Cyara used every second to compose herself. She dusted the clinging snow from her gray leggings. Conjured a bit of fire around her fingers to warm them. Her wrists would ache later, but she would take the relief now.
She blinked, and Veyka reappeared with Percival.
The queen did not bother with words for him either. She snarled in his face, teeth gnashing. She lacked the sharpened canines of the terrestrial fae, but the message was clear enough—she would rip his throat out regardless if he made a move against Cyara.
But it was uneventful.
Percival turned his back and glared at the mountains. Cyara divided her attention between him and the spot where Veyka had disappeared. She kept fire dancing at her fingertips, in case she needed to subdue Percival.
Lyrena arrived. Then a quivering Diana.
The latter fell to her knees, then her elbows, and vomited all over the pristine white snow. Only Percival bothered to help her. Lyrena monitored them both.
But Cyara watched her queen. Her friend.
Veyka did not pause to wait for any of them. She started walking down the mountain, toward the emerald green hills that awaited them. Cyara knew without looking at her map where the queen was going.
She watched for any sign of weakness or exhaustion. But there was none. Veyka stomped through the thin layer of snow in the foothills without a hitch, her shoulders perfectly squared.
It could be nothing but a huge expenditure of power, to move between the realms like that. Cyara had felt the void pulling her apart. She wanted to lay down. To at least sit and sip water for a while before continuing on. And Veyka had done it again and again, using her power to not just jump herself between the human realm and Annwyn, but four others as well.
Veyka was strong and honed. But the cost… there had to be a cost.
All magic had a cost.
A slither of unease slid down Cyara’s spine
If Veyka had not paid it yet… What would the consequences be when she did?
21
VEYKA
I am the Queen of the Elemental Fae. I am the High Queen of Annwyn. I am the prophesized queen of the Void Prophecy. I command the depths of the voids of darkness.
Why am I so fucking nervous to meet my mother-in-law?
Because Arran loved her, and I loved Arran, and he was not at my side.
Easy enough answer. The resolution was not so simple.
“We should take an extra day to tidy ourselves, to make plan,” Cyara reasoned.
Our clothes were dirty. My hair certainly needed a good untangling. We’d been using buckets of glacial runoff to bathe, warmed by Lyrena or Cyara, but none of us had seen anything resembling a tub since the faerie caves.
I drove us hard through the mountains and hills until Diana had nearly collapsed.
“We should watch the gates, see who comes and goes, make sure we walk in with the advantage,” Lyrena added to Cyara’s arguments.
I shook my head.
“No.”
They both opened their mouths to argue.
“I am either the High Queen of Annwyn, or I am not. They will greet us and treat us with the due respect, or I will start stabbing.”
“In Arran’s home?” Cyara asked quietly.
