to hurt you, Azrael. But I need you.”
“Do tell.”
“Faer has aligned with the Blood Fae, as his father did before him. He plans to use the Blood Fae to stamp out the surviving remnants of the rebellion in all four kingdoms.”
My blood ran cold at the thought. The Blood Fae made the stringers look like kittens. I could imagine them rampaging through the Fall court, serving Faer.
Duncan and I had carefully built networks of spies and rebels through the courts; all those Fae who had put their trust in us could find themselves ripped apart while they were still alive. The Blood Fae liked to play with their food before they drank.
“What exactly do I have to do with that?”
“The Blood Fae are open to a new deal.”
And I was the deal. Why? “Tiron didn’t tell you to do this.”
“No,” she admitted. “He’s a sentimental boy.”
Genuine pity flashed across her face, even though I was the one holding the blade to her throat. “I’m sorry, Azrael. I wish there was another way.”
Warning curled through my gut. She thought she had the upper hand.
I scrambled for the back. I knew she was coming after me, even though she was weaponless. I leapt from the sled.
I landed in a bed of shimmering white snow, my knees buckling. The expanse of bright, shining white blinded me. There was nowhere to run, but I had to try. My feet slipped in the snow.
Suddenly something loomed out of the snow at me. A snow bear. I frantically ducked to one side, rolling under its paws, and came up on my feet again. I aimed a blast of wind at it, flinging snow in its face, in hopes of distracting it from my scent. Then I saw a troll looming out of the snow, reaching for me with an enormous hand. I slid beneath the arm and kept running.
I didn’t make it far before I was knocked down from behind. The world went black.
Chapter Eight
Alisa
I woke up later and turned over expecting to see Duncan. Morning light seeped into the cabin, illuminating Raile’s handsome face beneath tousled hair.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he said, without looking up from the book he was reading. He sat in the chair beside the bed as if it were a throne, looking regal as he paged through the book in his lap; he was the opposite of Duncan, who’d had his big body slouched in the chair and his feet on the side of my bed.
I sat up and rubbed my hand across my face. Right, the guys had intended to switch off watching me. “How’s Tiron?”
“Alive,” he said. “Which I think is pretty good for him, right now.”
These males were all barbarians. I wasn’t sure I had a lifetime of domestic bliss to look forward to with my four husbands, that was for sure. “How long until we make landfall?”
“An hour.”
I threw aside the covers, struggling to sit up.
Raile looked me over. “You look good wearing my shirt.”
“You’d look good wearing a bloody nose.”
Raile didn’t look concerned by my threat. “Please. The ship’s doctor had enough of a time with Tiron yesterday.”
“I worry about him and Duncan.” The two of them were so close. I knew Raile was probably a terrible person to hear my worries, but I couldn’t resist.
“So do I.”
That surprised me, and I stared at him for a few long seconds. “Why?”
Raile leaned back, crossing one leg over the other with his usual easy elegance. “Do you really think I’m a monster, Alisa?”
The question surprised me. He asked it easily enough, as if the answer didn’t matter to him, but his gaze held mine.
“I don’t know what to make of you, Raile,” I admitted. “You always have a game, an end state in mind and a play you’re running to reach it.”
“I think I’m offended,” he countered. His lips quirked at the corner before he corrected, “I always have a dozen plays I’m running to ensure I get what I want.”
“That makes it hard to believe you care what happens to Azrael or Duncan or Tiron,” I said flatly.
His gaze met mine openly. “I don’t care. For myself.”
Something about that frank admission raised a sudden lightness in my chest, something I found unsettling, and I wet my lips as I studied him.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows lightly on his thighs. His cuffs were pushed up, revealing the muscle in his lean forearms. “I want you, Alisa. I’d rather have you all to myself. But thanks to