Chapter Twenty-Four
Auraelia
“Auraelia! Wait up!” Daemon yelled from behind her.
After her—albeit brief—conversation with thedeadfirst queen of the Court of Emerald, Auraelia gathered the stones needed for their runes and left the treasury faster than she imagined possible. As she skirted past them in the hall, she hadn’t said anything to anyone. She hadn’t even bothered to make sure the treasury doors were closed as she attempted to run from the sound of Astraea’s voice, their soundless conversation ringing in her mind like a bell’s peal.
Why was Daemon allowed entrance?
“You know the answer to that question, young queen. You simply refuse to acknowledge it. Even after everything you’ve realized, everything you’ve let yourself accept, and everything you’ve begun tofeel, you still deny the obvious in front of you.”
And what is that?
“That you and the young prince are destined for one another, just as his ancestor and I were. But as I said, you knew that already. Stop running from it, Auraelia. Let fate guide you, and let his love catch you. Your souls are bonded together, and the more you accept it, thesooneryou accept it…the stronger youbothwill become. Don’t squander this. I am you, but you don’t need to be me.”
So lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realized that she had reached the stables—or that Daemon had shadow-walked in front of her until she ran into his broad chest. His hands settled on the sides of her face as she peered up at him, his eyes swirling with worry and concern.
“What happened in that room, Auraelia?”
As she opened her mouth to respond, Xander and Piper reached the stables. “Damn, Rae. Where’s the fire?” Xander asked from behind Daemon.
Auraelia cupped Daemon’s cheek like he held hers, releasing a heavy breath, whispering loud enough for only his ears. “Later, my love. I’ll tell you everything later.” His brows furrowed as his eyes roamed over her features, but after a few moments, he nodded in acquiescence and pressed his brow to hers.
“Promise?”
“With all of my heart.”
After pressing a brief kiss to his lips, Auraelia pulled from Daemon’s embrace and faced her brother. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
The air was crisp, the wind chilling, as they stood in the low tide at the center of Lyndaria’s harbor. Winter had fully andunnaturally settled into Emerald. Frost crept along the edge of windows and blanketed the ever-moist ropes along the piers. The normally crystal clear skies were shrouded in depressing gray clouds, promising colder weather to come.
It was an omen. One that Auraelia felt deep within her bones. Like the weather itself was trying to warn her of what was looming on the horizon.
“Ready?” Xander asked as he brushed the sand from his palms.
Nodding, Auraelia held out one of the brown leather satchels that she’d filled with emerald stones and shards. Taking the bag from her hand, Xander carefully laid the first rune in the hole he’d just finished digging. When he finished and the mark was buried, he stood and held out a slip of parchment with the rune sketched on its surface. “Be safe, but be precise, Rae. One stone out of place, and this won’t work.”
“The same goes for you both, as well. We’ll meet you back here and head into the city’s center together.” Xander and Piper nodded in unison, then wrapped her in a tight embrace before heading off to where their horses waited.
As she watched her brother and best friend ride off toward their first point, Daemon stepped up to her side and linked his fingers with hers, silently letting her know that he was ready whenever she was—and not just to place runes around her kingdom.
By the time Auraelia and Daemon reached their first mark, tension clung to the air like static. Silence reigned between them as she struggled to find the words that would accurately explain the thoughts warring in her head.
By the second mark, the one where she would have to construct the rune's shape in shards, it was so thick it felt like she’d been draped in a heavy, wet blanket.
And still, Daemon never pressed. Never pushed or prodded for information or let her ever-present silence get to him. He just let her…be.Let her find her own way, patiently waiting for the moment she would be willing to let him in.
Daemon dismounted first, unstrapping the shovel from where it had been secured on the saddle bag and tossing it to the ground before offering his hand to assist Auraelia from Jasira.
She’d never tire of the feel of his hands on her waist or the gentle way he let her slide down his body until her feet were firmly planted on the ground, setting every point of contact ablaze. He held her like he was afraid she would slip through his fingers.
After tucking a strand of wind-blown hair behind her ear and pressing a kiss to her lips, Daemon asked, “You ready?”
Auraelia nodded, pushing up on her toes to capture his lips once more before turning out of his grasp and heading toward the edge of the Amber Woods.
She knew these woods like the back of her hand. Had traveled through them countless times and knew which direction would inevitably lead her to Nefeli Lake. But there was a quiet stillness to them that set the hair on the back of her neck on end. Even in the dead of winter, birds still perched on the naked branches and sang their songs. Small animals still scurried along the blanket of leaves on the ground, rustling them beneath their tiny paws. But this? This kind of quiet warned of danger and had Auraelia scanning her surroundings. Looking for anything out of place. Releasing the hold on her magic, she let it spool down to her fingers, heat blossoming at the tips where her lightning settled beneath the surface.
“What is it?” Daemon asked when they stopped in a small clearing between the trees.
