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PROLOGUE

FALL

Irial watched the girl stroll up the street: she was a bundle of terror and fury He stayed in the shadows of the alley outside the tattoo parlor, but his gaze didn’t waver froarette

He stepped out just as she passed

Her pulser her skin when she saw hi away, bold despite the shadows that clung to her—and e were spelled out in an ogham inscription surrounded by spirals and knots that eous Rabbit’s work?”

He nodded and walked the reirl kept pace with him

“I’ soon I just don’t knohat yet” She looked defiant as she said this When he didn’t reply, she added, “I’m Leslie”

“Irial” He watched her struggle and fail to findfor soood fun, but he was here for business, not collecting trinkets, so he kept silent as he opened the door of Pins and Needles for her

Inside the tattoo shop, Leslie wandered away to talk to a dark-haired girl atching them warily There were others in the shop, but only the dark-haired girl mattered Because he’d o, Irial knew exactly who she was: the

And soon

Irial had felt it the moment Keenan had chosen her, had stolen her e was co would be unbound—and able to strike out at those who’d trapped him—true as a possibility for the first time in centuries Unfortunately, so was too much order

“Spare a moment, Rabbit?” Irial asked, but it was a forht not be wholly fey, but he wouldn’t turn down the king of the Dark Court, not now, not ever

“Come on back,” Rabbit said

Irial trailed his hands over one of the steel-framed jewelry cabinets as he passed, well aware that Leslie’s attention was still on hilass vials—blood and tears of the Dark Court “I need the ink exchanges to work sooner than we’d planned We’re out of time”

“The fey ht”—Rabbit paused and rephrased it—“it could kill the well”