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I pull her towards me and breathe her in. I have never had a true friend before. Not until now. She is the one constant in everything that is happening. “Thank you,” I whisper.
Briony pulls back, still holding on to my upper arms. “Promise me we’ll stick together,” she says. “Promise we have each other, Alana, because if we don’t...”
“You don’t want to go with him and the others?” The question leaves my mouth before I’ve really thought it through, and causes Briony to frown at me and shake her head.
“Of course I don’t want to go with him,” she says. “I don’t want to see him again. Ever. And I certainly don’t want any part of what he’s planning.”
“I’m sorry.” I inhale slowly and hold the breath in my lungs. “I know. I’m sorry.”
Briony squeezes my hand. “You should go clean up. Take a minute. Then come and see Raine.”
I am about to head back inside when I realise I don’t really know where I should be going. Are my chambers still my own?
I am still trying to decide when Eldrion clatters into the courtyard, his horse’s hooves heavy and urgent. He swings down while she is still in motion, and spins around quickly.
Behind him, a group of Sunborne fae enter the courtyard.
“My lord.” A woman at the front of the group dips into a curtsey, then looks up at the sky. She is polite, but the expression on her face says she will not be dismissed without answers. “What exactly is happening here?”
TEN
Eldrion
Suranna, the Sunborne who has been trying to flirt me into marriage for the past two hundred years, approaches with a quiet confidence. There was a time when I found her attractive, but that was before I realised there was absolutely nothing behind her eyes.
No humour, no fight, no spirit.
She is all poise and grace, and it is terribly fucking boring.
But now, as her eyes turn to the sky above the castle, her facade cracks a little. Not to show anything worthy of intrigue, but to show a flicker of some emotion at least.
Even if it is fear.
“What happened here, Eldrion?” she asks, her voice cool and smooth. Honey on snow. “We all saw the clouds gather. We felt something shift. There are rumours that a...” She hesitates, glances at the Shadowkind guards and servants who are moving through the courtyard, and lowers her voice. “There are rumours that a demon was seen in the sky. Everyone is in hiding, my lord. Only a few of us dared even leave our houses to come and speak to you.”
I roll my tongue over my teeth.
Alana had been about to walk away from me, but she is still here. Watching. Her arm hooked in Briony’s as if they are sisters or, at the very least, friends who have known each other so long they have become family.
“There was an incident, but it is under control, Suranna.”
Suranna tucks a strand of jet-black hair behind her ear. Her dark skin glows in the sunlight, and the way she chews her lower lip reminds me why I found her so attractive when we first met.
“I am not going to be dismissed with meaningless answers,” she says firmly. Behind her, a few others speak up.
If there is one thing Sunborne do well, it is composure. We hold ourselves above all others, and it is something we carry on our shoulder as we move through the world – the calming knowledge that we are the most powerful creatures in the kingdom.
What will happen if they learn this is no longer the case? Because, undoubtedly, at this moment Finn is stronger than them.
He took my power and he amplified it.
And if they realise I am powerless, except for a useless ability to see flashes of a future that may or may not come to pass, will they still want me as their leader? Or will they elect another?
A sensation I can’t name settles beneath my skin.
I will not lose my throne to these people. Not after everything I’ve sacrificed trying to keep the kingdom safe.
I draw back my shoulders, keeping my wings pinned at my back because if she sees them, she really will know that I am lying.
