“Feckin’ hell,” Ruairi whispered. “How are there so many?”
I was thinking the same thing. Hundreds of guards fanned out behind the Queen, an impressive show of force against any army, let alone one made up of untrained men using borrowed weapons, only a quarter of whom had actual fighting experience. And next to the Queen stood the pooka I’d freed, along with others I recognized from that day in the dungeon.
My throat constricted.
After all she’d done, how could they choose her side in this fight? The guards had no choice, but those men did. And they’d chosen hate.
Tadhg adjusted his grip on his sword, his jaw flexing beneath the layer of dark stubble. “We knew the odds wouldn’t be in our favor.”
Not in our favor? It was almost as if the curse had returned, turning the earth black. Only these weren’t blades of grass. These were shadow guards, the Queen’s countless victims forced to serve in her army against their will.
These odds were impossible.Doomed. That’s what we were.
Rían’s hand flexed on the hilt of his gleaming sword. “She won’t be able to control them all individually, that would drain too much magic. They should attack and move as one.”
Should?They were basing their whole battle strategy off ofshould?
We’d had no time to prepare. At least twenty of the people who had agreed to fight with us had gone home for lunch.
We’d planned to send the children away. To let Eava and Millie take Hagan to Eava’s home near the coast. But with the Queen blocking the only exit, Tearmann’s heir was as trapped as the rest of us.
“Remember to aim for the head,” Rían added.
Tadhg nodded.
Had I really given out over wanting to save the guards? This was a mistake. We shouldn’t be here. When I’d stabbed Fiadh, it had been—not a fair fight, but at least the odds hadn’t beenthisbad.
Tadhg took my fingers in his and raised my knuckles to his soft lips. “I love you, Keelynn.”
I held tighter, loath to let him go. “Don’t say it like that. This isn’t goodbye forever. Tonight, we’ll be gorging on cake, celebrating our victory.”
His answering smile didn’t quite reach his dull eyes.
My sister’s glamour never faltered as she stared through the wards to where the Queen waited. “That vile witch needs to die,” she said under her breath.
The Queen’s voice rang with authority, echoing across the glen. “For centuries, I have protected you, and this is how you repay me?” She held something aloft. The head of a man with black eyes and long, lanky hair the color of seaweed. Pointed teeth protruded from his gaping mouth, twisted in an eternal scream.
“Is that the merrow king?” Ruairi asked under his breath.
Tadhg and Rían both nodded.
Blackness spread from beneath the Queen’s feathered skirts, slowly devouring the earth, her curse now truly returning with a vengeance to reclaim our land.
The people at our back shifted on their feet, their nervousness matching my own.
The head dropped to the ground and rolled down the hill, disappearing between the guards. “You’re lucky I am in a more forgiving mood this afternoon,” she said.
Rían snorted. “I can taste her lies from here.”
“Because you have yet to betray me, I will give you one chance to lay down your weapons and abandon this foolish pursuit. The humans you’re harboring have entered Tearmann without my permission. The law says their lives are forfeit. If you choose to raise a hand against me, this battle will be your last.”
Although the men and women who had joined us seemed to shrink back, not one person left.
We had one thing the Queen’s army of shadow guards didn’t: hearts. And one man battling for the people and land he loved was worth a hundred heartless minions.
“Grant all humans safe passage across the Forest, and we will let you leave this field alive,” Tadhg shouted back.
The Queen’s answering smile sent chills down my spine. “After the humans have slaughtered your people for centuries, you want me to allow more murderers into your midst?”