Page 50 of A Legacy of Storms and Starlight

Holt looked around the room from face to face as he spoke, his gaze meeting hers for a moment. He didn’t owe her an explanation, and she’d been naïve to think he would trust her so quickly. Holt didn’t seem like the type to let humans die, but what did she know? He’d said the Black Veil was working with the uprising willingly, but even Saphi seemed to have her reservations about the working relationship. Still, she couldn’t hide the disappointment she felt that he hadn’t told her who he was.

“Caterers, festival security, tailors. Scouts over the next few days have their work cut out for them if we’re going to cover every part of the festival,” Holt added.

Taking down the king wasn’t something she’d ever imagined she’d be involved with. It was the kind of thing she’d only ever read about in Kara’s books. And maybe before Jesper had died, Zylah might have felt differently about taking a life.Another life.But Arnir was a tyrant, and the world would be a better place without him in it. She pushed aside the memory of him in the prison, sneering at her through the bars and talking to her as if she were nothing more than a vessel for his son’s enjoyment.

The worldwasa better place without Jesper in it, and it would be a better place as soon as Arnir could follow suit. Movement amongst the crowd pulled Zylah from her thoughts.

“Rose!” Saphi called out, just as Rose staggered forwards and fell to her knees. “What is it? What did you see?”

Raif was beside his sister, pulling her up to her feet.

“What did you see?” Saphi repeated.

Rose’s eyes were glazed, her skin clammy and pallid. “An attack,” she breathed. “They have Mala.”

Someone cried out from the crowd, but the faerie with the leathery wings stepped forwards. “I’ll find her.” More stepped up beside him, hands resting on weapons.

“All of you will stay where you are.” Holt’s words cut across the panicked voices, the nervous chatter of the faeries. “They’ll be trying to draw us out. All of you are to remain here.”

Raif took a step towards him. “You can’t keep going out there alone for us.”

“I’ll go,” Zylah cut in. “Kopi will lead me right to her. He’ll already be waiting for me outside.” She looked from Raif to Holt as she spoke. The faeries might not accept her for who she was, but that didn’t mean she’d stand by and let one of them die.

“Liss,” Raif began, reaching out to her, but Zylah shrugged him off.

Holt’s mouth was a tight line, but then he said, “The three of us go together. The rest of you, you have your orders. Remain here, anddo notgo looking for Mala. There will be no bringing Arnir down if there are none of us left to do it.”

That twisting feeling had returned, threatening to slice Zylah’s inside to ribbons.

“Three of them took her back across the river… there are more.” Rose’s words were strained, and she clung to Saphi as she spoke.

“How many?” Raif asked.

Rose shook her head, her eyes still glazed and distant. “Too many to count.”

“Let me go with you.” It was the faerie from before, with the leathery wings and scales across patches of skin.

“There isn’t time to argue,” Rose said through gritted teeth.

“Very well, Asha,” Holt said. “You’re with us.”

Asha’s wings seemed to shudder in anticipation as they made their way out of the hall.

“Don’t you want to pick up some weapons?” Asha asked, glancing between Holt and Raif as the faeries stepped aside for them to pass.

Raif shot him one of his insufferable grins. “Oh, you’re in for a show, my friend.”

Zylah pushed open the door to the alley, heart in her mouth, and waited for Kopi’s call. They’d barely made it a few steps into the darkness when the owl called out to them, and the four of them broke into a run.

Chapter Twenty

All traces of Fae disappeared the moment they stepped out into the alley. Raif and Holt’s ears, Asha’s wings—even his skin became a smooth brown, no hint of the patches of scales that had been there moments before.

Zylah followed Kopi down a narrow passage, empty save for a few crates and barrels and a handful of scurrying rats. A hooded figure, just like the one that had broken into her room, and the two that had attacked her and Raif, jumped down into the passage before her—just as Kopi let out a cry in warning. Zylah skidded to a stop. She didn’t have a chance to draw in a breath before Holt appeared and swung a right hook so hard the assailant staggered back into a flaking wall.

She looked up for Kopi; there was no use wasting time watching Holt, just as a roar cut through the night. She spun around, only to find Raif and Asha fighting off two more of the hooded figures at the other end of the passage.

All Zylah could think of was those delicate faerie wings and the look on Rose’s face when she’d seen Mala in her vision. Dread danced down Zylah’s spine and settled in her stomach. Barely moments had passed since they’d entered the passage, but those were moments Mala didn’t have. She looked up at Kopi, patiently waiting on the roof above and made her decision.

---