Ahead of me, Des stands very, very still. Even though I can’t see his face, I swear I can sense his despair. The numbers were against us when it was just the sleeping women attacking. With the men, they’re insurmountable.

The soldiers begin to break ranks, fanning out to attack anything that lives.

I’m one of those things. So is Des, and so are the few fairies scattered around us who’ve decided to stay and fight.

The Bargainer gives a rallying cry, and then disappears, reappearing in the middle of the sleeping soldiers long enough to deal out death before disappearing and reappearing again.

He glances over his shoulder at me, his eyes wild. “Hide yourself, Callie!” he cries, as soldiers close in from him on all sides.

I don’t have the will to move or the fear to flee. Even my siren is quiet. She won’t whisper the truth.

We can’t possibly win this.

There are a handful of soldiers for every one of us, and those odds are only worsening as more sleeping soldiers spill out from the portal. And once they’re done with us, they’ll move on to other fairies, perhaps until none are left standing.

This is no battle; it’s a butchery.

And I don’t want to bear witness to it anymore.

“Stop,” I whisper, my voice harmonizing as the battle unfolds. I blink as my vision blurs. Already, soldiers have caught sight of my glowing skin; they’re sprinting towards me, weapons brandished, as though I’m some great and terrible threat.

The sleeping men begin hacking into what loyal soldiers and civilians remain standing, cutting them down in seconds.

“Stop,” I say, louder.

No one’s listening. Of course they’re not. They have more important things to do—like trying to stay alive.

But I can’t leave it alone. I’m coming apart, and this might be the time that does me in for good.

“STOP!” I shriek, like a mad woman.

To my wonder, they do exactly that.

Weapons stop clashing, fairies stop moving—everything goes utterly and absolutely still.

I touch my throat.

Naw.

I look at the Night fairy nearest me, who’s only yards away. His foot is lifted as he stands frozen mid-stride, blade in hand, his face intensely focused on me. Even from here I can smell the foul odor coming off of his clothes, the scent like Death decided to go dumpster diving.

“You,” I say, pointing to the soldier. “Give me your sword,” I demand, opening my palm.

The fairy unfreezes and sedately walks over to me before handing me his weapon.

My fingers close over the sword’s hilt, and a wicked smile blossoms on my face.

I can fucking glamour fairies.

Hold onto your tits, world. Callie. Is. Back.

Chapter 5

I can freaking glamour fairies.

Before I drank lilac wine, that wasn’t the case. I should’ve realized the elixir reconfigured this aspect of my magic as well as the others.

My eyes move to my mate. To my shock and horror (and maybe a smidge of delight)—he’s also frozen.

“Des!” I call, my voice melodic with my power. “Come here.”

The Bargainer vanishes, reappearing at my side an instant later, an eyebrow arched. Other than that, he’s placid—all except for his eyes. His silver eyes sparkle in a way that is wickedly excited.

“I release you from my glamour,” I say.

I’ve clearly gotten rusty on this whole glamour thing, because it’s not just Des who follows my command. A few sleeping soldiers, including the one who just handed over his blade, now jump back into action.

Honestly, Callie, newbie mistake right there.

Des is on the soldiers in an instant, cutting them down with his sword before they get a chance to strike.

Once they’ve been dealt with, the Night King rolls his shoulders, as if to shake off my magic. “So, that’s how it feels to be glamoured by a siren,” he says, the corner of his mouth curving up just the slightest, “like I’ve been caught by my balls.” He comes in close, his smirk growing. “The whole thing was horribly invasive. I rather enjoyed it.”

The conversation is so vastly inappropriate and out of place that I let out a laugh, the sound melodic.

His eyes move over my glowing features. “Beautiful creature,” he murmurs. “You were irresistible before.” He reaches out with a hand, grazing my jaw with his knuckles. “I don’t quite know what to do with myself now.”

Des leans in and kisses me, his lips lingering.

The sound of heavy footfalls breaks the spell.

I draw away from the Bargainer, turning towards the portal. More sleeping soldiers are marching through.

“Soldiers, stop!” I say, my magic thick in my voice.

The sleeping soldiers halt in place, their bodies filling up the doorway.

“You’ve done it, cherub,” Des says, surveying the prone fairies. “You’ve become someone to fear.”

Chapter 6

It takes several hours, but eventually I manage to incapacitate all the psycho sleeping soldiers and the casket children who were wreaking havoc on Somnia.

By the looks of it, the soldiers were staging a political coup, Excuse me, a failed political coup.

Thank you, glamour.

We round the guilty up, remove their weapons, and lock them in the dungeons. Right now my glamour is making them placid, but once it wears off in a day or two, their bloodthirsty tendencies will return.

Now Des and I head through the palace towards the dungeons. I open and close my palms as we go. I’m a little nervous, which is ridiculous. What I’m about to do was my idea.

The fairies we pass stare at me. My skin has long since stopped glowing, so I know it’s not the siren drawing their eyes.

“Why are they looking at me?” I finally ask Des.

He pauses to glance at me, then at the them in question.

“You really don’t know?” Des asks, raising an eyebrow, his gaze returning to mine.

I shake my head.

“Cherub,” he says, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips, “you’re the enchantress who stopped an army. The human who has the power to ensnare their will if she should choose to. They are awed and afraid of you, which is the highest compliment a Night fae can give you.”

Eventually, we leave the curious eyes behind, descending down the same staircase we took only hours ago, back when Des released the bog.

The two of us stop at the familiar hammered bronze door.

With a brush of Des’s magic, the door swings open, revealing a long hallway that descends into darkness, the wall sconces not quite able to beat back the shadows.

Inside, armed soldiers (these ones not possessed with the unholy desire to bash in as many brains as possible) somberly escort us down the hall.

By the time we arrive at the dungeon proper, we’re deep beneath the castle. I can feel the walls of this place pressing in from all sides, the sensation reminding me of when I was Karnon’s prisoner, trapped in one of his many subterranean cells.

I take a deep breath. Pretty sure that experience has given me claustrophobia for life.

The sleeping soldiers are crammed into dozens and dozens of cells, and even though hundreds of them were killed, there’s almost not enough room for the ones that remain.

As we pass by the cells, I note that the fairies are still caught in the hold of my glamour. They stare straight ahead, their faces impassive.

Don’t know what’s creepier, their true nature or this catatonic state they’ve fallen into.