Page 55 of The Cursed Crown

The ruler of the White Court was an actual little girl; she must be Nyla's age, if that. Pale as starlight, with a white blindfold over her eyes, the only color on her was her ink-black lips.

The White Army was the creepiest thing Rydekar had ever had the displeasure to behold. Every single soldier, every commander, every advisor was a child, not even out of puberty. And all of them were blinded.

He supposed that magic was keeping them in this form; they may not be actual children. Right? Why, he didn't want to ask. All he wanted was to get this over with, so they could return to their home and never be seen again.

Sura nodded, agreeing with the child. She didn't seem to mind the fact that the fellow queen looked like a six-year-old. "You and I can worry about unseelie forces after we deal with the human scum."

Glaring at Rydekar,Folker acquiesced.

Rydekar didn't care one bit about what they thought of him. He wanted their armies to fight against Antheos, nothing more, nothing less.

"My men and I will hold anything south of the city." They were close to Orach, in the Court of Stars. "I just need you to stay north and alert us if you see any movement. What they've taken of Denarhelm so far, we can rebuild later. Let's ensure they don't encroach into fae land any farther."

He turned his back on them, not bothering to wait for an answer.

"That went well," Havryll noted, without any irony.

"Well, there was no murder."

As he returned to his tent, his mind tuned back into the phantom feeling he'd rejected earlier, instinctively checking on Rissa.

She must be in the Wilderness by now, and her fear didn't bode well. She wasn't harmed; he would haveknownit if she was.

Nothing. No fear, no panic. He'd lost the thread leading him to her. Frustrated, he abandoned his endeavor as Morgan approached.

"Well?" He sounded shorter than he meant to be.

"They've stopped progressing south. My theory is, their own spies saw we organized a line of defense. From what I can see, they're hunting down whatever fae they can find in the lands they've already taken." His spymaster wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You don't want to know what they do to those they catch. These people aren't normal humans. They're barbarians."

"We'll push through a mile north in the morning." Rydekar turned to Havryll. "Inform the commanders I want them in the tent."

He returned to his tent and bent over the map that used to be set in his war room. Again, his eyes hovered over the Wilderness for one moment, before returning to Denarhelm.

He couldn't afford any distractions right now, and that was exactly what thoughts of Rissa were. Distractions that could get his men killed.

She was fine for now, and that was all he needed to know.

* * *

She fell on her knees.Sounds and vision disappeared; there was nothing but a drowning gulf of emptiness around her.

He'd fallen. He was dead. Because of her. Because she'd insisted on coming here, and she'd had her grand ideas with her trees. She'd made decisions and her companion, her friend, was dead because of her.

"Get up. We need to go. Rissa!" Teoran cursed, grunting. "Rissa!"

The last scream got through to her. Suddenly, in front of her eyes, there were five monsters, throwing blades and arrows at them. The monsters who'd killed Khal.

Fury coursed through her veins. She wanted blood. She'd extricate it slowly, painfully.

"Rissa!" Teoran pulled her sleeve, trying to get her up.

She got to her feet, trembling with rage.

"They'll find a way to our side. Come on."

But she was done running.

Rissa screamed. She yelled at the top of her lungs, reaching out to a part of her she seldom even acknowledged, let alone used. Now, she gave into it, coaxing it out, letting it spread its venom.

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