Page 210 of The Black Witch

“I don’t know,” I reply. “I’ve looked all over the archives. I can’t find out anything about it. There’s nothing. And no Fae anywhere.”

“Strange.”

“Here’s the thing.” I lean in toward her. “I don’t think they were just kicked out of the Realm. I think they might have been killed. And if they were, well, that means that anyone who’s Fae or has Fae blood...their lives could be in danger.” I swallow, attempting to beat back the creeping dread.

“There’s more and more talk about rooting out mixed-breeds,” Aislinn says ominously.

“And if Yvan’s mostly Fae...” The clock ticks out a few more beats. “Then there’s no more time to waste.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Asrai Fae

Tierney is waiting for me when I return to the North Tower. She’s sitting on the stone bench in the upstairs hallway, stock-still, lit by a single wall lantern.

I come to a stop before her. “Tierney...”

“I was three years old when they came for me,” she says, her thin voice low and hard. Her eyes are firmly tethered to the floor. “My parents, they were part of a small group of Fae. One of the last, hidden holdouts. It was over. The Gardnerians were closing in. There was no way out.

“My Gardnerian parents were close friends with my Fae parents. My father now, and my father then...they were both glassblowers, and they admired each other’s artistry. Before the end came, my Fae parents...they brought me to them. Me and my baby brother.

“Before they left, they held me down. My Fae parents, and some other Asrai. I was frightened, and I fought against them, but they were too strong. I felt a terrible twisting of my back, a pinching of my face, burning all over my scalp. I was terrified... I didn’t realize they were giving up their glamours for me and my brother. Making me into a Gardnerian. Ugly enough to keep me safe from fasting. Safe from the Fae Hunt.

“I remember screaming for my mother. And I remember her sobbing and trying to comfort me, then breaking down. My mother screaming for me as my father dragged her away, her nails like claws on my arm.”

Tierney pauses, still as a winter lake, her gaze locked on to the empty space before her.

“My Gardnerian family—we were planning on getting out of the Western Realm before the spring referendum, in case Vogel won,” she continues in a low, flat tone. “But now...we should leave right away, but we’re not ready to take our whole family across a dangerous desert.” She’s quiet for a moment. “My Fae parents...my Fae family. They were never seen or heard from again.” Tierney looks up at me, fear stark in her eyes. “The Mage Council voted today to make fasting mandatory for all Gardnerians eighteen and up. We have six months to comply.”

My stomach clenches. All of us—fasted by the spring. By choice, or by force.

“Vogel’s going to round us all up for fasting,” she continues, “and he won’t just be testing racial purity of the couple being fasted. He’s mandated the iron-testing of the fasting couple’s families at the ceremony.” Tierney’s mouth turns down in a trembling grimace. “My brother and I are Asrai Fae, Elloren. Full-blooded Water Fae. They won’t just arrest my brother and me. They’ll arrest my Gardnerian parents and brother for sheltering us. Mywhole family.”

She breaks into tears, dropping her face into her hands as she sobs. I go to her and sit down beside her, pulling her thin, crooked frame into my arms.

“We’ll find help.” I console her as she cries, my resolve hardening. “We’ll find a way to get your family out.”

And if no one will help us, I silently vow,we’ll fly you all out on a dragon, straight over the desert to Noi lands.

But I need more information, I realize. If we’re going to help Tierney and her family, we need to know what the Gardnerians are likely to do to the Fae. Where they’ll take them. And where the Fae disappeared to after the Realm War.

And I know exactly who to go to.

* * *

“What happened to the Fae?”

Professor Kristian pushes up his glasses and sets his pen down on his desk.

“I’ve been through all the archives,” I stubbornly tell him.And I need to know what happened so I can save my friend.

His expression turns jaded, and he spits out a grim laugh. “You won’t find anything about that in the archives.”

“I’m notinthe archives,” I shoot back, shutting his door. “I’m here.”

He eyes the white band around my arm, then shoots me a hard look.

“Really?” I say, responding to his unspoken question. “Do you honestly think I support Vogel?”

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