Slowly, Leya pushed to her feet. “Why are you doing this?”
“You had Alcoy, my brother, killed.” No emotions. “For that, you will all pay.”
“I killed no one.”
“You were responsible for all our mishaps.” His flat gaze pierced her like a dagger before he looked out to sea. “Soon, very soon, I will have revenge. It will be fitting and perfect justice for my sibling.”
Leya frowned, glancing at the murky sea and the distant islands almost concealed in fog, then back at him.Oh, crap!“The island didn’t sink because of the storm! You—youwere responsible for the tragedy, the lives lost!”
“How is it a tragedy when the worst of Empyreans lived there? Thelower power level? They’re just sheep. But then you know what that is, don’t you? Since you humans are all like sheep.”
He didn’t admit to anything, but she knew.
“And what are you?” she countered. “You follow a sorcerer who will sacrifice you all for whateverhewants—”
Pain exploded across her cheek, and she stumbled. Christ, she didn’t even see the slap coming. Glaring at him, she wiped the warm blood from her bleeding lip.
“Move!” He thrust the arrow at her. “My lord wants his prisoner back, but you’ll do for now. Humans, so easy to get. No wonder your useless species doesn’t last long.”
Leya gritted her teeth and winced. The king? “You will never get him—”
The land rumbled and rolled in a huge wave.
Leya fell and grabbed at the grass, but it separated from the soil. She slipped over the cliff—
“Aerén!”
CHAPTER41
Leaving his brother,Aerén flashed out of the castle, sensing Leya had gone outside. Dark clouds gathered, the breeze picking up. He had to find and bring Leya back before the storm unleashed.
As he scanned for her, the tall form of Empyrea’s mage appeared before him, the male’s navy cloak fluttering around his lanky figure.
“Hey, Allatus, can’t stay. Daén’s here. He’ll fill you in about the sorcerer. I need to find my mate.”
“Yes, I just met her.”
Aerén stopped. “Where?”
“On the south side, seated on the grassy part of the cliff, enjoying the quiet. It is good that you found your destined. Something I’m sure Empyrea will celebrate.”
Aerén cut him a sharp glance, then shook his head. Pointless ignoring the truth. “She’s not my destined or a Chosen. She would have been one, but she unknowingly passed the magic on, to save someone she loved.”
“Aye, her sister. Yes, she did mention it. Still, I sense the strains of a new mating bond, and her eyes told me the rest.” He smiled, his irises glowing like stars on a black blanket.
Aerén frowned. Seriously?
Allatus angled his head. “You are young, Prince Aerén, and have no idea of the old ways. It’s why you are unaware.Youreyes can be misleading, but it does glow. Hers is a little more noticeable. No, not with the neon blue from the Stone of Creation’s bonding gifts, but it does glow. And yet the bond isn’t completed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’ve shielded yourself so solidly, so deeply, I’m surprised you still fell in love,” he said dryly. “While I understand why you did so, because of your empathic abilities, you are destroying the one chance you have of mating in the old ways—not through the magic of this realm, but in the way it should have been.”
Aerén shook his spinning head. “What?”
“The original destined bonding, when two souls were meant to be, long before they even met.”
“But it’s just a myth.”
