The question stood, was it the bloody fae queen moving pieces around her board here?
I thought of the one queen we’d faced before, and how deep her desperation ran. How twisted her motives and methods became. As Sapphire’s graceful body arced over a stone bridge and swept back down—white coat gleaming even in this shadowed network of tunnel—one thing was blatantly obvious. We would need to be prepared for all manners of brutality from the queen of bloodshed.
I swore it internally, tightening my thighs around the sphinx as she ducked beneath the bridge. I was about to warn Lancaster that we’d do whatever it took, would show no mercy for fae on warrior land, when a strangled whinny pierced the air.
“Aoiflyn’s tits!” Lancaster swore.
And Sapphire was careening toward the floor, an arrow through her wing.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Ophelia
Sapphire was falling,crimson streaking the air from her wing, and my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach.
“They fucking shot her!” I yelled, voice tearing through the wind. My hand locked around Tolek’s wrist at my waist as we careened toward the rocky floor.
Sapphire’s pain shot through my body like it was my own, her agonized cry ripping out a piece of my spirit. The gap flooded with rage.
Tolek shouted back, “Who?”
I didn’t need to answer. We both knew who.
Tolek’s arms tightened around me as the ground loomed closer.
“Catch yourself, girl!” I yelled to my horse. And, not wanting her to worry about saving us in the landing, Tolek and I dove as Sapphire’s hooves clattered against stone. We rolled across rock, my skin scraping and stinging, but that didn’t matter. In the mountains, a surface level wound would heal in minutes.
I jumped up, Tolek covering my back and scanning the ceiling-less cavern as I raced toward my pegasus, tossing an orbof Angellight in the air to see by. In its golden glow, Zanox, Dynaxtar, and the sphinx landed with echoing booms.
One of Sapphire’s wings draped across the ground, her beautiful feathers stained a deadly red, and an onyx arrow pierced the tip.
Looking into her eye I whispered, “I’m going to fix it, Sapphire. I promise. I’m going to make it feel better. But it might hurt for a moment first.”
She blinked, not even making a sound, like she understood what I meant.
“Need help?” Rina asked, appearing at my side, her wrist wrapped and cradled against her chest. The rest of the group surrounded us, weapons drawn and waiting for the attackers to expose themselves.
“Keep her calm,” I said. My heart pounded against my bones, hands threatening to shake, but with precise, quick movements, I tugged the arrow free and sent a burst of healing Angellight into Sapphire’s wing. She jerked, but Rina held her face, whispering soothing sounds.
The gold tunneled into my pegasus even faster than it had Mora. Closing my eyes, I felt down into that source and tugged each of the seven threads, spinning a web through Sapphire’s damaged wing. It stitched back together beneath my fingers, each slowed drop of blood siphoning off my panic.
“I apologize for that,” a clear, commanding voice rang out. “But we could not let you go any further.”
I whirled, drawing my sword, and met the shrewd, remorseless eyes of the fae queen, her form emerging from the rocky cavern wall as her glamour slowly peeled away.
“Ritalia,” I growled. Stepping in front of the others, my panic solidified into iron fury. “A simple hello would have done fine.”
She materialized entirely, her full gold gown out of place, the rubies of her rose diadem gleaming as red as Sapphire’s blood inthe shimmering Angellight. Her locks were coiled atop her head, her hands were folded primly in front of her. No amount of fae magic could convince me she fired that shot herself.
And as I watched the final trickles of her glamour fall, I thought of how Brystin had mentioned herfacadeand realized how she’d pulled this off.
“Is it truly you this time?” I spat. Tolek and Cypherion flanked me, the latter scanning the cavern and shifting in front of Vale.
“Clever warrior queen,” Ritalia cooed. “You finally realized your mistake.”
I scoffed. “Too late, it appears. I will be sure to include no glamours in my next bargain.” With Starfire, I gestured to Mora. “It was her wasn’t it? That day we made the bargain, Mora glamoured another fae of your court to look like you and strike the deal with me. And when Cypherion arrived, in all of our panic, you took her place to tell us to leave immediately.”
Brystin’s warning against trusting based onwhat we seeechoed through my memory.
