Sidereal found his feet, his expression pained as he shifted his shoulders and adjusted his raggedy, spiderweblike attire. He looked like he was smelling something rank, his lips curled back to show his vampirelike teeth. Honestly, with their pale complexions, long faces, and those teeth designed to eat insects, they were some of the scariest Inderlanders I’d ever met.

“I’d thank you for letting us out of your prison, but it would show weakness,” the fairy said, lisping around his long teeth.

“I’d apologize for burning your wings, but it would do the same,” I said, wishing Jenks would back off a little, but I could understand. They’d killed his wife.

“You … I should have slit your throat!” Jenks shouted, his wings a blur as he rose a breath from the ground. “You killed my Matalina!”

The fairy bared his teeth again, and I felt a moment of panic. “Jenks, it’s my fault Matalina is dead,” I said. “I’m the reason they attacked. I’m sorry! If I could do it again …” I closed my eyes in a long blink and tried not to cry. Damn it, it was all my fault.

Immediately Jenks’s face went ashen. “That’s not what I meant.”

“But it’s true,” I said, not knowing what I could have done differently—except kill them. “They never would have attacked if it hadn’t been for me.”

Pierce edged closer to Jenks, eying the tension between Sidereal and the pixy. “Jenks,” he said cautiously. “Can I speak to you alone for a moment?”

Jenks frowned, clearly knowing that Pierce was trying to separate them. His angular features were tight and his fingers moved to rest on the hilt of his sword. Sidereal started to hiss, and I pleaded with Jenks with my eyes. No more. Please, no more. Not today.

Abruptly Jenks spun, stiffly walking away with his head down. Pierce draped an arm over his shoulders and went with him, his head close as he talked. Uneasy, I turned back to Sidereal, surprised again by how tall he was. Imagine a seven-foot, skinny vampire in white ragged robes and with two rows of sharp teeth, and you might have it.

Sidereal was watching Jenks’s home burn, confusion on his face. “I never would have guessed he’d burn his house. Perhaps pixies can be civilized after all.”

Anger tickled deep in me. Jenks wasn’t burning his house, he was burning his past.

I cleared my throat, and Sidereal looked at me, his dark eyes reflecting the fire and turning red, like a demon’s, but with round pupils. “Are we to be let go?” Sidereal asked when our eyes met. “Is it a slow death you give us? To die of starvation or the cold of winter?” His attention slid to Jenks and Pierce. It was likely they were listening in thanks to Pierce’s eavesdropping spell.