There was still so much I had to do. I had to expose Calista. I had to get my human friends established in the court.
I still had to save my kingdom.
“Here.” Theron thrust an apple in my hands. I immediately took a bite, and the cool juice trickled down my throat. I uttered a soft sigh as I took another, the fog in my mind receding and the hazy fever fading. My breathing slowed, and my heart rate was steady once more.
When I finished the apple, Theron gave me a grim look. “That’s the last one.”
I held his gaze, my expression solemn.
All it would take was one more fever, one more bout of dizziness, and the poison would claim me.
After this, it would be over.
A senseof foreboding hung over us like a dark cloud as Eira led me deeper into the forest. Using the trees for cover, we skirted around the palace, winding toward the back. The grove opened up to the rear side of the towering wall. On the other side were the gleaming walls of the castle.
“Are you planning on climbing the wall?” I asked incredulously.
Eira smirked. “You’ll see.”
“You do love to torment me.”
“After what you did to me back there? You deserve it.”
“Fair point.”
She chuckled, and for a moment, everything seemed normal. But then her expression fell and her eyes dimmed. The harsh truth of her reality set in.
She was dying.
She probably only had one day left, at the most.
In one day, this beautiful woman will be dead.
No. I couldn’t accept it. Iwould notaccept it.
I would kill Calista myself if I had to. Perhaps slaying the Demon Fae who poisoned Eira would reverse the curse. Buteven as I thought it, I knew it wasn’t true; killing the Demon Fae who had poisonedmehadn’t solved the problem.
My chest constricted so tightly that I couldn’t breathe. The thought of losing Eira, of watching the life leave her… it twisted in my gut like a dagger.
As I watched Eira approach the wall, which stood several feet above her, I vowed to change her fate. Regardless of what happened to me, Iwouldfind a way to save her.
Eira’s hands ran along the length of concrete as if searching for something. Before I could ask what she was doing, she made a noise of triumph and inserted her hand into a small groove etched into the wall.
I tilted my head, brow furrowed, as Eira inched her hands upward, finding several more identical grooves.
She rolled up her sleeves and backed up several steps. Without warning, she broke into a run before leaping onto the wall. Her fingers scrambled for purchase until she grabbed hold of one of the grooves. She clung to it, hoisting herself up with a strained grunt. Her breathing came in sharp puffs, but she was grinning.
“Blood and ice, Eira!” I hissed, my heart pounding. “You could have warned me. I would have given you a boost.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” she asked as her left foot found another crevice to balance on. “I’m sorry to say you might be a bit too burly for this task, hunter. Perhaps you should wait in the woods while I take my kingdom back.” She gave me a mischievous grin over her shoulder.
I rolled my eyes and strolled forward. “I’m more nimble than you think.”
“Oh, I’m intimately aware of hownimbleyou can be.” She winked at me, her cheeks slightly pink.
Heat coiled low in my belly, and I tried not to think aboutthe desperate sounds she’d made earlier or how my fingers still smelled like her arousal. Clearing my throat, I tried to focus on the wall before me, scrutinizing it.
When I stood within a few inches of it, I crouched down low, then leapt. My hands caught hold of the grooves with ease.
