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And possibly fae-kind’s doom.
As a rope ladder unfurled from the lowest airship, Leaf pleaded with Maebh. She’d already approved a suspension of hostilities. Both sides of the war glared at each other from across the field, warily waiting for instructions. Some stared at the ships with curiosity, not fear. Most of these fae couldn’t fathom the destructive power of human war machines.
And without clean mana to use, they would be slaughtered. Unless… Leaf searched the airships and was relieved that there was no heavy artillery. Maybe a cannon or two. Perhaps the rest had been sacrificed for the harvesting nets. But then, why were they sending down people on the ladder?
“Unmake yourself, Maebh,” he implored. “We cannot fight them like this.”
But Maebh’s wide-eyed gaze was somewhere behind Leaf. Already unhinged, learning about her daughter seemed to both tip her over the edge and keep her from falling. But this look in her eyes was something else. Her fangs bared, and her ink-stained fingers fashioned into claws.
“No!” one of the Six bellowed, but Leaf couldn’t tell who. They were all distressed. The rising sun caused them discomfort. Unlike vampires who wouldn’t die, the Sluagh burned in ultraviolet rays. Legion had admitted as much to Violet and Indigo.
Leaf pulled Nova back to his chest. Whispers of warnings flooded his mind. The Well spoke to him, urging him to hurry. Danger, chaos, and death were coming. But as he scanned the frozen battlefield and glanced up, he wasn’t sure where the threat was worse.
“Your brother,” he said quietly for Nova’s ears only. “He’s on one of those ships.”
She squeezed his forearm and whispered, “Whatever you need from me, take it.”
Bodin snarled, holding Maebh back with a taloned hand on her shoulder. Her face hardened into violence, cracking the red war paint on her face. Her gaze was still locked on the airship—more precisely, on those descending the ladder. From this distance, Leaf couldn’t make out anything special until he found the female with long, billowing silver hair as she clung to the swinging rope.
The haunting sound of a wolf howling rose above all else. Another joined it. Up on the Order battlement, two great white wolves tipped their noses to the sky, their maws gaping as they heralded their kin’s return.
“Shit,” Leaf mumbled, taking in all the ways this could go wrong. It was lucky Rush and Thorne had shifted to wolf without the taint warping their transformation. But he doubted it would be so smooth returning to human form.
Something was severely wrong with Maebh… more than usual. She lashed against Bodin like a maniac, trying to get onto the battlefield.
The airship hovered, and rifles pointed through holes in the hull. He returned his gaze to the ladder. The instant Willow’s feet landed on Elphyne soil, a silent, invisible force exploded outward from her. Horror filled Leaf as the blast wave approached, kicking up dust and dirt. Leaf planted his feet and shielded Nova with his body, weathering the blast. It was just air and stinging grains of sand. The turbulence rocked the wounded orcs holding Maebh’s litter. The platform tilted. The Sluagh’s wings lifted from their shoulders, vibrating in a blur to hold them above until the orcs rebalanced.
Leaf’s ears inner ears hurt, and his face tingled.
“You good?” he asked Nova.
She nodded but clung to him in fright. No one seemed injured. What in the Well’s name was that blast? Everyone had the same bewildered look except for Maebh and the Six. Leaf tracked her blood-thirsty gaze through the shadows to where Willow’s silver hair shone like the moon itself.
“Get ahold of yourself, Maebh,” Aleksandra’s comforting voice rose from the chaos. She stepped before the Unseelie High Queen and forced her to meet her eyes. “Our daughter is out there too—look!”
Maebh’s gaze flickered with doubt. It was enough to pierce the berserker haze. Her rage melted. She gripped the Prime’s shoulders, and tears formed in her eyes.
“I see her,” she rasped, then sucked in a pained breath. “My God, she’s beautiful. Oh, how she’s grown. Our little butterfly.”
But as Leaf’s relief formed, the ground trembled.
“Another wrym?” he asked. “For Crimson’s sake, Maebh. Enough is enough!”
“It’s not me.”
With Maebh contained, each dark-eyed Sluagh stared at the battlefield with rapt, almost maniacal attention. No, not just the battlefield—they stared at the humans. And Willow.
Then the stampede started. Fae from both sides of the war fled the human interlopers in a wave, not unlike the speed of the blast. Leaf could hardly distinguish the reason. There weren’tthatmany humans on the ground—no gunfire from the airships.
But as terrified retreating soldiers arrived, Leaf had no time to ponder. Heart leaping into his throat, he blocked anyone passing too closely with his sword. Nova’s scream made him work harder to keep her safe. The stampeding soldiers thinned as he was about to throw up another protective shield.
Dust bloomed on the battlefield, hiding everything from view. The sun needed to rise already. He needed more light. Shielding his eyes, he squinted into the murky haze and willed his lungs to take shallow breaths.
He scoured the shadows with every sense, listening and searching for danger. A blood-curdling scream. Another howl. A predator’s yellow eyes blinked where he’d last seen Willow.
Leaf sent a sliver of wind toward her. The dust cleared in whorls. When Willow appeared, her face was consumed with the same berserker rage as Maebh. Crouched to the ground, Willow’s fist was already buried in the dirt.
“Shit,” he muttered. Fae burrowed beneath the earth when they wanted a deeper connection to the Well… for more power and range.
