Page 8 of Castle of Nevers and Nightmares

Tinger scampers down to the gully bed and circles the dolls. He drags them out from beneath the cage and takes their place.

My brows lift. “You want to be the bait?”

He glances at me, and I swear he nods before looking at the forest’s darkness. Suddenly, the danger is real—an ache blooms in my chest.

“I don’t think Peaches will like me putting you in danger like this.”

She rescued him from The Unseelie High Queen Maebh—the one I tried to murder even though we’ve never met.

It’s one thing for me to drag Tinger around when he’s old, but deliberately putting him in harm’s way isn’t right. A defiant growl and a flash of fangs punctuate the next look he gives me. I don’t see an old, frail creature anymore, but one who still knows what he wants.

“Okay,” I agree. “People keep telling us what we’re not capable of. So, if you want to sit there as bait, be my guest. We have another fifteen minutes, then we’ll?—”

The alarm stone vibrates. The top right corner heats, and I snap my gaze northeast. I steady my grip on my sword’s hilt and search the ferns in that direction. Was that a frond twitching?

The stone buzzes again, but this time, the lower corner heats. I whip around and glimpse the red curly hair of a four-year-old between the green. Holly and Hazel pounce from the darkness a second later and flash their wolfish fangs.

“Found you!” Hazel snarls.

My heart leaps. “What are you doing here?”

They should be sleeping.

“Tinger!” Holly squeals, noting the fluff ball sitting beneath the cage. She makes grabby hands and bolts down, her red hair flying behind her like a flag.

The stone in my palm vibrates again. That’s odd. The twins are inside the proximity barrier, so how is the alarm still sounding? A sizzle erupts somewhere in the trees. My blood runs cold. We’re not alone.

“Get up the tree,” I shout, dropping the stone and sword. Holly cries when I hoist her by the arm. She’s much heavier than I remember and in no way clever enough to climb the nearest oak for safety. I desperately search for another haven and land on the cage. It’s not the best, but it will hold the girls while I dispatch the Well Hound circling the gully.

Holly wails when I lift her on top of the swinging cage, but Hazel’s eyes are full of mischief and excitement. She scrambles to the edge and looks down. “We hunting?”

“No,” I gasp. “I’mhunting. You’re holding onto the bars and not coming down, understood? Whatever you do, promise me you won’t shift. Please?”

They must scent my fear and nod. I reach down to lift Tinger next, but he gnashes his teeth. Message received.

A whiff of sulfuric acid gives me a moment of regret, and then a Well Hound stalks from the shadows. Its head comes up to my ribs—no way my dumb cage would have contained it. Blistered skin shines through patches of matted black fur. Blue, glowing acid drips from its eyes and maw as it targets my sisters, lifting its nose to sniff. It gives me an assessing look, dismisses me and surges for the cage.

A hoarse battle cry rips from my throat as I run to intercept, sweeping up my sword.Look here! Not them.Dropping to a knee, I slide beneath the beast as it soars upward, over my head, toward the cage. I raise my sword, intending to disembowel, buta drop of acid hits my cheek. I flinch, and my sword glances off a rib.

But it’s enough to let the monster know I’m the problem, not the twins. It twists as it lands and attacks before I can formulate a plan.

“Your plan is your muscle memory.”Rory’s voice cuts deep from my past.

Except I haven’t practiced in a while. I’ve been lazy. My muscles barely remember how to work. The hound’s paws hit my chest, and we soar backward—my spine jars against the damp earth and rotten leaves. The sword is knocked from my hand. More acid flicks from its eyes, splashing my face, searing pain into my body. I wrap my hands around its neck, holding the immense weight back with shuddering arms.I’m too weak.A moment of panic turns my bones to ice. Bleak thoughts try to push through.

Dagger. Sword. Grab something.My gaze flicks to the side. A haunting howl cuts through the air, diverting the Well Hound’s attention. I retrieve my boot-strapped dagger and plunge it into the mangey beast’s heart. A muffled gurgling sound spills from its throat and then fire explodes over my hand when it bleeds acid. Gasping, I drop the dagger and try to shove the body away, but I’m too clumsy with a blistering hand. Burning leather at my chest means the acid has reached the armor beneath my shirt. I can’t let it get further. A surge of adrenaline allows me to heave the body off. It scampers to the side, panting, looking at me with disbelief.

I scramble to retrieve my sword just as something large and white crashes into the gully. Knowing I can only face one target at a time, I choose the hound to finish off but find it collapsed on its side.

Quickly twisting back to face the newer threat, I lower my sword and exhale as his calming scent hits me. Dad. He sniffsand snarls at what he’s assessed but then paces to the cage’s base. Holly clings to the rope. Hazel’s eyes flare wide, like she’s having the time of her life.

“Daddy!” she squeals, tilting the cage in her haste to get down. “We hunting!”

The air shimmers around the wolf, and he shifts into a nude, powerfully built male with long silver hair and a scruffy dark beard. He glares down at me, hands flexing, veins in his warrior’s arms bulging. The luminescent, Well-blessed mating marks on his arm remind me that my mother is psychic. She would have seen this problem and sent him here to intervene.

I swallow. “Hey, Dad.”

“What were youthinking?” he growls, gesturing to the twins and then behind me. “Taking children on ahunt!”

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