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More gargoyles, she realized.

For a moment, she hesitated, wondering just what escape Hadeon had in mind. But with the pounding on the door to the hallway below, there was little other choice but to forge ahead.

Walking past Breckett, she grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

Glancing around, she found herself atop one of the castle’s turrets, which was open to the sky. She didn’t have eyes for the smoke rising from the trees or the dozens of ogres filling the grounds below, flattening Elias’ garden and knocking in the stable windows. Instead, she turned her gaze skyward to the massive tear at the top of the ward.

The blue sky filled with dark wings as dozens of gargoyles flew through. But it wasn’t just them. There was another winged creature. Unlike the gargoyles with wings of stone and sinew, this newcomer had wings as dark as shadows cast by starlight. Even from this distance, she could see the long, pointed ears of the fae.

The winged fae flew across the open sky with a sword held above his head as he closed the distance between himself and a pair of gargoyles. He fell upon them, bringing his blade down and slicing through their bodies with ease. Severed limbs and heads fell earthwards.

Hadeon stood beside Arabella at the edge of the turret and raised a fist into the air.

Turning toward them, the fae who’d been battling the gargoyles flew with abandon. The remaining gargoyles descended from the sky after him—scenting prey.

“A friend of yours?” she asked.

“Yes,” Hadeon said.

“As exciting as it sounds to be carried by fae like a sack of grain,” she began. “I don’t think two of you can carry five of us and escape this army.”

Cora, Brynne, Jessamine, and Breckett stood beside her with similar looks of concern.

The winged fae landed in the center of the turret with a resoundingboom, stones cracking around his boots and his wings tucked against his sides.

Above, the gargoyles were less than a hundred feet away.

“Do you have it?” the male asked Hadeon as he rose to his feet.

Hadeon dipped his chin. Then he raised a fist into the air once more, and night cascaded from his enclosed fingers. It lashed out, forming a dome above them, like a mini ward. And just in time. The approaching gargoyles crashed into it. Some bounced off it, hurtling backward, their wings flapping in a frenzy. Other gargoyles scraped sharp talons down it, which were blunted from a single swipe against the fae magic.

“Let’s depart before I’m tempted to wipe these creatures from existence,” Hadeon said, sounding entirely unaffected by the torrent of magic billowing from his fist. “Can’t have the queen thinking I’m partial in any direction.”

Arabella couldn’t help but wonder if this display of magic was from an amplifier or his natural ability. The enchantresses were mere drops in a bucket compared to the avalanche of power coming from this fae.

“Kazimir,” Hadeon said. “Call him.”

“I’m here, Princeling,” came a voice she hadn’t heard since the moment she’d returned from Magnus’ camp and learned that Elias had been hiding the goblins in his castle.

“Vorkle,” she said, turning toward the goblin. “I’ve never been so happy to see you.”

“Shadow whisperer,” the goblin hissed by way of greeting. He was short, no more than three feet in height, and had long, expressive eyebrows that conveyed his perpetual disapproval. “This is why we don’t get mixed up in the affairs of humans or fae. Always trouble—the lot of you. And dragging us into it.”

“You want my protection now that your little erox is otherwise occupied?” Hadeon said, interrupting them. “There’s a cost. Now, it’s time you’re off.”

Surprise bolted through her.

That was where the goblins had gone—in search of someone who could provide protection for them. But why Hadeon?

With a heavy sigh, Vorkle stretched his hands out.

Interestingly, neither Hadeon nor Kazimir moved. But Breckett took one of the goblin’s hands and extended an arm toward Arabella.

She reached toward him but hesitated.

“We need to warn Shadowbank,” she said, turning toward the women who’d become more than sisters in arms. They were the family she’d do anything for. “I don’t know what Magnus is planning, but there’s an army within a few days’ march of our home.”

Hadeon wasn’t going to let her go—not if she was the only person in existence who could read his map. And she couldn’t let the enchantresses become entangled in fae schemes alongside her. Especially not if they could help protect Shadowbank when she couldn’t.