“I am asking nothing of you, Ginny.” The order is clear in my voice, but if she begs me again, I will demand it plainly. Her face falls, and I know she understands my words for what they are. She twists her hands in front of her, bowing her head in reluctance. I hate doing this, but I see no other option. I will not risk any of my friends or the family I have left.
“I’ll write a letter for you to give to them. They will only read it once I am gone.”
“I hope it is not too bold to ask… But where are you going?”
“It is too bold.” She flinches at the bite in my words, but I urge steel into my spine and the same coldness of the metal into my face. At this moment, it’s necessary that she feels the warning I’m giving. Standing from the bed, the night dress they’ve fitted me in drops from where it’s bunched in the bed and dusts the cold stone floor that is biting at the bottoms of my bare feet. “I need you to go to myroom and retrieve my scalemail, leathers, and a cloak. Be discreet, Ginny. No one can know that I am awake, much less leave before they even know.” I rest my hand on her shoulder, causing her to stand a little straighter.
“Yes, my queen.” Her chin dips before she leaves the room. The door clicking shut softly behind her.
Turning to the mirror on the wall, I shake my hair loose from the pleat it’s falling from and immediately return it to its rope, securing the pieces that had fallen out while I slept. I let it hang down my back, ready for whatever comes next. Holding my shoulders back and lifting my chin high, I try to see myself for the queen I am, but all I see is the pain in my eyes. The dark crescents under them, and rosy tear-streaked cheeks on my face.
“You are the queen you are meant to be, Raelle.” I jump at the rumbling voice that creeps from the shadows of the room. Spinning around as the cloaked figure steps out of the darkness toward me, my breath catches. “I thought you would have learned by now that I’ve made it my mission to keep you safe—even from yourself. I won’t allow what happened before to repeat itself.” His rough voice nearly echoes through the quiet of the room, even as his words are merely a whisper.
“You mean when youstolemy memories? Planned to kidnap me? What did you plan to do with me if you were to get me back then, Alaric?” He steps closer, his eyes unreadable as mine flick between the two familiar, dark gold-flecked depths.
“You remember?” He tilts his head, waiting for my response.
“I remember—everything.”
“Good. Then meet me in the trees, and we will leave together. You are not doing this alone. I refuse to allow it.”
“You will notallowme to do anything, Alaric. I am your queen, and I will do as I please.” My voice is deeper as my power builds from within. His eyes flare like liquid gold. His raven wings burst from his back only a moment later. My brows twitch down as I watch the shift, and then I watch as he drops to one knee, pulling an onyx sword from its sheath, fitted perfectly to cross between his wings. He lays the gleaming black blade across his upturned palms. An offering so similar to what Ambriel did not long ago. So similar to the way that Dax offered himself to me.
“I am your shield.”
“No.” My refusal cuts into his words as I step closer to him.
“I am yours to command. Your blade.” I grip his arms above his wrists, but he only lifts the blade higher, pushing it closer to my body.
“Stop.” My demands fall on unwilling ears as he continues the pledge.
“Your protection, your weapon. I pledge myself to you, to your reign. I am yours.” I feel my magic stirring within me, frantic power buzzing to be free at his words. Closing my eyes, I attempt to guide the magic, and for the first time, it feels right. Like control. When I open my eyes, the room glows with the white, iridescent magic of the moon raven. I don’t know how the words came to me. I don’t recall ever learning them, but my voice doesn’t tremble as I speak, accepting the way fate is guiding me.
“I accept your pledge, and as you rise, you do so protected by my word, my hand, and the gods. My shield, my blade…” My hands begin to shake, and my eyes widen as I look down to where our skin connects under my glowing palms. “My soldier.” With a clap of magic, he lifts his head. The magic is different from that of when Ambriel pledged herself to me, but it feels no less right; this wasmeant to be. The trust I feel is the same as when I came to find Trent. I know it in my soul.
Alaric’s throat bobs when he stands only a foot from me. A design glows like swirling embers under his tunic. He looks down when he notices my gaze. I drop my hands from his arms, and he sheaths the blade at his back. Untying the strings at his neck, he opens his tunic to reveal the mark of a shield, crossed by swords right over his heart. It’s breathtaking and terrifying.What did we just do? He lifts my chin with his fingertips and presses a slow kiss on my cheek.
“Thank you for accepting the only thing I can give to have you trust me. Meet me once you’re ready—we will do this together.” I nod, looking up at him as my words cease to exist on my tongue. He takes a step back, turns, and strides through the glass doors, taking flight into the night. I release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding, turning back to look into the mirror. I find silent tears falling across my cheeks, unknown to me until I witnessed their shine myself. There is a burning sensation near the bond mark on my arm. When I pull the nightgown’s sleeve back, my eyes widen as I take in the new marking. A blade runs from my elbow to my wrist—straight through Dax and my bonding bands.
The floor creaks and pulls my attention to the door, and I rip my sleeve back down to cover the new marking as Ginny steps through it. I swipe my hands over my face. Taking a deep breath. She looks at me with sadness fills her gaze.
“Are you sure you have to do this?” She asks.
“More sure now than ever.” I say, as I walk forward and take the clothing and items I requested with a tight smile. She nods before moving back to the hall, but turns around once more to face me before she shuts the door again.
“Stay safe, my queen. I would not be able to live with myself if something were to happen to you, especially with my hand in this.”
I will,” I tell her confidently, and she accepts that and nods once again. I have my shield now, and I have no doubts he will protect me with his life after the pledge he gave. As I dress, the feeling sinks into the pit of my stomach, causing it to sour as I realize that it means yet another life is tied to my own. The rise has already begun. My white wings unfurl from my back, and I stretch them wide before I leave the note I wrote for Trent once again on my pillow, but this time I don’t sneak around the grounds. This time, I don’t care if I am seen. Nothing will stop me from what I need to do. I step onto the railing of the balcony, then into the night sky. My wings snap out to catch the updraft, and I take flight toward the moon and Alaric.
Chapter twenty-eight
The dark eyes ofmy wolf narrow, and a snarl builds at the base of my throat as I watch the shadowed silhouette of a man creep through the forest. The predator in me vibrates at the thought of the kill. I inhale a deep breath, trying to get a scent on the male as he hobbles through the brush. I stealthily follow behind him, stalking his every move. Every time he looks over his shoulder, my lip pulls back and my hackles rise. A howl in the distance causes my ears to flatten, and the sorrowful wail sends a shiver over me. I shake out my silver fur quietly to dispel the trepidation trying to build from thesound of it.
A twig snaps, and I turn my head, gnashing my sharp teeth to my right, where Kait dips her tawny wolf head in an apology to my chastising nips. Her voice rolls through my mind, as it has since her first shift with me. Mind speaking is something us wolf shifters share when in our animal forms, making us a deadly team.
“Sorry, move a little quicker, and my paw wouldn’t have landed so heavily. Can you get a scent yet?”I laugh inwardly at her antics, but I keep my eyes trained on the one we follow. Kait and I left while Raelle slept, and we have been gone only a day. The urge to find Dax was clear from the situation with Raelle that Kait told me about. I felt the pulse of power, and I was not even in the castle at the time. No doubt others felt it too. I feel bad that I felt the need to lie to Trent, but something was telling me it was important that he not come on this mission. I will always trust the route that fate guides me down.
“No, I will tell you when I do,”I grumble back to her, cocking my head to look at her in hopes she sees the annoyance on my face. I swear I see her roll her eyes at me, and in her wolf form, it brings me to chuckle. The sound coming out more like a huff of air from my snout. She is still the same young woman that she was all those years ago—when I trained every one of the Fae children left in my care—who are now growing into the powerful beings they are meant to be. Unfortunately, Cano has taken on more of his father’scharmsthan I would have liked. As though she can sense my thoughts, Kait nuzzles the scarred side of her face on my right flank. I chuff at her, the vapor from the warm breath puffing out into the brisk night air.
