Thirty-Four

EVE

I'd thought Feyanna a dumb, little princess right until yesterday when she'd taken care of the animal bones like a seasoned hunter in the woods. Then I was suspicious. After she fucked up and spoke in my language, the wariness bloomed into full-blood paranoia.

Had she done so on purpose, tired of her little game? It was impossible to know.

And the people—fae, humans, and every step in between … Feyanna had brought us here on purpose. This was most definitely a trap, wasn't it?

That's your paranoia. Not everyone is out to deceive you.

Calten was among the crowd, giving me a small smile of encouragement through his tears.

A small sound that was half sob, half laugh escaped me as Calten put his other arm around Dally, the grumpy old man with the cart who'd taken us into town.

I could have cried in relief. I didn't even know the man, but seeing his squashed, cranky face lifted my spirits and gave me strength. That day in the market seemed like a lifetime ago.

The deeper Feyanna led us into the depths of the mountain, the worse Ellis got. His hands trembled as if fighting the urge to cover his head. The figures kept materializing out of the darkness toward us, pressing in closer and closer. I fought the urge to lash out, to scream at them and force them to back away and give Ellis room to breathe.

I kept a firm grip on his hand, and it seemed to help.

"Forgive them. They've been restless. They're eager for a new life." Her voice sounded different. It was now more self-assured and pitched a little deeper.

I paused, my boots scraping on the rough stone under my feet. Ellis jerked to a stop next to me, though I didn't give him much of a choice with the iron grip I kept on his hand. I couldn't take all these people back home with me.

I turned around and pulled Ellis behind me, only to run into the point of a spear directly behind us. "We need to get out of here."

A lantern lit, and Alihandro stepped forward, grinning at me.

Relief that he was all right warred with my annoyance at seeing that familiar smirk. I resisted the urge to take a step back. There were more important issues at hand.

"You aren't surprised the barrier is open," I accused him. "You knew. These people … You're … ready. You knew it would happen."

Alihandro put a hand behind his head, looking anywhere but directly at me. "Everyone knows who you are and what you represent. We chose you as a symbol—the princess. Our queen. You helped us rally the cause, and change things! Everyone cast out from Fennis's kingdom has gathered, waiting for their new queen. You can't blame me when everyone in the hierarchy knew what your presence meant—even the head rebel admitted you were the key."

"And what does Eve's presence mean exactly?" Ellis grit out.

Alihandro rolled his eyes as if we were the ones testing his patience instead of the other way around.

"The barrier is open as long as there is something—or someone—to bridge the two worlds. It needs a human soul without fae taint existing on the other side. It was part of the failsafe magick built in when we first forged the bridge to your world, as a treaty and sign of friendship between our two races despite the malicious intentions of why it was created to begin with. Magick demands balance, after all."

"Magick always knows the balance," Ellis said unconsciously as if it were some deep tenet recited to him since youth.

Except I knew it hadn't. None of the half-fae from our world had known anything about magick growing up.

"But I am tainted. You did this," I insisted.

I pointed at the fae mark Alihandro gave me.

"It's protective magick," Alihandro insisted. "I don't expect a human to recognize the difference."

"You would call a slave mark protective magick," I spit back at him.

Alihandro stepped toward me. "You can feel it coursing through your veins. There has to be a way to ensure there is a balance. You know the magick wouldn't hurt you. I had to say things to keep suspicions off me at the time."

"Explain it further," I prodded.

"Ask the head rebel," he shot back.

The head rebel was here? Wait, surely he didn't mean—

I didn't want to think about it because the thought that had popped into my head only minutes ago couldn't possibly be true. That would mean admitting I was a fucking idiot.

"I'll take it from here, Alihandro." She stepped forward between me and Alihandro, grinning like a cat who'd caught a particularly juicy rat. Gone was the facade of the quiet, nervous girl who only spoke the fae language.

"Feyanna," Ellis grit out.

"Yes," Feyanna articulated, her accent perfect in my language. "I am the head rebel."