reyna replied with a smile. “I bring news from your king.”
The captain and her warriors all stood a little straighter at that. Reyna’s heart warmed. She could only imagine how she would have felt in their situation, if she as a Shieldmaiden had been sent to fight under the command of the wood king. To see a friendly face arrive with news from the court…an overwhelming hope would balloon over her head and lift the weight of the war from her shoulders.
Reyna quickly filled them in on the developments inside the kingdom since Sloane Selkirk’s death. They knew some of it, of course, though much had been twisted by Aengus’s own reports. When they heard that Thane was on his way to Tairngire, with ships, to retake it as his, they cheered.
