Wynter lifted the head of the person, a knife suddenly in her hand. The woman was gagged and bound at her feet. Wynter tilted the person’s chin toward the crowd, twisting her sideways enough so everyone could see that it was a half-Fae at her feet.

But that wasn’t what captured Kerrigan’s attention.

It was the face. She’d recognize the scar above her lip and the roundness of her features and the look of pure terror.

“Bayton,” she gasped.

12

The Light

Without another thought, Kerrigan ripped off her cloak, revealing her bright red hair. She dropped her black mask to the floor and pushed her hair behind her slightly pointed ears. As she stepped through the press of the crowd, she reached for her magic. A blinding light that only Wynter could see.

Wynter staggered backward from Bayton. The knife clattered to the ground, and she covered her eyes.

“Leave her, Wynter,” Kerrigan spat.

Someone reached for Kerrigan, but by that point, Fordham was at her side. He disarmed a Fae man with a knife. Then, he dropped his own disguise, and the gasp was loud enough that no one else attempted to stop them.

“You cannot sacrifice these people,” Fordham declared with all the force of their crowned prince.

“They are half-Fae and human, brother. Servants and menial workers, nothing more,” Wynter said coolly. “Thirteen lives is a small matter when the cost for the rest of us is eternal enslavement.”

“You have no proof that their lives will bring you what you want. You would kill them all for sport even if it did nothing.”

His accusation hit the crowd like a blow. Whispers erupted all around them.

Wynter straightened to her full height, ignoring Kerrigan’s magic and staring down her big brother. “You know nothing of my research, brother. You have been gone. You have not seen how our people require more. I was here while you were not, and we look up to you for returning to us as our champion, but you have done nothing for them.” She threw her hand out at the crowd. “These who suffer.”

Fordham looked ready to launch himself across the distance to his sister, but that was what Wynter wanted. No matter that Fordham had been working on fixing the trade issue. That now that he was in the Society, he would have access to more resources. That he could even negotiate new trade agreements, bring people in and out of the mountain. Not that anyone else knew these things were possibilities.

Wynter was the one with the cult standing behind her. And Fordham and Kerrigan were good, but they couldn’t withstand an army.

“You will not need a sacrifice,” Kerrigan announced before Fordham could react.