Seven
Rowan
“Keep a cool head, brother,” I told an enraged Killian as we moved through the administrative wing, though my own hands trembled with barely suppressed panic. Somewhere, Sy was trapped in a realm I couldn’t reach, and every second we wasted here was another second she might be…I forced ice into my veins, steeling my will. “Our girls are counting on us. Don’t kill Ethel before we get what we need from her.”
The headmistress’s office door stood open. As we stormed inside, the calculated emptiness mocked us—not merely vacant but methodically stripped. Every drawer, every cabinet, every surface bore the marks of systematic removal. Ethel had orchestrated her disappearance with the precision of someone who’d been planning this betrayal for months.
“Traitor! Coward!” Killian kicked the table to the wall and yanked open another empty drawer. “She must have fled right after announcing the trial.”
Despite Killian’s temper, I forced myself to focus, to think, even as my mind kept circling back to Sy. Was she afraid? Was she fighting? Was she hurt? The not knowing clawed at me worse than any physical pain. I examined the concealed panels behind her bookshelf, a hiding place I’d discovered with my fae sight. Ethel might be a high fae, but I was the prince, and desperation sharpened my magic to a razor’s edge.
The compartments that should have held emergency documents and communication artifacts contained only dust. Even her headmaster seal that was bound by ancient law to remain on academy grounds had vanished. The thoroughness of it sent chills up my spine. This betrayal ran deep.
Killian lost it. Lightning erupted from his palms, turning the antique desk into smoking kindling. Books became torches. The enchanted ceiling, a masterwork that had taken decades to create, cracked and rained crystal shards.
I understood his fury. It took everything I had not to join him in tearing the room apart. But one of us had to stay clear-headed. One of us had to remember that destruction wouldn’t bring our mates back into our arms.
“When I find Ethel,” he said, electricity still crackling in his storm-blue eyes, “death will be a mercy she’ll beg for. First, I’ll destroy everything she values. Every connection, every alliance, every fucking shred of influence she believes protects her.”
“You’ll have to wait your turn, brother.” The words ripped from my throat as my own fury broke through my control. “If Sy suffers because of this woman’s machinations…”
I couldn’t finish. Couldn’t voice the dark possibilities haunting me. Sy was untamed and magnificent, but she was also vulnerable in ways she’d never admit. I should’ve been there to protect her! My jaw clenched so tight it hurt, but Sy needed me thinking clearly, not falling apart. Both our mates needed us sharp, not losing our shit.
“We’ll find them,” I said, as much to myself as to Killian. “We’ll find them, and anyone who’s harmed them will pay tenfold.”
The promise tasted like iron and old magic on my tongue. A vow that would bind me until it was fulfilled.
Killian met my eyes and gave a grim nod. “We’ll get them back.”
We went our separate ways to carry out our tasks.
The leyline dumpedme in the Kingdom of Fae like an unwanted secret. I hadn’t wanted to return, not when home had become a gilded cage ever since I learned the truth of my bloodline.
The fairy forest unfolded around me in a rush of lethal beauty. Silver-barked trees speared a sky dusted with stars, while leaves in every shade from tender green to burnished copper rustled in the wind.
Along the shore of the Lake of Reflection, cherry and apple blossoms drifted, a deceptively soft frame for waters that showed not your face but your hidden fears and most desperate longings. Even from here, its pull was a hum in my veins, whispering of truths I couldn’t afford to confront.
Ahead, the palace rose from the woods as if nature itself had dreamed it into being. Living branches cradled windows of deep ruby, and walls of pale stone seemed to breathe with quiet fae magic. It was the work of millennia, a kingdom woven from earth magic, where every beautiful thing hid a blade and every smile could be a lie.
I knew that King Emyr had learned that I was home.
Royal protocol demanded I present myself in the throne room immediately, but I needed to see my mother first—to getthe true location of the bride trial from her rather than face the man who’d raised me but wasn’t my true father.
If he ever discovered I was a bastard masquerading as his heir, he’d strip me of everything, down to the very air I breathed.
The side entrance to the servants’ corridors led to a hidden stairwell, and from there, I could find my way to the queen’s chamber. I’d made it halfway when I realized something was wrong. The passage should have been empty at this hour. Instead, it thrummed with tension as two dozen of the king’s elite guards emerged from behind the pillars. Each drew their sword, fae steel wrapped in ruby wire, and surrounded me, cutting off every escape route.
“How dare you raise weapons against the heir of the fae realm?” I hissed, already cataloging exits.
“You’re no heir but an imposter!” Captain Ashborn’s voice was cold as winter stone. A towering figure even among the fae, he stood rigid in shiny armor. His face held the harsh beauty of the old fae, a scar bisecting his left eyebrow. “Surrender now and you might live another day!”
My blood turned to ice.They knew.Two decades of careful lies, my mother’s desperate protection, my deliberate absence from court—all of it had unraveled today.
“Surrender?” I snorted, projecting calm even as I gathered power in my palms. “I wasn’t aware I’d committed any crime.”
“You pose as the true heir and conspire with princes from other kingdoms against the fae court,” Captain Ashborn spat. “You’ve committed worse than treason!”
“That’s a grave accusation,” I countered, my heart pounding. “What evidence supports such a claim?”
