Page 15

Honestly, Callie, newbie mistake right there.

Des is on the soldiers in an instant, cutting them down with his sword before they get a chance to strike.

Once they’ve been dealt with, the Night King rolls his shoulders, as if to shake off my magic. “So,that’show it feels to be glamoured by a siren,” he says, the corner of his mouth curving up just the slightest, “like I’ve been caught by my balls.” He comes in close, his smirk growing. “The whole thing was horribly invasive. I rather enjoyed it.”

The conversation is so vastly inappropriate and out of place that I let out a laugh, the sound melodic.

His eyes move over my glowing features. “Beautiful creature,” he murmurs. “You were irresistible before.” He reaches out with a hand, grazing my jaw with his knuckles. “I don’t quite know what to do with myself now.”

Des leans in and kisses me, his lips lingering.

The sound of heavy footfalls breaks the spell.

I draw away from the Bargainer, turning towards the portal. More sleeping soldiers are marching through.

“Soldiers, stop!” I say, my magic thick in my voice.

The sleeping soldiers halt in place, their bodies filling up the doorway.

“You’ve done it, cherub,” Des says, surveying the prone fairies. “You’ve become someone to fear.”

Chapter 6

It takes severalhours, but eventually I manage to incapacitate all the psycho sleeping soldiers and the casket children who were wreaking havoc on Somnia.

By the looks of it, the soldiers were staging a political coup, Excuse me, afailedpolitical coup.

Thank you, glamour.

We round the guilty up, remove their weapons, and lock them in the dungeons. Right now my glamour is making them placid, but once it wears off in a day or two, their bloodthirsty tendencies will return.

Now Des and I head through the palace towards the dungeons. I open and close my palms as we go. I’m a little nervous, which is ridiculous. What I’m about to do was my idea.

The fairies we pass stare at me. My skin has long since stopped glowing, so I know it’s not the siren drawing their eyes.

“Why are they looking at me?” I finally ask Des.

He pauses to glance at me, then at thethemin question.

“You really don’t know?” Des asks, raising an eyebrow, his gaze returning to mine.

I shake my head.

“Cherub,” he says, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips, “you’re the enchantress who stopped an army. The human who has the power to ensnare their will if she should choose to. They are awed and afraid of you, which is the highest compliment a Night fae can give you.”

Eventually, we leave the curious eyes behind, descending down the same staircase we took only hours ago, back when Des released the bog.

The two of us stop at the familiar hammered bronze door.

With a brush of Des’s magic, the door swings open, revealing a long hallway that descends into darkness, the wall sconces not quite able to beat back the shadows.

Inside, armed soldiers (these ones not possessed with the unholy desire to bash in as many brains as possible) somberly escort us down the hall.

By the time we arrive at the dungeon proper, we’re deep beneath the castle. I can feel the walls of this place pressing in from all sides, the sensation reminding me of when I was Karnon’s prisoner, trapped in one of his many subterranean cells.

I take a deep breath. Pretty sure that experience has given me claustrophobia for life.

The sleeping soldiers are crammed into dozens and dozens of cells, and even though hundreds of them were killed, there’s almost not enough room for the ones that remain.