Oberon’s son, Ruari, stood in the courtyard, surrounded by a dozen of Kalen’s guards, with a blank expression on his face, even as Toryn leveled a spear at his gut. He had a blade pressed to my sister’s slender neck. Her bottom lip trembled, but her fingers were curled at her sides.
Fingers tipped with claws.
I glanced from her hands to Ruari’s face—eerily calm. Now he was smiling.
“I will kill you,” I growled, stalking toward him. “Get your blade off my sister’s throat, or I will tear you limb from limb.”
Kalen did not try to stop me. None of the Mist Guard did. I walked right up to Toryn’s side, pulled out the Mortal Dagger, flipped the blade, and started to lunge toward the orange-horned half-fae. But then—
Ruari pressed his dagger harder against my sister’s neck and tsked. “Ah, ah. Careful, now. I don’t want to have to cut off her pretty little head. Judging by how you reacted when my father threatened the same, I don’t think you want that, either.”
Anger thundered in my veins. Darkness crept into the corners of my vision and pulsed against my skin, desperate to get out, desperate to tear the creature before me to shreds. He had a blade on my sister’s throat. My blood boiled with a viciousness that made my back begin to ache.
“I swear on the sun above that I will kill you if you don’t let her go.”
He looked up at the sky. “I’m afraid the sun has abandoned you.”
“What do you want?” Toryn demanded from beside me, his spear trembling.
“I want to make a deal with your king,” he said as easily as if he wanted to swap some apples for gemstones, not my sister’s life. I should have known not to trust him. For sun’s sake, Ihadn’ttrusted him. I’d seen the glint in his eye when he’d made his plan against his father. I’d known I was nothing more than a pawn in his twisted game. But then he’d vanished after the fire. I’d forgotten all about him, but he hadn’t forgotten about us.
And now he had my sister.
Kalen stepped up beside me, sword in hand. “I don’t think you’ll find me in much of a mood to make a deal when you’re threatening the life of someone who is precious to me.”
From behind me, I heard the distinct sound of a bowstring pulled tight. Niamh was readying an arrow.
“I doubt you’re faster than us,” Kalen said, taking a small step toward Ruari. “We can have you disarmed and dead within seconds. All we have to do is wait for you to lose your focus, just for a breath, and it’s over.”
Uncertainty flashed across Ruari’s face. It was gone within a heartbeat, but I’d seen the doubt in his eyes. He was facing four of Kalen’s Mist Guard, along with Kalen himself. They were all faster and stronger than any fae I’d ever met. Ruari was strong, yes, but he was nothing compared to them.
“I just want to make a trade,” Ruari said slowly. “And if you try to attack me, I’ll kill her.”
A low growl rumbled from my throat. “If you think you can kill her and make it out of here alive, then you’re even more deranged than I thought you were.”
His eyes narrowed, and then he turned his gaze to the smoldering buildings that surrounded us. “I don’t have much to live for. You’ve taken everything from me. My home, my people, my family. All I want is a piece of it back.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“King Oberon is gone. Isn’t that right? So you don’t need to worry about him anymore. Most of his court is gone, too. Those of us alive don’t want a war with the shadow fae, and we certainly have no plans to ally with the coming gods. We just want to live in our homeland in peace. Albyria and Teine, they’re ours. Remove your warriors from our city and give us back our streets, and Nellie can go free.”
My lips parted. “You want Albyria back? But the city, it’s…dead.”
“We’ll rebuild it.”
“No war?” Kalen asked. “No more fighting? No more deals with the gods?”
Ruari gave a nod.
“How can I be certain you’ll uphold your end of this deal? I saw your army camping in the shadow of the mountain. What’s to stop you from marching on us once we retreat?”
“If we wanted to march on you, we would have already. I’ve heard Endir is a pleasant city, even with all the mist everywhere. Safe, too, with that wall. We could have tried to take it from you, but we didn’t. We want Albyria back. Albyria and Teine.”
“No one lives in Teine anymore,” I argued. “All the mortals left.”
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Teine has always been part of the Kingdom of Light. Perhaps someone will decide to settle there someday, and the homes will fill with families once more.”
“The Kingdom of Light will never have you for their king,” Nellie muttered, her eyes bright with anger.
