Staying in the shadows, I sneaked behind the tents then jogged toward the Great Forest. Security had been annoyingly tightened since the failed attack. I desperately needed a few minutes alone, without a bodyguard or an army or judgemental friends staring at me.
I reached the treeline and slipped between the tree trunks until a twig cracked behind me. Putting my hand on my dagger, I pressed my back against a tree and held my breath. Silence. I was about to move again when I heard the brush of wings against the leaves. Thinking it was Bran, I stepped out and brandished the dagger, furious at being followed.
Drake held up his hands and took a step back. “I just came to see if you were okay. That’s all.”
“And I just needed some peace. God, aren’t you sick of being shadowed by bodyguards all of the time?”
He exhaled loudly. “Oh, yeah. The worst part is how good they are. I can hardly ever slip away.”
“You’re their king. You’re kinda the boss of them.”
Smiling, he leaned against a tree. “And their boss is still being threatened with a dagger.”
“Oh, shit.” I held the dagger behind my back, unwilling to let it go. “Sorry. How are you feeling after… you know?”
“I’m okay. The grey-eyed one said the poison wasn’t in my system long enough to do too much damage. If you hadn’t befriended the Miacha and sent Fiadh to the Green Court, I’d probably be dead.”
“If I hadn’t pissed off the lineage consultant, you wouldn’t have been poisoned. I’m sorry.”
“You never have to apologise to me.” His tone softened. “You’ve never done anything wrong.”
I pressed my lips together, thinking of all of the things I had done wrong. “Even killing Deorad?”
He bowed his head. “You said it yourself. You did what you had to do.”
“Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “I should get back before the search party gets sent out.”
“Me, too.” He stood still.
“Okay.”
I made to move past him, but he cornered me against the tree, blocking my way. His wings beat faster, lancing the air with silver like living sparklers. He raised his hand, and thinking he was going to put it on my cheek, I closed my eyes and waited for his touch.
But as his fingers brushed against my skin, I popped my eyes open and slapped his hand away. “You can’t keep doing this.”
“What?” His expression was filled with anguish. “I’m supposed to be a king, and I can’t do one single thing that I want. If I make the rules, then why is everything I want forbidden? Everyone else has all of the power, and I’m left with nothing. You look at me like…” He hung his head.
“She loves you.”
He looked up and smiled. “Scarlet?”
My heart broke a little for him in that moment. “I… I meant Sorcha.”
He flinched and backed away from me. “What are you talking about?”
“You married her, and now she cares about you. If I ever cross a line with you, she’ll kill Scarlet just to punish me.”
“She told you that?” He gripped my arms. “Did she tell you that?”
“She doesn’t have to say the words.” I pushed him away. “The most dangerous people in this realm live in the Silver Court.”
“No. Nothing will happen to Scarlet in my territory.”
“I just don’t think that’s something you can promise.”
“She’ll always be safe with me,” he insisted. “You and I can set a different path once I have more power. We’ll take care of Sadler, and then we’ll finally be free. The power will free us, Cara.”
I stared at him, unsure of what I was seeing in his face. “You mean after you give your wife’s god his sacrifices?” I asked in a shaky voice. “Is that the price of power?”
“You know the Darksiders deserve to die. If we don’t deal with them, they’ll always come after us. Haven’t you seen it yet? If you and I work together, we can have more power than anyone in this realm. If I gain the majority, I’ll be able to protect you… and Scarlet.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
His smile turned dark. “You will.”
“What about Brendan?”
His gaze was earnest and steady. “Do you really trust him, Cara? He’s as addicted to you as Sadler was. Don’t mistake his humour for something more substantial. He made Scarlet his heir to use her, not to help you. Never forget that.”
He spun and strode away. I then understood that the only way he could ever gain more power would be by betraying Brendan. And I was in the middle of their power struggle. Once again, I could be the deciding factor. And once again, I had to figure out who I could trust and who was just using me for Scarlet.
***
It had been raining for three days straight. Our carriage wheels had sunk into the mud, halting our progress. A group of soldiers tried to push us out of the mud while the rain rolled down their backs.
“This is ridiculous,” I snapped. “We’re never going to make it in time.”
“We’ll have to wait until the rain stops,” Líle said. “It’s pointless using up so much energy and getting nowhere.”
“We could walk quicker than this,” I said.
“In the mud?” Zoe shook her head. “When did you get so outdoorsy?”
“When I had to,” I murmured, but she didn’t hear me. I had been rattled since the conversation with Drake. He hadn’t spoken a word to me since, but his words were constantly on my mind, except the whole incident felt like a dream. I wondered if I had misread him completely.
Later that day, Brendan approached the carriage, his hair plastered against his head and his hands and trousers covered in mud. “We’re going to shelter in the forest,” he said. “We’ll set up a large camp and wait out this torrent. I don’t know what’s causing it.”
“Aren’t you supposed to have some control over the weather?” I asked.
He glanced up at the sky. Rain trickled down his cheeks and neck, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Something’s changed since…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what’s happening. We’ll wait it out. We’re expecting word from the scouts sent to look for signs of an overseas army approaching. Maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to go home.” He wiped his hair off his forehead, leaving a streak of mud in its stead. “I’ll send food to the carriages while the camp is being set up. At least you’ll all be fed, and hopefully, the rain will ease off.”
He left us to move to the next carriage. Scarlet groused, so I played a game with her until the food arrived. When she finished eating, I rocked her to sleep.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Anya asked.
I shook my head. “I’m not hungry.”
“It looks like a severe storm is brewing,” Líle said.
“Sadler makes storms,” I said. “Think he could be nearby?”
“I doubt it,” Líle said. “Didn’t you tell us that he never leaves the castle?”
“I suppose.”
The constant rain was depressing. The sky was permanently dark, and everything seemed dull, as if a dark shadow hung over all the colour.
Bran leaned through the window opening, dripping water along carriage wall. “It’s time to go to the camp. We want to leave before the weather takes a turn for the worse. We think it’s going to flood, so we’re going to have to hurry.”
We all grabbed our bundles and stepped outside. My shoes sank into the mud, which felt like a mouth wanting to suck me into the earth.
“Hold on to each other,” Bran ordered.
Thunder rolled in the distance. The sky darkened. I held Scarlet against my chest, suddenly petrified. Even nature was turning against us. Lightning flashed in the sky to the east.
“Help Zoe,” I shouted at Líle. “She’s not used to this.”
I was so glad that Grim and Realtín hadn’t come with us. I could just imagine the sprite freaking out.
I slipped and went down to my knees. When I tried
to stand, it felt as though something was grabbing my leg. I held Scarlet over my head and shouted for Bran to come and take her. Brendan appeared from nowhere and lifted me out of the mud with ease. My trousers were ripped, and blood dripped down my leg.
“What the fuck was that?” I cried.
Brendan only shook his head and carried me toward the camp. Grey Eyes tripped once and almost went down, despite her agility. The mud seemed to rise up to grasp at her. Bran lifted her onto his shoulders, bent his head against the rain, and continued the trek.
We finally moved out of the mud, but none of us had made it through unscathed. Everyone had scratches wherever they had been touched by mud. Brendan set me on my feet under a tree, but my knee buckled.
I hissed from the pain. “Fuckers.”
“Come on.” Brendan ducked his head under a tree branch. “We need to get everyone’s wounds cleaned. One of my men caught a fever when he left a scratch alone this morning. I’m not taking any chances.”
“What the hell is going on?”
“Not now.” His face was tight, his jaw clenched, and his eyes furious. I decided to swallow my questions until later.
We walked for nearly an hour before reaching our new camp. The tents had been used as canopies that stretched across the treetops, sheltering a wide area from the weather. The horses were led in and kept in their own section. The rest of us pretty much had to live together.
Anya fell asleep with Scarlet that evening. I caught Arlen watching her from across the small fire.
“Oh, just talk to her,” I said, walking past him. “You’re both being idiots.”
I poured a cup of boiled water from the pot and took it back to Zoe. “You need to clean your scratches, so you don’t catch a fever or something.”
Her eyes widened. “That was so scary. It felt like something was trying to pull us down.”
“Or stop us from going any farther,” I said. “We’ll be okay. We’re not alone here. It’s just a bit of bad weather. Everything here is full of extremes. You know that.”
When she calmed, I moved on to Fiadh and Dymphna. Eithne was asleep in Dymphna’s arms, her hair gleaming under the light from the fire. Setanta lay still, but his eyes were wide open.
“He okay?” I asked Fiadh as I took a seat next to her.
“Not really.” Her skin was pale, the stress lines clearly showing in her face. “He wasn’t… as lively in our carriage.”
He wasn’t as lively without Scarlet. I pushed away the thought. “It’s a tough journey,” I said, trying to put on a reassuring face. “I bet he’s a little sickened from the motion. Grey Eyes might have something to help with that.”
She nodded. “It doesn’t look like we’re journeying anytime soon. This seems almost like a hideout.”
“It’s a little strange, but we’ll move on as soon as the rain stops making the travelling so hard.”
“Something’s slowing us down for a reason,” Conn said, surprising me. I kept forgetting he was around because he was so quiet.
“Nothing’s going to stop us completely,” I said.
We were interrupted by shouting. A young female faery raced, went straight to Drake, and whispered something to him. He immediately stood and beckoned Brendan. The pair of them jogged out of the camp and into the forest. I got up to follow, but Bran stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“You don’t want to see,” he said. “It must be bad, so you shouldn’t see.”
“I have to know. Watch Scarlet for me. Please, Bran.”
To my surprise, he let go. I trotted in the direction the two kings had gone. About a hundred feet from camp, I heard panicked voices. I turned that way and found Brendan and Drake with a group of scouts. Two of the scouts were holding up a badly beaten man wearing a silver band around his forearm.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
I could tell by Drake’s expression that he wanted me to leave, but Brendan waved me over. I moved to stand by his side.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” he said. “This is one of the scouts we sent to look for ships.”
“Did you see anything?” I asked. “What happened to you? Where are the rest of you?”
The faery licked his bloody, cracked lips then spat blood. “The rest are gone. Taken by Darksiders. They sent me back to pass on a message.”
“What message?” I whispered.
Brendan reached for my hand. I thought it was to comfort me, but when I caught a glimpse of his face, I knew he was the one who needed comfort.
“They said… we need to give back their stolen princess unharmed and that they want their queen back, dead or alive. If we do that, Sadler will merely conquer.”
“And if we don’t?” Drake asked.
“Then… then no one outside the Darkside will survive. They’ll take the land and leave nothing alive in their wake. They don’t want to war with us. They want to obliterate us. We have a week to give them what they want, or war will be declared.” The faery tilted his head toward me. “He said my team will receive a quick death if I bring her back. If I don’t, they’ll be slowly tortured.”
“Who said that?” Brendan demanded. “Sadler?”
“The Fox,” the faery croaked out. “The Fox told me this.”
“Reynard?” I shook my head. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“The Fox has a message just for you,” the faery told me, though he sounded reluctant. “He told me to let you know that you’re his reward for returning the princess. He told me that if you survive him, Sadler will let his soldiers have you and use you to breed the next generation.”
I shivered, but I stood tall. “Reynard wishes. There’s no way Sadler said that.”
“How can you be so sure?” Drake asked. “He’s a madman!”
“Because he knows his soldiers wouldn’t do it. Maybe there are a few like Reynard, but they aren’t all like him. They want the princess back. They’re not going to stand by and watch Reynard get his hands on the queen.” I thought of Rumble and all of the others who had been kind to me and hoped I was right. “I just don’t believe that Sadler’s this stupid.”
“He’s done worse,” Brendan said. “We need to keep the troops focused on Cara and Scarlet at all times. This is a warning. They’re going to come for her.”
“Nobody followed me,” the injured scout said. “They don’t seem too interested in straying far away from home.”
A thought came to me. “Wait. Where were you when all of this happened?”
“Near the River Garbh,” he said. “We needed to reach a decent viewpoint. There are plenty of places to look when you know what you’re looking for.”
“So you did it,” I said. “You made it to where you needed to go. You looked for ships?”
“We did,” he said. “We watched for an entire day before we were ambushed. After that, they dragged us away. So in the end, I only caught a glimpse.”
“A glimpse of what?” Drake asked. “What did you see?”
The faery scout gave me a begrudging nod. “It looked like she was right. I heard the horns in the distance and saw some flags in the fog. The weather is strangling the realm, but I saw enough to know the truth.”
“Which is?” Brendan asked, his fingers tightening on mine.
“There’s another army coming in on ships. And their numbers will far exceed ours. We’ll never beat them. There’s no way we can win this war.”
Chapter Eighteen
Under the tent, Anya was shivering uncontrollably. I passed her a cup of tea and gave Arlen the stink-eye. He moved closer and held out his hand to her. She took it willingly, relief crossing her face, but he didn’t relax. I knew the peace treaty between them wouldn’t last long, but it would do for the moment.
Satisfied, I eased into a place next to Zoe and made sure she received a plate of food. I had noticed many of the fae had begun ignoring her. The children were asleep, and most of us had gathered to eat and discuss the warships that were on the wa
y.
“He only caught a glimpse,” Sorcha was saying. “He might have panicked. They could have tricked him. He was badly beaten. Who knows what he really saw?”
“Can we really afford to assume otherwise?” I asked.
“There’s nothing we can do either way,” she responded, colour rising in her cheeks.
She wasn’t angry; she was scared. I could almost taste the fear in the air. Everyone was scared. Everyone but me. For some reason, having the story confirmed brought a strange sense of relief. At least we would have to make plans.
“What about the scouts?” I asked. “Reynard will kill them.”
“Reynard will find us along the way,” Brendan said. “Of that, I have no doubt. If the scouts are still alive, we’ll rescue them. But I’m more concerned about the number of ships.”
“If things get bad, we could always think about evacuating people to the human realm,” I said in a low voice.
Indignant gasps rose from the group.
“Even with this kind of threat approaching, I don’t think that many fae will agree to that,” Brendan said. “Particularly the ones who have never left this place. This is their home. Our home. We can’t just walk away and let Sadler take it.”
“He’s going to destroy everything if we don’t stop him,” Drake said. “We have to act.”
“We are acting,” Líle said. “That’s why this trip is happening, is it not? This was Cara’s plan, and we’re lucky the troops left when they did or we would have missed a chance.”
“A chance to do what?” Sorcha threw up her hands in exasperation. “We can’t beat death. Not like this.”
“What about your god?” I asked. “The dead are like gifts to him, right? So he must be mightily pissed that some other arsehole god has taken back his dead.”
“I’m not his spokesperson,” Sorcha snapped. “I was born this way. It’s not like he chose me. If we’re lucky, he’ll help us. If not, we can always make a sacrifice.”