Page 20 of Wrath of the Fae

Wolf watches me as he straps a third blade to his belt.

‘Are you certain you know where you need to go?’ he asks, his brow deeply furrowed as he effortlessly fiddles with this buckle or that dagger. ‘You are certain that it’s in the Lord’s manor?’

‘As certain as I can be,’ I reply, hoping to the Goddess I sound far more self-assured than I feel. ‘I’m going on faith as much as everyone else.’

He nods. That deep furrow creases even further.

‘If I’m wrong, it doesn’t matter,’ I state firmly. ‘We will take this city. It's ours from now on.’ I take the extra dagger Lucca offers me as he prepares for the fight. ‘We take this Kingdom.’ I straighten and look each of them in the eye. ‘Then we take the rest, andtheirheads will be the ones on the pikes.Theirfreedoms taken.’

They all nod and give an excited laugh at the idea.

Della’s sudden cry and whimper has us all turning to face her. I run and fall at her side, clamping down on her hand as soon as I reach her. She lets me in straight away.

Through her memories, lagging by a few seconds at most, I see what she sees through the eyes of her beloved Spek. She’s returning to us.

In the distance, there are winged First Kingdom soldiers. At least thirty of them. And they are heading straight for us.

I release Della and look up at the others.

‘What did you see?’ Lucca asks, his face going pale.

‘First Kingdom.’ I swallow dryly. ‘They’re coming.’

four

There’sawhoosh,andbefore anyone can react, an arrow has landed in Wolf’s left shoulder. He simply stares at it before pulling it free with barely a tut as he turns to face the tree line. With incredible strength, he throws back his hand and tosses the same arrow into the distance. A cry of pain follows a thud as whoever he strikes falls to the floor.

‘Valker!’ Wolf calls firmly before gesturing to where the arrow came from.

Ten warriors run to investigate. He then signals a winged woman soaring overhead with a sharp whistle and directs her to follow.

A few minutes pass before they return, panting and bloody.

‘A group of twenty or so,’ reports one. ‘We killed them.’

The ground trembles as the winged woman lands before us.

‘There are more a few miles out. Hundred or so on the ground. All armed and organised. They have wings in the air too. They’ll be here within the hour.’

‘We need to get inside the Thirteenth Kingdom,’ I tell them. ‘We need to get everyone as close to the manor as possible. They can’t stay out here alone whilst we figure it all out in there. They’ll be slaughtered or captured.’ I gesture to those huddled together. ‘We all have to go in together. And we have to go now!’

Wolf agrees and barks orders at his warriors.

I tell everyone to get to their feet. Some grab something to defend themselves as those with powers prepare to use them.

As everyone starts to move, Lucca grabs my hand and pulls me aside.

‘They’re looking for me,’ he says. ‘I can hear them. They’re here because of me. I can lead them away. Give you guys more time.’

‘They’re after you because you are the one who brought us all together. You are the one who began this. You’re the hope they are desperate to snub out. So no. You will not go. You will lead these people to safety, Lucca.’

He struggles with the choice as he looks into the woods.

‘You’re not going off on your own, Lucca!’ Tessa snaps. ‘Don’t be an idiot.’

‘I’ll draw them away,’ he tries.

Tessa shakes her head. ‘They’ll still come after the rest of us. Just get her where she needs to go so we can finally have some safety.’ She shoves him at me before barking at the others to get their things and prepare to move.

---