The smile drifted from my face. “I do not sound Queenly. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”
“Hmm.” He lifted a book from a table, flipped in his hands, and eyed the spine. “So, what is your question about the Redcaps?”
A beat passed. “You probably won’t like it.”
He set the book down and met my gaze. “Tell me what your question is, Norah.”
“To be honest, it’s less about the Redcaps and more about the human changelings who are sacrificed for the Tithe. I’m trying to find out if there’s some other way we can keep the pact with the Dark Fae while also saving all those lives. You’ve seen what it does to the humans. It’s not right.”
Rourke regarded me carefully before answering. “From what I hear, Queen Marin had these same questions and concerns. And, as far as I can tell, she found no solution. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have continued on with the tradition. Marin spent a lot of time here at the Academy and at the facility for the human changelings. She cared for them. She tried to help them. In the end, there wasn’t much she could do.”
Tears burned my eyes as I desperately tried to hold on to the hope that I could change things. “But surely there must be some other way.”
“The Dark Fae want to keep this realm on a tight leash, but they also want to feed on the energy of the human realm. As long as we keep sending more and more newly-created Redcaps into the human realm, and as long as our own babes are necessary for doing so, they can accomplish both.”
“So, it’s the energy they want,” I said slowly, trying to wrap my mind around his words. Understanding these creatures of chaos felt almost impossible, but I had to remember that they weren’t like anyone I had ever met before. Their logic and their rules were different than the fae of this place and the humans of my old world. It reminded me of what Finn had said in the forest. What is the one thing that drives us forward? What makes us do certain things? If I could find out what the Dark Fae wanted, maybe I could give it to them some other way.
Rourke gave a nod. “Our realms are all inexplicably linked together. Ours cannot exist without theirs, and theirs cannot exist without ours. Even humanity is linked to us all, and magic is pulsing at the very heart of it, even though humans rarely see that kind of power themselves.”
“Okay.” A beat passed. “But what does this have to do with the Redcaps and energy and the Tithe?”
“The magic of the Dark Fae is present in this realm. It’s in the air and in the soil. We aren’t affected by it because we’re fae ourselves. It’s there pulsing in the background, but it does us no harm. Just as our magic is present in theirs. But the humans? The Dark Fae’s magic doesn’t seep into their realm. So, when the humans are brought here, they are corrupted by chaos of it. It makes the humans transform into Redcaps, a creation that resembles the beasts that stalk the Dark Fae’s realm.”
“So, it’s not our magic that corrupts the humans. It’s the Dark Fae’s magic?”
He gave a nod. “Precisely.”
“Okay, but then how does that help the Dark Fae?”
“The Dark Fae, while similar to us in many regards, is a more demonic type of race. They need the energy of others to survive, but they can only feed off those who have no magic themselves. That counts us out, the Light Fae. So, they must depend on the energy of humans. Centuries and centuries ago, there was a war between our realms. The Dark Fae wanted to invade and enslave the human realm. The Light Fae wanted to protect them. That is how we came up with the Tithe. It’s a way to protect the humans just as much as it’s a way to protect ourselves. It minimizes the damage of the Dark Fae’s feeding.”
“Wait a minute. Let me get this right.” I leaned forward and spread my hands across the table. “So, somehow, through these Redcaps, the Dark Fae are able to feed off human energy? And that is how they survive.”
“Every time a new Redcap is created, it feeds the Dark Fae, yes.”
“And when the Redcaps go back to the human realm after the Solstice, every new person they infect…that feeds the Dark Fae even more.”
Rourke nodded, his expression grave. “So, now you see why the changelings are so important. Without them, we would have no way to give the Dark Fae the energy they need to survive. And if we cut off their supply, they would destroy us all in their effort not to die.”
Chapter Ten
I hadn’t found the information I’d been searching for in the library, but at least I’d found some more answers. I understood the motives of the Dark Fae far more than I ever had, thanks to Rourke’s candor. It also explained why they had orchestrated the manipulation of Queen Viola to not only revolt against Queen Marin but me as well.
They must have known that she’d been looking into a way to stop the Tithe. And they must have realized that I might share her sensibilities. The pieces of a strange puzzle were beginning to take shape in my mind. We might have a spy deep within their realm, but they surely had spies here as well. They’d seen what I’d done for Bree. And they’d realized that I could be a problem.
So, the question remained. What could be done about the Tithe?
Their motive was simple. All this time, I’d thought they wanted nothing more than destruction and chaos and control. I’d imagined them as evil super villains sitting up in a tower, cackling madly while the world burned down below. But no, that wasn’t it at all. They just wanted to survive.
Without the Tithe, they had no way of drawing the energy of humans. And without human energy? They would die. This was how they survived. How could I come up with something both save the humans and allow the Dark Fae to feed?
I turned the corner of the hallway, so deep in thought that my eyes didn’t register what was in front of me. My feet knocked into something soft and hard at the same time, and I stumbled back, words of apology on my lips.
But there wasn’t anyone there.
My gaze dropped to the floor. There was a body. Face down. Dark hair spread out like a halo around her head. Heart rattling in my chest, I dropped to my knees, tears springing into my eyes when I recognized the face. It was another one of the Academy’s instructors, a third year female from the Winter Court. Shaking, I leaned over her and pressed my fingers to her neck to feel her pulse, but I found nothing more than a deep sticky red.
She’d been cut to pieces, and cuts and slashes had been made deep into her neck. The same kind of wound as the others. I jumped to my feet and ran.
Rourke’s calming influence was the only thing that kept me from screaming my head off. By this point in time, I had seen so many dead bodies since arriving in Otherworld, but I would never get used to it. I had blood on my hands, too, though I had only ever killed when necessary. There had been battles. There had been violence. But something about this death rocked me like none other.
The fae had looked so innocent just lying there like that. My hand had touched her blood. Her life force had clung to my fingers. And she’d felt cold to the touch. So cold. So far gone from this world when only hours before she had been so alive.
Alwyn stood just beside me, her pale face giving the impression that she’d transformed into a ghost of her past self. Kael and Liam lifted the body from the floor and carried it down the hallway, past a cluster of crying students. I’d tried to be as discreet as possible when I’d rushed to the Head Instructor’s office to inform her of what I’d found, but it was impossible to keep anything quiet in this place.
“I suppose you’re happy,” Alwyn said with a sniff. “This means that changeling girl of yours isn’t the killer.”
I felt as though I’d been punched in the gut. “Happy that another fae has died? Come on, Alwyn. That’s harsh, even coming from you.”
“You wanted to save her,” she said, her voice as hard as steel. “So much so that perhaps you even staged this yourself. Don’t think I missed the blood on your hands.”
“I can’t believe you,” I hissed.
Turning from the scene, I stormed back down the hallway to my li
ving quarters. Alwyn Adair was starting to seriously piss me off. My instructors said her attitude toward me had nothing to do with her true feelings, that all she wanted was to see me crowned Queen. But I was beginning to find that difficult to believe. If she truly wanted me to rule, why would she accuse me of killing an Academy instructor? Why would she believe that I was capable of such a thing?
When I was halfway to my room, I made a sharp right toward the back doors of the Academy. I didn’t want to go sit in a stuffy room with nothing to keep me company but my own trouble thoughts. Instead, I pushed open the doors and stepped out into the fresh fae air. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, filling my lungs with the essence of Autumn.
Distantly, I heard a shout. I frowned and opened my eyes, squinted against the soft glow of the afternoon sun. Along the horizon, several figures were sweeping across the grass. My heart thumped hard. What was this all about?
As the figures grew closer, I could begin to make out their clothing and their faces. I recognized them immediately. It was four of our regular guards. And they were running. Toward what, I couldn’t tell.
A few more moments passed by before they grew even closer. And it was then that I realized they weren’t running toward anything at all. They were running from something. Six large beasts were pounding the ground on the hill just behind them.
Shit. I stumbled back through the doorway, eyes wide, heart rattling. Six Redcaps, all in their beastly forms. All heading this way. And the guards were doing nothing more than fleeing like the cowards they were.
I raced back into the Academy and toward the hallway where I’d found the fallen instructor. As soon as I flew inside, my breath ragged, Alwyn glanced up from where she knelt beside the puddle of blood. She narrowed her eyes and sniffed in my direction.
“Alwyn, I—”
“I am sorry, Norah, but I do not have time for any of this right now. I must focus on what has happened here this night. I will speak to you later. After things have calmed down.”
“Yeah, but things aren’t going to calm down. I’ve just been outside. Redcaps are headed this way.”
For a moment, stark fear flickered in her eyes before she regained her composure. Changelings started crying. One girl began to scream. We’d all been through a Redcap attack once before. It had been a nightmare scenario, being trapped behind doors that wouldn’t hold. We’d felt helpless. Backed into a corner. And we’d felt as if we wouldn’t escape alive. It was the kind of thing I never wanted to experience again, and I knew every changeling in this room felt the same.
“We have plenty of guards patrolling the grounds,” Alwyn said as a hush fell across the gathered changelings. “They will take care of the Redcaps. There is nothing to be concerned about.”
“The guards are running.” I clenched my hands into fists. “They’re fleeing like cowards.”
Alwyn’s jaw rippled as she clenched her teeth. For a moment, the entire hallway fell into brutal silence. The nightmare was returning to the Academy, and I had to do something to stop it. Our Head Instructor, the powerful female fae tasked with keeping us safe, just stood there, her feet frozen to the floor. Was she going to do anything at all but stare at me?
“We need to get everyone into the lower floors,” she said weakly.
“No.” My body trembled from the adrenaline pouring through my veins, but I held my head high. “We aren’t doing that again. We will not back ourselves into a corner like last time.”
Alwyn’s face merely paled.
I whirled toward the nearest changeling, a third year male I recognized from the dining hall. “Go tell everyone in your year to get their best weapon they can find and then gather in the lobby ready to fight. We won’t take this attack sitting down. And if you see any of my instructors on the way, tell them to come here.”
The changeling gave a nod as his eyes sparked with fire, and then he disappeared down the hallway to warn the others. I turned to the next changeling, and my heart clenched when I saw who it was. Lila, one of the girls who had come from New York along with me, Sophia, and…Sam. My stomach tumbled over on itself. Sam had been killed in the last Redcap attack. One of the beasts had slashed her to pieces in a fit of rage. The memory made my head spin. I couldn’t let any more changelings fall to those vicious claws.
My voice went softer as I met the eyes of my fellow first year. “Lila, if you want to go somewhere safe, maybe you should—”
“No,” she said, golden eyes burning bright with unshed tears. “I want to fight. I want to help. I refuse to cower in a corner from these things. They killed Sam. They killed Boyd. We can’t let them kill anyone else.”
I gave a nod, a ghost of a smile flickering across my lips. “Then, can you go and tell all the first years what’s happened? I realize not all of them are ready to fight these kinds of battles, but some are. If any of them wants to fight, they can meet us in the lobby. And if anyone wants to hide…then I suggest going down into the dungeons, getting into a cell, and locking the gate. Even a Redcap can’t get through those bars.”
Lila’s face paled, but she gave a nod. “What about the second years?”
“Can you go with her and warn them?” I asked the changeling who stood beside Lila, a female with long dark flowing hair. I’d seen her around the Academy, but I didn’t know her name, what year she was, or which court she belonged to. I’d been so involved in my own mess, so sucked in to the battle with Queen Viola, and so focused on everything outside of the Academy rather than within. I hadn’t taken the time to get to know the other changelings here. I’d separated myself, even without meaning to.
She blinked, her eyes welling with tears. “I can warn them, but what’s the use? Do you really think we can beat them?”
“The Redcaps?” I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Sorry, what’s your name? My mind is going blank with all the chaos.”
“Ciara.”
“Ciara.” I smiled. “Well, we’ve beaten them before. We can do it again. But it’s important that we all work together.”
Ciara took a deep breath and gave a nod. “I’ll go tell the second years.”
Ciara disappeared down the hallway, and the rest of the changelings followed close behind her. They still look petrified, but they also looked as though they had a glimmer of hope and determination taking shape deep within their guts. Now that they had gone to fetch the others, I was alone in the bloodied hallway with Alwyn. And she was staring at me with the kind of expression that was impossible to read.
She brushed her long golden strands away from her pale face and strode across the hall to stand before me. “This is a terrible idea, Norah. You said there were six of them. These changelings cannot fight that many Redcaps at once.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted my chin. “And what would you have them do instead? Hole up and wait to be killed like last time? The only way we got through that attack was by going on the offensive and fighting the beasts.”
“They are untrained. They aren’t ready.”
“They’re as ready as they can be,” I said. “Look, if we had any other choice, I’d agree with you. But we don’t. The more of us who join the fight, the more likely we are to win. We can have the advantage here, but only if we have the numbers.”
“Us. We.” A strange half-smile flickered across her face. “You forget you are not one of them, Norah. You are not a true changeling, and they are not Greater Fae. They do not have your powers. They do not have the same strength of magic.”
“You underestimate them,” I simply said. “They have strength. It’s just a different kind than what I have.”
That strange smile remained. “I do not know why I ever doubted that you might be Marin’s daughter. You are so much like your mother that it hurts.”
I blinked at her words, taken aback by the strength at which she’d said them. Alwyn almost seemed as if she were in extreme pain, as if my very existence was a nuisance to her. For a moment, she just stared at me, si
lence raining down from the vaulted ceiling above, that strange smile morphing into a grimace.
Footsteps pounded on the hallway floor. The changelings and instructors would soon join us, and it would be time to fight.
Alwyn blinked and stepped back, dropping her hands to her sides. “Very well. It’s too late now to undo this.”
Rourke rushed into the hallway, Finn hot on his trail. They both wrapped their arms around me at once, and the breath exploded from my throat. A part of me sighed in contentment at the contact, but another part knew we didn’t have time for this. As much as I wanted to revel in the feel of their strong arms, I couldn’t.
Rourke pulled back and searched my eyes. “Are you certain you saw six of them?”
I nodded, lips pressed tightly together.
“We need to get you somewhere safe,” Finn said, taking my hand in his before I’d had a chance to say a word.
“No,” I said, my voice louder than I intended. The word echoed off the vaulted ceiling. No, no, no. “We’re meeting everyone who wants to fight in the lobby. This time, there will be no hiding. There will be no cowering behind locked doors. We will face the Redcaps head on.”
Chapter Eleven
We strode into the lobby just as the first thuds exploded against the Academy’s front doors. A second passed, and then another. And then the door cracked from the force of the next blow. It was clear that the Redcaps were throwing themselves against the wooden frame, hoping to break it from the power of their own beastly bodies.
The changelings that had gathered in the lobby with me and my instructors were a combination of petrified, enraged, and frantic. Some held swords or daggers. Others held bows with quivers of arrows on their backs. And others—third years mostly—curled their hands into fists, planning to use the magic of their court.
“What do we do?” Ciara whispered from beside me. The tip of her sword trembled as her entire body shook. She’d joined us after alerting the others. Even as scared as she was, she was determined to fight.
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