I shake my head. “During the meeting, you’ll remain behind where we make camp. He won’t even know you’re there. Unless…” My blood goes cold, a question that I’ve yet to ask burning in my throat. “Can Cobalt…sense you through the Bond? Can you feel each other? See each other?’
She tilts her head back, perplexed at my words. “Of course not. That’s not how it works.”
I bite back my arguments that it very wellcanwork that way. Maybe Aspen is right. Perhaps only Bonded pairs who deeply love each other can connect the same way my mate and I do. “You truly don’t love Cobalt?”
A shadow darkens her expression. “I did, once,” she says, tone flat. “That was before I realized what was going on. Before he started using my name to control me.” Once again, her rage is a mirror to my own, as seen in her clenched fists, her steely gaze.
“How will you do it?” I ask.
She shakes the cloud from her face to meet my eyes. “How will I do what?”
“How will you use the power of his name to kill him?”
Her eyes widen for a moment, revealing fear and perhaps a hint of guilt. “I…I don’t know yet.”
Heat rises to my cheeks. “What do you mean, you don’t know? When you first came to me, you said your power over his name could help us kill him.”
“It can,” she says in a rush, then lowers her eyes. “I just haven’t sorted out how. I’ve never tried using his name like that before.”
I shake my head with a roll of my eyes. “Great. A lot of use you’ll be.”
Indignation hardens her features when she lifts her head. “It’s not like I had a chance to try. Once he began giving me daily commands, that was always one of the first. That I couldn’t use his name or act out against him in any way. But trust me—”
“Trust you,” I echo with a bitter laugh.
“Yes, Evie. When I get the chance, I will use Cobalt’s name. I don’t care if I have to force him to peel every inch of skin from his own body. I will do whatever it takes to watch the life fade from his eyes.”
Her words send a shudder up my spine. One that tells me, perhaps her rage isn’t as dark as mine. Perhaps it’s darker than anything I’ve ever felt.
23
The sun beats high overhead as we make our way across the sandy dune to the stretch of land on the other side. The heat is so heavy in the air that I can see it, blurring the landscape in the distance. Still, I can make out rolling hills at the edge of the horizon. I’m surprised to see so much green beyond the invisible divide between Fire and Solar. I’d expected Solar to have more desert land like my court.
Aspen and I walk side by side with the rest of the Alpha Alliance, trailed by several guards. Each royal has brought two guards to the meeting, leaving another dozen or so at our camp to come to our aid in the case of an ambush. Amelie waits there too, with commands not to leave our tent. I wish there were more of us. I wish Foxglove, Lorelei, and Fehr were here. But our ambassadors remained behind to organize our newly arrived households, and Fehr of course can’t leave the palace.
Aspen’s hand lights on my back, and I turn to meet his gaze. A sheen of sweat covers his brow, and I can feel the same on my own face, as well as the gritty sand that seems to attach to my skin whenever I’m outdoors in the Fire Court. My mate gives me a reassuring grin, and I do my best to match it. I hate the thought of meeting the Renounced without absolutely obliterating them, but this ceasefire was my idea, after all.
It’s necessary,I remind myself.We have to do this.
Our group slows its pace until Estel comes to a full stop at the head of our retinue. “This is it,” she says. “The divide between Solar and Lunar is just ahead. We will hold back and send my ambassador to meet theirs when they arrive.”
My nerves only increase now that we’ve stopped, and the sun feels hotter. Oddly, I’m beginning to get used to the heat of the Fire Court, but I imagine not all the fae feel the same. While Estel and Minuette seem as content as ever, Flauvis looks downright miserable, panting rapidly. Nyxia glares up at the sky on occasion, as if she thinks it holds a personal grudge against her. Tris continues to shift between her tiny pixie form and her seelie form, as if she can’t decide which one helps keep her cool.
Now in her larger form, her cherry blossoms seem to wilt beneath the heat. “Is it noon yet?” she whines.
Estel turns her shimmering face to the sky. “Not quite, but they should arrive—”
Something falls from the sky not too far away. When it lands, it takes the shape of a female figure rising on strong, heavily muscled legs. Her hair is golden with curls that rest above her shoulders, and she wears a gauzy white dress with gold trim that reaches just below her hips. Enormous golden-brown wings span out behind her. My heart races as I recognize her as one of the royals. I hardly noticed her at the council meeting where Aspen fought Cobalt for the throne, but now she’s a formidable sight to behold. “Queen of Solar?” I whisper to Aspen.
He nods, his eyes narrowed at the figure. “Queen Phoebe.”
The Solar Queen remains where she landed, arms crossed over her chest as she assesses us from afar. Movement behind her snags my attention, and I see a group marching to meet her.
“They’re here,” Aspen says under his breath.
My pulse races the closer they get, but as they come into full view, my nerves begin to calm. Their gathering is almost as large as ours, but not quite. The only other royal I recognize amongst the bunch is Queen Dahlia of the Summer Court. Her enormous yellow butterfly wings stretch out behind her as she joins Queen Phoebe. The rest of the fae are an assortment I can only imagine are their pretender kings and queens, some guards, and an ambassador or two. However, the only sea fae is a slender female with blue scales and coral-pink hair.
I whip my face toward Aspen. “Did Cobalt leave the Renounced?”
