Page 197 of The Rebel and the Captive

No one hadevercome to the cottage.

Rubbing at her sore crown—which faded immediately; she never felt pain for long in this place—she swung the door open.

“Hello?”

Her visitor—a little Fae girl—couldn’t have been more than six. A beautiful child with ash-brown curls, bright green eyes, and the cutest, tiniest pair of dark gray wings Xenia had ever seen.

“You’re glowing,” the girl said.

“What?”

The girl giggled. “Like a rainbow.”

Xenia looked down at her arms, but didn’t see any glow. The girl wasn’t glowing either.

“You’re not.”

The girl stretched out her limbs to make sure. “No, I’m not. I’m just visiting. He told me to come back here in my dreams. To where my story began. He said you might be lonely.”

“He who?” A tear tracked down Xenia’s cheek. When had she begun crying?

“He’s only got one wing, but it doesn’t matter because—” the girl beckoned Xenia closer, bearing a familiar sly grin “—he’s got adragon.”

Something splintered in Xenia’s chest.

“Who are you talking about?” Her voice was little more than a cracked whisper.

The girl laughed again. “Well, whoelse?Daddy, of course.

“He’s coming for you.”