His wolves shifted in their boots. I had no doubt they wished for the assistance the wards would give them.

Aster’s knees quaked, and my grip on her hand tightened.

“No?” Dade questioned, and far too softly. “Forgive me for assuming, but I do not think I am mistaken in doing so…” Hardening his cold gaze on Rorn, he stated, “You are going to lose this war. Any advantage you could have had was lost when you chose not to act while the vermin skipped across the sea to terrorize my own people.”

“We needed to be certain of what they were doing,” Rorn said, tone scathing. He then looked at me with a dismissive flick of his hand. “If I’d known Marvis sought the beast, I would have found him myself and handed him over.”

“Yet I hear it was you who tipped his men off as to his whereabouts.”

Aster gasped, her fingers falling from mine.

Opal winced before glaring at her mate.

Dade shrugged. “Did you think we would not find out? While the promise of gold and a hatred for our kind was likely enough, we knew there had to be something more that would encourage an otherwise occupied battalion to cross the Night Sea.”

I couldn’t keep from looking at Dade. He merely glanced my way before giving his attention back to Rorn.

I should have told him.

He’d always known, but I’d thought if he’d never known exactly who I was then there would never be any real issue.

Guilt nicked at my chest.

All those lives lost and altered. It was not my fault, I knew that. For I never would have expected anyone besides Rorn himself to come for me. If I had expected an army, then I’d have spoken.

I might not have been the sole reason for their attack on Vordane, but I had been the determining factor when the kingdom of Errin had put the call out to neighboring continents for aid in defeating Dade and our legions.

“But it’s not only the true heir that these humans seek.” Opal broke the stilted silence carefully. “It’s every member of your family. It’s your family’s kingdom. It’s this entire isle. It’s the extinction of faeries from a land they deem as theirs. You cannot hope to keep fighting them at all without more assistance, and this will help you. These wards will provide you with the opportunity to better ready yourselves and therefore protect your people.”

Aster was still looking at Rorn—staring at him with her fingers curled into her palms and her chin trembling.

Rorn tore his gaze from her and gave it to Opal with a rough exhale. “What we need is that Marvis’s head on a pike.”

“And have you tried as much?” Dade said, knowing full well this king had not.