The door flew open, and one of the guards strode in. I’d met him, but his name escaped me, but he was the only Fae I’d seen with facial hair. I was so shocked by his arrival that I stopped, and the forward momentum I’d built threw me back.
Unable to react fast enough, I flew back into Tyran. I winced at the impact, but it wasn’t as hard as I had expected. Slowly, I looked over my shoulder. His face was close to my cheek, his arms wrapped around my middle.
I pulled away hastily and felt my face flush. I dusted the imaginary lint off my clothes and looked at the guard who had burst into the room. He didn’t meet my eyes, but his eyebrows had almost disappeared into his hairline.
“What is it?” Ty asked, sounding breathless.
The guard finally looked up, and his expression turned grim. “A small army marches in our direction from the northeastern side. The Elvin leader comes calling.”
Tyran shot up so fast that it sent my head spinning. “We need to go.”
He grabbed my arm, and I didn’t fight his hold as he toted me out of the training room. “Where are we going?”
“To see what that pompous ass wants after not replying to us for weeks.”
What the hell was he talking about? Though confused, I kept quiet and followed as he told me about the Elvin leader and his sexual proclivities. I groaned. This guy sounded like a character I wanted to stay far away from.
9
Tyran barked orders to the guard who had notified us. Something about assembling the Fae Guard immediately and a slew of other orders in a lilting language I didn’t understand. It would have been nice if the Fae ability to understand all languages kicked in. The unpredictability of Fae qualities I could access was irritating. I had forgotten about my super strength, and I’d broken a bed. It had been incredibly embarrassing.
The guard zipped away just as Conan and Cora ran in our direction.
“Good, they’ve told you.” Conan gave Tyran an answering nod.
I stumbled at the abrupt halt Tyran brought me to, his grip on my wrist still tight. Tyran looked at him, grim-faced. The nervousness from in the training room had ratcheted up to an excruciating level as they continued talking.
“What could he possibly want? Maybe he has good news.”
“No idea with that flakey son of a bitch,” Conan tossed out. Cora’s eyes shot up to him in shock.
“Agreed, he hasn’t shown his face around here in four hundred years, not since he was a boy.” Rian appeared next to our group.
I jumped and glared at him. Then I registered what he said. Damn, that was a long time. How old was Rian?
“We should get to the bordering wall. We don’t want the civilian Fae to be fearful,” Rian continued.
Conan nodded in agreement, but the disgruntled expression on his face showed something else. “Why couldn’t that arrogant asshole request a meeting?”
“What’s going on?” I finally exploded, a little louder than I had meant to be.
Everyone turned to look at me, but Cora crossed her arms, staring them down. She was as clueless as I was.
“Apologies, Rae,” Tyran said. “The Elvin leader and his people have not visited from their lands in a long—”
“Can you talk and walk? We need to get to the entrance,” Rian said.
Tyran nodded and waved me forward. We collectively started walking before he opened his mouth. “As I was saying—”
“I need you to go back to the room, Cora,” Conan interjected.
She shook her head, confused. “What? No, I would like to come.”
“Please, Cora, I don’t know what he wants. He may be our ally, but we do not know where he stands now that he knows we pretty much have,” he paused, shooting me an apologetic look, “a human as a leader. He could be turning the tides and wanting to prove his dominance over Fae. I don’t want you in that danger.”
Cora’s lips pressed together.
“That should go for you both,” Tyran said, looking to me.
My hackles rose, but before I could open my mouth to argue, Rian interrupted. “She should be there as our Queen. It’s probable he is testing her specifically. We need her there.”
I nodded shortly at Rian even though I had no clue what he meant and turned to glare at a tight-lipped Tyran.
“If Rae is going, I’m going,” Cora said mulishly, and Conan’s expression tensed as she grasped his hand. “The guards will be there. You will be there.”
That seemed to soften him because he sighed and picked up his speed.
We strode through the middle of the little town, my shoes slapping against the main cobbled pathway that led to the arching exit of the boundary.
“Why is there no one out?” My eyebrow wrinkled at the ghost town vibe. There were Fae usually milling or doing some sort of work.
“I told the guard to spread the word to keep everyone inside, just in case.”
So that’s what Tyran had said in the other language. That made sense. I’d come to call the Fae who didn’t wear the intimidating Guard garb civilian Fae because that’s pretty much what they were. Some of them actually looked frail, which was odd.
We arrived at the arching doorway moments later. I was surprised that the gates had already been slid open.
“They’re coming from the far north. They have approximately eight bodies,” the Fae at the top of the tower said.
“Not many at all,” Rian muttered.
When I tore my gaze away from the guy at the top, I found myself looking at another wall entirely. Ten towering, thickly-muscled guards garbed in familiar dark
