Page 137

Nearby, my lady shouts something to her sisters. Above the pandemonium, their voices unite.

Lark’s whip vaults into the sky. As it does, Tímien squawks, and Cerulean hollers their names. I hear the cord strain with her weight. The woman has snagged the owl’s leg, and she’s fucking climbing her own whip to reach him.

Juniper’s crossbow bolt clicks, soars from the oak, and stabs the earth. It succeeds in halting Sylvan, who rears in place. Then Puck’s grunt signals he’s jumped off the horse and reached the deer.

Cove’s spear rams into the grass, the sound materializing beside me. She steals my hand and kneels, yanking us to the ground. I’m too stumped to resist.

As we hunker, she whispers, “Lotus.”

Only then does the snake release his prey. The dead water Fae drops with a thud.

Cove’s companion stops hissing, and his body undulates from the fallen body to us. Lotus slides up my thighs, my torso, and then links himself around my shoulders while Cove runs her palm over his scales. Her teary relief washes through me.

“Heavens,” she utters. “Elixir, he’s…”

Fables be damned. I know what she wants to say, what becomes clear.

And while I can hear some of it, I need to be certain. So once more, I beseech her to describe what’s occurring. Close by, Lark is ascending Tímien’s back, but he isn’t throwing her off. In fact, her cooing voice is relaxing the owl’s wings, biding Cerulean time to sail their way.

Sylvan is pausing to nudge her muzzle against the crossbow bolt lodged into the grass, while Puck is stroking her coat and heaving in amazement.

Yes. Of all beings, we Faeries should know by now. The fauna of our wild cannot always be predicted, and they belong to no one. But they do have their loyalties, which no amount of Evermore Blossom can dilute.

If only their natural instincts are enhanced, they will be fiercer. But that does not mean they will massacre the ones with whom they have bonds. Quite the opposite, they will defend their flocks, their herds, and their dens, including the Faeries and humans who matter to them.

Scorpio had not considered that.

Tímien, Sylvan, and Lotus hadn’t been attacking merely to hurt anyone who got in their way. They’d been attacking to protect us.

The animals relent. With Lark on his back, Tímien is circling his son and fluttering his plumes against Cerulean’s.

Sylvan is tucking herself close to Puck, a gentle puff shoving from her snout. And I feel Lotus glide from my shoulders to Cove’s.

Gasps sweep through the field from our kin, who are witnessing us taming the enhanced fauna. Though, it fails to stifle the bloodshed.

Many of our Fae enemies are still battling against our side, as well as the mortals. But for this one snippet of time, Cove slants her gaze my way. I see hope brimming there—then I sense a new terror, just as her features pale.

“Dear Fables,” she hazards, rushing to her feet with me.

Quickly, she tells me. There’s a small face poking through the high grass. On the margins of the battle, a tiny form with raven hair has gone numb, their eyes widening.

Fuck. It’s a child.

According to Cove, the little human can’t be more than ten years old. He must have snuck here. The boy is stumbling nearer, awestruck by the devastation, his people, and the magical beings he’s likely never beheld.

Then he’s cocking his head in sudden amazement. His attention is fixating on something out of range.

One more step, and he’ll place himself in a blade’s path. Cove and I are about to catapult in his direction when I hear another small form galloping past us, veering in and out of the quagmire.

Recognition cinches my gut. The pattern and cadence of hooves tells me enough. It’s a centaur, and a young one at that.

I know which stripling it must be, for I remember her stubborn plea to join the fight. Now I imagine the filly’s hair flying her as she bounds toward the boy.

To that end, Cypress emits a distressed roar, which means he has spotted her.

From behind me, Puck hollers, “What the fuck?”

“Cease!” Cerulean shouts, his words charging from the sky like a hurricane.