Liam looked off to the side. “They’re moving him!” he shouted, and flew high above the army of men like they didn’t exist. “Cain!”
His voice carried over the field, but I couldn’t see anything other than the Sons of Darkness. He must have been Seeking his brother. Panic gripped me at his reckless actions, but I understood—he would do anything for his family.
Half a dozen of the warriors aimed arrows and crossbows at Liam, and I knew I had seconds to act. Pulling on that power, that warmth that hummed just beneath the surface of my skin, I pushed the sunlight magic up through my chest and out my arms.
An explosion of light shot out across the lawn and knocked the men backward into each other. They clawed at their eyes. Some of them even landed on their own weapons, injuring themselves.
A wave of nausea and pain racked my body, causing me to fall forward on my hands and knees. The world was spinning.
“Are you crazy?” Jasper suddenly popped into view. “You’ll kill yourself without grounding first.”
“What?” I groaned. It felt like someone was slicing my brain into pieces.
He looked at me incredulously, like I was the stupidest person he’d ever met. “Shoes. Off. You can’t output that kind of power without anchoring to the earth first.”
Maybe I was.
I couldn’t think straight, but he started unlacing my boots. Meanwhile, swords clanged, and guns popped off behind me.
“That was incredible,” Jasper told me, slipping my foot out of my boot and tearing the sock off. “No more shoes, and you’ll be even more powerful.”
He placed my bare foot on the ground. I’d been kneeling on my jeans before, but he took my palms and splayed them out onto the grass, as well as both of my bare feet. My headache immediately eased, and the world ceased spinning.
What strange magic was this?
“You’re a Spring fae. You don’t pull that kind of magic unless you are anchored to the earth, got it?” Jasper chided me.
I just nodded. I felt better, and if walking around barefoot was going to do that, then so be it.
“Liam!” I sprang from where I’d hunched on all fours and took to the skies, activating my Seeker power. He was close.
Flying over the warzone, I went around the back of the house toward the lake. There at the edge was Liam, with Cain in his arms. The boat in which his father had presumably been trying to take him was a sinking frozen cube, but his father and the king’s loyal guards were nowhere to be seen.
“They say Spring Court magic is the most powerful because it has the potential to create life,” the Winter King’s voice called out behind me.
I spun in the air, just in time for the king to slam into me. The breath whooshed out of me in a rush, and we tumbled to the ground. We landed in a tangled heap with a loud thud.
Without thinking—simply acting on instinct—I grabbed both sides of his face, and sunlight flared in my palms. His skin sizzled beneath my fingertips as a guttural cry left his throat.
Suddenly, his hands on my upper arms turned ice cold, and I whimpered, letting go of him as a bone-chilling frost overtook me. Fingertips blue, teeth chattering, I slammed my pelvis upward, trying to buck him off as he pinned me to the ground.
It was useless—he was too strong.
“I have more people at my command on Earth than you have fae in all of Faerie. Give this pursuit up now and cut your losses.” The Winter King sneered, his face so close to mine that I could see a few flecks of silver in his beard. He looked so much like Liam that it was a bit terrifying, and I knew that at any moment, he could gore me with an icicle like he had my mother.
That thought—the thought of him killing my mother—sent fresh, hot grief and anger coursing through me, and I snapped. Lurching forward, I crashed my forehead into his nose and was rewarded with crimson blood and a sickening crunch.
Score.
Trissa would be proud. Bucking my hips up again, I rolled over and kicked to my feet, relieved as the king fell to the side. Without waiting even a second for him to recover, I took for the skies. My gaze went to the lake, searching for Liam and Cain.
Liam was gone, and the boat had sunk, leaving only the top metal railing visible in the water. Fluttering my wings toward the back of the house, I followed a glowing purple light inside.
Magic.
I sped towards the house and flew through the open door, then slammed into a shield of protection.
Holy crystals.
Standing in the middle of the room, Liam and some female witch were entangled in a fight. Liam held two of the dark crystals in his hands, and black veins crawled up his arms as he kicked and elbowed the witch.
Fae witches and warlocks were easy to tell apart. It was a certain look. A certain paleness to the skin, the tilt of the ears, the tattoos that designated their power animal. This witch had a roaring bear tattoo on her neck, and she gave me the creeps far beyond what Jasper ever had.
Cain was nowhere to be seen, and I prayed that it was because he’d gone with Liam’s personal guard back to the blue door.
Raising my arms, I blasted the back of the witch’s head with light, taking the bottom ten inches of her hair clean off.
Holy crap.
If I failed at this Seeker thing, I could always offer free laser haircuts.
My power had gotten stronger since I’d rolled on the grass with the Winter King. Maybe Jasper was right and I needed to constantly charge with the earth.
When the witch spun on me, I recoiled. Her eyes
