Danu laughed in delight. “Your queen's first address is to threaten you! How grand.” She clapped her hands together and turned to the others. “You heard her. Leave if you like. Stay if you want to reclaim what was stolen from you.”
Nothing happened for a long moment. We waited in silence, and Danu turned toward me. “I think you have your answer.”
Forty percent of the fae with her popped out of existence in colorful shimmers of light. One—a smaller woman with multi-colored hair—bowed her head to me before disappearing.
One ally. Maybe.
Only thousands more to go.
Fury flashed in the goddess's eyes. She didn't have to turn around to know what happened.
“Well,” I said brightly. “Looks like some of you got a get out of jail free card. Anyone else want to take me up on the offer?”
Several more people disappeared. The odds were looking better and better.
Danu's fists clenched at her sides. “I could take it now if I wanted to.”
Rowan's soft snort emboldened me. I came closer to the edge of the wards. “Then take it,” I said softly.
“Evie,” Dad said in a warning tone.
I held up a hand. “Let her. If Danu wants this land, she will have to go through me.” I smiled. “And she isn't ready yet. Now that she's lost almost half her makeshift army, she's not sure she'll be able to overwhelm us. Are you, Danu?”
The goddess' sagging jaw clenched. “I didn't come here to fight.”
“Yes, you did,” I said softly. “If you saw the opportunity, you would have taken it. But now you aren't sure. You're hesitating.”
Danu came within an inch of the wards. “One day,” she said softly, so low only I could hear, “Very soon in the future, you will bow to my will. You will take my place, and if you do not, I will take everything you love.”
Foreboding walked cold fingers down my spine, but showing fear wasn't an option. “You have no idea what I'm capable of,” I said in the same low voice. “I could have killed you that night when we were in the ground, but I stayed my hand. I won't make the same mistake twice.”
Danu's eyes flared, the first real flash of fear I'd seen from her. She covered her reaction quickly, and I might have missed it if I hadn't been watching her so closely. “I look forward to the next time we meet,Queen.”
The air shimmered around her and she was gone. Seconds later, the rest of the fae followed suit.
I let out a slow, heavy exhale. “Fuck, that was close,” I breathed. Everyone else seemed confident I could kill Danu. I wasn't so sure. My magic was new and untried. Danu had millennia to perfect and hone her powers.
I was a magical toddler compared to her, but I also had a different type of power than Danu did. On one hand, our earth powers were similar, though mine seemed less destructive. Mine veered more toward nurturing the world; Danu's toward destruction.
“You did well.” Dad stepped up beside me, his swirling gaze lingering on the spot where Danu just stood.
“All bluster,” I said dryly.
Rowan came up on my other side. “Bluster is only when you can't back your words up. You don't have that problem.”
I entwined our fingers. “She'll definitely be back.” But something about this visit was bothering me. “Can you do me a favor and contact the other Lords? Something about her popping up here and doing nothing makes me think she was trying to hide something else.”
Rowan's fingers tightened in mine. He nodded. “I'll call them the second we get back inside.”
“Why was Mom being so weird earlier?” I asked my father.
His lips compressed into a white line, and for a moment, I thought he might lie to me. Instead, Dad turned to me. “Being a ruler does not mean you are the strongest or the smartest.” A slight smile curved his lips. “Though it helps.”
He jerked his head toward the main house. As we set off, with Hope and Declan following close behind, Dad continued speaking. “Your mom isn't a soothsayer or a fortune teller, but just like her banshees, she has flashes of the future. Usually those visions require interpretation. They come to her in confusing flashes or images she can't make sense of.”
Rowan held the door open for us.
“Sometimes, her visions are clear enough for her to see exactly what's coming.”
