It’s not fire, I tell myself. It’s just like traveling through the sun, the same way I slip through the shadows.
I should know.
I walked through fire to get to Madelaine. Rys’s enchanted faerie fire, the blaze so consuming that it not only incinerated Nine’s touch from my skin, but ruined my poor human hands. I was a kid. Apart from my shade-walking talent, my fae side hadn’t kicked in yet and I couldn’t heal it the same way that Nine could when a stolen touch burned his flesh.
“It’s just like the night,” calls out Ash. I hear a sound, a quick warning for him to stay in place, followed by my dad’s voice ringing out again in open defiance of the soldier's orders. “You’re one of us. You’re my daughter. Seelie blood runs in your veins, Riley. It won’t touch you. It won’t touch you. And if it does, the shadows will protect you.”
; I wish I could believe that.
But that’s the thing. Like Oberon reminded me, I’m a halfling. Rys’s fire burned my hands because I’m not a full-blooded Seelie who can handle the day magic. My human half shields me from iron and being trapped by the truth, but what about this portal?
I take a breath, filtering any scents. Nothing. No charred flesh, scorched wood, burning hair… it’s not fire. It’s not.
Besides, I realize as my breathing slows, I once recklessly ran through the fire to try and save my sister. Would I do any less for my parents or my lover?
Okay.
Okay.
Let’s do this.
Before I step closer to the portal, I glance over my shoulder, searching out Ash and Callie while trying not to make eye contact with the posturing guards watching over my parents.
“I’ll be back,” I tell them.
Callie’s bright blue eyes dart to the point of the sword still at her throat, gauging the distance. She must decide that she’s safe enough because she lets out a soft breath and nods.
But Ash… Ash knows what exactly I’m walking into—and I don’t just mean the portal. He knows how dangerous Melisandre is. More importantly, he knows that, as a halfling, I can lie.
I might want to return.
Doesn’t mean that that’s likely to happen.
Considering the Shadow Prophecy is probably about to bite me in my ass, I doubt I’ll ever see either one of them again.
17
Just like I figured, it’s warm in the portal. I find it difficult to breathe, though that probably as to do more with my anxiety than anything else.
Shadow travel is made up of a chilly, high-speed wind that’s dark and triggers my motion sickness. The air in here is musty and steaming as we walk through the Seelie portal into Faerie. I can sense Nine right behind me and I can’t help but think that, if this is terrible for me, it’s gotta be torture for him.
Being dragged through a Dark Fae pocket nearly killed my Light Fae dad. How bad is the magic affecting Nine?
I need to do something for him. Help him… or—
I gasp, almost choking on the heat.
Ash’s words pop into my head again. One of the last things he said to me before I left my parents behind.
It won’t touch you. And if it does, the shadows will protect you.
Will they also protect Nine?
Only one way to find out.
I don’t need any darkness to do this. Nine is made up of shadows and, I guess I am, too. I pull them toward me, pouring as much strength and power into them as I can, creating some kind of buffer around Nine. Here’s hoping it’ll do something to keep the Light Fae magic from draining him.