He reached out to Araya, his heart aching when she didn’t flinch away, even after everything he had done. She just glared at him, her silver eyes wide with hurt and fear.
“Araya,” Loren whispered, her name heavy with magic as it fell from his lips. “Ra’lora.”
She gasped, her body going rigid as the command seized her. Fresh panic surged through the bond, hot and desperate.
“Did you just—” Araya choked, her eyes widening in horror as they darted to Serafina. “What did you do? What did you let him do?”
Serafina embraced her, kissing her softly on each tear-streaked cheek.
“Have a good life, my friend,” she said, her voice breaking. “Befree. Be safe. Grow old. And one day, when you understand why I did this… forgive me.”
She stepped back, tears glistening in her eyes. But as she turned to Loren, her chin lifted, and the raw vulnerability in her gaze hardened into quiet resolve.
“Safe travels, Your Majesty.”
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
The fae prince’scommand might as well have been an iron manacle, chaining her to him. His shadows needled at her whenever she slowed, urging her forward as they followed the dim glow of Serafina’s seeking spell deeper into the labyrinth beneath the Aetherium.
Her lip throbbed, but Araya clenched her jaw—refusing to acknowledge the phantom heat of his mouth that still lingered on her lips. He had kissed her.Bittenher. And then he’d compelled her.
That was the only thing that could explain how the command she hadn’t even understood had burrowed under her skin, digging into her will in ways no book could have ever prepared her for. She raged against it at first, but with her power so drained she had no way to fight the urge to obey burning in her blood.
She hated him for it—but she hated herself even more for how she’d frozen when his lips met hers.Whyhad it taken her so long to push him away?
“We have to go back,” she hissed between ragged breaths as she stumbled after him. “They will kill us all?—”
“I heard a rumor they need my blood for something important,” Loren shot back. “It will be hard to collect if I am dead.”
Araya glared at his back, her head swimming with exhaustion. He didn’t even sound winded. How was he this strong after spending twenty-five years chained to a wall?
“That won’t stop them from killing me,” she protested. “And Serafina. If we go back now there’s a chance I could talk Jaxon down?—”
“Shaw isn’t going to catch you,ael’sura,” he said, his voice maddeningly calm.
“You can’t promise—” Araya gasped, nearly falling as she stumbled over an uneven patch of ground. “Please, slow down,” she begged. “I can’t—” she swayed, her words cutting off as another wave of dizziness swept over her.
Loren’s shadows caught her a heartbeat before his strong arm wrapped around her, steadying her against him. Heat sparked where he touched her, licking up her spine. He was too solid, too close, too…something.
Araya shoved him away, a little too hard. “Don’t touch me,” she snapped.
“I’m sorry,” Loren said, the hand that had touched her curling into a fist at his side. “We need to keep moving.”
“You have to let me go,” Araya argued again, but the words came out raw and thin. “Please, Loren—you don’t understand. He’ll never stop looking for me.”
Loren’s gaze dropped, a flicker of regret crossing his face. But he only shook his head.
“I do understand,” he said, still not looking at her. “That’s why we’re going to make sure he can’t find you.”
He turned and started walking again without waiting for her to respond, following the bobbing light deeper into the labyrinth. And because she had no choice, Araya followed.
Even without Loren’s compulsion, she was hopelessly lost at this point anyway. She’d never find her way out alone—if she even had the strength to try. Whatever mix of Serafina’s care and adrenaline thathad carried her this far was wearing off, every ache and pain hitting her with a vengeance as she plodded behind Loren.
After what happened last night, Jaxon would never believe she hadn’t run willingly. Araya’s throat tightened. She had the bruises to show what Jaxon was capable of when he thought he was being defied. If he thought she had anything to do with Loren escaping…
She shivered, cold dread running its icy fingers down her spine. She would beluckyto end up in a cell.
