I glanced at Erin’s spirit, who wrung her hands and mouthed something. Drayce’s fingers twitched as though silencing her. Perhaps Drayce could hear her because of his connection with the Dead.
“Alright,” replied the Fear Dorcha.
His shadow shrank, and light poured in through the arched windows, letting in streams of sunlight behind the thick vines that surrounded the palace. Erin’s spectral body remained standing next to Drayce, but her edges faded with the illumination.
The Fear Dorcha stood in the middle of the hallway, his shadowy form standing seven feet tall and nearly obscuring Melusina. She lay on her side several feet behind the dark figure, her platinum hair glistening in the light. Black blood pulsed through the vessels beneath her near-transparent skin and around a ribcage that rose and fell with gentle breaths.
He glided toward us on unmoving legs. “Give me my love—”
Finger bones pierced through the Fear Dorcha’s shadowed form. He howled and melted into the floor, revealing a tall skeleton wearing dusty rags in his place.
“My brother was a traitor, a weak-minded fool,” the skeleton rasped, “But you will not find me so easy to defeat.”
He raised both hands, creating a whirlwind. Dust rose from all corners of the hallway, lashing at my skin.
Squeezing my eyes shut against the onslaught, I clenched my teeth as intense hunger hollowed my stomach and leached all the energy from my bones. My muscles gave way, dropping me to my hands and knees. Palpitations squeezed my heart, making me struggle for breath.
Hunger clawed at my stomach, gnawed at my flesh. If I didn't eat, I would consume my insides and devour my own husk. Behind me, Drayce groaned, but the noise faded into insignificance, and I focussed my gaze to the dead doe. Pain quickened through my insides, and my mouth flooded with saliva.
I needed to eat. Now.
Clutching the sword, I took a crawling step toward the doe, but Drayce grabbed my arm. Hot fury coursed through my veins. Did he want the deer carcass for himself? I jerked my head back, met his half-lidded eyes and snarled at him to release me.
Shadows wrapped around us, encasing our bodies in a cocoon of black. The intense hunger ebbed to a dull ache, allowing me to breathe.
I shuffled back to Drayce and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “What was that?”
“Erin says it’s the Fear Gorta, who holds the curse over the Autumn Court,” Drayce replied, his voice fading. “His attacks can cause a hunger fierce enough to make people tear each other apart.”
My throat thickened, and I nodded my understanding. Even injured and eaten half to death, Drayce’s shadows could cleave my flesh into fillets. This barrier was the only thing keeping us from the curse of our new enemy.
Just as my breathing calmed, a heavy weight pounded on Drayce's barrier of shadows, making me flinch.
“Is the Fear Dorcha dead?” I whispered.
Drayce didn't reply, and I could barely hear his breaths. I squeezed him tighter and pressed a kiss on his cooling skin. Was this like the time he got poisoned by the Keeper of All Things, and I returned from gathering herbs to find him not breathing?
Light flooded my eyes as the shadows surrounding us melted, leaving us sitting in the hallway.
Standing over us was a trio of males with skin as dark as mahogany, each with long black hair that twisted into rope-like locks, and each clad in white robes embroidered with gold that exposed muscular chests and arms. From the gilded, leather bracers on their forearms, they were probably warriors.
The one in the middle wore a crown of a golden circlet surrounded by crystal spikes that reminded me of rays of light. He held a golden sword with a blade that shone brighter than the sun.
My throat dried. This could only be Prince Calor of the Summer Court.
“Identify yourselves.” His voice was rich and deep, with an authority that shook my bones. This was a millennia-old high faerie, who had probably just driven the Fear Gorta out of his palace.
I didn’t dare keep my eyes off these males, didn’t let my gaze drop to the dead doe still lying on the marble floor, didn’t turn to look at Drayce. As far as they knew, we were intruders who had possibly killed Erin.
“Queen Neara of the Faeries.” I raised my chin. “And this is my mate, King Drayce of the Otherworld. He just broke the curse Melusina had her servant place on your Court and needs a healer.”
They exchanged glances. Cold fingers of dread reached into my gut and twisted. I knew what they were thinking. The last time they were awake, Melusina had murdered Queen Pressyne, and King Donn still ruled the Otherworld.
Prince Calor’s gaze moved from Erin to the Sword of Tethra. “Explain yourself.”
My heart jumped into the back of my throat, and words jumbled through my mind. Drayce lay beside me dying, and more Summer Court faeries joined the powerful trio, all looking to me for answers.
In halting, stuttering words, I told them everything from how Father accidentally pulled Melusina out of the mist a thousand years ago, how he escaped to the mortal realm with Drayce’s help, how Drayce and I drove Melusina from the palace, to how Drayce bargained with the Fear Dorcha to release the curse on the Summer Court.
At the end of my story, Prince Calor’s eyes softened. “You favor our mother.”
“And Dana,” added his companion, a man with equally as dark skin but with eyes that glistened like topaz.
My throat thickened at their words, and relief loosened the tightness of my chest. If they were kind enough not to compare me to Melusina, then they probably accepted that I wasn’t malevolent.
“May we please see a healer?” I turned my gaze to Drayce, whose shadows couldn’t staunch the flow of blood from his gut. “My mate holds Erin’s soul. If he falls unconscious and lets her go…”
Realization flashed across the prince’s eyes. He turned around to address the crowd. “Dian, please
