her hands, I’ll make no move against her.”
My heart thudded against my ribcage and I curled my fingers against the edge of the table. “How do you know about her? What do you mean about the beast?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “Many humans who are attacked by Redcaps become one themselves. Unknowingly, they seek out Otherworld, since they belong here more than the human realm. Somewhere, deep down inside, they know this. When they do enter the faerie realm, one of two things usually happens. They either join the Wilde Fae and embrace the savage monster within. Or they fight it. Unfortunately, neither option ends well.”
“Bree is fighting it,” I said. “She’s not going to become a savage beast.”
“You’re right,” he said with a nod. “And she will likely die because of it.”
I gripped the table tighter, so tight my knuckles went stark white. “But she’s alive. I saw her. She came in through my window. Sure, she was in pretty bad shape, but she was alive.”
He turned to me then, a deep sadness echoing in the hollow black of his eyes. “Her body cannot withstand the place between human and beast, as she is right now. She’s infected. As long as she fights for her human self, her life is forfeit.”
“No,” I whispered. “You’re wrong. She said there were others. Redcaps who were like her. Ones who are still human.”
“There are.” A pause. “And if they do not give into their transformation, they’ll die, too.”
Suddenly, I could no longer stay sitting. I stood from the table and pushed back my chair so hard that it toppled to the floor behind me. “But if she gives into the transformation...”
“Then, she’ll become a beast permanently, like the one who attacked her in Manhattan, like the ones we hunt. She’ll no longer be able to transform into a human, and there will be a savagery to her that isn’t truly Bree. She’ll be in there, but she’ll be...twisted.”
I shoved my hands into my hair and stormed away from Kael. This couldn’t be happening. I’d just gotten Bree back, and now I was discovering that it had all been a twisted lie, one she didn’t know the truth of herself. She wasn’t going to survive this. And, if she did, she’d become something so wrong and so twisted that it would be even worse than death.
She would become the thing that had almost killed her.
“There has to be a way to stop this,” I said. “There has to be a way to undo it. That plant. You said it could cure a Redcap’s bite. What if we got some for her? Would it stop her from dying?”
His lips pressed into a thin line. “Think, Norah. I know you took the books back to your room with you.”
Eyes wide, I nodded with realization. “Winter Starlight can cure a Redcap bite, but a fully-transformed Redcap cannot touch it without suffering from an intense, life-threatening fever.”
“Correct.” He gave a curt nod. “So, you can see the dilemma. If Bree is able to hold off the beast, then we may have time to give her the cure. But there’s a risk. If her transformation is further along than we realize, it could very well end up killing her.”
“I have to try,” I said without any hesitation. Kael was right. It was a risk, but it was the only option we had. Either Bree would die from holding off the beast, or she would become one herself. If there was even a chance at all that we could save her, we had to do it.
Chapter Seventeen
“We’ll go tonight,” Kael said after striding over to the window again. “Our absence will not be noticed if we go now.”
“Go where?” I asked as he grabbed his black cloak from the back of his chair, along with a long, slender sword he slung across his back.
“We must go to the Winter Court, Norah. That’s where you’ll find the Winter Starlight.”
“Right...but won’t it take a long time to get there?”
He let out a low chuckle. It was the first time I’d heard him make any kind of noise resembling laughter. “You’re forgetting that we can shift, Norah. Here. You’ll need to wear this.”
He passed me a cloak similar to his own, and I slung it around my shoulders. It was heavier than the Autumn cloak had been, and much, much softer. There were two deep pockets that were lined with something resembling fleece, and the hood was layered with the same,