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“We need more than just vampires against him,” Malcolm says. “But we’re still working on our diplomatic relations and we haven’t tangled with Roanac directly. So we suggest that you be the ones to reach out to other communities.”
“I was thinking you could ask the fae for help,” Willow says.
That brings me up short. North coughs on whatever he was eating and Raven thumps him on the back.
“The fae? What fae?” I demand.
I look over at my mates, but all three of them seem to be confused too.
“You don’t know about them?” Willow asks.
I shake my head.
“There’s a group of fae who live in secret in Costa Rica,” Malcolm explains. “They gathered there many years ago, formed a tribe, and kept themselves hidden from the vampires. And everyone else in the magical community. Nobody knew about them until we learned of their location.”
“They still remain mostly hidden,” Willow warns. “Our relationship with them is good and we wouldn’t want to jeopardize that by revealing their location, but if Roanac is threatening all of us, especially fae, they’ll need to know about it.”
The vampires must be able to tell that my heart is racing wildly in my chest. I had no idea that there were any fae communities out there. “And when you say ‘fae’ you mean… really fae? Full fae?”
Willow nods, smiling at me.
Holy shit. I thought that the few full-blooded fae left, like me, were alone and scattered across the world. Hybrids are much more likely, since we had to intermarry because there were so few of us left. How else were we to survive? And if you’re a single fae all alone and you’re only surrounded by non-fae, of course it’s inevitable you’ll fall in love with one of them and have kids and those kids will be hybrids.
But now I’m hearing there’s a fullcommunitythat I didn’t know about. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of fae, all living together happily and in secret, safe from vampires. Holy shit.
I’m both excited and nervous. It’s a good thing I already ate or I wouldn’t be able to get down any food. My stomach is full of butterflies. My mates seem nervous as well. I don’t think they’ve interacted with so many fae at once either. This is huge for all of us.
“We’ll definitely ask the fae for help,” I tell Willow.
“Tell them we sent you,” Malcolm says. “So they know to trust you. We’ll send you with a message as well so that our friend Nahini will know you’re telling the truth.”
Willow goes back into the strategy room and returns with a small envelope, with the king’s wax seal on it. “Nahini knows my handwriting and this seal. And it’s highly unlikely you could’ve stolen it or imitated it.”
“Thank you.” I take the letter and place it safely in my pocket.
“Good luck,” Willow says earnestly. “We’ll be with you against Roanac when the time comes.”
We can’t portal somewhere while we’re in the Penumbra, so we have to go right back outside of it like we did to get here. It’s odd to see daylight after more than a day in the twilight, and I have to squint and blink to handle it.
Cain opens up a portal to the coordinates we were given. “If they’ve sent us to our doom,” he warns us, his voice trailing off.
“I trust her,” I reply, reiterating my faith in Willow.
To prove it, I step through the portal first.
Immediately, I’m hit with a wall of humid heat. I blink a few times, adjusting, because it’s sunny but we’re in a jungle so the lighting has abruptly changed once again, this time to dappled shadows and sunlight that filter in through the trees.
All around me is plant life. It’s insane. I’ve never been to a jungle before and it’s almost overwhelming just how alive it all is. And the heat is almost unbearable. I can already feel my clothes starting to stick to me as I sweat. I suppose I’d get used to it but this sudden adjustment is not fun. My hair’s going to end up annoyingly frizzy.
The three men step through and the portal closes behind us. “This is the right place,” North whispers. “But I don’t see any fae.”
The heat’s so oppressive it’s making my skin buzz, actually. No, not my skin, underneath my skin. I feel a little…
Oh. No, that’s not the heat. It’s me. It’s the way that I felt before, when I was tapped into all the fae and it was overwhelming me. This isn’t quite that bad, but I can feel it building and it’ll get bad real soon if I’m not careful.
“The fae are here,” I manage to get out.
The men notice my tone of voice and all look to me, immediately moving around me to keep me upright.
