“Stand back, everyone.” I sealed the arch that led to the mess hall and ordered the palace to open up a doorway into where I’d trapped the intruder.
The yellow-eared doe bounded out, a wail tearing from her mouth. Drayce’s shadows wrapped around her like giant constrictors and pinned her to the ceiling.
My mouth dropped open, and I gaped at the long-limbed creature writhing within her bindings. Before I could even think of what her presence meant, when heavy footsteps echoed from the other chamber.
“Get ready,” I said.
A pair of bull-shaped horns emerged from the doorway, looking like they’d been carved from onyx and filed into dagger-sharp points. They belonged to a creature with the broad muzzle and drooping ears of a hound. The massive head pushed its way into our chamber, followed by a cloven hoof.
I stepped back as it opened wide jaws, exposing a pitch-black mouth filled with needles for teeth. Drayce’s shadows wrapped around the muzzle, only for the creature’s face to melt into a substance that reshaped and struck out like a whip.
A thick rope of cold slime wrapped around my waist and yanked me toward the second chamber. My breath stuttered. I skidded on the slippery floor, but the ooze only dragged me further. With all my power, I commanded the palace to cleave it in half. The doorway closed, slicing through the creature, making the substance fall away and reshape into a smaller version of the monster.
“What is that thing?” I snarled.
“Something designed to be impervious to my shadows.” Drayce unsheathed his sword and stepped between me and the monster.
As the guards attacked with blasts of flame and ice, I skittered to the back of the room, out of the monster’s reach. My back hit something trembling and warm. I spun around to meet the doe’s frightened, green eyes.
She parted her jaws, let out a mournful cry, and struggled within the confines of Drayce’s shadows.
Realization hit me upside the head, and I bared my teeth. “You did this.”
Her eyes widened, and she tried to duck her head behind the shadows.
I unsheathed the Sword of Tethra from my belt and poised it at the doe’s belly.
At the top of my voice, I yelled, “Stand down or I’ll kill the doe.”
The monster’s form melted into liquid and retreated to the corner of the room. I squeezed the hilt of my sword, breathing hard as realization after realization flashed through my mind. The doe’s presence in the dreamscape, its convenient appearance the moment we left the Palace of Bóinne, its attempt to escape into the darkness of the Summer Court.
Everything made sense.
That wretched doe was working for the Fear Dorcha.
Chapter 19
With one eye trained on the ooze retreating to the corner, I pointed the tip of my sword at the doe’s neck. Every muscle of her body stilled, save for her yellow tail that thrashed from side to side against the shadows pinning her to the flint wall.
The bright lights shining down on us reflected an incandescent yellow in the doe’s bulging eyes, and her jaws parted, letting out rapid, panting breaths.
“Are you controlling that thing?” I snarled at the doe.
She gave her head a minute shake.
“The Fear Dorcha?” I asked.
Another shake of her head.
I turned back to the ooze. A pair of soldiers with outstretched hands streamed white light over its surface, covering it with frost. I wasn’t sure if ice was enough to restrain its powers or if it was playing dead to protect the doe.
“Who are you and what is that thing?”
The doe stiffened.
“Don’t pretend you’re a dumb animal.” I pointed the sword between her eyes.
Despite having communicated with me via gestures, she stared into my eyes, acting as though she was just a regular deer.
I turned to the soldiers, who were raising a four-foot-wide mass of frozen ooze off the stone floor with their outstretched hands. The soldiers wielding white magic continued to freeze the ooze, while Drayce wrapped his shadows around it.
Creating a narrow, horizontal opening six feet above the ground, I let them rid this chamber of the ooze. Once it clanked into the other chamber, I turned back to the doe, who flinched.
“If you insist on acting like an animal,” I snarled. “You’ll be treated like one.”
I opened a doorway to the kitchens. Drayce released the shadows around her front, freeing her neck and forelegs. “Who wants venison sausages for breakfast?”
“Wait!” A melodic voice spilled from the doe’s lips.
Satisfaction lightened my chest. I pressed my lips together to suppress a smile and folded my arms across my chest. “A talking doe? I heard they were especially delicious.”
“But I’m not a beast,” she said. “I’m Erin, the consort of Prince Calor of the Summer Court.”
Some of the guards bowed, and Drayce walked to my side and frowned. I was about to ask if he knew her but then remembered that Drayce had been brought as a child from the Otherworld long after Queen Melusina had cursed the four princes.
I placed my hands on my hips. “You opened the door and let that thing into my castle.”
“Please, Your Majesty,” the doe wailed. “I didn’t have any choice.”
“Explain yourself,” Drayce said.
“The Fear Dorcha has taken my son. He said I won’t see him until I return to my true form and become his lover,” she said through sobs. “He lost interest in me when Queen Melusina arrived and he offered me my son in return for bringing you to the Summer Court.”
I clenched my teeth and snarled. Queen Melusina and the Fear Dorcha had been scheming ahead of me from the very start. First they sent the tree sprite with the poisoned needle and now the doe. I glanced at Drayce, who raised a brow.
“At least we know for sure where she’s hiding,”