As soon as there was a break in the clouds, we set off to the Autumn Court. Alwyn had insisted the first-years stay behind, but she’d allowed me to tag along after a strange whispered conversation with my four instructors. She had cast me curious glances after that. Not for the first time, it felt as though they were hiding something from me. Something that had to do with my powers and the necklace and maybe something more.

So, our rag-tag group consisted of eight instructors—three had stayed behind to keep an eye on the first-years—as well as Alwyn, me, and thirty-one second and third years. It was pretty much the entire Academy, and we were marching straight toward the Autumn tree-line. Half the recruits and instructors had swords while the other half had bows and arrows.

As the strange twists of the universe had it, I was one of the rangers. It was the only way my four fae males would allow me to come along. I was to stay on my horse in the back, and I was not to dismount under any circumstances. Rourke would stay by my side, since he was also strong with the bow. The others would go in with their swords, a fact that made me more than a little uneasy.

If any of them fell in this battle, I’d never be able to forgive myself. While I knew they were forging forward in this fight in order to save the Academy, I was here to save Bree.

When we finally reached the tree-line, the heady warmth of summer fell away. It was replaced by an eerie chill, one that sunk deep into my bones. The leaves rattled in the wind, and trees creaked as they bent. We had truly entered Autumn now. There was no turning back.

And, I couldn’t help but notice, we were being watched.

“Rourke,” I said in a whisper, almost too low to hear over the heavy thud of the horse’s hooves. “I think we’ve been seen.”

“Oh yes,” he said. “We were seen awhile ago. No one enters or leaves the Autumn woods without it being noted, and they would have seen us coming down the path, even though we were technically still in the free territory. The real question is, who saw us? A rebel? One of the villagers? Or was it one of the Court’s scouts? If it’s the latter, we will end up fighting very soon.”

I shivered. I was ready for this. Or, at least I thought I was. Still, that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous and maybe a little bit afraid. We had no way of knowing what we were walking into. We had no idea how many Redcaps they currently had in their control. And, we didn’t know how big their army was.

Autumn fae were notoriously secretive. They’d kept the total number of their Hunters a private matter over the years. They could have hundreds. Or even thousands.

We could be walking straight into a trap.

A horn sounded in the near distance, and our little changeling army slowed to a stop at the edge of a forest clearing. Rourke motioned to Kael, who was near the front. He shook his head, a signal that we should move no further.

“Does it bother you that you’re about to fight your own Court?” I asked.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter now if everyone knows, not after what we’re about to do this day.” Rourke gripped the reigns tighter in his hands. “I’ve always been against Marin’s assassination. For several years, I joined the rebels. I left when I realized they were making no true difference to the fate of the Courts. I thought I could perhaps make more of an impact at the Academy instead. Make things better. Like they used to be.”

“You? A rebel? But you’re so...”

“Yes?” He arched an eyebrow. “What is it that I am, Norah?”

“Well, you seem like the kind of person who’s a stickler for the rules.”

“I am when they count.”

In the distance came the sound of galloping hooves. Kael let out a low whistle and flicked his hand in a series of signals that he’d drilled into our heads before we’d left the Academy. We were supposed to spread out now, archers hiding behind the trees in the background while the swords in the front formed a line the Autumn fae would not be able to cross.

With a shaky breath, I nocked my arrow and did my best to hold it steady before me. At any minute, Autumn fae would charge into the clearing, and I’d loose my first shot. It was a battle that might very well be the first of many to come. We were starting something here. Something that could lead to war, but there was no escaping it. Not if we wanted to survive.

Three horses charged into the clearing and slowed. Redmond, who had escaped during the assassination attempt against Alwyn, sat in the middle with a mangy-haired fae hidden just behind him. The other two horses were manned by fae soldiers, their golden eyes blank and emotionless.

“Good afternoon, changeling warriors,” he called out. “I assume you’re wondering why I’ve ridden out to meet you instead of charging into battle against your pitiful weapons.”

Frowning, I glanced at Rourke. His eyebrows were furrowed as his focus intensified on Redmond. The Autumn fae was up to something, and I had a feeling we weren’t going to like whatever it was.

“Just spit it out, Redmond,” Alwyn said coolly.

He turned her way and shook his head. “It truly is a shame that an Autumn fae such as yourself would be so bold as to attack your own kind.”

“That’s pretty rich coming from you,” she countered. “If I’m remembering correctly—and I am—you were the one who attempted to assassinate me in my own home.”

“My apologies.” He gave a sarcastic half-bow. “Merely a means to an end.”

“What do you want, Redmond?”

He snapped his fingers at the fae soldier to his right. “I’m here to make a trade. A simple transaction. If you agree, then we will cease all attacks on your Academy.”

Rourke stiffened. He leaned forward and whispered something into his horse’s ear. And then his horse slowly began to edge in front of me.

The movement caught Redmond’s eyes. His gaze flicked through the red-and-orange brush until it zeroed right in on me. “Ah. There she is.”

Alwyn twisted her head to see who he was talking about. Alarm flittered across her golden features. “No, Redmond. I’m not giving you one of my changelings, no matter what you offer in return.”

“You won’t give me one of your changelings?” He arched an eyebrow and pointed a long and slender finger at me. “Or you won’t give me that one?”

What the hell is going on?

Was he really that angry that he hadn’t gotten the chance to question me about Bree? That didn’t make any sense. He’d gotten her, after all. He no longer needed me to tell him where she was, so why was his focus on me?

“You’re not getting any of them,” Alwyn said. “And that includes Norah.”

“Just think,” he said as he slid to the ground. The mangy fae who had been hiding behind him still had her back turned our way, and one of the fae soldiers began to help her down from the horse. “If you hand Norah over to us, none of your other changelings will have to die. There are how many of them here? Roughly thirty? Think about it, Alwyn. You’re an intelligent fae. What is one life compared to thirty?”

“We need to get you out of here,” Rourke hissed into my ear. He leaned over to grab my reigns, but my eyes had locked onto the mangy fae. She’d half-turned as she dismounted, and her profile was achingly familiar. Pixie features, sharp tiny nose. Her dark hair was matted and dirty, but it was hers.

“He has Bree,” I said, making no attempt to keep my voice low. I swatted away Rourke’s hands. “Redmond has Bree.”

A cruel smile spread across Redmond’s face. “That’s right, my dear. I have your precious Redcap friend.”

Suddenly, Redmond had a dagger in his hands and his arm around Bree’s throat. He pulled her to his chest, and he slid the dagger against the pale skin of her neck. My heart flipped as I stared at her, my whole body clenching with anger and pain. Her eyes were so hollow, and a deep purple was etched into her face. She looked terrible, as if she’d spent the past year stuck inside a tiny prison with nothing to eat but dirt.

“Norah,” Rourke said in warning.

“You have your chance to save your friend,” Redmond said. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Come with me, and I’ll give her over to your mate, though I honestly can’t tell which one that is anymore. On the other hand, if you refuse, I will slice her neck. A quick death, though I hear it’s painful.”

I didn’t even have to think about it. Without a moment’s hesitation, I swung my leg over the side of the horse and dropped onto the hard-packed dirt. Rourke let out a shout and tried to grab my arms to pull me back. I jumped out of the way, giving him a sad smile.

“I’m sorry, Rourke.”

And then I shifted away from him, disappearing into darkness. When I reappeared, I stood only inches from where Redmond held Bree captive. The look of delight in his eyes when he saw what I’d done made me want to punch the living daylights out of him. But I needed to bide my time. I wasn’t planning to go down without a fight, but he still had his blade pressed against Bree’s neck.

“Well. Looks like you made the right choice.” His smile was razor sharp and cruel.

“Norah, what the hell have you done?” That was Kael’s anguished cry, a sound that broke my heart in two. I couldn’t bear to look at him, to see those star-studded eyes doused with the pain of what I’d done.

“I swear to god I’m going to kill him.” That was Liam, and he’d begun to stalk across the clearing, the veins in his neck rippling with fury.

“Ah ah,” Redmond said, and he dug the blade deeper into Bree’s neck.

“Liam, stop,” I said, eyes wild. “He’ll kill her.”

Liam’s feet came to a sudden stop, though I could tell it took all his self-control to stay where he was. His entire body shook, and his fists were turning the color of blood. At the edge of the clearing, Kael had fallen to his knees. Rourke was staring right at Redmond, his arrow nocked and ready to be released. Finn was nowhere to be seen, a fact that unnerved me. If he tried to stop this...I didn’t doubt that Redmond would follow through on his threat.

“Okay.” I held up my hands and shot Redmond a strained smile. “Look, here I am. Time to let Bree go. Time to let all of them go.”

“Take her,” he shot over his shoulder at the other fae soldier.

The male jumped down from his horse, his golden cloak billowing behind him. In an instant, his arms were around me, pinning my wrists together behind my back. Irritation flickered through me at his rough handling, but I stayed still and steady. I didn’t want to give Redmond any reason to believe that I wasn’t going through with my promise.

“Got her,” the fae male soldier said.

But Redmond still held his blade against Bree.

“Happy now?” I said to him. “You’ve got me. Let go of Bree.”

I was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. My enemy was a master of deception with a heart filled with cruel, cold rage. I’d made the ultimate sacrifice, but as those glittering eyes pierced my soul, I feared that none of us would survive.

His lips twisted into a strange smile. “Is that really the best idea? I mean, she is a Redcap. Didn’t she kill your guards?”

My heart began to beat wildly in my chest. “You said you would let her go if I came with you. An exchange. Me for her. That’s what you said.”

He lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “Perhaps that was a mistake. I can’t very well release a monster, especially not onto our changelings. What would our Queen think if she knew I’d allowed them to get attacked?”

I narrowed my eyes, and my breath began to expel through my nose in rapid bursts. My entire body shook, and I could barely think straight as the realization of what I’d done washed over me. Redmond had never intended on letting Bree go. He was going to kill her, right in front of me. And then he’d probably move on to me next.

“Let. Her. Go!” I squirmed against the fae soldier’s tight grip. He was strong, but a strange kind of power had begun to sing in my veins, one that made me feel almost invincible. I just needed a little more time...

Another set of footsteps crunched through the dead leaves. A fae soldier came up behind us, and he had—

He had Finn. An unconscious Finn who had a bruise the size of the sun on his face.

“Found this one lurking around back there. What do you want me to do with him?”

“We’ll kill him, too,” Redmond said. “It will be a good training lesson for the changelings here. Don’t rebel against the Courts, or else there will be serious consequences.”

I’d had enough. I couldn’t stand here trapped while Redmond threatened everyone I knew and loved. The power boiled inside of me, and a furious fire consumed my soul.

“Let them go!” My voice was so loud that the ground beneath our feet began to shake.

And with those words, the strange, wild power of my soul spilled out into the forest clearing. A harsh and bitter wind whipped around me, and the intensity of my command made me fall to my knees. A sharp, splitting pain ripped my skull in two, but I gritted my teeth against the force of it.

I wanted to free Bree. I wanted to free Finn. And I wanted these Autumn fae to go down.

Everything exploded into chaos. Bree vanished into thin air, followed quickly by Finn. The horses began to buck and kick, slamming their massive hooves into each of the fae in turn. Redmond screamed and stumbled back. His horse knocked him sideways where he fell to a heap on the ground.

I had to glance away when their hooves began to pound into his body. The sound of crunching bones would haunt me to my grave.

Squeezing my eyes as tight as I could, I dug my hands into the dirt and clung on to the earth. The wind that whipped around me had become a tornado of leaves and magic and pain, and I could no longer hear anything but the heavy roar of my blood.

Suddenly, the wind died. The leaves fluttered to the forest floor, and my heavy breathing was the only sound in the world.

I looked up. Bree knelt before me, her eyes shining beneath a face caked in dirt. She took my shaking hand in hers and squeezed.

“You saved me, Norah.” Her voice caught, and the tears in her eyes began to spill down her cheeks. “You saved us all.”