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Her thoughts swirled, and she found herself shaking her head. “I hope you can understand my skepticism that your nose holds the answer to all things. It could be the ogre blood.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “While origin stories are fun at a fireside, none of this matters. Not when my mate is in Magnus’ clutches. If you’re not going to help me, I fail to see why I should care about some army that is most likely long dead.”

A smile lifted one corner of Hadeon’s lips as he leaned back, one arm stretching out over the top of the sofa, the other resting in his lap. “I can’t help you openly. No one in my court would risk angering a sorcerer with an army. But the shadow fae? If they’re alive, they might be itching for a fight.”

She snorted. “You want me to convince Prince Arden to lead what remains of the shadow fae army against Magnus? Who’s to say they won’t refuse and turn toward the Twilight Court to take their revenge and slaughter everyone?”

“He might listen to his niece,” he said, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

She blinked. “What?”

Waylen turned fully toward Hadeon, a similar look of incredulity on his face.

“If I’m right, Enchantress Arabella is the child of Princess Myla,” Hadeon said. “She’d taken human lovers before. I have reason to believe you were brought to the human realm in secret.”

If what Hadeon said was true, her mother was a princess. What did that make her?

Royalty in a kingdom that was no more.

This was all too much.

Jessamine gestured to Arabella’s ears. “I think we’d know if she was fae.”

A patronizing twinkle filled Hadeon’s gaze. “Not all demi-fae have pointed ears. Besides, don’t you find it unusual that a shadow whisperer just…appearedin a remote human village that happens to be near a gateway to the fae realm?”

“Stranger things have happened. Like you showing up at the very moment an ogre broke through the ward.” Jessamine’s gaze was unflinching. “Besides, why the Abyss? Why not one of the other underrealms?”

“It has ties to the fae realm,” Hadeon said. “The exit from the Abyss leads into the Twilight Court territory. However, no one knows exactly where the entrance is. Prince Arden believed there were gateways that couldn’t be seen or could only be opened by certain fae. I’m guessing the shadow fae made their final stand in the western tundra because he thought the Abyss’ gateway was here. It might have been his backup plan to protect the shadow fae—or as many of them as he could.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “The Abyss was an obsession of Prince Arden’s when he was still alive. I can’t recall the number of times he made me listen to his research on the place at dinner parties and balls.”

Arabella’s brows drew together. “You knew him?”

The fae wars took place at least five hundred years ago. If Hadeon had known Arden before then, that would have made him at least six hundred years old.

Hadeon waited as she put the pieces together. “I look good for my age, no?” He waved a hand. “Call it a hunch that Arden fled to the Abyss. But if I’m right, the shadow fae are there. And they might be able to teach you to control those powers of yours.”

“That doesn’t explain whyyouwant to find the shadow fae,” Jessamine interrupted. “Your mother is obsessed with immortality. So, what? Are you trying to start a civil war by bringing the shadow fae back?”

A muscle pulsed in Hadeon’s jaw. “Not only is she obsessed with immortality, but my mother seeks power. She’s convinced some of the fae courts will rise up against the Twilight Court. She’s been in talks with some courts, forming secret alliances. I fear that she may start another war—and soon.”

Jessamine sniffed. “And you think bringing back an army won’t be the very thing that instigates the start of another war?”

He rubbed his hands together. “It’s my hope the presence of an army will make my mother think twice before starting another war that could lead to the death of thousands. I don’t want them to actually fight. In fact, I’m counting on them not fighting the Twilight Court for fear of getting wiped out of existence for real this time.”

Jessamine scoffed. “Idiocy.”

While Arabella didn’t disagree with her friend, she had more she needed to know. “Youthinkyou know a way into the Abyss, and youthinkthis map will lead us to the shadow fae. How do you know we’ll be able to get out of there?”

While she needed allies, she wasn’t about to get herself stuck in an underrealm, unable to help Elias and forever parted from her mate.

“There’s an exit.” His eyes fixed on her. “But I don’t know how to open that particular gateway or why the shadow fae wouldn’t have used it already.”

“And you’re willing to risk being stuck there?” she pressed.

“For a chance to avoid another war? Yes,” he said without hesitation. “Not to mention any other consequences from my mother’s pursuit of immortality.”

For a moment, Arabella considered—truly considered—what this male was suggesting. She was up against an army of erox, ogres, gargoyles, and who knew what other kind of dark creatures. Frankly, she needed her own army to get Elias back. Stealth wouldn’t be enough to rescue him. Even if she did somehow manage to free Elias, the sorcerer would just hunt them down again. They’d never be free if she didn’t kill Magnus and make sure his army was dispersed.

Was this the answer she needed?

However, her need for an army to rescue Elias was separate from the fact that her shadows had become stronger since using the amplifier, and they’d become wilder since her memories had returned. If she was honest, she didn’t feel entirely herself. She was impulsive, quick to anger, and more prone to give in to the wills of the shadows.