Hoofs clomped behind me on the hay-covered floor, indicating that one of the riders had reached the carriage. I turned to find it was two soldiers riding one capall. The others led them toward the stalls to make way for another and another, until there were only two males left.
A low bark exploded from outside. It tore through my skin, vibrated along my nerves, and pierced my chest. My heart clenched so hard that the pain brought me to my knees. Choked gasps filled my ears—from the capall, from the soldiers, from my throat.
I knelt with my palms on the floor, struggling for air. It seemed that a coach with an open door didn’t count as shelter. If the cú sídhe barked two more times, everybody on board would die. We had to close that door.
The pressure around my heart loosened, and I slammed my fist on the glass. “Enbarr, get away from that dog!”
The skeletal capall turned his head and snorted out a cloud of smoke. I clenched my jaw. A winged horse skeleton had no heart to stop, no blood to boil, and no life to lose.
The last guard leaped into the coach with Aengus taking up the rear. I had no idea where the capall who had thrown off his rider had gone, but the cú sídhe leaped up and snapped at Enbarr’s leg, making me clap a hand over my mouth.
As the dog descended, I caught sight of the doe sprinting toward us, her green eyes bulging with terror. My heart skipped. Was she seeking shelter?
“Enbarr.” I slammed my palms on the window. “Fly down.”
He shook his head.
With a snarl, I turned to the door, where a soldier tried to push it closed.
“Rosalind,” I yelled. “Raise the doe from the ground with your magic!”
With a sharp nod, she raced to the half-open gap and stretched out her palms. The tips of the ropes reached through the door, and she snatched them out of the air. Aengus appeared behind her and tried to reach for the ropes, but she slapped his hand away.
The cú sídhe barked again. Lightning bolts of pain shot through my veins, as though my blood had turned to molten fire. A cry tore from my lips, and my legs collapsed. Pain raced through my system, wreaking havoc through my skin, my bones, my organs. It reached the tiny capillaries of my eyeballs, the roots of my hair, the very tips of my extremities.
Rosalind stiffened and fell to the side. With an agonized roar, Aengus caught her with one arm and grabbed the ropes with the other.
One more bark. A shudder raced down my spine. One more bark, and we would die from terror.
“Close the door,” I rasped to the guards, but nobody moved. They all lay on the floor, convulsing.
I crawled on my hands and knees toward the door. It was one of those sliding contraptions used to save space. I placed my trembling hands on its metal surface and pushed.
My biceps strained against the dead weight, and pain quickened across my nerve endings, making my muscles seize. I threw my body against the door, once, twice, thrice, each time, my feeble efforts only moving it a few inches.
The doe’s forelegs appeared through the doorway, followed by her head. White-hot agony seared my veins, burned my senses, but I kept pushing, pushing. The doe didn’t matter. The curse didn’t matter. If I didn’t close that door, we would all die when the cú sídhe opened its jaws.
With one mighty heave, Aengus fell back with his arms around the doe, who cried out with what sounded like relief. A heartbeat after the door slammed shut, the cú sídhe made its third bark.
I fell face-first on the floor and panted. My hair formed an orange curtain, cocooning me in the scent of horses. Hay and dust stuck to my damp face, and my eyes burned with tears.
“I’m sorry,” I said to nobody, everybody. “We could have been killed.”
For the next few moments, nobody spoke. As I caught my breath, I raised my head to the window to find Enbarr taking us above the shaded woods with the cú sídhe on our right. A groan reverberated through my throat. What was he doing? We needed to stay away from the dark, not hurtle toward it.
Somebody groaned. I think it was one of the guards. Relief washed through my veins, chasing out the pain. I stumbled to my feet and checked on Rosalind, who still lay within Aengus’ arm, her chest rising and falling with even breaths.
“Enbarr?” I croaked.
The capall turned his head to the left and snapped his jaws at an unseen enemy. I crawled through the straw, past Aengus and Rosalind and the slumbering doe, and pressed my head against the window.
Somehow, the cú sídhe managed to run through the air alongside Enbarr’s left and was herding us into the Summer Court.
Chapter 16
The carriage hurtled over the shaded treetops and toward the darkness of the Summer Court, making the wall lanterns flare to life. A sudden movement jerked us aside. I tripped over a fallen guard and braced both hands on the wall for balance.
Outside and through the window, Enbarr flew through the shadows, his skeleton glowing like a specter. The capall roared and swiped his wings at the cú sídhe, whose deep green fur curled like wisp and smoke.
Barks and growls resounded through the shelter of the coach, their volume so loud I felt the floors vibrate through the soles of my boots. The monstrous dog flashed its silver eyes and snapped at Enbarr’s bones with teeth that glinted in the dark.
Giant fists of panic pounded at my ears, and my breaths
