Bootsteps found the edge of the yard and stopped.
I turned.
Rydian stood in the fading light, half his face cast in shadow. Across the space, his gaze found mine. His mouth tipped, not kind—never that—but edged with something I wished didn’t make my pulse climb.
“Hello, Furious,” he said, voice low enough to scrape across my skin. “I’ve missed you.”
Chapter Nine
Rydian
The sight of her nearly knocked the breath out of me.
I’d spent the entire journey telling myself I wouldn’t feel a damn thing when I saw her again. That the secrets, the way she’d planned to run from Autumn without me, the betrayal she undoubtedly thought I’d dealt her would be enough to harden me. My role in her life was too important to let my feelings get in the way. So, I resolved to keep my distance. But the second her eyes met mine, all of it burned away like fog in sunlight.
Aurelia Valeen.
Furyfire in a mortal frame.
My heart taken a female form.
On the surface, she looked the same. Her blonde hair was braided, but strands had come loose, tangling around her face in the whipping wind. The expensive gowns she’d worn at the Autumn Court had been replaced with fighting leathers and her Aine armor. Her boots were caked in dirt, her shoulders squared like she’d been waiting for a fight since the moment she woke. Or maybe she’d just finished one. I couldn’t tell if Iwanted to drag her into my arms or let her throw that fire of hers at me just to feel something from her again.
Instead, I said the wrong thing.
“Hello, Furious. I’ve missed you.”
Her expression flashed as something dangerous tightened around her mouth. The others felt it too. Thorne shifted his weight, Daegel took a quiet step back, and Amanti didn’t move at all. She just watched me like she’d already figured out everything between me and the Summer heir.
Aurelia turned and walked straight into the cabin.
No words. No rage. Just dismissal.
The others followed her, as if they all knew it was best to get this over with, but I stood there for a few breaths longer, letting the cold scrape through me before I went in after them.
The house smelled of freshly baked bread, Thorne’s specialty. Aurelia stood near the hearth, arms folded, chin high. A tangle of hair had slipped free from behind her ear. Her pale blue eyes were cold enough to make me forget how to breathe.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
I didn’t answer right away, choosing carefully the reason I wanted to offer up. “Because I needed to see for myself that you were alive.”
Her laugh was humorless. “Alive? That’s rich. You drugged me, hauled me across the continent, locked me in a room, and call it rescue.”
“I didn’t like doing it,” I said evenly. “But it kept you breathing.”
“I didn’t ask for your help.”
The firelight caught her face, throwing her in gold and shadow—half fury, half heartbreak. I wanted to reach for her, but that would’ve been suicide.
“If you’d stayed in Autumn, you’d be dead. Or worse.”
“Don’t you dare pretend you care what happens to me.”
“I’m not pretending.”
The silence that followed had an edge to it. Keres was the one who broke it, dragging a chair to the table and sitting with deliberate noise. “If you two are going to kill each other, do it outside. I just cleaned up in here.”
That drew a strangled laugh out of Thorne, though he quickly smothered it when Aurelia shot him a look that could peel paint.
