stomach. Fae could be cruel, that much was true, but where, I asked myself, were there differences between our species? Humans, too, it seemed, could be bloodthirsty.
Shaking my head and dismissing that thought, I hurried to do my duty. Halfway into the main courtyard that all onlookers were led to, I separated myself and found an open alcove. Dipping into it, I hunted through the open corridors until I found a door leading inside.
The castle was well underway in preparation for the morning's activities. Deeper I sank, into the shadows, avoiding all detection as servants bustled about and guards patrolled.
Closing my eyes, I sought out a hint of Cress. It was there, in the recesses of my mind, a lingering effect of the dream magic I had used mere nights ago. A vibrant glow of her energy. I grabbed onto it and followed the feeling of it, letting the trail of her power lead me. It was faint, muddled, and faded. Lack of sleep and high levels of stress would do that to a spirit. I only hoped that that was all that she had suffered. I didn't want to consider what the King might have done to what he thought was a traitorous Fae in his Kingdom. He was executing her now, but he'd had her for a week. In that time...
No! I couldn't stop to think of it. I needed to focus. Stopping inside an empty stairwell, I rasped out a breath, shaking my head and shoving my concerns back. It was my duty to find her, here and now, and retrieve her before anything more happened.
When I reopened my eyes, however, I froze. Dark wisps of power drifted towards me, rolling over the stairs before me, and these were not mine. The curling tendrils snapped at my ankles, wrapping quickly and jerking until my whole body was yanked into the air and held suspended.
Years of training—years of war—were finally found to be good for some things. It took no thought at all for me to retaliate. A knife flew from my grasp, yanked from my boot, and sliced through the shadows. A shrieking wail of agony pierced my skull and I was abruptly dropped. I lifted my arm and captured the knife before it fell.
"That's no normal blade, Brother."
Violence seeped into my bones as I lifted my head and caught sight of the man responsible for my presence in the human King's castle today. He came around the corner slowly, grinning as he clapped his hands.
"Iron," I stated solemnly as I stood and met his amused gaze with a wrathful glare.
His eyebrows rose. "And yet you wield it with no pain."
Of course I did—I'd wrapped the Iron blade, one of the few things that could cut through a Fae's manifestation of magic, in a protective handle covering. The blade, itself, was free, and it was what I would use to gut him where he stood. I took a step forward and Tyr lifted his hand, stopping me with a wall of black fire that erupted between us. I debated my chances of stabbing my way through it, but even with an Iron blade, I would still receive wounds from such a large manifestation.
The walls and stairs, however, remained unscorched. "Tut. Tut. Dear Brother," Tyr said. "You come to me with a look of such hatred in your eyes."
"You've taken something that belongs to me," I snapped. "And we are no longer brothers!"
Tyr's hand touched his breastbone. "That hurts, you know," he said mournfully. "Especially when I went through all of this trouble to find you. After all, as soon as you stepped foot within the castle, I knew you were here. I'm surprised it took you this long to come for your Changeling."
"Where is she?" I demanded.
A sigh left his mouth. "Gods, look at you. So consumed with lust for the poor thing. She's rather scrawny, if I may say so, especially after her days in here. The guards didn't much care to feed the thing."
I didn't even think. I simply let the second blade in my hand fly. Tyr stumbled as it slammed into his shoulder and just as quickly, the fire he'd conjured dispersed as his concentration was broken. My booted feet flew up the short steps between us and I slammed my hand into his throat, gripping and lifting him until his back crashed against the stone wall. Little bits of rock and dust floated down as I crushed his throat in my grip