The Changeling Read Online Free PDF Page B

form, but I promise you, I know each and every Unseelie who fought with us. Cassandra was not among them. She is very old, nearly five-hundred thousand years, and Air inclined. She could have snapped though your shield in a moment.”
    I didn’t like hearing that she was older and more powerful than any I’d faced—it made me feel vulnerable. Considering what Billy said for a moment, I searched my memories and couldn’t remember seeing her on the shore, but I knew she was in the clearing. There were forty-nine of them in the clearing and forty-nine on the shore, but I hadn’t thought to memorize every face.
    Even though the Fae are capable of taking any form they desire, my gut was telling me she was one and the same.
    “Is she older than either of you?”
    “It’s rude to ask a lady her age.” Sara shot me an amused look.
    “Oh…um, sorry.”
    “I’m kidding, of course,” Sara said. “She and I are approximately the same age, give or take a hundred years. If I read the meaning of your question correctly, we are evenly matched in ability, though I have spent more time in physical form and am, theoretically, more powerful.,”
    Billy nodded his head. “I’m not as old. I rud a aireachtáil bheith , became conscious of existence, slightly before Gavin did, but he is more powerful. None of the Fae who were on the island that night are older than one hundred thousand years, including Chalen. Many are not half that old. The point is, Cassandra could have pierced your shield with relative ease—keep that in mind.”
    “Oh, thanks, just rip my piece of mind to shreds why don’t you.”
    Billy laughed, or rather the form he’d taken, a blue-tailed skink perched on the fireplace, laughed. “I will work with you to strengthen your shield, and given the likely case of misidentification with Cassandra, I think your training should also focus on learning to recognize individual Fae, especially given our propensity to take forms freely.”
    Misidentification? A part of me wanted to challenge him on that point, but arguing with Sara and Billy wasn’t going to get me anywhere. They were as intransigent as always and hadn’t learned to trust my instincts. So I dropped the subject.
    “Billy, no human has ever learned to identify us in our natural form. It may not be possible for her.”
    “I know, Sara, but she has greater skill at isolating individual Fae than any human I’ve ever encountered. It is simply a matter of expanding on what she can already do, of learning our nuances. You and I do it intuitively, and if any human is capable, it would be Maggie.”
    “That is true, actually. I’m ashamed to admit I’d not considered it.”
    He chuckled. “That’s why I’m her Treoraí.”
    Sara rolled her black eyes and offered a reluctant smile. “Perhaps I should work with her on the shield—that is my specialty after all. If she can learn to resist me, Cassandra shouldn’t pose too much difficulty.”
    “If you think that’s best.” Billy said, despondently.
    “Don’t be glum Billy, it was your idea .” Her words dripp ed with sarcasm.
    For the first time in my life, I witnessed a lizard give someone a dirty look and I cackled.
    “Thanks. I’m going check on Drevek and then go to bed. I’m exhausted.”
    “Do you want one of us to go with you ? ” Sara asked with a concerned look on her face.
    “No, I’ll be all right. He’s no danger to me.”
    Her eyebrows raised. “It’s not you we’re worried about.”
    I laughed again. “Not necessary. I promise I’ll be on my best behavior. Can we continue this conversation, soon ? There’s still a lot about you I don’t know, and since I’m in a holding pattern for a year I think it’s high time that changes.”
    “Of course, soon. I promise,” said the skink.
    Drevek had dark circles under his eyes, and he appeared to be losing weight. It was hard to look at him because I knew in my gut he was a surrogate displaying Mitch’s condition. After I