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"We may need her someday," Ryze said. He walked on the other side of me. "Her magic anyway. She seems to be the only one who understands how yours works."
"Did you just admit you don't know something?" Cavan asked over his shoulder.
"Yes, but you don't know it either," Ryze retorted. "Mixing magic has always been complicated."
"Winter Court usually only breeds with Winter Court?" I asked.
"Not so much that," Ryze said slowly. "Usually if Fae from different courts breed, the offspring have one kind of magic or the other. Cases like yours are rare and special."
"How do spring and autumn magic work then?" I asked. "Isn't it a combination of hot and cold too?"
"Not really," Ryze said. "Spring magic is the magic of birth, rebirth and growth. Autumn magic is the magic of—not death exactly. Change, endings. Clearing out of old things to make way for the new. If summer magic can raze a field to the ground, autumn magic can turn the dirt, air it out to plant new seeds. It's good for cleansing things too."
"Nothing gets blood out of clothes like autumn magic does," Tavian said.
"That's good to know." I gave him the side eye.
"You never know when something like that will come in handy," he told me unapologetically.
"I suppose not," I agreed.
We moved quietly through the trees. I kept half an eye on the ground in front of me and half of my attention on the bond. The other three around me were comforting, but I couldn't help but focus on Zared. Every step drew me closer to Havenmoor. Closer to him.
"Are we going to walk into Havenmoor looking like this?" Hycanthe asked.
"You have another suggestion?" Dalyth asked, her tone scathing. "At some point, you're going to have to accept you're Fae now. The sooner you do that, the better."
Hycanthe stewed on that for a minute or two. "You don't think a bunch of Fae walking into Havenmoor won't go unnoticed?"
"They'll notice," Cavan said. "They've seen Dalyth and I there before, along with some of my guards. Not usually in these numbers, but I wouldn't be concerned. It's nothing we can't deal with if they give us any trouble."
"You're going to march into Havenmoor and start killing people?" Hycanthe asked in disbelief.
"There's no need for anyone to die," Cavan told her.
"Even your magic is strong enough to deal with anyone throwing stones or insults." Dalyth smiled at her sarcastically.
One minute Dalyth was standing there looking smug as fuck, the next minute she was flying through the air. She slammed into the trunk of a tree and dangled there, halfway off the ground, face red with annoyance.
"My magic is strong enough for that," Hycanthe said. Now who was looking smug?
"Put her down," Cavan said wearily.
"Where's the hurry?" Ryze asked. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I like her like that. It's nothing she doesn't deserve."
"Fuck off," Dalyth snarled. "Let me down."
She barely finished talking when she was struck in the centre of her chest. Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to scream. No sound came out before she burst into flame.
"Fuck!" Ryze raised his hands and half a blizzard of snow roared out from the air. Where it met fire, it sizzled. The flames died out in moments.
Even before the smoke and steam cleared, the smell of roasting meat told me it was too late. Dalyth was nothing more than a blackened corpse, now lying at the base of the tree.
"Oh my gods." Hycanthe took several steps back before Jezalyn managed to grab her. "I didn't mean to… Oh gods."
"It wasn't you," Vayne said. He was looking at the sky over her shoulder. He shook his head. "It opened and closed so quick, I almost missed it."
"Another portal," Ryze said. He was staring at Dalyth's remains.
