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He glances over his shoulder at me, his eyes wild. “Hide yourself, Callie!” he cries, as soldiers close in from him on all sides.

I don’t have the will to move or the fear to flee. Even my siren is quiet. She won’t whisper the truth.

We can’t possibly win this.

There are a handful of soldiers for every one of us, and those odds are only worsening as more sleeping soldiers spill out from the portal. And once they’re done with us, they’ll move on to other fairies, perhaps until none are left standing.

This is no battle; it’s a butchery.

And I don’t want to bear witness to it anymore.

“Stop,” I whisper, my voice harmonizing as the battle unfolds. I blink as my vision blurs. Already, soldiers have caught sight of my glowing skin; they’re sprinting towards me, weapons brandished, as though I’m some great and terrible threat.

The sleeping men begin hacking into what loyal soldiers and civilians remain standing, cutting them down in seconds.

“Stop,” I say, louder.

No one’s listening. Of course they’re not. They have more important things to do—like trying to stay alive.

But I can’t leave it alone. I’m coming apart, and this might be the time that does me in for good.

“STOP!” I shriek, like a mad woman.

To my wonder, they do exactly that.

Weapons stop clashing, fairies stop moving—everything goes utterly and absolutely still.

I touch my throat.

Naw.

I look at the Night fairy nearest me, who’s only yards away. His foot is lifted as he stands frozen mid-stride, blade in hand, his face intensely focused on me. Even from here I can smell the foul odor coming off of his clothes, the scent like Death decided to go dumpster diving.

“You,” I say, pointing to the soldier. “Give me your sword,” I demand, opening my palm.

The fairy unfreezes and sedately walks over to me before handing me his weapon.

My fingers close over the sword’s hilt, and a wicked smile blossoms on my face.

I can fucking glamourfairies.

Hold onto your tits, world. Callie. Is. Back.

Chapter 5

I can freakingglamour fairies.

Before I drank lilac wine, that wasn’t the case. I should’ve realized the elixir reconfigured this aspect of my magic as well as the others.

My eyes move to my mate. To my shock and horror (and maybe a smidge of delight)—he’s also frozen.

“Des!” I call, my voice melodic with my power. “Come here.”

The Bargainer vanishes, reappearing at my side an instant later, an eyebrow arched. Other than that, he’s placid—all except for his eyes. His silver eyes sparkle in a way that is wickedly excited.

“I release you from my glamour,” I say.

I’ve clearly gotten rusty on this whole glamour thing, because it’s not just Des who follows my command. A few sleeping soldiers, including the one who just handed over his blade, now jump back into action.