Behind him, I spot two soldiers. My heart seizes until I see one conversing with Colm.Not a foe…
“I’m sorry about Yuri,” I tell Ilya.
He tucks his mouth to the side. “His body will eventually recover.”But not his heart…“How’s Kostya? I heard Salom…”
“I don’t think it’s truly hit yet,” I murmur, just as Colm advances toward us.
“I’m sorry for not being there, Isla,” the male Crow says, his voice teeming with onus he has no reason to carry.
I touch his arm. “I’m safe.”
“Have you told your father yet? He’s been…concerned.”
Skies, my poor father! “Can you help Sofiya into the train?”
She tips her head back…and back, eyes bulging with a mixture of panic and awe.
“Colm is a giant teddy bear,” I tell her.
The shifter’s lips kink into a crooked smile. Sofiya gulps.
The instant he’s taken possession of her arm, I soar upward, then fill out into my Crow. Mórrígan, it feels good to shapeshift.
What’s your ETA, Dádhi?
Fucking underworld, ínon. Why are you so intent on testing the limits of my immortal heart?
Wouldn’t be my mother’s daughter if I didn’t keep your ticker ticking.
Can you try to be your father’s daughter and stay the fuck out of trouble for a change?
I grin.Swearing is very ugly and unbecoming of a royal. Oh, and before I forget, I have a mate!
I expect my father to mention his ticker is in even greater peril now, or bemoan his feathers’ imminent grizzling, or chide me for believing Behati.
What Idon’texpect is for him to say:I know.
What do you mean, youknow?
Meriam told us the day the Cauldron showed Daya the ring on your finger. Apparently, it was one of the reasons she gifted Korol the talisman in the first place. To keep the bond at bay until you came of age.
What?
Fuckingwhat?
And then I recall how she’d wept the day of our fake betrothal, and I shift back to flesh so fast I pound into the earth.Konstantin!
The tunnel amplifies the brittle, harried snap of boots. When he lunges off the tracks, his bare chest is heaving and his skin has acquired a pearlescent sheen.
“What is it? What happened?” His neck swivels left and right, his palms sparkling with magic.
I feel a little guilty for causing him alarm, but I’m so outraged. “Mimi knew! She knew all along!” My lips quake so violently that I finish pouring my indignation into the bond.And then she told my whole family that you and I were mates the day of our boat ride back from Voshna.
Holy fuck, woman. I just lost years of my life.Konstantin rubs his chest, his thumb sliding under the shotgun’s leather strap.
Cauldron, he’s beautiful.
He’s beautiful andmine.
