Lore
Reyla, my fated mate and my love had not only saved me, but she’d also broken the first part of the curse.
We’d worked hard to correct things here in the city, and while this was nowhere close to being finished, we’d done all we could for today. It was time to take my wife home.
We could've tried to flit to the castle, but I wanted our guard to remain with us at all times for protection. That shriek when I was fused back together… The wizard who’d placed the curse knew we’d broken the first part.
Holding hands, we started walking, making our way through the city and into the hills until the carriage Talvon had sent for arrived. As many of us as possible climbed in, sitting close together. I tugged Reyla onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on the top of her head.
While she dozed, the vehicle took us the rest of the way to the castle that loomed ahead, its stone walls stained with smoke from the city below. Magical torches hung along the ramparts, flickering as pale streaks of dawn broke on the bruised horizon.
I wanted to doze myself, but my mind was flooded with every moment we—I—had spent since the curse split me at seventeen until Reyla came into my life. Such an abundance of beauty and cruelty and dismay. It was a wonder I'd survived long enough to be fused back together. I'd thank this woman I loved for the rest of my still-cursedly short life.
My thirtieth birthday would come in less than four weeks, and all I’d been able to learn was that there was a second part of the curse that must be broken before that day or I'd die. I hadn't been able to discover what it could be. That knowledge had been eating me alive since I started to believe that Reyla, my beloved,willing,high fae wife, might end the first part of the curse that had haunted my family since a short time after Evergorne Court was formed.
I tightened my arms around her as we passed through the gates. My fierce warrior wife. My protector. My everlasting love. I wanted to carry her inside, to my room, and lay her on my bed. Join her while she slept. Hold her.
Love her.
But a king's duties never ended, and there was much to be done before I could take time for myself. For us.
She stirred when the carriage came to a halt. Startling, she glanced up at me, and while her pale face showed how tired she was, her lips quirked up in a sweet smile.
“Lore,” she said simply. Hearing my real name on her lips wrecked me. No one but this woman had called me by that name since the curse settled around my shoulders at age seventeen, like it had done for each king who'd come before me. We'd split thenjust as they had, and as far as I knew, none of them had ever been fused back together.
“Wife,” I said with pure satisfaction.
Her smile grew, though it faded as memories set in. She glanced around. “The borgon don't appear to have made it this far. No destruction.”
“They focused on the city but might've ventured this way eventually.” I had no idea why they'd left at what seemed like my command. Perhaps me speaking meant nothing. Or everything. More teasing hints to research, more potential clues without answers.
“You're thinking,” she whispered as our guards leaped from the carriage and spread out around us, their weapons drawn and magic licking across their fingers.
“I need to tell you what I can.”
“I’ve learned a few things myself.” Shadows flickered in her eyes. “I'll question you carefully. I assume the same conditions apply?”
I jerked out a nod. If only I was capable of being honest with her without endangering my life. “I'm sorry.”
She stroked my face. “I love you. I understand. We're going to end this.”
That brought a tired smile to my face. “We.I love that.” I kissed her quickly, wanting so much more than I could ever have.
A light flickered in her warm brown eyes before she left my lap and jumped from the carriage, landing squarely on the cobblestones. She held one of the blades I'd given her in her hand already, and her flinty gaze scanned the area. She'd challenge any threat, protect me with her dying breath, and I'd do the same for her.
We started up the steps but hit a barrier. While the others continued toward the front door, Reyla and I looked at each other.
“What’s that?” she asked in a low voice.
“A powerful ward.”
“Like the veil?”
“Stronger.”
“Forged by many, then.” She squinted at the building as if it would shed the answer we both sought. “It’s not letting us pass.”
Fuck my mother. It couldn’t be anyone else. She’d taken advantage of me leaving to try to solidify her own rule.
