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He lets me cry.
And then he’s gone. I feel him move away from me, hear him dressing. I sink down into the chair, turn around, then rise to my feet.
When I’m dressed too, and we’re staring at each other in silence, I realise – perhaps for the first time – that he is not as beautiful as I thought he was.
He is flawed.
In all ways.
And for a terrifying moment the hate in my heart becomes softer around its edges.
Eldrion frowns at me, then runs a hand through his hair, his brow furrowed. “Whatever Finn has become, he’s dangerous. And he’s angry. At both of us.”
“Not just us.” I roll up my sleeves, then pick up the boots Briony gave me and pull them onto my feet. “He is furious with every Sunborne fae in the city. Furious with Luminael itself.”
“So what’s his next move?” Eldrion asks, pacing the room. This time, when he looks at me, it’s as if we are equals and he genuinely needs to know my answer.
“I don’t know. But—” a violent shock of pain hits me between the eyes and I stumble backwards. Bright light fills my vision, blinding me, then solidifying into something else.
The forest.
The campfire, the leaves, the canopy above. But it is darkening. Smoke curls around the trees. No, not smoke – shadows.
Then, in the darkness... red, blinking eyes. Black wings. Screams, shadows, wings.
“Alana!” Eldrion’s voice shakes me back to reality. His hands are on my shoulders, gripping me tightly, and he’s staring with wide, worried eyes. “What did you see?” he barks.
“We have to warn the others.” I can barely speak. Fear has its clammy hand over my mouth, pressing the words back down into my throat.
“Others?”
“Finn. He’s going to kill them.”
“Who?” Eldrion steps back from me, frowning.
“The Shadowkind and the Leafborne. I saw him. In the forest with them...” I hesitate but force myself to trust Eldrion. Because, right now, I have no other choice. “They’re hiding in the forest north of the city. Behind a shield. But Finn can get past it. They’ll let him back in, and he’ll?—”
Eldrion nods slowly and steeples his fingers together. “We might be too late,” he says gravely. “But we’ll try.”
FOUR
Finn
Imaterialise on the edge of the forest. From here, the ancient oak trees stretch up towards the brightening sky like sentinels guarding old and precious secrets.
Behind me, the sky above Eldrion’s castle is still dark. Here, it is pale blue, kissed with delicate white clouds.
How deceptive. How ironic.
Calling to me from deep inside the forest, I can feel the energy of the Leafborne and the Shadowkind. I sense them. It swells from beneath the canopy, and makes me wonder how no one found us while we were here.
I pass through the shield with ease, sighing with pleasure as I draw closer to the camp.
As I move, the shadows move with me. They did not do this for Eldrion. They did not bind themselves to his form and shift with him as he walked. For me, they do.
Because they were always meant to be mine.
Just like Alana was always meant to be mine.
