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Silas stepped close and cupped a hand under my palm, holding the parchment with me. “You have the words, Little Rose.”

I closed my eyes. Silas dropped his brow to mine. The words were soft, barely audible, and his voice was smooth. Deep, low, powerful.

“A song of blood keeps life for the one you love. Trust and let it be, in this, a tale of land and sea.”

Before Silas, written tales created a tether between us. The flame sent the words to his voice. Now, together, the small parchment ignited in a black flame on its own. I startled but held firm and finished the tale. At the final word, Silas’s gentle hum faded, and the last corner of the parchment turned to ash in our hands.

Seidr filled my veins. Something had been cast. Something had been done. I glanced over at my Sun Prince. He still looked to where his boy had been taken away, but I smiled.

Whatever happened, I had a feeling fate would be on his side.

“Pyre is gone!” Stieg shouted near the window.

My pulse quickened. I took hold of Silas’s hand. I never was one to draw much attention to myself, but I turned into the hall and lifted my voice. “Now, let’s go kill this bastard and his bones are scattered in every palace of this realm.”

Chapter36

The Phantom

Outside the air was dark,dreary. Smoke billowed from the pyre that was quickly fading in the crevice Valen Ferus had built. But smaller fires were lined on the edges of the sea fae camp. They’d claimed our shores, and now it would be up to us to shove them back to the sea.

Raven Row was vastly different than it had once been.

Tenements and grimy alehouses were now stone towers and walls, and the spindly trees that once surrounded the Row were full and plentiful. Knolls offered various terrain. We had little time to plan and plot how this battle would be won, but if we could but hold them off today, we could better know what we faced. What their weak points might be.

Warriors lined the gates, their shields raised with blades out.

The three eccentric rune seers danced behind Calista and the front line, as though wild cats ready to pounce. They were youthful now, their haggish appearances gone with the curse over our world, but they remained as irksome as ever, muttering nonsense that wasn’t truly nonsense.

Trouble was, their words only made sense in the moments in which they were happening.

“This is the part where dreams descend.”

Calista spun around. “Forbi, what did you say?”

Forbi tossed her long braid off her shoulder and dropped a few bone chips, burned with glowing runes on each side. “Let the dreams descend and find the end.”

Danna spun around, chanting the same words in a sing-song tone, until she added. “Gifts of fate unite this day, used with purpose to end the pain.”

The rune seers danced away, casting their spells alongside the casters of the forest clans in the Southern Isles. Added defenses. Small curses—a spell of stumbling feet, of disillusionment, of a constant bleed to the nose.

Simple pauses that could turn deadly if a fae stumbled enough.

“Silas.” Calista took hold of my hand.

“I know.” I kissed her knuckles. “A dream descends. There is a path to take here, we must simply find it, Little Rose.” I faced her, one palm on her cheek. “We’re not alone here. These words, these paths, I like to think they are the king, the queen, and the captain fighting this fight with us. I like to think they’re guiding us.”

She closed her eyes and leaned against my palm. “I think you’re right. They’re here with us.”

Once we shoved our way to the front of the gates, I pointed my attention to the ships. The royal ship and its crimson sails were the most wretched. Dark laths and spiked edges. The various vessels beside it weren’t much better.

“Flanks!” Valen shouted to his army. “Take the flanks! Try to trap them in the center.”

If we could herd the sea folk toward the center of the Row, then Valen would split the earth beneath their feet.

It would be taxing for the king. It’d drain his fury, but we would follow with blades, with fear, with illusions.

“What sort of power do you think those slimy sea fae carry besides lust songs and thrashing tides?” Calista whispered.