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The intensity in his stare, the fear… fear for me. Fear of Annwyn.
I couldn’t hold it. I looked away, turned away, trying to pace.
The room was too small. I was trapped. No air, no sky above my head. I had to get out.
But I couldn’t.
Duty held me in place. My kingdom.
This was no longer about posturing. This was about finding out everything Taliya knew.
“How did they get here seven thousand years ago?”
Taliya was now circling overhead. Her version of pacing, I supposed.
But she answered me. “Your ancestor possessed the same power as you.”
Something wasn’t quite fitting into place. Taliya looked at me with derision—more than derision. Not hate, not exactly. Blame. My fault.
My fault.
Arran and my blood had joined, my power had awoken. I’d been unable to control it, falling headfirst into the void, through the rifts. I had visited the succubus realm without even realizing it. I’d opened the way.
Except that wasn’t the first time I’d seen the succubus.
“You are wrong.”
Her wings flapped faster.
“We encountered a nightwalker—a succubus, before we were mated.”
“Twice,” Arran corrected. “The man in the ravine, and the human emissary from Eldermist.”
Now Taliya’s head was shaking in time with her wings. “That cannot be.”
“Are you calling us liars?” I glared up at her. I wished I had Percival’s bow and arrow. I was better with my knives, but I only had one and I was loath to risk it.
“All fae—”
“You are fae! We are all fae!” I shouted.
That shut her up.
I waved my hands around like a fucking idiot, as if I could pluck her tiny, infuriating body from the air. I was close to losing my temper, losing my mind.
“They only possess humans, only when they sleep. Why?” I demanded.
“If your own kind have not fallen prey to them yet, you are lucky. Human minds are weaker, easier to steal. Even more so when they slumber. But they will come for your males just the same. Unless all of you are as well gilded with amorite.”
I froze. Arran’s eyes found mine.Amorite.
I pulled Excalibur from my back in one brutal sweep.
The swirls of metal seemed even more pronounced now that I knew what I was looking at. The blades weren’t merely made in Avalon; they were forged with amorite.
“These blades can kill the… are they humans? Or are they succubus?” I flicked my eyes upward. Taliya was now hovering high up, directly above our heads.
“They are humans still, but they are slaves to the succubus. The succubus wait in their realm of death. Were trapped there until you began opening the void. They never leave it, only use the void to take over the minds of our males.” She lowered herself down, close enough to see the blades. “Only the amorite is effective against them.”
