The pixies had been so scared earlier. They’d startled at the slightest of sounds. Two of them had been eaten this week. Their friends were gone, and nothing could bring them back. Not even Addie’s magic could revive the little pixies.
Though their lives seemed small and insignificant, others could say that about me. I’d been the weakest in the Lakesedge Pack for most of my life. To them, I’d been small and insignificant, too. They deserved to have someone care about them.
I just…I didn’t know why it had to be me. I was scared and tired. There was no fight left in me. I could stand up to Rhoan, but there was no way that I could take down Beryl. It just wasn’t going to happen, at least not the way that everyone wanted it to happen.
Rhoan hadn’t been pushing my duty up until now.
“What happened while I was working?” I asked breathlessly as the realization hit me.
Rhoan’s flat hand on the door curled into a fist. He looked away. Tension rippled over him. The anger that’d been radiating off him suddenly turned inward. He threw himself backwards, away from me.
Before he could get far, I grabbed at the front of his shirt and pulled him back towards me. He crashed into me. His hands went to my hips to steady himself. This close, he had to look me in the eye. There, I found sorrow and grief and frustration.
“What. Happened?” I pressed.
Rhoan seemed to think about it for a long while. His heart thumped against my chest in a violent beat. When his gaze slid sideways towards the door, he asked:
“Is that locked?”
I nodded.
He took my hand and led me to the stockroom door. As we passed through it, the café changed into an alley. I marveled at the near-seamless transition before smoke tickled my nose.
Red and blue lights flashed, glinting off the surrounding buildings. Though it was night, the scenery was still familiar. We stood outside the deli where Taliesin worked. Firetrucks, cop cars, and other emergency service vehicles made a crowded halfmoon around the front of the deli.
My stomach hit the ground. The deli had been gutted. Smoke poured out of the broken windows. The acrid smell in the air was more than just vehicle exhaust. There was sour magic at work here.
When the lights glinted off the brick building, they revealed a hidden message. I reached over and grabbed Rhoan’s hand. He squeezed me in return, mirroring my own frantic fear. The neon letters glowing in the spinning red and blue lights read:
Kneel in the blood of the Seelie.
Indignant fury filled my throat. A scream begged to be released. It clawed its way out of me. I had to turn and lurch away from the scene before the sound escaped me. My feet slapped the sidewalk. Buildings blurred past me.
The echo of footsteps behind me told me that Rhoan was right behind me. That meant, two blocks away, I could drop to my knees, clutch the sides of my head, and unleash the building scream. It turned my throat hoarse and raw. Pain seared my throat, but I didn’t care.
I deserved it.
Taliesin had been punished because of me. He’d taken a side today, and it’d gotten him in trouble.
“He’s not dead,” Rhoan said, though his tone was not comforting.
I lifted my head and twisted to peer back at him.
“Beryl has him strung up in her court.” Rhoan’s lips turned into a grim line when he paused. It was like he was debating how much he really wanted to tell me. “If you see a fae with red knees, know that they pledged their fealty to Beryl.”
“Red…knees?” The gears in my brain moved slowly.
When the realization hit me, I sobbed. I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle the sound.
Kneel in the blood of the Seeliewasn’t a warning. It was a command. She was bleeding Taliesin and telling others to kneel in his blood as a show of servitude. The man that’d stopped time and negated gravity had been bested by Beryl. She’d caught him and was now using him as a message to everyone.
“How can you expect me to stand up against her?” I choked out.
Feri popped out of Rhoan’s vest pocket. “You are stronger than her. Your allies will rally behind you when you come to realize that.”
I didn’t feel stronger. I’d barely been able to do anything when Taliesin turned me topsy turvy. If I couldn’t stop him from rendering me useless, then there was absolutely nothing I could do against Beryl.
Everything had been fine until I tried to do something. I needed to stay out of this. Beryl would stop hurting people if I disappeared—