Her heart tore as she glanced over her shoulder and met Norah’s eye. Her friend gave her a solemn nod. She would slow the fae here, on the field, while Bree and Taveon continued on to the Faerie Ring. With a growl, Bree turned away and raced across the field, hating this plan, even though it had been her own. She wished she could fight.
As if in answer to her wishes, a powerful figure thundered down in front of her, blocking her path. She slowed to a stop, jaws dropping at the beast that towered over her now. Even larger than the others, with silver wings and enormous horns, he looked like something straight out of Hell itself.
The demon curled back his lips in a sneer, revealing two rows of terrifying teeth. “You’re the Redcap girl who stole my son.”
The terror that shook her body almost took her to her knees. Forcing herself to focus on the demon’s burning eyes, she didn’t dare glance up at the sky where Taveon had vanished.
“Shift into your fae form so you can answer me!” The demon’s voice boomed like thunder.
Bree inched to the side, eyeing the space around him. If she moved quickly enough, maybe she could catch him off guard. She could race across the fields and reach the Faerie Ring first, and maybe—
The Grand Master stalked toward her with fisted hands. “I demand you answer me, or I will rip every single one of your limbs from your body, consume them, and then spit their mangled ruins back onto the ground where they belong.”
Bree’s heart raged in her chest. She stumbled a few steps back, readying herself for his attack.
A form hurtled out of the sky, a storm of feathers and shadow. Taveon swooped toward his father’s head with a sword aimed right at his face. The Grand Master whirled toward him, snarled, and spread his hands as if to welcome his son with open arms.
He smacked the sword aside just before it hit him. Their bodies collided, and a crack of thunder echoed through the realm. The Grand Master grabbed Taveon, and they both went tumbling across the field. Bree watched, mouth agape.
She ran toward them as they both slowly climbed to their feet. Taveon’s eyes were electric with a rage she’d never seen in him before, and the look on the Grand Master’s face was just as terrifying. They began to circle each other.
Bree slowed as she reached Taveon’s side.Are you all right?
“Get out of here, Bree,” he said out loud.Go to the Faerie Ring. I’ll distract him while you do your thing.
I can’t leave you to fight him on your own. And what I have to do will weaken you. He could kill you, Taveon.
“He won’t kill me,” Taveon said out loud, his eyes locked on his father as they continued to move in slow steady circles around each other. “He needs me alive for his plan to work.”
The Grand Master chuckled. “You’re right. I do need you alive. But the rest of them? They can die.”
Bree whipped her head toward the fae warriors. They’d been forced to stop and face the incoming demon army in the middle of the field. All the blood drained from Bree’s face to pool in her gut. They’d known this would happen. They’d anticipated being forced to fight out in the open against these monsters without the protection of the castle walls to fortify them.
And yet, the sight of it made her veins freeze. The demon army was massive, both in number and in the size of the warriors themselves. They were more powerful. They were deadlier. And if Bree did not move fast, hundreds of fae would die.
Maybe all of them would.
A roar of rage and fear poured from her Redcap throat as she whipped her head back toward Taveon. She couldn’t leave him. Not like this.
But if she didn’t, she doomed everyone else.
Go, Taveon whispered.You have to do this, Bree. Don’t worry about what will happen to me.
With tears pouring down her face, Bree gave Taveon one last look before leaving him to face his father alone.
33
BREE
Bree changed back into her fae form as soon as she stepped inside the Faerie Ring. In an instant, Underworld had vanished, the cloudy night sky replaced with the dawn of a new day. She heaved out a breath of relief. Since it was daytime, they still stood a chance.
With a deep breath, she went back through to Underworld.
Through the bond, she felt Taveon locked in an argument with his father. The demon king was trying to convince him to go to the Realm of the Dead with him, to join his side against the fae. She could hear some of the Grand Master’s words echoing in Taveon’s mind.
“I’m trying to save my people,” the demon king said. “We won’t survive if we stay in the Realm of the Dead.”
“And what will you do if you come here?” Taveon asked, a flicker of regret flaming in his heart. He did not want to be the reason the demons died. They had come here to destroy, but he did not want to destroy them, not if he could help it.
