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She’s beautiful.

McColl starts screaming.

7

McColl

He’s a fae. A fae. One of them. The enemy! I don’t care that he helped me escape.

Was it all a trick to get me to free him? To…what? Why did he want to escape? Who is he? One thing is for certain: he’s been lying to me. He isn’t a smithy or a mercenary. He can’t be. He’s one of them.

My enemy!

There is screaming. It takes me a few moments to realize that it is me. I am the one screaming.

Alaric – if that is even his name – is saying something to placate me. I don’t care what it is. I need to get away from him. As far away from here as possible. I punch him as hard as I can. That’s the one positive thing about having so many brothers: it taught me to rough and tumble even though I am older than they are.

I catch him square in the nose, and he lets me go, his eyes widening in shock. Blood runs from both of his nostrils. Good!I take the opportunity and jump to my feet. I stop just short of what I know is the barrier.

My memory of colliding with the magical dome comes crashing back. The pain…the crunch of my bones.

I look down, seeing blood on my dress. I don’t feel pain. Am I hurt? Is it the adrenaline keeping me on my feet?

No. I felt warmth. I felt…magic. I think Alaric healed me. I don’t care if he did. It was probably because he wants to use me some more. That’s what they do…these fae. They use you until there’s nothing left. I need to get away. I don’t trust him, not even a little bit. He played me. Used me. Lied to me.

“McColl…please hear me out,” Alaric says from behind me.

I turn, seeing him on his feet, his chest heaving. His eyes are a bright green now.

Green!

They’ve changed completely. They’re too bright, too pretty to be on a human. Despite the bloody nose, which he wipes with the back of his hand, his features are even more attractive than before. His hair thicker and shinier. His shirt strains across what looks like more muscle. He looks taller, bigger, far more impressive. His ears are pointed.

A bastard fae.

My enemy!

“Stay away from me.” I start back toward the Court. I have no plan save to get away from him.

I stop dead when I see them.

Moons, no! It can’t be. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse.

“Kakara help me,” I whisper under my breath, my hand going to my throat to touch a piece of jewelry that is no longer there.

It’s a group of mounted fae guards, and they are coming this way, moving quickly with swords and spears in their hands. Their great steeds eat up the ground below.

They may not have seen us yet…but they will at any second.

My mind races as I scan the area for any possible escape routes and find none. There isn’t so much as a boulder to hide behind. We are like sitting ducks out here.

I jump as Alaric takes my hand. “No…” I start to say, trying to pull away, but he holds on fast.

“Stop,” he says to me. “I won’t hurt you. I swear.” His hand grows warm. His eyes widen as his magic surrounds us, making the air seem murky. He’s casting a masking spell to hide us. It was him…Alaric healed me. It had to have been. He isn’t an emptyfae. That might be why he’s leaving this Court. I know that relations between the fae species are strained.

It doesn’t change anything. I keep asking myself why he needed me. Had he masked himself to look human? He more than likely healed me because he still has a use for me. Unfortunately, I need him, too. I wish to the gods that I didn’t, but here we are.

Within seconds, the spell is woven. All that the approaching fae will see is a clump of bushes or a pile of boulders. Whatever Alaric conjured in his mind. They shouldn’t be able to see us. Not if the spell is working correctly.