Chapter 41
Ceri
“What do you mean you saw something?” Siobhan asked as I paced in front of the door.
I pointed. “The brotherhood are out there. Right at our border.”
The border that had been weakening for years, making us vulnerable.
“Are you sure they saw you?” Liadan was biting her thumbnail.
I nodded. “One of them look me right in the eye.”
“I told you not to open that door.”
I whirled to face Lila. “If I hadn’t opened that door, we wouldn’t even know they were here, stalking our border, trying to find us.
” I looked at the group. “We have to find a way out of here and warn everyone. The brotherhood could attack. They could raze our entire city to the ground. Conquer us while we’re in here, hiding away. ”
Siobhan stepped forward, violet eyes flashing. “I’d like to see them bloody try.”
Clio smiled a truly terrifying smile as fire flared brighter over her head.
“How are we going to warn everyone?” I asked, panic rising. I gestured out the door. “I can’t just waltz out there when our shield is weakening and they can see through it.”
“Do we know they can see through it?” Lila was biting her thumbnail.
Liadan sighed. “The royal guards have confirmed there are weak spots that show our city.”
We all stood there, lost in our own thoughts, no one sure what to say, what the solution was.
After a few moments, Lila looked longingly at the couch, the grapes still hovering in the air. “Maybe we can just ignore them?”
Everyone shot her a look, and she held up her hands. “It was just a suggestion.”
Rustling sounded outside, and a bang shook the door. We all jumped, and a chill skittered down my spine. “They found us,” I whispered.
“We don’t know that,” Lila said.
Clio’s entire body began shifting to fire, and I stared in awe. I’d never seen the nature faerie shift before. “Let them come.”
But the brotherhood had their own magic. Powerful, dangerous magic. And I wasn’t sure that even the Fair Folk would be a match against them.
Another bang hit the door, and we all backed away.
“Are there any weapons down here?” I asked, glancing back at the cavern with all its knickknacks.
Liadan walked over to a statue of a man standing tall, holding a sword. She yanked the sword from his grip. “Yep.”
She twirled the sword this way and that.
“I would impale myself if I tried that,” I said. “Is there maybe a smaller sword or a dagger somewhere?”
Wood splintered as the door cracked, and Lila let out a scream, then clapped a hand over her mouth.
“We need to come up with a plan—and fast,” I said, gaze flicking toward the door. More wood splinters flew from it, the shiny edge of an axe showing, the telltale sign of magic glittering and shimmering from it.
Just as I’d predicted, they’d brought an arsenal of their magical weapons. They would be prepared for this, and we were woefully unprepared.
Liadan adopted a fighting stance, legs braced and sword raised. Clio’s fiery form, which still slightly resembled a human, flickered. Lila looked at the dagger Liadan had handed her and pointed it toward the door.
“I just discovered what it’s like to be pampered, and I am not about to die before I get to be fed grapes again,” she said.
The door broke in half and a boot crashed through it, breaking it completely open. I shielded my face from the wood careening through the air.
I whirled to face the group. “Do you all think you can hold them off long enough for me to get help?” I asked.
Liadan nodded. “We can do it.”
“You’ll have to distract them,” I said. “So they don’t see me sneaking away.”
The figures stepped inside, a woman and two men. The tallest man in the front removed his hood, and my mouth dropped open.
Lor Wolfgang. Cillian’s brother.
He nodded at me, and I shot him a glare, hating him with every fiber of my being for the way he’d hurt his family. I opened my mouth to speak, but he put a finger to his lips and gave a slight shake of his head.
“We’re in,” the woman behind him said, bright red curls spilling from her hood. “We did it, Butcher. We finally breached Fairwitch.”
“We’ve breached Fairwitch before, Leena,” the other man said. “And it didn’t turn out so well.”
She just laughed and gestured toward us. “We’re not up against the entire royal guard this time. I think we’ll be able to handle them.”
They didn’t seem surprised by the presence of the Fair Folk, and I wondered if the brotherhood knew about them. But how? The Fair Folk were invisible outside of Fairwitch Isle. They shouldn’t have known about their existence.
“Except we didn’t just breach Fairwitch Isle, Ronan. We also found the Fair Folk.” Leena gestured toward Clio, who bared her teeth.
“Enough chit chat,” Lor said, his voice like a growl.
He’d certainly grown into an adult in the twenty years since he’d gone missing. His dark hair reached his shoulders, a slight wave to it. Stubble covered his jaw, peppered in gray. But his eyes hadn’t changed. They were the same color as Wolfe’s, the same crescent shape.
“We have a job to do,” he continued. “So let’s get to it.” He gestured toward us. “Tie them up.”
“Over my dead body,” Lila said, surprising me yet again with her ability to do something other than cry over not being with her betrothed.
She paused, straightening. “You know, I don’t even think I like men.
” She shot a glare at Lor and Ronan. “You two probably don’t pamper your wives.
Or husbands. You probably expect them to do everything for you. Just like Grayson.”
Ronan’s brows furrowed. “Who is Grayson?” He scoffed. “And of course I expect my wife to do everything for me. That’s why I married her.”
Lila’s face turned into the most ferocious scowl I’d ever seen in my life, and she mirrored Liadan’s stance, holding up her dagger toward Ronan. “That one’s mine,” she said.
Liadan let out a cry and charged the small group, and the room exploded into a burst of activity.
Siobhan lifted into the air, her wings fluttering as she jumped over Leena’s head and landed on the other side of the woman.
I dropped to the ground, hoping I could feign being injured, that no one would notice me. I looked up to see Lila on Ronan’s back as he thrashed, trying to get her off, but she clutched to him with fervor.
Lor had his magical axe and was fighting both Liadan and Clio at the same time. They were all distracted. My heart pounded as I crawled across the cold stone floor. Yells, clangs, and flashes of magic filled the room, everyone a blur of activity as the fighting intensified.
I had to hurry. I had to get help before this escalated and someone got hurt.
Or died. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if one of these brave, amazing women got injured.
I used my elbows to keep crawling across the floor, splinters of wood poking into my stomach and legs.
I winced and ignored the pain, pushing myself forward.
The door was still at least twenty paces away, and I was going slowly, but I feared if I quickened my pace, I’d draw someone’s attention.
My gaze flicked to the side, where Clio was throwing fireballs at Lor, who deflected each one with his magical axe.
Ronan had thrown Lila off his back, but she was holding her own against what looked like just a regular sword in Ronan’s hand.
He’d had to have brought some kind of magical weapon.
They wouldn’t risk coming here without their most powerful magic.
I gritted my teeth when Siobhan screamed, and my head snapped to the side.
Leena had grabbed hold of her wings and was yanking them backward, Siobhan’s face twisted in pain.
I gritted my teeth and jumped to my feet, not even thinking as I barreled into Leena and knocked her off Siobhan. The woman fell to the ground with a cry, and I turned to Siobhan.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
The faerie nodded. “Thank you. Now she’s really made me mad. No one touches my wings without my permission.” She nudged her head toward the door. “Go. Now. Make a run for it.”
I looked at the door and back at the chaos behind me, where everyone was still engaged in their fighting.
Okay. I could do this. Siobhan charged at Leena, drawing her away so the woman’s back was to me.
I took a deep breath and ran for the door, arms and legs pumping.
Closer, closer. I was so close to the opening, and then I was through it, on the other side and out of that room.
Sunlight and fresh air surrounded me, and I ran right through the invisible barrier protecting our home.
I needed to get my bearings and figure out which direction to go, but first, I wanted to get away from this door, far enough away that if any of the brotherhood finally noticed my absence, they wouldn’t be able to find me.
I began jogging deeper into the forest, looking behind me the entire way to make sure no one was emerging from that room. I slammed into a hard body and whipped my head forward, finding Lor standing there, holding his axe.
I backed away, heart leaping into my throat. No. I was everyone’s only chance. If the brotherhood overtook us, we’d be doomed. “Lor.” I backed away as he held out his axe. “Please.”
“How is Cillian?” he asked.
“What?” I shook my head, not sure what he was saying.
“Cillian,” he said again. “I don’t have a lot of time. Tell me how he is.”
“He’s . . . fine, he . . .” I stopped backing away, peering at the tall, muscled warrior who was scowling down at me. “Wait. How did you know something was wrong?”
I thought about what Cillian had told me just a few weeks ago. How he’d seen Lor, and I’d dismissed him, telling him he was wrong.
“It doesn’t matter. I just want to know if he survived.”
“Have you been visiting him?” I asked. “Was he telling the truth about seeing you?”
Lor squeezed his eyes shut, and it was clear he wouldn’t reveal anything to me.
“He’s okay,” I said, softening my tone.
“He really loves you, you know. He always has,” Lor said.
“I—I know,” I said. “I love him too.” The sun glinted off his axe, reminding me of who I was talking to: not Cillian’s brother but an enemy.
I braced my legs. “And that’s why I will fight you.
I’m no warrior. I’m just a dressmaker. But you will have to kill me to stop me from trying to get to Cillian and warning him. ”
Lor swallowed, then lowered his axe. “Go,” he said.
Every part of this conversation with him was confusing me. But this might have been the most shocking thing he’d done yet. “You’re letting me go?” I asked.
He was already pushing past me, walking toward the invisible barrier, which shimmered, glimpses of the hidden city behind it revealed with each wave of the air. He didn’t even look back as he disappeared back into Fairwitch, back to the fight my friends were waging right now.
I didn’t understand any of what had just happened, but it didn’t matter. I had to do what I’d set out to. I took off into a run.