“Hold on to them. If Thatcher and I can get Harper to the underland, I can navigate us safely back to the crabapple.”
“Thatch? Are you okay with that plan?”
He nodded. “I feel like a fucking warrior right now.” He turned his hands palms up and spread his fingers wide. “I may not be growing wings or baking magical cakes or making magical necklaces, but I know I have magic in me. I can feel it. I just don’t know what it’s going to look like.”
“Then go with Kaz, protect your brother, and please, stay safe.” I gripped his chin and turned him to face me. “No undue heroics. You did amazing getting Harper to us, and Kaz needs you to stay focused just a little longer.” I stood and brushed off my knees. “I’m going to see if I can end this once and for all with your father. I’ll try not to resort to violence, but if Meribah shows up I make no promises.”
“C’mon,” urged Kaz. “Let’s get Harper over your shoulder, and we’ll go out the opposite side of the mound. Calli.” He gripped my fingers tight. “I will get these two to safety, but it may take a while. Christoph absolutely needs to know what’s happening to Harper. I can think of no way to stop his wings from growing, but your grandfather has far more knowledge about this.”
I hugged Kaz. “Go and with Goddess speed.”
From the threshold of the burial mound, I could see Doug—still on his knees, still ranting, and seemingly oblivious to the boys’ absence—and the nearby presence of Hyslop, Peasgood, and the Fae sisters. I shook out my body, let Bear once again settle across my skull and shoulders then strode into the last flashes of sunset just as four rapid-fire pops disgorged Vadim, Primèvere, Adelaide, and Meribah. The matriarch was in the middle of speaking.
“See?” Meribah said, her back to me. “A Flechette always delivers on their promises.” Her voice sliced through the heaviness in the air. Her summer dress, a knee-length silver lamé sheath, followed the hard lines of her torso and thighs. Her chin-length hair was swept behind her ears, her footwear molded over her heels and arches, and the jeweled collar at her neck flashed as she moved.
That was new.
Adelaide wore the sleeveless jumpsuit version of the night’s uniform, also in silver, and sported a similar collar. Unclasped metal rings hung from one hand. More collars. And if I wasn’t mistaken, a coiled leash.
“Mother.” Doug’s face, bright red and streaked with dirt, lifted at the sound Meribah’s voice. He stumbled to stand and lurched toward her. “Mother, look at me.”
Adelaide dropped the leash and collars and flexed her fingers.
Meribah held up a hand in Adelaide’s direction while speaking to Doug. “I will deal with you and your ridiculous behavior once these innocent creatures have been safely removed. Vadim? Primèvere?”
“Silène, Némophilie, whatever are you doing here?” Primèvere picked up the script she and Wes had worked out with her guards. Her voice reverberated with maternal worry, tinged with a shade of disappointment.
“Mama, Papa, we are of age, and you cannot make us marry men we do not love,” said Silene, chin lifted and voice strong. The girls clutched at their chosen sweethearts, their gazes darting between their parents and Meribah and Doug, while Hyslop and Peasgood moved to stand to the girls’ fronts.
Meribah let out a sharp laugh. “The sooner you separate your daughters from these worthless farm boys, the sooner we can complete our transaction.”
The Fae guards posing as workers at the far corners of the fields stiffened, shifting one by one to face Primèvere, Vadim, and the sisters.
Meribah pointed a long, silver-tipped finger at Néne, raised her other arm, and pointed at Silène. “You have one minute to leave this place before I collar you both and take what should have been promised to me and my clan.”
Her threat was not in the negotiations brokered between her and the girls’ parents.
I waited, wanting desperately to see one more clue, one more card, one more piece of this familial puzzle in order to fathom Meribah’s endgame.
“Sil? Néne?” asked Vadim, stepping within arm’s reach of both daughters. He acted the perturbed parent, his arms crossing his chest and his body language broadcasting the end of his patience. Shaking his head, pivoting on his heels, he yelled, “Go!”
As the command left his mouth, he finished spinning, facing Meribah. A length of thick chains hung from each hand, put there by the guardswomen who had materialized at his sides.
At his signal, Hyslop and Peasgood grabbed the sisters and tore away from the portal tree. In the field, the remaining Fae guard dropped their glamour. Half of them rushed toward Vadim and Primèvere. The other half surrounded the foursome, moving as one toward the underland.
“Oh, you have done it now, Calliope. Because who else would dare insinuate themselves into my negotiations.” Meribah turned toward me, and Adelaide faced Doug. “Roger,” Meribah yelled. “Time to show me what a son of mine should be capable of.”
Roger burst into being at his brother’s side, blades extended from eight fingers and curved claws glinting from his thumbs. Sectioned armor covered his chest, shoulders, thighs, and calves. While he eyed the approaching Fae, calculating where to strike, I left him to Vadim and the rest and focused solely on Meribah.
Bear wanted Meribah. The need to crush filled the thickening muscles of my arms and legs. Loss haunted my bones. Her love and anger coursed through my blood.
I will do what you need, Bear. Guide my feet, my hands, my eyes. But I will not kill.
Chapter 24
Bear roared. We charged Meribah.
The hem of her dress dropped, sheathing her entire legs in a silver substance much like her dress. Sleeves tumbled down her arms, section by section like a
