Jack froze, pierced by the intensity of the northern wind. He could see the threads of gold surrounding Bane’s body, all the many paths the spirit could take in the air. His unsung power. The other spirits were dull in comparison. “A dark-eyed weaver who lives on the edge of the east. She knows where the lasses are.”

Jack felt the blood drain from his face.

“You seek to fool us?” Adaira countered, emotion in her voice. She didn’t want to believe it, and Jack felt a pinch of relief that she would be bold enough to defend his mother. “What evidence can you give to support such a claim, when you yourself have seen fit to bind the mouths of the other spirits?”

“Can the spirits lie, mortal woman?” he countered. “That is why I bound the tongues of my subjects, to keep them from speaking the truth before its time had come.”

Adaira was silent. She knew as well as Jack did that the folk couldn’t lie. They could carry the gossip and lies that mortal mouths had already spoken, but they couldn’t inspire their own in words. Even as they often played games of deceit.

Bane’s full attention returned to her. The king reached out to touch Adaira’s face, and she didn’t resist it. She stood quiet and fixed, a glimmer of light in his great shadow.

“Do you want to come with me?” Bane asked, and his fingers tangled in her hair with a painful jerk. “I will carry you in my arms and take you to the lasses now, but only if your courage can be found.”

Jack’s horror deepened when he realized Adaira was considering his offer. He could see the edges of her beginning to fade, as if she were about to melt into wind, and his fury carved through his fear.

He closed the distance between them, harp cradled against his chest. He reached out and grasped her arm. Is this how she had felt when she had beheld him turning into the earth? A mix of panic, indignation, and bone-aching possession?

“Adaira!” Jack’s voice rent the air.

He was relieved when Adaira glanced over her shoulder, meeting his stare. She took a step back when he tugged, and he realized the Orenna was granting him the strength to draw her away from Bane’s icy hold.

The northern king looked at him again. The other spirits took flight in a rush of wings, dissolving into their natural state. Jack’s heart drummed as he watched them flee. But their king remained, standing firm. Bane’s cloying fingers fell away from Adaira’s hair as his eyes continued to bore into Jack.