How to Save a Fae (Heir of Dragons Book 2)

Mau. The enormous felid stole a glance at her, and without even tapping into their telepathic connection seemed to know what was on Minx's mind. You've been up there awhile. Maybe you could use a break, Minx...
I'm fine, the Fae huntress was quick to reply. There may be more on the way soon. They've been relentless today. She wasn't eager for more combat. Her arms and fingers ached for the constant bow work of recent days. Continuing her surveillance atop the wall made it easier for her to shift focus away from the things that really bothered her, however. She could live with sore muscles and calloused fingers. What she couldn't abide was the sadness that threatened to overtake her whenever she found herself alone with time to think.
A medical tent had been set up in the main square, across from the barred front gate, to care for the wounded Fae warriors. During the first few days, only a few of the beds within the structure had been filled. Now, nearly half of them were occupied by her war-ravaged allies. Daily casualty numbers remained low; indeed, the High Council spent a good deal of time congratulating the territory defense forces and highlighting the fact that the enemy's death toll was far higher. But those on the High Council rarely fought on the front lines like she did, and they didn't see what the remnants of the dark army routinely did to her people.
Just two days before, Minx had watched a young, inexperienced lancer wander too far from the walls in a survey of the surrounding woods. The sun had been setting, infusing the land with shadow and giving the enemy forces a good deal of cover. While poking around, he'd been ambushed by three Krah warriors, who'd wasted no time in beating him to death. Minx had managed to snipe one and to scare off the other two, but the damage had been done.
One by one, the Fae would continue to lose warriors in exactly this fashion. Their forces would dwindle before too long, and the enemy, eventually, would overpower them. It was a mathematical certainty.
And this time, no dragon would be by to save them.
Over the past few weeks, she had received visions in the night from Heilo Lake, the precious site deep in Fae territory that her kind were solemnly tasked with protecting. The Lake reached out to her most often in dreams, but had also begun speaking to her in waking life. Its messages were always the same.
The light of the lake will be snuffed out. You must gather a dragon's hide before Torrent does.
Things would have been much easier had Minx simply accomplished the mission she'd originally been given. The delivery of a dragon's hide to the Elders would have been as neat and tidy an end to things as one could ask for. With such a hide, the warding spells around Pandling Grounds and Heilo Lake could be reinforced, protecting the Fae against aggressive outsiders. Even at that very moment, as she patrolled the wall and repelled invaders, the protective wards were failing. There was no telling how long they would last without a fresh dragon's hide, and tensions within the community were running high as a result of this gradual weakening. Sometimes, especially when her sadness got the better of her, she wished she'd simply gone along with it.
The Fae Elders had arranged a handful of meetings with her in the weeks since the great battle had taken place. Because the previous effort had ultimately been victorious, she was not charged with any crime for allowing dragons of the Talon Range to temporarily access the Lake, but was consistently urged to live up to her title—that of Dragon Hunter—and reembark on a quest to claim a dragon's hide.
And each time, her answer was the same.
“No,” she'd told them numerous times. “My conscience won't allow it. After all the progress we've made with the dragons, I can't just kill one. They risked their lives to help us, and this is how you'd repay them?”
Her refusal was understood; in fact, some even sympathized with her position and lamented the situation. The Lake and the Elders weren't going to take “no” for an answer forever, though. They wanted a hide and didn't care what relationships were destroyed in the process of procuring one. As far as they were concerned, the dragons were expendable outsiders and could never be true equals to the Fae. Their assistance in battle had been much appreciated, but it was not something any of the Elders were willing to rely on moving forward.
“And where, I wonder, are the dragons now?” one of the Elders had asked her during a recent meeting. “Our people are still being preyed upon by remnants of the dark army, are they not? If the dragons are truly our allies, then why haven't they sent more aid? You see, Minx? You aren't thinking clearly. Your personal feelings have clouded your judgement in this matter. If the dragons were truly dependable friends, then they would come to our aid at any hour. But where are they? Scurrying around in their distant mountain, perhaps?”
To this, Minx had been unable to give a good answer. The dragons were largely uninterested in a peaceful, cooperative relationship with the Fae. Kaleb's own father had said as much, and she recalled with annoyance the disdain many of the Talon Guard generals had felt toward her kind. They had helped turn the tide of the great battle, it was true, but their participation had amounted to little more than a fluke. They weren't allies that the Fae could rely on, and Minx knew it.
She hoped, of course, that things would change. With Kaleb at her side, she'd seen firsthand what was possible when dragons and Fae worked together. Kaleb's optimism had driven him to appeal to the leaders of the Talon Range guard for assistance, and he, too, insisted that the two races could enjoy a