Page 68 of Solstice

“You sound sure of that.” I narrowed my gaze.

“They are blood sworn to me.”

“But oath sworn to the king first,” Siobhan said.

Finn shook his head. “I know where their true loyalties lie. I wouldn’t risk your life on it, Banshee.”

She swallowed and nodded. “I trust your judgment, Commander.”

“Can you get word to your soldiers before the wedding?” Jon said. “That way we can be sure?”

Finn looked at Donnelly, who sighed and rubbed a thumb over his brow. “It’s tricky.”

“How tricky?” Siobhan looked at the lieutenant, concern in her deep brown eyes.

“I’d have to reach out to old friends, people I swore I’d never talk to again.”

Finn growled low in his chest like he didn’t like the sound of that. My throat tightened and my heart hammered, a natural response to a literal fucking monster baring his teeth at my dining room table. They looked and sounded so much like us that I forgot they were magical beings from time and lore and shit. They didn’t belong here, just like we didn’t belong in Faerie.

“Do it,” Siobhan said. “I’ll go with you.”

“No, absolutely not,” Finn cut in. “Lieutenant, I forbid it.”

“I’m missing something here,” Abigail said. “Who does he need to talk to?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Donnelly said at the same time Siobhan said, “Donnelly has friends in low places.”

“When I found you in that trash heap, I swore I’d never let you go back there.” Finn’s anger turned to Siobhan. “Either of you.”

“We can do it,” Siobhan said to Jon. “We’ll figure out a way in. We’ll give them the warning.”

“It’s getting out that I’m worried about.” Finn started coughing and grabbed at his wound, evidently over-exerting himself.

“In the meantime,” Donnelly continued, “pretend like nothing’s wrong. Siobhan has warded your homes and those of your parents.”

“Won’t he suspect something when Mount Vernon is the only place that isn’t warded?” Kit pursed her lips. “Won’t that be a big fat sign saying ‘It’s a trap?’”

“It won’t matter.” Donnelly sighed. “He won’t be able to deny himself the opportunity.”

Ivy met my gaze from across the table, raising a brow when we connected. “Are we really doing this?”

I laughed at the irony. For four years, we’d rebelled against this inevitability. We’d fought it as long as we could, and we lost. Now that I’d finally come to accept the rest of my life with her, we were going to destroy it. Maybe I was ready to rip this apart because, in my mind, we were already married by vow and soul. Or maybe I didn’t give a shit anymore because I never had a choice about any of it. “Yeah, X. Let’s do it.”

Ivy smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, and I remembered what happened when I went to find her earlier today. She was still hiding something, and so was I. Weren’t we a fucking pair? Weren’t we past this by now?

“Great,” Siobhan said, focusing her attention on Ivy. “One more thing.”

Ivy sat up straighter.

“You need to get Miri to come home.”

Ivy’s features dropped. “I know. I tried.”

“Not hard enough.” Siobhan let that sink in before reiterating. “You need each other.”

“Yeah, yeah, group gift.” Ivy sighed and pulled up her politician mask to protect herself.

“Not just that,” Siobhan said. “When this all happens, when the end comes, it is the four of you. Not three. Not two. Four.”

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