The princesses were inside.Eislynneeded him.
Just as he squared his shoulders, two silver-haired figures stumbled out from the whirlwind of snow and ash. They both glanced behind them at the castle, and then raced through the waist-length grasslands, avoiding the road where he stood.
They hadn’t seen him.
He opened his mouth to call out, relief churning through his veins. But something stopped him. Frowning, he stayed rooted to the spot and watched them flee. Reyna’s hands were covered in blood, but that ever-present wildness clung to her like a pulsing cloud of pure power. Wingallock hooted as he soared overhead and joined the two ice fae running from their terrible fate. Enbarr, the mare, soon followed.
Thane continued to watch as Eislyn leapt toward the horse and wound her arms around her neck, burying her face in Enbarr’s mane. He smiled. Eislyn was alive. She was okay. And she was free.
She was safe now.
And she didn’t need Thane at all.
In fact…Thane’s heart twisted. Eislyn had been in danger from the moment they had met. One attempt after another. Assassins, abductors, and power-hungry uncles. His own family had gone after her, and he knew it would not stop, even now.Especiallynow.
It all came back to Thane’s rule over the realm. He had wanted to bring peace to his kingdom, to provide a kind of stability that the air fae had long since had. Instead, he had created nothing but turmoil. His reign had begun in bloodshed.
It was a bad omen.
He wanted nothing more than to run toward Eislyn and wrap her up in his arms, and then return to the castle so they could wed. He wanted it fiercely. So much that he almost tossed aside his fears and doubts. His selfish desires wanted to drown out everything else.
But Eislyn would never be safe as the High Queen of the Air Court. His enemies now knew what she meant to him, and they would use his love for her against him time and time again.
Until the day they took her life.
She will be safer with me gone, he thought.
Indeed, the entire realm would be better off.
He gazed toward her, watching her hug her sister and then jump onto the back of the mare, committing every part of her to memory. Her bright smile. Those gleaming silver eyes. The way she stuck her tongue between her teeth as she read.
And then, before the sisters joined the Crown’s Road, Thane rushed toward the sea. His uncle had boats. Thane would take one. Where he would go, he did not know.
But he knew he had to leave.
As he reached the docks where the boats bobbed waiting, he heard another set of footsteps pounding the ground behind him. Light filled his chest as he whirled toward the sound, hoping to find his oldest friend standing behind him, hoping that Lorcan had escaped the shadow fae.
But his heart quickly sank when he saw who had found him.
“Oh. It’s you.”
61
Reyna
Reyna clutched Enbarr’s reins as they began their trek back to Tairngire. She walked beside her while Eislyn sat on the mare’s back, half-asleep as they plodded along. She had found her sister in the dungeons only two tunnels away from where Reyna had been kept. They’d embraced and then fled, escaping the Ruin before it could sink into their skin.
Reyna tried not to think about her seeming immunity to the disease. Or her strength and speed gained from the storm. She wasn’t even certain that was what had happened. She had heard tales of warriors on the battlefield, gaining fleeting strength in the height of the battle, frenzy pouring through their veins.
Still…was that what had happened? Or had it been more than that?
Whatever it had been, it had left her now. She had never ached more than she did in that moment. Her body begged for sleep. Her eyes burned with the need to shut tight against the glare of the midday sun.
As soon as they’d left the castle, the storm had stopped. It was the strangest thing…
“Look!” Eislyn suddenly cried out.
Reyna stopped, heart hammering. What new horror would they face now? She shielded her eyes against the sun, and spotted a familiar figure cresting the distant hill. Dark hair pulled back into a bun, impossibly muscled arms. She dropped the reins and ran toward him, leaving all her anger behind.
