Lightning exploded, the sound loud enough to make Kalinda scream and her ears ring. She curled into herself, unable to grasp her magic as a large, gaping maw of black opened against the wall next to Silva. Four men stepped through in gleaming armor of black and red.
If she could call them men.
They were tall, so fucking tall, with impossibly broad shoulders and sharp fangs hanging over their bottom lips. Daywalkers? Kalinda knew there were vampires in Encantado, but she’d never dealt with them. Most chose to live in outskirt portal cities. But as she continued to look at them, she reevaluated. They had pointed ears and eyes dark as night.
“Unseelie!” Silva screeched.
Kalinda couldn’t make sense of a thing, didn’t know what to do.
Something in Silva changed. Her face grew red, thin blue veins spreading like a spiderweb across her skin, and she lifted to her feet without touching a thing.
“You are not welcome here.”
“Like we’ve ever followed your rules.”
What the fuck was going on? Lennox was not Fae. Silva would have been aware of that, right? This didn’t make sense.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Kieran of the Shadow.”
The visage of Lennox faded and morphed. He grew taller, his shoulders broader and stronger. His face turned pale, nearly white, with dark eyes full of silvery stars, a short beard curling over his jaw. Long black hair whipped around his face in the maelstrom, but he seemed unaffected.
He was painfully beautiful, nearly impossible to look at, and he sported the same sharp teeth and pointed ears as his companions.
The men in armor surrounded Silva, pointing wicked spears at her neck. A howl cutting through the air chilled Kalinda to the bone. It was a call to war, to blood and bones, nothing like what she’d heard from the Lombardi Pack.
Five large wolves, all black, leapt through the maw Kieran had created and surrounded him.
“You see, you should have stayed hidden, Niamh Danaan of the Silver.”
Silva spat at him, uncaring of the spears ready to tear her apart.
Kalinda struggled to reach out a hand. “Don’t. Silva.”
Violet eyes met Kalinda, and the pain there popped like rubber against the skin. “I have to save you.”
Kalinda tried to shake her head, but she couldn’t move anymore. The wind grew more forceful, forcing her face against the ground and sending electric shocks of pain across her cheekbone.
“I claim hilosnaril.”
The word made the room grow too bright as it filled with golden sparks and vibrating power. The Fae near Silva lowered their spears a bit.
Kieran cocked his head to one side. “The Seelie have no honor to claim such.”
Silva looked at Kalinda. “I will give my blood to bind it.”
Kieran stalked toward her, the wolves keeping pace with him. Kalinda knew, without a doubt, the only reason Silva didn’t fight with everything she had was because there was greater risk of Kalinda being harmed than she could stomach.
The realization made Kalinda sick. The bond between the two of them was a double-edged sword. It may have made Kalinda stronger, but it weakened the Fae Queen.
Always bound to her.
Always to follow.
When Kieran reached Silva, he pressed one nail to her throat and punctured her skin with a slow, deliberate push. Silva gritted her teeth but didn’t cry out. As the blood trickled down his nail, it snaked around his finger before soaking into his flesh.
“Accepted. And in case someone else decides to come to the party …” In a flash, Kieran was at Kalinda’s side.
“No!”
