With no sign of Thane, he didn’t have any more time to waste. The wood fae had been clear. If Thane did not show, then they would kill Reyna on the spot. He wouldn’t be able to protect her if he kept waiting for the prince to come for them.
The enemy had bows and arrows. Most wood fae were excellent shots.
Reyna’s eyelids had fallen shut at some point during their conversation. She looked peaceful, her face turned up toward the rising moon. While she wasn’t watching him, Lorcan called upon the darkness that surrounded them both. The shadows pulsed around him, whispering across his skin. And then he did what he always did—he did not know how it happened, he just did it. Closing his eyes, he pulled the night into him, and magic filled his pulsing veins. Hemovedthrough the shadows, passing from one side of the cage to the other.
When he opened his eyes, he stood outside of the iron bars, peering in at Reyna. Her own eyes were still shut. She had not noticed.
Their belongings were propped up against a rock a short distance away. His sword and her dagger. Rustling through the tall grass, he inched toward the rock and grabbed their weapons. The wood fae never noticed, too busy stomping around their campfire in the distance, likely planning for Thane’s arrival that had not yet come.
Back at the cage, he considered his options. He didn’t have the key, nor did he think he could work his sword in the lock. If he had time, perhaps.
They did not have time.
Drawing the shadows into his body once again, he leaned down and wrapped his hands around the bottom bars. The iron burned his skin, as if lava had been poured across his fingers. Pain lanced through his entire body. Gritting his teeth, he pulled. He strained against the heavy cage. It weighed thrice as heavy as him, and the iron burned deeper into his palms. But the cage moved.
Reyna suddenly awoke and was on her feet in an instant. She stared at him open-mouthed, clearly dumbfounded by his strength. And perhaps the fact he now stood outside of the cage rather than within it.
“Come on,” he said through gritted teeth. “Do not make me hold this any longer. The iron burns.”
She blinked the shock out of her eyes and ducked beneath the bars, joining him on the other side.
That was about the time that the night rang with steel.
Lorcan tossed the ice dagger to Reyna and whirled toward the sound, flicking his wrists to rid himself of the blinding pain left behind by the iron. Shadows whorled around him. They seeped into his skin, his body still tuned into them. They soothed the pain.
The campsite was ablaze with activity. Warriors donned in gold-dyed armor waved a banner and rushed toward the wood fae tents, their swords raised in the air. Shouts filled the quiet night, roars of bloodlust. The sigil on the banner was unmistakable. A golden crown. The air fae had arrived but not in the way Lorcan had imagined. He knew Thane hated their High King, but he had still believed he’d agree to attempt a resolution. But this was no resolution. It was war.
“How did you…” Reyna still stared at him, seemingly oblivious to the battle waging only a short distance away from them.
“The Air Court has arrived,” he said grimly. “But instead of bringing diplomacy, they have brought swords. Come. We should run from here while the wood fae are distracted.”
“No,” she said fiercely, dagger in hand. “They came here to save us. We should join in the fight.”
“Reyna, you’re not well.”
Indeed, she swayed a bit on her feet.
He was not surprised that she wished to fight. It was in her blood and her bones and her soul. Something had happened to her as a child that had forever changed her. It would always be with her, whispering in her mind. Reyna was a warrior just as surely as any he had ever met, maybe even more so. She might have been born a princess but she had grown to be a wielder of blades.
“You’re right. I’m not. But I do not think we have much of a choice in the matter.” She pointed toward the campsite with the end of her dagger. Several of the wood fae had noticed that they were no longer locked up tight in their cage. They were on their way, angry faces lit up by the blazing fire. Two had a sword while only one held a bow. However, that bow had an arrow nocked, and it was aimed right at them.
Lorcan dropped his singeing hand on Reyna’s shoulder, pushing her to the ground. “Duck into the grass. Stay low.”
Reyna crouched into the grass beside him. They sat together, shoulders brushing as the grassy stalks whispered in the night like a field of swaying golden worms. Their breath mingled in the cold air, fogging before them.
Suddenly, an arrow punched the ground only a few feet from where they crouched. Reyna did not flinch. She didn’t even blink. Instead, she kept her gaze locked on the blades just before her as if she were focused on something far beyond. She was listening.
Suddenly, Reyna leapt up from her crouch with a roar, her dagger outstretched before her. Lorcan half-stood, watching as she sank her icy blade deep into the wood fae’s heart. Reyna yanked her dagger out of his limp body and ducked again, just in time to miss the next volley of arrows.
Lorcan tried not to stare. Even as drained as she was, she had come alive in the fight. Her cheeks were flushed once again, and her silver eyes sparkled in the moonlight. She looked like an agent of death.
No. Agoddessof death.
Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the task at hand just in time to pull her back to his side, yanking her out of the path of the next arrow.
She mumbled something to him. He thought it might have been a thanks.
Smiling, he heard the soft steps of the second wood fae. He pushed up from the ground and swung wide. His sword connected with the wood fae’s neck, slicing clean through. Blood filled the air as his body fell, the head tumbling away into the distance.
