I raised a brow as I tucked the bushy mass of hair behind my ears. I had a feeling what she was saying was going to be important later, but right now, it wasn’t a priority. Later, I was going to have so many questions for her. “So you’re going to help me escape?”

She nodded. “And before you ask why, all you need to know right now is that the Order is not the only ones who want to prevent the gates from opening.”

I stared at her carefully. Trusting her was risky, but then again, why would this be a trap? And if it was, could the consequences be any worse than what I was already facing?

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

“I couldn’t get a thorn stake.” She reached around to the back of her jeans and pulled out an iron dagger. She pressed the handle into my hand. “But this will do.”

My fingers curled around the handle of the weapon I was oh so familiar with. It felt like ages since I had held one, and I welcomed the weight in my hand. “It will do,” I said as she reached for the door. I thought about something. “Wait.”

She looked at me.

Grabbing a handful of the dress, I lifted the skirt part and used the dagger to cut a slit halfway up my leg to allow for more movement. “Ready,” I said.

Faye grabbed the doorknob but paused. “I won’t kill any of them,” she warned me. “I will incapacitate, but I will not kill.”

I thought about that for a second. “Okay. I’m probably going to kill them, though.”

She made an exasperated sound, but opened the door and peered out. “It’s clear.”

Knowing this could somehow blow up in my face, but willing to risk it for a chance to get out of this place, I took a deep breath and pushed everything aside. Now was not the time to think about what I’d been forced to do while being imprisoned here, or about Ren, or anything other than escaping.

I followed her out into the hall, and we made our way to the stairs. At the top, she said in a low voice, “There are three fae downstairs in the main room. There are more in the house, but I hope we can get out before they know what’s happening. Valor is . . . he is occupied at the moment in the back room.”

Knowing what the back room was used for, I couldn’t suppress a shudder. “Can you incapacitate quietly? Because I can kill quietly.”

“Yes.”

I looked down the stairs, not seeing anyone yet. “Let’s go.”

We crept down the stairs, and of course the steps creaked every couple of steps, sounding like cracks of thunder. The truth was, I wasn’t sure how quietly I could kill. I had never really attempted to do it without making noise.

Faye reached the landing first. We were about twenty feet from the front door, and we were so close, but the foyer opened into two rooms. There was a good chance we’d be seen. My pulse pounding, I stepped down into the foyer, pressing the dagger against my leg. I took two steps before a voice rang out from the adjoining room.

“Where are you two going?”

Cursing under my breath, I looked over to see a male fae walking toward us with another fae behind him. Faye didn’t answer, so I decided to go the “whole kill me some fae” route.

I stepped toward the male. A flicker of surprise scuttled across his features a second before I slammed the dagger into his chest. He did the poof-begone thing.

“What the hell?” The second fae charged toward me, but Faye intercepted him. Spinning gracefully, she dipped behind him and caught his arm, easily flipping him onto his back. She twisted as she went down, snapping bone. The fae screamed. There went being quiet.

“Sorry,” Faye said a second before snapping the fae’s neck. Damn, she was a beast.

Snapping a fae’s neck wouldn’t kill them, but it would definitely take them out of the equation for a bit. I darted past her and threw open the front door. She was right behind me.

The cold night air greeted us. So did the third fae, who was outside smoking.

She spotted us, and as she turned, she flicked her cigarette off the porch and rushed us. I easily side-stepped her and jerked my arm back, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

“You don’t need to kill her,” Faye cried out. “They don’t know any better.”

“Not kill her?” I ducked as the female swung at me. “Oh, we’re really going to have to talk about the whole ‘they don’t know any better’ part later.”

Shifting onto my back leg, I spun and delivered a kick that sent the female flying into the porch railing. Wood splintered and gave way. Arms pinwheeling, she fell backward, off the porch.

Not so graceful then.

Charging forward, I hopped off the porch and picked up a long piece of splintered railing. I could have taken her out right then, and I wasn’t even sure why I felt I should try to follow Faye’s wishes, but she was helping me. Hopefully.

The female fae started to sit up, but I swung down, using the railing to impale her to the ground. Blood spurted, and as she opened her mouth to scream bloody murder, I knocked her out with an elbow jab to the temple.

I stood up, tossing my hair back.

Faye gaped at me.

“What?” I demanded. “It won’t kill her.”

She slowly shook her head. “We need to go down the driveway. Leads to a road about a mile out. We’re going to cross it and keep going. Okay?”

A mile out? God, I hated running. But I also hated being forced to do things against my will, so I’d run five miles if I had to. It might kill me, but I would do it.

The cracked pavement was cold under my bare feet as we ran with only the moonlight and stars to guide us. Faye was faster, staying several feet in front of me. Hope was welling up in my chest. We were almost to the woods, and then we’d be out of sight of the house and close to the road. We’d be closer to—