Page 81 of The Crowned Queen

Araya snorted, tossing the cloth back down on the table. “It must be nice to be able to lie.”

“Exaggerate, maybe,” Serafina said, her lips twitching. But her face was serious as she continued, “He…struggled. With losing you. It was hard on him.”

Araya stared down at the table, stroking the little shadow still wound around her wrist. “It was harder on me.”

“I’m sure it was,” Serafina said quietly.

For a moment, neither of them spoke again, the silence only broken by the crackle of the fire in the hearth.

“I don’t have to give him the details of your recovery,” Serafina said finally. “And you don’t have to stay cooped up in here all day if you don’t want to. In fact, it would be good for you to get outside a bit.”

“And do what?” Araya sighed, taking a deep drink of her cooling tea. “He’ll just be right on my heels the whole time.”

“Not if you’re with the others,” Serafina suggested. “The fae that came with us from Farhallow like to train in the mornings. I’m sure they would be glad to have you.”

Araya bit her lip, turning the cup slowly between her palms. She had heard them in the mornings—their bright laughter and conversation ringing out as they passed by the boarded-up window of the dark den she shared with Loren. He might have charmed them enough to convince them to follow him here, but whatever they had heard about her…

Well, Araya doubted they were impressed with the choices she’d made in her life. What use would they have for someone who had sold herself to escape the horrors they had lived with every day?

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

Loren strode across the clearing, not bothering to wait for Kai as the human mage scrambled to keep up. The shadows lashed his legs, their hissed admonishments echoing in his ears.

He should have done more. Should have protected her.

He didn’t pause as he passed the others, gathered in a tight knot around the cook fire. Conversation faltered as he stormed by, but Loren didn’t slow. All he could hear were the shadows, their litany of accusations beating against his mind like a relentless drum as he stormed through the trees, camp falling away behind them. He’d let that human touch her. Let him hurt her⁠—

Loren stopped, whirling so suddenly that Kai nearly walked right into him. “Did you know?” he demanded.

Kai’s throat worked, his gaze flicking from Loren to the writhing at his back. They were all alone out here—Loren could kill him faster than anyone could get here to help. “I knew it was a possibility,” he said carefully. “Araya and I talked about the risks.”

“You should have talked to me about it,” Loren spat.

“Why?” Kai asked. “So you could overrule her?” He crossed his arms, standing his ground even as the shadows writhed and spat, stirring the leaf litter into a storm around Loren’s feet. “It was her decision. She’s the one who had to endure it. And she’s the one who has to live with it now.”

“And whose fault is that?” Loren demanded. “If you hadn’t held her down and taken away her autonomy⁠—”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Jaxon Shaw’s fault,” a dry voice cut in. “Or his father’s, maybe. Certainly no one here.”

Loren’s shadows hissed, recoiling as Finn stepped between them, his footsteps crunching through the thick layer of fallen leaves. The other male cast a disinterested glance at them, cocking an eyebrow at Loren.

“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on here?” he asked. “Or do I need to go find Serafina?”

“No,” Loren ground out. “We need to talk. The three of us—no one else.” He glared at Kai. “Tell him what happened.”

Kai scowled right back at him. “Araya asked me to evaluate her runes to see if I could remove the sor’vael,” he said. “But it’s been on her for too long. When I touched it, it lashed out. Defended itself. At her expense.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “Is she alright?”

“She’s with Serafina,” Loren said, his voice low. He could still hear the crack of her teeth snapping shut, trapping her scream in her throat as her body arched in his arms, every muscle locking at once. “If Jaxon Shaw is tracking her, the best thing we can do is get her as far away from him as possible⁠—”

“But we already knew the Arcanum was tracking her,” Finn interrupted gently. “We’ve been safe here so far because they haven’t been willing to risk coming into the forest after her. If you take her back to Aetheris she loses that protection.”

“I don’t want to take her to Aetheris,” Loren bit out. How could they not understand why this was so important? “I want to make a plan to get her back to Eluneth.”