The Unseelie landed with snarls on their faces, half-hidden beneath their silvery helmets. Those black eyes—-black. That was interesting. These Unseelie all had black eyes still, which meant they hadn’t gotten any sustenance from Seelie or Earth. That little revelation didn’t tell me much, especially as all dozen soulless gazes locked right on Tenn and Tegan. They grinned and my stomach rolled at the sight of their razor-sharp teeth.

Black smoke shot up from the ground behind them. It moved like it was their own shadow, slowly and quietly creeping up on them until it wrapped around their bodies. The five in the back had enough time for their eyes to widen in shock before they disintegrated into dust without a sound. The other seven were still strolling toward us obliviously. The black smoke sank beneath the grass like it had never been there. For the count of three seconds, it was gone entirely. Then the smoke burst from the ground between us and them.

This time . . . they saw it.

They shouted in what sounded like a curse as they leapt backwards, but that smoke was relentless. It lunged forward as if it were a living jungle cat, but when it slammed into the four Unseelie in the front it wrapped around their bodies like paint. They shrieked but the sound cut off as their bodies turned to ash.

The black smoke swirled together like a tornado for a split second, then Everest stepped out. All three of the Unseelie remaining hissed and leapt into the air, fleeing the scene. Except Everest was faster. He snatched the middle one by the throat and held him a foot off the ground. His magic raced up into the air and swallowed the other two whole. Their wings sprinkled down in glittery dust to the grass.

Everest yanked the last one down, then sank his fangs into the Unseelie’s throat. Purple blood splashed onto the ground beneath his feet. Everest pulled back enough to see the Unseelie’s throat had a gnarly chunk missing and there was purple blood gushing from the wound and down his chest.

Everest growled in his face. “Give Sweyn my regards.”

Then he threw him into the clouds.

“Why’d you let one live?” Warner asked, his hands on top of his head and his eyes wide.

Everest smirked, but instead of answering, he pointed to Savannah and snapped his fingers.

Savannah snort-laughed, then said with a wide, unnerving grin, “Because dead men tell no tales!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

FRANKIE

“What’s poison Roycy?” I asked as we stepped through Tegan’s portal back to Headquarters. “Did I hear that right?”

Royce spun on his toes to walk backwards in front of me, his black eyebrows wagging. You’ll see, he mouthed and wiggled his fingers in front of his face.