Her breath came out in wisps of cold instead of smoke. Her eyes scanned the room quickly, searching for those hands that had been squeezing her own, trying to break the joints.
Nothing.
She was in a bed, not a cave. She was draped in a dry blanket, not clothing soaked in moisture, aside from the sweat now trickling down her back.
Arianna shivered and dropped her head into one hand, using the other to support herself as she struggled to remain upright.
This wasn’t the first time she’d woken like this. The pain radiating down her spine was a reminder of all the other times. Had she experienced the nightmare before? It felt familiar and terrifying all at once.
Gods, her head was pounding. Emotions swelled through her, coming from a fractured section of her soul. She couldn’t make sense of it. The fear and madness. The euphoria and despair. It all wound together, twisting through her heart, blending and pulling until she felt as if she might split in half.
Arianna placed her hand over her chest, feeling the steady beat.Real, she reminded herself. This was real. This moment. This room. The breath moving through her lungs.
Crippling grief assaulted her, and Arianna gripped her tunic in a fist. It was always the first thing to greet her upon waking. A longing for home.
A home she’d never return to.
Levea was … gone. Destroyed. Everything she’d ever known. The place where her mother had raised her and Ellie. The training rings where she’d first held a blade and hoped to impress her father. The little tea shop around the corner. The waterfall where the Fairy Folk had first appeared to her.
The library.
Her mother’s belongings.
Trinkets to remind her of her childhood.
It was all gone.
Vairik had destroyed everything. The Dark Fae—her shoulders shook.
The couple who’d kindly allowed them to use their home had fetched reports from a nearby town, making certain to avoid the false Ashling, or at least what was left of it.
The pair had traveled unseen, with Raevina tailing in her falcon form. Not for the couple’s protection, but to ensure the two didn’t try to turn them over. Raevina wasn’t taking any chances where Arianna’s safety was concerned.
Thanks to the Dark Fae, there were apparently refugees everywhere. The pair hadn’t returned with promising news. Levea was indeed gone, and no one had any idea whether the citizens had made it out alive.
Arianna clenched her jaw. She’d been in this bed for two days, but Levea had been destroyed long before that. There was absolutely nothing she could have done to prevent it.
She remembered how the Dark Fae had swarmed the village she’d resided in after Ruadhán’s destruction. She could still hear the Fae screaming as those dark creatures tore them apart. The scent of their rancid blood haunted her.
Images flashed through her mind’s eye. Mangled bodies, sharp teeth, fire, ice, shadows. Arianna covered her ears, hoping to drown out all the noise. Gods, why was everything so loud?
Is that how it had been in Levea? Had the guards been able to sound the alarm? Had her father fought on the front line? Had he given his life to ensure the citizens could escape, or had they been caught unawares? Were they all just … gone?
Arianna let her hands fall and stared at her palms. She wasn’t innocent anymore. She had blood on her hands, too. Is that what all this was about? Were the gods punishing their chosen one because she’d done the one thing she wasn’t supposed to do?
Zylah had been there when she’d first woken, but Arianna couldn’t pinpoint the time or day. Had it been only a few hours ago? Yesterday? The day before? She was mostly healed thanks to her friend. They were friends, right? Even that fact felt … muddled. Locked behind thick frosted glass that prevented her from seeing clearly.
Still, even with the runes, deep bruising remained throughout her body, leaving every muscle fiber stiff and aching.
Arianna fell back onto the pillows and stared at the ceiling. They’d escaped Vairik’s grasp for now. She remembered that much. She also knew they’d been hoping the vile male and Niall had perished in the blast.
Neither had.
It was another piece of information Raevina had gathered while scouting with the two that had taken them in. Their only consolation was knowing Vairik hadn’t found them yet, which likely meant the male didn’t know whether they were still alive.
He’d issued a warrant for their arrest and had sent out scouts, but their efforts felt half-hearted at best. Maybe Vairik’s warriors weren’t as loyal as they’d all previously assumed.
A small fortune in a sea of unfortunate events.
