Dmitri closes Taryn in, then leans down in the open window.

“D, get in the fucking truck, man, we gotta go.”

“You both will go on ahead. I will meet you at the safe house in Vegas.”

“That’s not the plan,” I argue.

“It has been my plan,” he says, his tone menacing. “I will spare the general as agreed and free any innocents. But the rest will not live to see the sunrise.”

“Then I’m staying, too.” Taryn starts to unbuckle her seatbelt. “I’m not letting you fight them alone.”

Dmitri stays her hand. “You are not at full-strength, moy sever, and I just got you back. I cannot let you risk your life in this condition. Do not ask this of me.”

I can tell she wants to argue, but something silent passes between them, and she gives him a reluctant nod. “Hurry up, then. Soak the desert with their blood, then get your pasty ass back in one piece. Ponyal’?”

“Understood.” Then he presses a tender kiss to the top of his sister’s head and levels a deadly look at me. “Keep her safe, comrade.”

“You know I will.”

He’s gone in the next second, using his preternatural speed to virtually vanish in the blink of an eye. I put the vehicle in gear and peel out onto the dirt road to head down the mountain.

Taryn keeps her gaze glued to the side mirror. “I hate leaving him to fight that entire horde of Light Fae all by himself.”

“You know as well as I do that your brother can handle himself.”

“I know that,” she says. Reclining the seat, she settles back with clasped hands over her middle and closes her eyes as though relaxing in a spa. “I’m just pissed I won’t get the chance to gut any of those fuckers myself.”

FOURFINNIAN

During the ride, I lose count of how many times my eyes stray to her sleeping in the seat next to me or my fingers rub the pendant of her Armas still hanging safely beneath my shirt. I’ve never met her in person, was never even in the same room as her before tonight. And yet, I feel this indescribable connection to her. Sometimes I believe in it. Sometimes I think it’s all in my head. But being near her now without the distraction of trying to escape Superstition Mountain, it’s hard to ignore this strange pull I feel.

“Or maybe you’re just losing it,” I mumble to myself.

Glancing up at the moon, I wonder if Rhiannon, the moon goddess and deity of the Night Court, is watching all this unfold or if she’s turned a blind eye to what’s been going on with her children this past year.

The Dark Fae were dealt a shit hand when they were exiled over four hundred years ago along with the Lights thanks to a feud between the kings that pissed off the One True Queen. Not only were both courts banished from Faerie forever, but the OTQ heaped on several curses for good measure. We were stripped of our wings and court-born magic, and our lifespans—which back in Faerie would have been millennia—last only around five hundred years.

Then there’s the blood curse that affects the royal families which states that if either king takes a mate in marriage, they must never be “more than a stone’s throw” from each other or the king will die. That one was inspired by the reason for the feud between our courts, which was said to be an affair between Moira Verran, my grandmother the Dark Queen, and Cormac Edevane, Talek’s grandfather the Light King.

Because of the blood curse, the kings of our courts could no longer take wives or mates; it was too dangerous. Instead, they chose a consort—a highborn female who could give them heirs while living separately to avoid strong feelings and longing for a situation they couldn’t have.

Although in the last year, the Night Court has had two queens due to incredibly special circumstances. Caiden and Bryn ended up married in a cliché drunken night in Vegas scenario—which activated the blood curse and almost killed my oldest brother several times—making her queen for a very brief period before Caiden abdicated the throne to avoid further attacks on his mate’s life in order to take him out.

Then my other brother, Tiernan, known as the Rebel King, ascended and shook things up when he took Fiona Jewel as his wife. Though she was raised as fae, she’s actually human, so their marriage doesn’t activate the blood curse, and that’s how we ended up with a human queen.

Both of my brothers are sappy fuckers in love, and I couldn’t be happier for them. I’m close with both of their mates, as they’re amazing females in their own rights and fun as hell to hang out with. Except Bryn right now whenever she hasn’t eaten in a while. She’s eight months pregnant and the girl gets hangry. We’ve all started carrying snacks on us to throw at her in case of emergency.

I wonder when the last time Taryn was given food. They couldn’t have been giving her three squares a day with how gaunt she is. Getting her fed will be my first order of business when we got to the place I’ve kept secret for over a decade.

My brothers and I are equal partners in our company, Onyx Inc, which is what owns ninety-five percent of the establishments in the city. But twelve years ago, I got word that one of the few hotels we didn’t already own was going up for sale, and something told me I should buy it without putting it under the Onyx Inc umbrella. I created a business that I could buy it under that wouldn’t have my name directly attached. I had every intention of telling my brothers about it, but every time I tried, I’d get a gut feeling to keep it to myself.

The hotel is the same as it always has been, with one major difference. After Edevane tried to kill Caiden last year, I gutted the top floor and made it into a gigantic safe house that would fit all three of us if shit ever went down and we needed to go somewhere that no one knew about.

Generally, our policy as Dark Fae was to keep to ourselves where other supernatural races were concerned. We’re the foreigners here, after all. My father’s theory was that if we solely focused on our own interests and kept them inside Vegas, we would be left alone, and he was right. We made sure we knew what the other factions were doing, but we stayed out of their business, and they stayed out of ours. And the humans were never a problem because they never knew we existed.

That was the naïve reality I lived with my entire life, until Edevane broke the peace treaty. Within months of each other he’d attempted to kill Caiden and leaked anti-fae propaganda to local humans in extremist groups who began boldly slaughtering our people in broad daylight.

It felt like I’d lived my entire life in a glass bubble, then Edevane came along with a hammer and shattered my whole fucking world.

That’s when I decided to build us a safe house of sorts. Somewhere my family could go if we ever needed a place to hide out. I stocked it with non-perishables a while ago, but I made a call to Helen, the woman I hired as a part-time housekeeper, and had the fridge stocked with a variety of foods since I don’t know what Taryn likes. I also told her Taryn’s size and asked that she do some light clothes shopping for her, at least enough to get her through the week.

When I pull into my reserved parking spot, I cut the engine and take a second to appreciate the way she looks sleeping peacefully. I hate to wake her up so soon, knowing she could probably use a week straight of sleep, but she’ll rest better in a big bed after a hot shower.

“Taryn, we’re here,” I say softly.

It only takes a second for her to wake up fully. She blinks her lavender eyes up at me like she’s trying to place me and where she is.

“Hi,” I say, offering a smile. “Remember me?”

“Who are you supposed to be again?” she says wryly.

Her voice is smoky and smooth, like my favorite whiskey. I now have an affinity for both. “Just your friendly neighborhood hero.”

She snorts at that and straightens her legs to leverage herself up but pulls them back, hissing in pain.

“What’s wrong?”

Taryn rests her right ankle on the opposite knee to examine the bottom of her foot. A nasty cut slices across the arch. “Damn it,” she winces. “Must have cut it on something and didn’t notice with all the adrenaline and shock. I’m still too weak for it to heal.”

“You’ll get your strength back soon, but let’s patch you up in the meantime.” I grab the large black duffel bag that’s always in the back seat and open it up on my lap. I bypass the dozen or so coiled sections of different colored rope for the first aid kit, then gather the supplies I need before tossing the duffel in the back again. “Sit sideways and prop your foot on the arm console here.”

She visibly bristles. “I can do it. I’m weak, not helpless.”

I hold her gaze. “I know. But it’ll be easier for me do it, so why not let me take care of it?”

The tension in her shoulders melts as she turns and sags back against the door, propping her foot on the console. I don’t take her reluctance personally. She’s made it more than clear that she doesn’t entirely trust me, despite watching her brother make his oath, so even a capitulation as small as this is a win.

I can feel her gaze on me as I set to work cleaning the cut with squares of gauze and my bottle of water. Most people would feel the need to fill the silence—Tiernan practically breaks out in hives if there’s even a pause in conversation—but I find comfort in the silence. I learned a lot when I was younger by being quiet and observing. And sometimes it gets the other person to talk, even if they don’t necessarily want to. It’s a strategy often used in interrogations.

Not that I’m intentionally doing that now, but if the silence encourages Taryn to open up, I won’t be mad about it.

“Were you born on this side of the veil?” she finally asks.

“I was. I’ve never seen anyone from the Elemental Courts before. Not in real life, anyway. I’ve seen tons of paintings and sketches, but you never know how accurate they are. Your eyes, for example.”

“What about them?” she asks warily.

I pause in my task to meet her gaze and lose myself in the very things she’s wondering about.