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In the memory, Sander threw the rock in his hand with all his might at the darkness. All that was left was the distant echo of Davorin’s laughter.

I let out a short gasp when the memory faded. Sander wrapped his arms around me, squeezing. Gods, he was trembling.

“You were so brilliant,” I whispered against his hair. “But why did you not tell me?”

When I pulled him back, his mouth was tight. “I thought I might’ve made it up since I was reading so much, but . . . I looked it up, Maj. I think that thing was amerfolk. Don’t know who the shadow man was, though. Maybe a haunt. Fiske thinks there’s haunts in Jagged Grove.”

I didn’t care what the fish creature was. She could be a goddess of the deep, and if she returned to threaten my son, I’d pluck out those bulging eyes and wear them around my damn neck.

What I cared about was the sight of Davorin. He’d slipped past the wards, and I didn’t understand how. A spectral? A projection? He hadn’t looked whole.

“We’re going to speak with Daj, all right?” I kissed his forehead, smiling as though this was another day. It wasn’t.

Every kingdom needed to know what had happened here. Why were we to watch our shores? Sea fae? It was possible, the sea folk hadn’t shown their faces since the Ever King had been slaughtered and Valen pulled a wall from the seafloor just beyond the Howl Sea.

But hadn’t King Thorvald’s brother made some threat about ten turns? We were months into the eleventh turn since our battle of the Black Palace. Late, perhaps, but if they were preparing to return to make good on their threats, if Davorin was behind it, war was near.

A shout snapped my eyes toward Jonas and Frigg. Hob sprinted out of Felstad. Lanky as always, but his beard was a great deal longer, and his eyes were filled with a strange fear.

“Mal!” Hob yanked his daughter behind his back, Jonas next, and pointed behind us.

All. Gods. The warning tower beside the creek spluttered and hissed, then a tall, red flame, rich as blood, flared at the top. Distant screams rose through the trees from the shore. No mistake, all the towers had ignited.

In the next breath, billows of dark shadows wrapped around Felstad. I gripped Sander’s hand and reached out my other until the long, callused fingers of the Nightrender grabbed hold and Kase stepped through. Kryv, warriors, and Falkyns followed.

Kase had his arms around me in the next breath, crushing both me and Sander against him. He looked about frantically until Jonas sprinted across the lawn and Kase had both his sons clasped tightly.

“Sander saw Davorin,” I whispered against Kase’s ear. “Yesterday. Like a ghost of him.”

Kase’s eyes went wide. “You’re certain?”

“I saw it.”

Jaw tight, Kase looked to the flame, then to his sons.

“The warning,” I asked, a tremble of hesitation in my voice. “Which direction?”

Kase’s fingers dug into my spine. “From the North.”

“That’s Livie and . . . and . . . Alek! That’s Uncle Hagen and . . . Auntie Herja,” Jonas wailed. “Daj, we gotta go help ‘em. We gotta go. Shadow walk, and—”

Kase silenced him by scooping him up. Too long to be held like a tiny boy, but Jonas crushed his father’s neck and wrapped his legs around his waist, true tears on his cheeks as the boy cried for his friends and family in Etta.

Kase rubbed Jonas’s back and strode toward Felstad. “They’ll be safe, boy. They’ll be safe.”

He kept assuring the princes their playmates and cousins were unharmed, but when his blackened eyes met mine, I knew the truth—he feared he was dead wrong.

Chapter4

The Raven Queen

The Borough—Court of Hearts

The Borough was in chaos.

“Get my daughter out of here,now!” Ari’s sharp voice echoed down the corridor. He was near the great hall, but his voice was fierce enough it carried to the back chambers near the cooking rooms.

I hurried to help Mira with the cloak. Tears glistened on her cheeks. I took a pause to wipe them away with my thumbs.