That protectiveness surged up as I coaxed just a bit more from my injured wing. I flew, lopsided and awkward, to land right in front of the wave of shadows about to converge on where the black dragon waited, unable to fly, unable to see or sense their presence.

  I reared up, shot a jet of flame right into the faces of the leaders, and then plowed into them like a bowling ball.

  As a strategy, it was a bit ridiculous. But after being caught in the black dragon’s teeth, I was pretty sure even these nearly solid beasts couldn’t actually hurt me, and I needed more than anything else to get their attention. Keeping my wings tight, I remembered Draven’s advice and attacked them with teeth and claws. I bit and scratched and used my tail like a whip, never remaining in one place long enough for them to pile on.

  And it worked. The entire mass of them seemed to act as a pack and keyed onto me, forgetting the black dragon in their quest to deal with the urgency of my attack.

  Taking a quick glance up ahead, I confirmed that Llyr was where I’d last seen him—trapped atop the remains of the castle’s largest tower. There was no way down that didn’t require either luck or wings, and he seemed more than happy to remain there, where no one but Draven could reach him.

  While I’d been gathering the shadows, he’d been gathering magic, and it hovered in his hands as he regarded me, seeming somehow reluctant to make a move.

  A reaction I’d hoped for. Llyr, like Draven, wasn’t quite sure what it meant that I was different than anyone expected. Would his magic be deflected by my scales? Or did he run the risk of killing me before I was big enough to do him much good?

  So I took advantage of his hesitation and headed towards him, using my newfound agility and speed to climb the castle wall and leap over the places where fallen stones created gaps. Behind me, the shadows swarmed, climbing to follow me just as I’d guessed they would.

  This had to be timed just right, and I could only hope Faris could do what he claimed—bring down the castle with his elemental strength.

  As I neared the crumbled tower, I could see apprehension dawning in Llyr’s eyes. But by then, it was too late for him. I was climbing fast, and all of the shadow beasts were behind me, eager for a taste of my blood.

  “Now!” I screamed, and Faris punched the ground with everything he had left. A wave of power rolled through the land, throwing everyone off their feet and making the entire castle lurch beneath us. Llyr stumbled, showing the first signs of panic, and that was my cue to take to the air.

  But I was too late. One of the beasts was too close, and when I tried to take off, it launched off the wall and caught my injured wing.

  The pain knifed threw me, and I cried out, loud enough to be heard over the falling stone.

  The dragon answered.

  I felt as anger and fear bloomed within her mind, and she heaved her bulk into action. Too enormous to climb the crumbling walls, she simply bulled her way through, charging towards us in a blind fury.

  Stop! I tried to call out, but she was too furious to hear, and she couldn’t see me.

  Llyr saw her coming.

  He looked at me. “You’ve killed us all,” he snarled, and threw his magic in my face at the exact moment that another wave of Faris’ power shook the castle.

  The remaining walls finally gave way, and Llyr’s magic missed me by inches as I fell. I saw the walls falling around me. Saw Llyr fighting gravity. Scrambling for purchase. Gaining a foothold on the last remaining section of roof over the wall walk.

  But the black dragon had heard his voice and no longer aimed for me. She bore down on him as the foundations crumbled, just as something snatched me out of the air, knocking me away from the falling rubble and carrying me away to drop me safely to the ground.

  I saw when she hit him. Saw as her claws closed around his body while the castle fell into ruin, carrying Llyr and the dragon and the shadow beasts with it.

  And I heard her final cry, clear as if she were standing beside me.

  Safe! Kira, safe! Kirasha-li-Tairen!

  It echoed in my mind, leaving sorrow and shock so tightly bound that I collapsed to the ground, hearing nothing but her voice.

  Kira.

  She called me by my name.

  A name I never told her.

  And by another name I’d never heard before, but knew all the same was mine.

  The black dragon knew me, and I had just killed her.

  The agony of that revelation leveled me fully. As I lay on the ground, the gray sky began to lower and blur, mingling with Draven’s gray eyes and the scarred, bruised planes of his face. He called my name, and his pain intertwined with the lingering echoes of the dragon’s voice, but I couldn’t answer.

  I was fading. And as I faded, I felt the dragon fade too, receding until the claws and scales disappeared, and it was my human body that was finally overtaken by darkness.

  Thirteen

  I did not wake up gracefully.

  For one thing, the first thought that hit my conscious mind was that I had shifted back into a human without a stitch of clothes on.

  That was more than enough to sit me up in bed with a strong reflex to snatch the blanket tighter around me in case I was still naked.

  “Relax,” someone said. “Your shirtless knight made sure no one saw you without clothes on.”

  Draven. A hot blush accompanied the rush of relief I felt at knowing he was okay.

  I looked up at Wynter, who was sprawled in a chair wearing her stained pants and leather armored vest over not much at all.

  “You loaned me a shirt?” I guessed.

  She shot me a thumbs up. “Right in one. Not that I grudge it. You did more or less save my life, but since we were there to rescue you in the first place, I figure it all works out even in the end.”

  “Is everyone else…”

  “Fine,” she assured me, not betraying either relief or concern regarding that outcome. “Faris will have some recovering to do—he almost expended too much magic. Barely held himself together long enough to get out, but he made it.”

  He’d done that to save me. To save all of us.

  “And Rath?”

  She scowled. “Not a scratch on that lucky bastard.”

  “Why don’t you like him?”

  She pulled her golden brown braid over her shoulder and toyed with the ends. “He’s fae,” she grumbled, as though that ought to explain everything. “They think they’re better than everyone, and they flirt with anything that moves.”

  Neither of those actually seemed true of Rath, so…“You actually do like him?” I guessed tentatively.

  Her glare probably would have incinerated the sheets if she hadn’t been as low on magic as Faris.

  “I don’t care how pretty he is, someday I’m going to teach him not to throw me to the ground in the middle of the fight like I need some fancy-pants fae to protect me.”

  Ah. She was still mad about that.

  I was just glad everyone was still alive.

  “Where are we?”

  She glanced around the room as if to make sure no one was listening. “The Fae Court,” she said in a low voice.

  I took another look for myself. The room looked more like a modern hotel room than anything else.

  “Where is the Fae Court?”

  “Highlands Ranch, Colorado.”

  Oh. Who knew? For some reason, I’d expected to find the fae holding court in a medieval castle somewhere, not a wealthy Denver suburb.

  Well, actually, I’m sure everyone knew, except for me.

  I desperately wanted to ask Wynter for a complete rundown of what had happened, but something about her caution told me to keep those questions to myself. At least for now. There were probably a lot of things the Fae Court didn’t need to know.

  Now that I thought about it, there were definitely things. Like the fact that we’d just killed a whole lot of fae and been responsible for the death of the heir to the fae throne.

  Wynter must have seen the panic on my face because she gave me a grim smile.

  “It’s okay. I’m sure Draven will explain later.”

  “He’s not hurt?”

  “A little singed, but nothing that won’t heal. He didn’t collapse until after we got you here, and he was sure you were going to be safe.”

  “He collapsed?” I wanted more than anything to jump out of bed and find him, but again, Wynter’s expression restrained me. I doubted it would be helpful for anyone in the Fae Court to know how I felt about Draven. Or to have any reason to look very hard at my shapeshifter self and wonder what I’d been doing with Draven and Rath in the first place.

  Wynter just shrugged. “He’ll be fine. He’s a tough boy. Had to be to shrug off that last hit.”

  Llyr must have thrown something particularly nasty there at the end, which only intensified my desire to see Draven and know for sure that he was okay.

  A ringtone interrupted my thoughts, and as Wynter fished out a phone from somewhere in her vest, I recalled that mine was lost somewhere in Idria under a pile of rubble.

  My aunt was going to be so mad…

  A wave of pain and uncertainty struck me as I recalled the sight of her flying away just when I’d finally found her. Just when I thought we’d saved her from whatever had stopped her from coming home to me.

  “Yello.” Wynter answered her phone in a typically informal style, leaning back in her chair with one leg crossed over the other. “Yup, she’s awake.”

  So where was Morghaine now? She’d flown away without a word. Hadn’t looked at all pleased to see me. Where had she gone, and why?

  I understood why she’d been upset by my presence, but why hadn’t she said anything, or even stayed long enough to be mad at me?

  Maybe she’d been under some magical compulsion. Maybe she’d expected me to follow her. Or maybe she knew Draven was allied with the Fae Court and thought I’d betrayed her.

  That thought hurt, but I couldn’t rule it out. After all, she’d been held prisoner by the fae, and probably would be slow to trust any of them again.

  The reality was, I was back where I’d started, with no idea where my aunt was, why she’d left me, or why she hadn’t come home.

  “Will do. Cheerio.” Wynter returned her phone to her vest and jerked her head towards the door. “Time to go. There are clothes in the closet. Meet me in the hall after you’re dressed.” She strode out while my mouth was still open, a multitude of questions ready to pour out.

  Sooner or later, someone was going to answer them.

  But for the moment, I dressed hastily, in clothes that were definitely not mine—I’d never dream of spending that kind of money on designer labels. But the jeans more or less fit, the sweater was a cashmere dream, and the boots? I would probably have sold my soul to keep them, they were that comfortable.

  When I emerged, Wynter handed me a coat, and I followed her down a carpeted hall, down one set of stairs and through a set of double glass doors into a startling winter landscape.

  A ring of modern buildings stretched out around us, all wood and stone and warmly lit windows. A lake nestled in the middle, with an island gazebo in the center. Understated landscaping created the illusion of nature in the midst of suburban artifice, while the whole area was ringed with pine trees dusted with a light coating of snow. And on the far edge of the circle, a particularly enormous house—castle really—spread itself across the side of the hill, elegant lines glowing with warmth and magic.

  I wanted to hate it for Draven’s sake, but… who was I kidding? It was gorgeous.

  “This way,” Wynter said, and led me off down one of the cobbled roads that ran between buildings. I had to trot to keep up and was relieved to find that I didn’t feel sore or out of breath.

  “Where are we going?”

  She didn’t answer, only led me behind the building I’d been sleeping in, through a row of trees and down a crushed gravel path as fat snowflakes began to fall. The path led to a narrow gate in the stone wall that appeared to surround the entire enclave, a gate that opened after Wynter typed something into a recessed keypad.

  I would have expected the fae to have magical locks, but what did I know?

  Once free of the wall, we trotted down the sidewalk, past another gated neighborhood, to a green space that served as a neighborhood park. Walking trails cut across the middle, while one side was dedicated to a playground and a soccer field.

  It was night, but the area was well lit, and I could see three tall male figures waiting at the playground. Either the local criminals were growing rather bold or…

  They turned toward us, and I began to run.

  “Draven,” I gasped as I came to a stop on the edge of the mulch-covered play area. The other two men proved to be Faris and Rath, wearing their human guises, both looking well and whole for the most part.

  Sadly, Draven was wearing a shirt for once, so I couldn’t tell just how badly he’d been hurt. Even in the harsh light of the street-lamps, I could see the bruises marking his face and knew that he hadn’t come off quite as easily as Wynter claimed.

  “Kira.” His voice was quiet. Neutral. Like he knew I wouldn’t like what he had to say.

  “You’re all right?”

  He tilted his head to the side. “I am.”

  We watched each other in silence for another moment.

  “Would someone please tell me what happened?” I blurted out. “After I blacked out. How did we get out?”

  It was Faris who answered. “After the castle fell, we picked you up and went back through the gateway.”

  “Where did you find another gateway?” I asked. “Bronwyn destroyed the one we went through.”

  He looked a little shocked and exchanged glances with Rath.

  “She destroyed it on purpose?” Rath asked, when it seemed that no one else would.

  “She wanted me dead,” I explained. “She said that Morghaine and I were ruining Faris’s life and he couldn’t see it. So she decided to strand me in Idria and claim that I attacked her. Figured she would make a new gateway somewhere and stay away from Oklahoma until Faris had forgotten I even existed.”

  Faris made a strangled sound and turned around, running a hand through his hair in agitation.

  “What happened next?” Rath prompted.

  “She tried to blow me over a cliff and then took off. I climbed up and decided to look for another way out, which was when I found that castle. There was a gargoyle who locked me in a room for a while until Llyr came to see what he’d caught. I told him my name was Misty, so he thought I was someone else until I escaped through the window. The rest, you know. But how did you find me?”

  Rath glanced at Draven, who remained silent. “We experienced considerable consternation when the gateway disappeared. I believe Draven here threatened to eviscerate Bronwyn if he ever saw her again, and made threats on Faris’ life for bringing her along. Fortunately, he soon realized there might be an alternate way to reach you.”

  “Another gateway?”

  He nodded. “The appearance of the shadow beasts at the Fae Court suggested they must have a gateway close by. We were all concerned and agreed to help sniff it out in hopes of finding you before…”

  “Before it was too late,” I finished for him. “And you did, so thank you. All of you. I really didn’t believe…” I choked up on the last words of that sentence. I’d dreamed of having friends for so long, it felt decidedly odd to realize that I’d found them when I wasn’t really looking.

  “Don’t think too well of us,” Wynter put in, with a crooked grin. “Faris was feeling guilty, and I was just hoping for something to fight.”

  “I don’t care why,” I explained quietly. “You came looking for me, and I’m grateful. I swear to repay you if I ever have the chance.”

  “You can repay us by going home,” Draven interrupted.

  His coolness was like being dunked in ice water.

  “Why?” If he wanted to be like that, I could play too.

  “Because the last thing we need is anyone asking questions about you. The Fae Court is in upheaval, and I won’t be able to protect you here.”

  He wasn’t really meeting my eyes.

  “What happened before I woke up?” I demanded. When no one answered, I turned to Rath. “Just tell me!”

  He threw a glance at Draven. “We made it out through the gateway, but there was a delay. It had been used not long before, and the energy was just recharging.”

  “You think…”

  “I think Morghaine left Idria,” Draven said, and I couldn’t tell from his tone whether he was angry, afraid, or just didn’t care. “After she flew off and left you, she headed straight for the gateway. Because she knew exactly where it was.”

  He suspected her of something, and had ever since taking off my bracelet. But I knew my aunt would never hurt me. Things looked bad now, but whatever she’d done, she would have her reasons. I was sure of it.

  “Okay,” I said. “Then, hopefully, we can track her down now that she’s back on Earth.”

  But Draven shook his head. “I can’t.”

  Disappointment hit me hard. After all this, was he abandoning me now?

  “Kira, we’ve just told our father that our brother was a traitor,” Rath said in an unexpectedly gentle tone. It didn’t make me feel any better to know that my guess had been correct. “It seems clear he was conspiring to claim the fae throne, using those shadow beasts he created. We destroyed the gateway, so no more should be able to come through, but he may have had even bigger plans. So far, we don’t know, but the main point is that our court will be in chaos.”

  “The main point,” Wynter drawled, a hard edge to her voice, “is that Dathair will be needing a new heir.”

  Rath didn’t deny it, but there was definitely a grimmer set than usual to his jaw.

  “Anyway,” Wynter continued, “what they’re trying to tell you in typically fae fashion is that Faris and I will be taking you home tonight. The Fae Court is too dangerous, and they can’t risk anyone asking questions about you, or learning your true identity. Draven and Rath will be staying to work things out with Dathair and contain the fallout from that idiot, Llyr. Unfortunately, his poisonous mother is still lurking around here somewhere, probably with fingers in every one of his nasty little plots.”

 

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