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“Silver isn’t his father. He’s trying to make things better.”

“And how long will it take him?” Seamus spat. “Think you’ll be around to see it? I don’t know if any of us will. You’ve heard the song, now the banshees are slipping into your world.”

“So it was a banshee.”

“Yes.”

Something flickered in Seamus’s eyes. He looked almost sad.

“What is it? What’s coming?”

Seamus lowered his head. After a slow shake of it, he said, “I don’t exactly know. It’s older than me, but I can feel it in my bones. I’ve heard the song. It’s a warning. I don’t know what it is, what’s down there, but I know it could unmake us all.”

“We need to understand it, at least name it. Then maybe we can fight it or at least stop it.”

“You’re the one with friends above. Why don’t you go ask them?”

Seamus pointed his chin in the direction of what Adam assumed was north, to the watchtower where the King of Swords kept his court.

Adam followed Seamus’s gaze. If he looked with his Sight, and squinted, he’d see the tower’s light.

“They won’t talk about it, at least not to me.”

“And you wonder why I hate them.” Seamus paused again for a long while before saying, “The Lost Ones might know something. I’ve offered them sanctuary.”

“In your territory?”

“Someone had to. They couldn’t stay in the park where they were. It goes up in flames every day.”

Adam had seen it. Silver had been protecting the Lost Ones sheltering there, sending a daily blizzard to calm the flames, a gesture that hadn’t been appreciated.

“Your pretty king wouldn’t do it,” Seamus continued. “He’s got his fancy gates to keep the riffraff out.”

More like to protect him from the assassins gunning for him, Adam thought, but he didn’t say it. Seamus was in a mood to argue, and Adam wasn’t.

“It’s kind of you to give them a place.”

Seamus nodded. “There’s more of them than ever before. They came here for the Wolf, but then he stopped coming around. He promised to lead them to paradise. Some of them are getting restless. A cult without a leader is a dangerous thing, Binder.”

Adam fought a grimace. The Red Wolf had stopped appearing to his followers because Adam had killed him in the Between. The Wolf had wanted to use the Lost Ones as an army, to invade Alfheimr and force the elves down to everyone else’s level. Adam couldn’t let him do it, not to the elves and not to the Lost Ones. Silver’s people would have wiped them out.

“Why are you here, Seamus?”

“Why are you giving out food you probably need?”

“We can afford it.” Adam shrugged. “These people can’t.”

“Exactly. You care about something other than your power, your own survival, unlike your elves. I want you to find out what’s coming. Like I said, I offered the Lost Ones sanctuary, but they don’t trust immortals.”

“So what are you proposing?”

“A trade. You go to talk to the Lost Ones. I’ll see what I can turn up about your missing human souls. If they’re on the market, I can find out who’s selling them.”

Adam considered it. It wasn’t a bad idea. Seamus moved on the shady side when it came to immortal deals. He had contacts far beyond Adam’s.

“What do you want me to talk to the Lost Ones about?”

“Take their temperature. Find out if they’re planning something, and if so, what.”