Six more guards filed into the room. “Nice try,” the lead guard said as the others surrounded Mavlyn and Leap on all sides. “But I saw the lightning in your hands, and the family resemblance is unmistakable.” He smiled. “Lord Oren is going to bethrilledwhen I tell him we’ve found you.”
“No.”
Leap whipped his hands out from behind his back, balls of lightning sizzling in the palms of his hands. “I don’t care what orders you have,” he snarled. “You’re not taking me to him!”
But before Leap could attack, one of the guards threw an iron net on him. The lightning magic in Leap’s hands fizzled in an instant, and he cried out as four of the guards jumped him to keep him from throwing off the net.
“Leap!” Mavlyn pulled a handful of seeds from her pouch and tossed them to the ground. The seeds exploded on contact, filling the room with noxious purple smoke, and she held her breath, waiting for the paralytic effect to take hold. But before the smoke could spread further, a gust of wind swept through the room and whisked it up into a vent.
Something heavy struck the back of Mavlyn’s head, and stars exploded in her vision. “Clever bitch,” the lead guard said as she dropped to her knees, head spinning. She felt him yank her arms behind her back, sobbed as he clasped manacles around her wrists and the magic drained right out of her. “But I wouldn’t expect anything less from an earth fae assassin.”
“I’m not an assassin—” she tried to say, but someone shoved a gag in her mouth, choking off the rest of her words.
“Save your breath for Lord Oren, not me,” the guard said as they hauled her to her feet. “You’ll be taken to him tomorrow, and you can explain how you bewitched his nephew and convinced him to help you sneak into the temple to get to his niece.” He gave me a wide smile that sent chills down my spine. “I’m sure he’ll beveryunderstanding.”
9
Adara
Salt spray stung my nose as I stood at the prow of Prentis’s ship, watching the coastline shrink into the distance. Once the healer had determined I was healthy, Prentis had wasted no time in getting us underway, the supplies for the journey already loaded onto the ship and ready to go. Tomorrow evening, we would be in Usciete, and I would present myself to Lady Axlya, ruler of the water fae.
The thought sent a frisson of nerves skittering down my spine, and I gripped the railing hard, nails digging into the time-worn wood. Though honestly, I wasn’t sure why I should be nervous at the idea of meeting House Usciete’s matriarch. I’d faced so many of Ediria’s power players already—Lady Mossi, the Harpy Queen, the Oracle, General Slaugh, and King Aolis—and had more or less come away unscathed from each encounter.
Then again, Lady Axlya wasn’t just another noble. She was my maternal great-grandmother, the head of the house my mother had grown up in. In another life, she might have doted on me as a child, given me the benefit of her wisdom, perhaps even cheered me on as I pursued dreams and exploits. And I would have had cousins, aunts, uncles, people who would have embraced me and taught me how to use my magic.
Yourwatermagic, you mean.
The voice in my head brought me up short, shattering the quaint little fantasy I’d been building in my head. Because of course, I wasn’t just my mother’s daughter. I was a child of dragons, my late father the dragon prince himself. Fire magic coursed through my veins, magic that had been so dangerous, my mother had an amulet fashioned for me to make sure it stayed hidden away.
If my parents hadn’t been killed, if they’d become the king and queen of our newly joined realms, perhaps my magic would have been accepted, even revered as a symbol of the union.
But I knew all too well from my experience in Fenwood how people felt about outsiders. My neighbors had ostracized me not just for my water fae features, but for being a magical cripple. If Lady Axlya had taken me in instead of Gelsyne, and if my fire magic hadn’t been suppressed, who knows how I would have been treated?
And who knew how I would be treated now, after using said magic to kill King Aolis, who, for all his flaws, had been one of Lady Axlya’s nephews? I knew nothing about Axlya, what her relationship to her kin was like, but I remembered how attached Lady Mossi had been to hers. So much so that she’d been willing to trade me to King Aolis to get her great-granddaughter back. And that was afterknowingthat Gelsyne, another of her granddaughters, had spent her life raising me and keeping me out of his clutches.
I’d made the mistake of putting my trust in the wrong people before. And while I wanted—no,needed—Lady Axlya to help me, I couldn’t walk into this as naively as I had with Lady Mossi. I had to hope for the best, but be prepared for anything.
A tingling sensation running down the back of my neck distracted me from my thoughts, and I turned my head, gaze trailing up the middle mast until I found Einar perched on the crossbeam, legs dangling in the open air. He’d flown up there not long after we set sail, claiming he suffered terrible seasickness unless he was close to the sky, so I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him alone yet.
Our gazes met, gold on blue, and my heart surged into my throat. Even at this distance, I could see the swirling storm of emotions behind his eyes, and I could tell there was so much he wanted to say to me. The unfinished conversation from before seemed to swell between us, and the pressure of words unsaid made my chest ache.
I wanted to climb up that mast, pin him to the beam, and demand an explanation. I wanted to know why he seemed like he could barely stand me, and yet couldn’t seem to stay away. Why he’d gone from being a reluctant ally to a staunch protector. Why he’d held me with such tenderness earlier, when just a few days ago, he’d barely been able to stomach touching me.
Because that was the truth, wasn’t it? That even though we’d been through so much together, we’d really only known each other for a few weeks. That wasn’t nearly enough time for such a drastic change of heart, for two people to go from loathing each other to… to…
“Adara.” I jerked my gaze away from Einar’s at the sound of Prentis’s voice and turned to see him walking across the deck toward me. “I was hoping I would find you here.”
“Lord Prentis.” Clearing my throat, I turned toward him properly, putting my back to Einar. I could still feel his gaze on me, but I did my best to ignore it, focusing on the male in front of me instead.
“Please, there’s no need to be formal.” Prentis stopped in front of me, a lopsided smile on his face. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, seeming not to know what to do with his hands, before finally deciding to shove them into his trouser pockets. “You can just call me Prentis.”
“All right.” I forced a smile. “Prentis.”
He sighed, his face falling. “You’re still angry with me, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.
“I’m trying not to be,” I admitted, my gaze flicking up at Einar. He was no longer looking at me, his gaze trained on the horizon, but I had no doubt he was listening to every word. “You put my protector in shackles after I deliberately told you not to. But,” I added, holding up a hand before Prentis could protest, “I recognize that in these lands, my words hold little weight. I can’t gainsay Lady Axlya’s orders, no matter how much I wish otherwise.”
“I’m glad you understand,” Prentis said, sounding genuinely grateful. He glanced up at Einar as well, then back to me. “I may not be comfortable having a dragon in my territory any more than any fae would, but for all his flaws, I can see Einar is deeply loyal to you. If it was in my power, he would walk freely by your side so he can protect you when I cannot.”
