“I’m sorry to trouble you with this, but I have to ask. I have to be certain. And since this concerns the Fae…” He pressed his lips together.

Ashk suppressed the urge to rub her forehead to ease the headache building there. “Liam, if you’re trying to tell me some of the Fae have taken…liberties…with some of the girls who live around here—”

“No,” Liam said quickly. “No, it’s nothing like that.” He offered another sickly smile. “Truth be told, I think the girls are a little disappointed that there haven’t been any offers to take moonlit walks. Of course, the girls don’t realize that the thought of having to deal with you, Selena, or Breanna afterward has pretty much stifled the urge for romance—among the human army as well as the Fae.”

“I understand why they’d be nervous about me or Selena, but why Breanna?”

Liam winced. “Stories travel. You know how it is. And the Fae…Well, from what Varden and Falco told me, they all figure that any witch who would threaten to shoot the Lightbringer when he appeared interested in a girl wouldn’t hesitate to shoot any of them.”

Ashk shook her head and smiled. “I’m sorry I missed seeing that.” Then she sighed. “Whatever the problem is, Liam, just tell me.”

“There are Fae who are predators in their other form,” Liam said carefully.

“Yes, there are.”

“And those predators might do some hunting while they’re here.”

“They might.”

“They might hunt people.”

Ashk tensed. Her voice chilled. “Say what you have to say, Baron.”

Liam took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. “Two young children are missing from outlying farms. At first, their families thought they’d wandered off, saw something intriguing among the trees and followed it. They reported it to the guards who make a daily round to all the farms and estates, and there was a search. But when the children weren’t found…”

“People started wondering if the Fae might have indulged in a quick hunt—or had taken the children for some other reason,” Ashk finished for him.

“Yes.”

“Well,” Ashk said after a long silence, “I understand why they would ask the question.”

Liam looked slightly alarmed. “You do?”

Ashk gave in and rubbed her forehead. “I’m a mother, Liam. I have two children. If one of them was missing, I’d wonder about the Fae, too, but for a different reason. Or, perhaps, for the same reason.” When she saw no comprehension in his eyes, she sighed. “If one of the Fae in the form of a predator killed those children, it is only the bodies that are gone. The loved one will go to the Summerland and return to the world one day. There’s a comfort in that. But if it was a different kind of predator that took those children…”

“Nighthunters,” Liam said, turning pale.