The messenger scurried to Thane’s desk and dropped the letter, and then turned to rush back out into the corridor. The prince frowned as he shut the door behind him. That had been very odd indeed. Mother’s choices for servants were becoming tedious. She had swapped out every one after the abdication, paranoid that spies were lurking amongst them. Or had she merely wished to install her own spies?
Shaking his head, he unrolled the parchment and read the words. Instantly, he dropped the letter as if he’d been burned. He leapt up from his chair, his entire body shaking with a rush of fear and adrenaline.
It was a letter from the wood fae. They’d captured Princess Reyna and Lorcan. And they demanded a meeting. If he refused, the wood fae would execute their captives the following night at high moon. His entire body burned.
The Wood Court had done this.Theywere the ones trying to have Reyna killed. It wasn’t his mother, after all. He could not believe he ever suspected she would do such a thing.
Sucking deep breaths into his lungs, he braced his palms on his desk, his mind whirring. How had this happened? How had they captured them both? Had they sneaked inside the castle? No, that was impossible.
He ground his teeth together. His closest friend. His betrothed. If he did not do something, they would both die the next day.
I need to speak with Eislyn.
Crumpling the letter with shaking fingers, he pushed out into the corridor. He ran down the stone tunnels, ignoring the startled looks of everyone he passed, including his guards. Choosing the stairwell, he raced down the tower and into the library where he found Eislyn. Wearing a deep blue gown, she perched halfway up a ladder on one of the middle stacks. She looked so serene. So happy. He had yet to tell her that they were sending her away, and now he had far worse news than that.
“Eislyn,” he said, breath puffing.
She twisted to face him, smiling, but then she saw the look in his eyes. Her smile dimmed. Understanding passed between them without a single word spoken aloud, as if Eislyn could see the truth in the depths of his very soul. Tears filled her eyes, and she dropped the book she’d been holding. It fell with a loud thump that echoed in the lofted space.
“What’s happened to my sister?” she whispered.
“It is not as bad as you may think,” he said, though he had to stop himself mid-sentence. It might perhaps be that bad. He didn’t know. The letter had demanded Thane’s presence or Reyna would die. At least they had not killed her outright.
“Then, what is it?” Her voice was so soft that he could barely hear the words.
Quickly, Thane filled her in on the contents of the letter. As he spoke, his words sucked all the color from her cheeks. Her eyes were as wide as the twin moons in the sky, and her knuckles went white from where she clasped the ladder.
“Have you come here to tell me you are going to let her die?”
“What?” Thane straightened, frowning. “Of course not. You truly believe I would let your sister die?”
She closed her eyes. “I know how you feel about the Wood Court and its ruler. If you meet with them, they will make demands of you. Demands I am certain you will not bend to, knowing your opinion on High King Ulaid Molt.”
Thane stood very still. The truth was, Eislyn was not wrong. He imagined he knew exactly what the Wood Court would ask of him. For him to cast off Reyna as his betrothed and take Princess Etaine’s hand instead. Why they had decided not to kill Reyna outright, he could not guess. It would have been far easier for them to get what they wanted that way.
Because Thane did not wish to ally himself with the Wood Court. For the very same reason that his mother had been against it. The Wood Court was ruled by a wicked, cruel king. To ally himself with that court would put his own subjects at risk of his tyrannical rule. Thane knew it would only be a matter of time before the king’s knife turned his way.
But staring up into Eislyn’s silver eyes, Thane could not see any way out of it. He’d done everything in his power to avoid this very fate, but it had chased him down like a Fomorian during Beltane. He could not let Reyna die at their hands. It would destroy Eislyn. She would never be the same again.
“I will meet with them. And I will do whatever it takes to free your sister. Even if it means agreeing to wed Princess Etaine.”
“And what ofouralliance? Will it be over then?” she asked quietly. “If you marry their princess instead of ours, then what is to stop you from waging war against our court once again?”
Thane reached up, took her hand, and then led her down the ladder so that she now stood before him. But she still kept one hand firmly clasped to the ladder. Her fingers were cold to the touch, though Eislyn was not shivering. “No more war between us. I won’t allow it.”
“High King Ulaid will certainly want it.”
“Eislyn.” He twisted his fingers around hers and brought her hand to his chest. “Are you trying to convince me to leave your sister to die at the hands of the wood fae?”
“No,” she whispered, staring up at him. “I am trying to decide if I need to send an owl to my father.”
Thane’s eyes went wide, and he dropped Eislyn’s hand. If she sent an owl to her father, it would be to call him into battle. He would push into the Air Court lands to rescue Reyna from the wood fae. That move alone would send Thane’s mother into a frenzy. She would take the invasion as a call to arms, as a formal breaking of their alliance.
Thane was not the High King in the eyes of his people. Not yet. He had challenged his mother for the throne, but he had yet to make the formal announcement to the rest of the court. If the ice fae invaded now, their armies would listen to her instead of him. The transfer of power could be a tricky thing, and far trickier during active war.
“Eislyn, please. You cannot do that,” he said quietly.
“I do not want to, Thane,” she whispered back fiercely. “But I will if it is the only thing that will save my sister. I would doanythingto protect her.Anything. Even if that means we…”
