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Fordham tensed at the mention of his exile.
Cheers rose up again, and she waited patiently for them to die down.
“Was this a coincidence?” she asked, casting that terrifying gaze across the room. “I think not. He returns to this mountain and with a dragon.”
Gasped whispers scattered throughout the room.
“A dragon now belongs once again to tribe Charbonnet, as it always did before. As it always should have!” She hit her fist into the palm of her hand. A fierceness settled over her delicate features. “And as the anniversary of the barrier approaches, everything is changing. You can feel it, can’t you?”
A chorus of responses went up in the crowd.
“I can feel the walls crumbling,” she spoke over them. “I alone can see the cracks forming in the foundation of our prison. And I alone am going to get you out of here. The end is near, Charbonnet.”
A chant went up in the crowd. “Wyn-ter. Wyn-ter. Wyn-ter.”
She stood frozen above them, a statue of innocence and power. She was their guiding light out of this madness. Even if it made no sense. Even if she had no way of actually getting them out of this place. Even if she hadn’t given them proof that she could actually see the wall. Everything was blind faith, which had never sat well with Kerrigan. She wanted to save these people, but it certainly wasn’t Wynter who was going to be able to do it. She was using their fear and desperation to put herself in a place of power.
Finally, she raised her hand once more, and silence descended on the cavern.
“Many of you are wondering how I am going to achieve this. And I have decided to begin today,” Wynter said dramatically.
Kerrigan and Fordham exchanged an uneasy glance. This couldn’t be good. Just days ago, she had been asking Kerrigan to take the wall down. She hounded her all week to try to get her to practice. Luckily, Pres and Arbor kept her busy so that Wynter never had the opportunity again. Was there a possibility that she had figured out how the magic worked?
“You must be wondering why I chose this day for our meeting. When the barrier went up, thirteen powerful magical users worked together under a full moon and sacrificed their lives to put it up around us.” Wynter held her hand up, tilting her chin with a wicked smile. “Tonight is a full moon. And I have brought the sacrifice.”
She stepped backward, and Aisling pushed forward the first sacrificial lamb.
Kerrigan’s stomach roiled as she saw the person thrown at Wynter’s feet. She jerked forward, and Fordham grasped her arm.
“You cannot let her see you,” he warned.
“And I can’t let her do this either.”
His eyes were raw with emotion for the first time. “I’ll do it.”
“She won’t care.”
Wynter lifted the head of the person, a knife suddenly in her hand. The woman was gagged and bound at her feet. Wynter tilted the person’s chin toward the crowd, twisting her sideways enough so everyone could see that it was a half-Fae at her feet.
But that wasn’t what captured Kerrigan’s attention.
It was the face. She’d recognize the scar above her lip and the roundness of her features and the look of pure terror.
“Bayton,” she gasped.
12
The Light
Without another thought, Kerrigan ripped off her cloak, revealing her bright red hair. She dropped her black mask to the floor and pushed her hair behind her slightly pointed ears. As she stepped through the press of the crowd, she reached for her magic. A blinding light that only Wynter could see.
Wynter staggered backward from Bayton. The knife clattered to the ground, and she covered her eyes.
“Leave her, Wynter,” Kerrigan spat.
Someone reached for Kerrigan, but by that point, Fordham was at her side. He disarmed a Fae man with a knife. Then, he dropped his own disguise, and the gasp was loud enough that no one else attempted to stop them.
“You cannot sacrifice these people,” Fordham declared with all the force of their crowned prince.
“They are half-Fae and human, brother. Servants and menial workers, nothing more,” Wynter said coolly. “Thirteen lives is a small matter when the cost for the rest of us is eternal enslavement.”
“You have no proof that their lives will bring you what you want. You would kill them all for sport even if it did nothing.”
His accusation hit the crowd like a blow. Whispers erupted all around them.
Wynter straightened to her full height, ignoring Kerrigan’s magic and staring down her big brother. “You know nothing of my research, brother. You have been gone. You have not seen how our people require more. I was here while you were not, and we look up to you for returning to us as our champion, but you have done nothing for them.” She threw her hand out at the crowd. “These who suffer.”
