its head and petted it.
I nearly screamed when it abruptly moved in and pawed at my foot with one of its two front paws—which were a gray color.
“Good boy,” I stupidly offered, but it leaned into me with the delight of a dog getting pets.
The gloom screamed again, which made me jump and kicked my heart up another notch. But I offered my hand out again.
The gloom sniffed it like a house cat might, then rubbed its cheek against my palm.
The shade’s fur was thick and full—if not a little greasy feeling. The gloom’s fur was sleek but strangely gritty feeling.
I relaxed as the gloom started purring, a deep, throbbing noise that came from its chest and rattled my bones as it leaned into me.
I finally dared to look away from it, and glanced at the other glooms and shades lingering with my night mares.
I did my best to offer them a smile, though for a moment I could have sworn I saw movement far behind the night mares, and a glimpse of silver hair and dark eyes.
Is that Rigel? What’s he doing here?
Twilight turned around to see where I was looking, and the gleam of silver was gone.
If it was Rigel, he’d moved on.
I glanced around the courtyard, but none of the animals seemed upset. I turned a little and called back to Indigo. “We’re good.”
“Are you sure?”
I glanced from the shade—which was still wagging its tail—to the gloom rubbing its face on my pants. “Yeah. It’s fine.”
Indigo reluctantly climbed down from the bench and slowly crossed the courtyard, watching the animals rub against me. “I will say that for all your brashness in dealing with fae, you are excellent with animals.”
“Or maybe the animals have always wanted to be like this, the fae have just been ignoring them.”
“No, I don’t really think that’s it.” Indigo stared at the gloom’s paws and gigantic claws.
I grinned, but let it slip from my face and sighed. “I should get back to ward practice—for offensive and defensive purposes.”
Indigo squinted at me. “Wards can only be used for defensive purposes.”
“Maybe—I bet there’s a creative way you can use it to smash someone.” I winked, then froze when I heard a rumbling noise.
My fingers were buried in the gloom’s fur, so I felt the cat tense up.
“What’s that?” I whispered.
Indigo grabbed my arm—this time her eyes swam with despair. “That’s the ward surrounding the Night Court. It’s failing!”
Chapter Seventeen
Leila
“What?” I wildly turned in a circle, but we weren’t anywhere near the ward that marked off the border.
“The fae realm is shrinking—all the Courts are trying to deal with it. But most monarchs can subsidize the ward’s power and lessen the shrinking effect. Since we haven’t had a ruler in months, the Night Court has been rapidly shrinking.”
I started to swear, but cut myself off—there wasn’t time for that. “What can I do?”
Indigo shook her head. “You can try to add your power to the ward, but—wait—you haven’t been trained for it!”
I ignored the warning and wriggled my way onto Eclipse’s back. “I have to try. Eclipse, let’s go!”
At my urging, the mare swiveled in a tight turn, then lunged into a canter.
I was riding bareback—which was fun, but not in the night and while racing through a dangerous fae realm—and bridle-less—which I had never done before.
Go me, getting all of these “fun” new experiences.
Eclipse streaked through the realm. Everything was a dark blur, and my eyes teared up.
I clung to her back, terrified that if I fell off I’d seriously hurt myself. We were moving that fast.
I could hear the calls of the other night mares—they must have followed us. Based on the occasional awful scream, it seemed the glooms, and probably the shades, were coming along as well.
But above all of that—even above the wind streaming past my ears—was the terrible rumbling of the failing ward.
Eclipse had worked up a sweat by the time we reached the ward—even though it was a lot cooler here in the Night Realm. I wasn’t sure how long we’d run, but my fingers ached from gripping her mane, and my legs were starting to cramp from squeezing her sides when she slowed to a trot and then a walk.
I impatiently rubbed my eyes, trying to clear them.
We stood in a meadow, which was divided in half. The half I stood on was clear and glittered with moonlight, although the grass was mostly weeds and looked pretty shriveled.
The sliced off half was a hazy black. The grass had