“How do you know it’s linked to the curse?” Rosalind shouted over the wind.
“Have you ever seen a deer with green eyes and yellow ears?” I shouted back.
“Never,” she replied.
“I saw that doe in King Drayce’s dream,” I yelled above the roar of the wind. “Let’s hurry before it reaches the woods.”
Rosalind’s capall soared into the sky, its mighty wings slicing through the air and propelling us forward. I clung to the female’s back and clenched my teeth. The darkness stood a mere three hundred feet away, casting its long shadow over the woods. Beneath us, the doe raced toward the trees with Aengus and four soldiers on winged mounts in pursuit.
“Don’t hurt it,” I shouted down to the riders. “We need that doe alive.”
“Do you think it contains Prince Drayce’s soul?” Rosalind asked as we overtook the doe.
“I don’t know, but we’re not letting that doe return to the Summer Court.”
“This could be a trap,” said Rosalind.
“That’s why we’ve got to catch it now.”
Fifty feet before the trees started, Rosalind turned our capall and swooped down toward the doe. A pair of soldiers pursuing the deer had already taken to the skies and surrounded her on both sides. With Aengus and two riders behind, the two on her left and right, and us flying down toward her, she was trapped.
The doe raised her head and wailed, an ear-piercing sound that made my skin tremble. Behind us, the trees shook from several answering howls seeming to emanate from deep within the wall of black.
Rosalind shuddered. “That sounds like—”
“Whatever’s lurking in the Summer Court knows where to find its next prey,” I answered. “We’ve got to grab it, now.”
We closed in around the doe, who ran in circles, seeming to look for an escape. I reached for the Dullahan’s whip, which I kept coiled on the back of my belt and snatched my hand away. That weapon would cleave the creature in half. I didn’t know if it was Drayce or not, but deep in my bones, I knew the doe would lead me to breaking his curse.
One of the soldiers pulled out a rope with a noose at the end. He threw it toward the doe, who darted to the side. Another soldier threw his own rope, and the doe evaded that one, too.
“Rosalind,” I shouted. “Can you move those ropes with your magic?”
She lifted a hand, and the ropes rose into the air, snaking after the doe, who wailed her distress. My heart clenched, and the memory of Queen Melusina’s wild hunt rolled to the front of my mind. Huntsmen made clean kills, they didn’t hound their prey with ropes and horses. Biting my tongue, I swallowed back my guilt and watched Rosalind and the soldiers try to ensnare the doe with ropes.
A snarl reverberated from the dark, making one of the capall screech and soar into the sky.
My heart jumped into the back of my throat, and I turned in the direction of the Summer Court. “What was that?”
“I don’t know.” Rosalind’s voice shook. “But we need to leave in case it attacks.”
I glanced down at the doe, snarling at how it ducked and darted and dashed away from the ropes. The soldiers ran tighter circles around her as she ran toward the mountains, the rising sun illuminating the tips of her ears like spun gold. No matter how much Rosalind and the others tried, the doe evaded every attempt to ensnare her.
The next growl sounded from within the trees. I twisted around to see something emerging from between two trunks.
Something as green and shaggy and large as a cow glared up at us through silver eyes the size of teacups.
I snatched my gaze away and shuddered as all the blood drained from my face, leaving me light-headed and nauseous with terror. I dug the fingers of my left hand into Rosalind’s side, making her flinch.
Cú sídhe.
There were all kinds of demonic dogs in the Book of Brigid, some with multiple heads, others with teeth that could rend a man into fillets, and those who could predict a person’s death. But none were as fearsome as the cú sídhe, an intelligent hound larger than a full-grown bull with paws the size of a human head.
One bark of the cú sídhe stopped a person’s heart for three beats, the second made their blood boil, and the third aroused a terror so deep that whoever failed to reach shelter before hearing it would drop dead and forfeit their soul.
“Everybody,” I screamed down to the riders. “Get into the carriage.”
Aengus stared up at us and frowned. “But we just caught the doe.”
“Leave it,” I shouted as Rosalind steered our capall around in the air.
The cú sídhe’s low, guttural growl tightened my skin, making our capall hollow its back and raise its front legs. I lurched backward and clung onto Rosalind, who flapped her wings to keep us airborne.
One of the capall flying level with us bucked off his rider, who plummeted toward the wildflowers with a scream but another soldier raced ahead on his mount and rescued his colleague.
Enbarr raced toward us, his red eyes blazing, and lunged toward the cú sídhe, who stepped back toward the trees and snarled.
Rosalind’s muscles tightened. She charged toward the coach’s door, breathing fast. I wasn’t sure if she had encountered one of these monsters before, but her heart beat so hard that I felt its reverberations against my chest.
One of the guards standing at the coach’s front door beckoned for us to hurry.
I grabbed her arm. “We’ve got to let everyone else board first in case those guards shut the door on the others.”
She ignored me and rode her capall through the door, who
