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“These men are comfortable enough out here?” Jade asked without looking at me. She was too busy observing the makeshift housing.

“Comfortable enough,” Ser answered. “We have given every possible resource to housing these men. They would much rather sleep under the stars than crammed into the old servants’ quarters of the castle.”

Jade smiled to herself again. “I can’t blame them. The stars are beautiful.”

My heart twisted. Jade admired the stars because they were free. That was something Jade had never experienced herself.

Would she ever?

Jade continued to walk through the masses, assessing every man who was preparing to give his life for our cause.

Until Carlyle approached. “Lady Weyland,” he bent at the waist in greeting. “It’s a pleasure seeing you again.”

Jade bowed her own head in greeting. “You look well,” she responded. I stepped to the side of her.

“Don’t tell him that,” I teased, placing a hand on her lower back. “It’ll go straight to his head.” Carlyle smiled, but the typical light in his eyes was gone. Replaced by something darker. “What’s going on?”

Carlyle glanced around us and motioned to follow him back into the dining hall. Once inside, he leaned forward and whispered, “Our scouts have sent word. War is coming. Now.”

“Now?” Jade asked. “As in, today?”

“Yes, my queen. We need to get everyone ready for an attack from the Paragon.”

“How many of them?” I asked.

Carlyle took a deep breath before answering, “That depends on what you’re asking. If you’re asking how many deadlings, I’d say one to two hundred. If you’re asking how many soldiers, it looks to be around a thousand men.”

Hundreds of deadlings. Thousands of men.“Saints.”

“What do we do?” Jade asked.

My body buzzed with adrenaline. This was it. Everything we had prepared for was happening. “Go find Adeline and tell her what’s happening,” I said. “I’m going to take Serefin and alert the troops.”

“What about everyone else?” she asked, referencing the men around us. “What do we tell them?”

Carlyle stepped backward and spoke to the entire dining hall, “All able-bodied men—please make your way out to the front gates. Nothing to worry about, just a precaution.” Would I ever be able to lie that easily to my own people? To tell them that everything was fine on the verge of war?

Jade tugged my hand. “What will you do?”

“Go,” I urged, the room now slowly brewing chaos with Carlyle’s announcement. “I’ll come find you.”

She hesitated, just for a second. Was she afraid? Was she regretting ever taking my side? She had to know that everyone in this kingdom was here to protect her by now.

But she was still a human…

After one more second, she let go of my hand and lost herself in the sea of fae.

She would be fine. She would find Adeline and Adeline would know what to do, Adeline would know to hide her away in the dungeons until I came for them both.

I hoped to the Saints that they actually listened to me.

CHAPTER31

Jade

“Okay,” Adeline said for the tenth time. “Okay, okay.”

“Do you have a plan for this type of thing?” I asked.