"You summoned me."

"I meant why you, a wraith, un-bound of the Seventh Court and part-human, are here."

"That, I don't know," I said honestly.

"Blackbird has told you, I'm sure, that the Seventh Court are not known for a.s.sociating with humans. "

"The fact I'm here means someone has been playing away from home, though, doesn't it? "

"Not necessarily. "

"How else do you explain it?"

"There was a time, long ago, when the Feyre were not as you see us today. Each of us here holds a strand of that thread. Teoth, there, holds the office of High Maker, held only by the luchorpan and the nixies. Mellion is the Hordemaster, ruler of all the goblins and gnolls of the Goblin Court. These boundaries were made, though. They did not appear by accident. "

"What does that have to do with me?"

"We, in this room, made a decision some time ago, to allow our bloodlines to mix with those of humanity and repair the damage that was done. We allowed, and in some cases even encouraged, a liaison between the races."

"I know. That's why the Seventh Court rebelled."

"The Feyre has become more and more specialised as certain traits only manifest themselves inside a single court. It has made us fragile."

"You don't appear fragile to me."

"I don't mean fragile as individuals. I mean as a race. We have lost the ability to reproduce because parts of our make-up have become unstable. "

"But breeding with humans fixes that?"

"We took a calculated risk. We have known for a long time that the union between Feyre and Human was fertile and had the potential to restore the fertility lost to us. Humans spread like moss on a damp tree. If we could acquire some of their fecundity then we would be restored. That was a prize worth the taking. Human blood has the missing pieces, as far as we are concerned. You are a demonstration of that. You already have a daughter and there's another child on the way. "

"Blackbird told you?"

"We already knew. The prospect of a birth is important news amongst the courts of the Feyre. "

"Then you asked me here to congratulate me?"

The answer was not a warm one. "The nature of the babe is uncertain."

"You mean it could turn out like me, wraithkin, rather than like Blackbird."

"It's more complicated than that. When we mixed our bloodlines with humanity, the capacity to have children was not the only thing altered. It was the risk we took when we allowed it. "

"What else changed?"

"The Feyre are defined by physical form. Fey'ree are small and delicate like Yonna here," she gestured to the pale, slim figure with the green eyes, "whereas ogres like Barthia are much larger and stronger." She gestured to the huge woman, who accepted the compliment with a nod.

I looked back at Yonna. I could see now the resemblance from when Blackbird had transformed herself in the room above the inn, when we were in Shropshire. The pale skin and the way the eyes were elongated. "I am Fey'ree," she'd told me. "A creature of Fire and Air." Kimlesh continued. "Humans, though, do not inherit the full form of the Feyre. They can acquire aspects of it, of course, and some are more Fey than others, but none are quite like us. "

"Is that a problem?"

"It makes it much harder to determine what gifts they have inherited, especially as human blood adds its own twist, bringing forth gifts that were formerly dormant. "

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your Fey forebear could have come from any court, not just that of Altair, our missing brother. Your human blood threw the dice and you are the result. Just because you are wraithkin and Blackbird is Fey'ree does not mean your child will be one or the other. Human heredity has thrown us back into the hands of fortune. Your daughter, Alexandra, could take after any of us. As could your unborn son. "

"My son? It's a boy?"

"Did Kareesh not tell you? Yes, if Blackbird survives to deliver him, you will have a son. Be warned, though, birth among the Feyre is a hazardous business. Blackbird must be careful. "

"I'll look after her."

"You?" It was the first time the feral man in the red shirt had spoken. "You're not leaving this room."

Thirty.

Teoth broke the silence that followed that remark.

"Unfortunately, Krane is right. We cannot allow you to leave."

"I'm sorry? Why not?"