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The female soldier threw her head back and laughed. “Like we’re scared of you,clanless.”

Now Lore wanted to claw this female’s eyes out for using that slur against Finn.

Finndryl tilted his head, homing in on the female. Lore couldn’t see his face, but she imagined it was terrifying.

The winged soldiers advanced at the same time, swords arcing toward Lore. Finndryl brought his own sword up and blocked both of their weapons. The sound of the force of their blades rang through the chamber.

Lore took this opportunity to turn around and grab Katu by his shoulders. Thistle and Sage, it was good to be near them again. Over the clashing of metal, she yelled at the children, “Stay low, go out the door and down the stairs.Run.”

They bolted, Katu dragging Milo along even as the youngster’s small arms reached out for Lore.

She tore her eyes from the boys and looked back to the fight just as Finn’s sword cut through the female soldier’s golden armor. A look of surprise crossed her face before agony took over and she dropped.

Finndryl wasted no time. He twisted, his feet dancing across the floor, and stepped over the soldier to deflect the second one’s attack. But the first one wasn’t down for long, and soon Finndryl was fighting them both again.

The steward’s face turned purple with fury. “No matter. I’ll do it myself. Come here, girl.”

As the last of the children disappeared from view, Lore smiled. Had the steward really thought she would give up so easily?

She rushed toward him, sword raised, just as he thrust his hands out toward her. Fire erupted from his fingertips.

She ducked under the wall of flames, trying not to falter as searing heat rolled over her body. She rammed into his legs, knocking him off balance.

The steward fell hard. He may have been fae, but he wasancient.

Lore shifted her weight until she was kneeling above him. She gripped his braids and yanked his head up before she slammed his face into the ground. She thrust his head back and repeated the move. “Leave! Us! Alone!” she shouted, ramming his head into the stone with each word.

The steward went limp, and she dropped him.

He laughed and grinned, his sharp teeth red with blood.

Lore was so taken aback she hesitated for just a moment, and he took that opportunity to turn the tables, shoving a knee against her chest so hard she couldn’t catch her breath.

He laughed as his blood dripped onto her face. He pressed harder, grinding his knee against her sternum until her vision began to waver. She clawed at his knee, her movements jerky and uncontrolled, as she tried to push him off. But she couldn’t get any leverage from her position.

She was losing the fight and her vision began darkening in earnest.

The steward leaned in toward her. Lore scratched at him,trying to dislodge his knee, but he twisted her hair and yanked her head painfully to the side to whisper in her ear. “In some ways, you should bethankingme. I have given the wasteful existence of your kind a purpose. I will swoop in like a plague and take more and more until I have used them all up. In fact, I think Iwon’tkill you. I’ll fill you with my spawn instead. How would you like to watch your own child hold the chains of your people?”

He lessened the pressure on her chest for just a moment, just long enough for her vision to clear and for her brain to catch up.

She reached to her belt, pulled the last glowing vial out, and broke it across his face.

The chief steward screamed as he launched himself backward against the wall, clawing at his face. But where his fingers met flesh, it peeled away like the skin of fruit left to rot in the sun. His body began to convulse as the poison ate into his face, his eyes, and his throat.

Even after his screams stopped, the tonic continued to eat at him until there was nothing left of his face or his fingers at all.

Was it over?Please let it be over.

Finn crouched beside her as she struggled to draw in a breath. He reached out, turning her face away from the smoking, stinking thing in the corner that had once been the steward. “Are you all right?”

“I will be once we leave this place forever.”

“Then let us,” Finndryl said as he hauled her up.

Lore glanced to where the two guards sat slumped on the ground, their blood spreading over the floor.

“How did you manage to take down two of the winged fae?”