Survive. She’d fought against returning to Brightwood, fought against having to survive there. She’d thought of it as a cage, confining her to a place. A bright, rich place, despite the crowded rooms in the cottage. There was meat from the woods there, wood for the fire. She could have ridden with her shadow hounds to hunt for meat. With so much land within Brightwood’s borders, she could have avoided riding through the crops her Clan had worked hard to plant and grow.

Petty anger had made her strike back at her own Clan. Petty anger had made her take and take and take because she felt her people wouldn’t give enough to make up for her having to stay in the human world. She’d wanted to live in Tir Alainn. She’d wanted to do what she wanted to do—as she’d always done.

Well, she was in the Fair Land now, being exactly what she’d sulked over being for her own Clan. Except there was no hope of escaping this cage until someone else decided to turn the key. Knowing that, unshakeably certain of that, she realized she hated Tir Alainn.

Chapter 31

waxing moon

Selena rode beside Liam, tucked in the middle of a company of human and Fae escorts. A few months ago, those same men wouldn’t have considered riding together, would have met each other on the road with uneasiness and suspicion. Now there were murmurs of conversation, the occasional muffled laugh that said plainly enough that, despite the differences in how their peoples lived, there was also common ground.

As they crested the low rise that gave them a clear view of the land beyond the village, she reined in. So did Liam. A sharp whistle from one of the escorts behind them was sufficient warning to those who rode ahead that the company had halted.

“It would be better for my people if we could meet the enemy before they reach the village or the farms and estates around it,” Liam said quietly as he studied the land. “But I doubt the enemy will accommodate my wishes.”

“It isn’t likely,” Selena agreed. “But the land…” She closed her eyes. Connecting to the land here was as easy as breathing in and breathing out again. Did Liam realize that the people in his home village prospered so well because the magic that flowed out of Old Willowsbrook was so strong and far-reaching? Even here, miles from the Old Place, she could feel the ripples of it in the air, in the ground beneath Mistrunner’s hooves. She would be able to taste it in the water. A celebration of life. The acknowledgment of harvest. The spiral dance that takes and gives back.

“Lady Selena?”

Liam’s voice pulled her back to the here and now. She opened her eyes. “But the land will be our ally—and our weapon.”