Princess Iona sniffed as she dug her knife into the fish, cutting each bite into a perfect, tiny square. “That creature does not deserve that title. He is Aengus and nothing more. Did you know that no one in the realm even knows his surname? Who is his family? Where did he come from?”
The mystery of Aengus was odd, but Reyna scarcely cared where the bastard had been born. His surname was not important. “He’s clearly not to be trusted, and there’s no doubt he’s hiding quite a lot. However, I’ve spent some time in his presence. He is not as clever as he thinks he is, and he is not the type to be able to hold on to power regardless of how he got it. He will be easily defeated. In fact, he’s not even worth all this trouble.”
Princess Iona’s fingers tightened on her fork. “I know what you plan to say to me, Princess Reyna. And while I appreciate your dilemma, I’m afraid we cannot help you. Aengus, and Tairngire, those are our priorities. We cannot afford to lose any time, lives, or precious ships waging a war against imaginary foes.”
Reyna stiffened, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. “Unfortunately, just because we cannot see them does not make themimaginary. They are very much real, and they are far more dangerous than Aengus.”
Iona bristled and turned back to her plate, piled high with goat’s cheese freshly farmed from one of the nearby islands. “Far more dangerous to you, perhaps, but not to us. Aengus killed my sister and stole Thane’s throne. Thane isfamily. Family always comes first.”
“And what happens when the wood king’s siege is successful? What happens when he takes Findius as his? He’ll have most of Thane’s Air Court army, the Wood Court ships,andhe’ll have every last living soul in the Shadow Court trapped in his web. What happens when he sets his sights on Thane’s crown? Because you know he won’t stop with the shadow lands.”
“We will fight him, of course.” She sniffed and peered past Reyna at Thane, who sat silently, brows furrowed. “Once Thane has retaken his throne, we will have Tairngire, and we will have the Ice Court. Your father has pledged to fight with us. We will not be alone.”
“That’s two against three,” Reyna argued.
“You’re wrong. Two against two. Wood and Shadow only makes two.”
“He has the Air Court army,” Reyna said, pushing up from the bench and forgoing every effort at courtly patience and manners. “The Air Court is practically without warriors now. Thane’s twisted father saw to that when he sent them all to the wood lands.”
“There are some fighters left in Tairngire,” she said. “Your father has a great many warriors up north. And we have been saving up our ships, waiting for the time when they might be needed. Well, that time is now. And we will be taking them to the Air Court. This is not up for negotiation, Reyna. You might be our ally, but you are not our queen.”
Reyna let out a frustrated growl and whirled away from the table. She should have known there was no sense in trying to convince them to see past their own need for vengeance. The Sea Court royals had long since made up their minds. They wanted Aengus’s blood. They wanted power. Sailing to the aide of the Shadow Court satisfied neither of those tasks.
“You will regret this one day,” Reyna said, and then she stormed out of the Great Hall. Thane followed close behind, following her back to her quarters. He hadn’t said a damn word. She might fault him for that, but she knew he’d had the very same conversation only moments before.
When she reached her room, she threw open the door and strode out onto the balcony. A fresh breeze blew her silver strands away from her face, and the sky was now a deep blue, the golden sun no longer reflecting off the sea. In its place, the first of the twin moons had begun its slow trek into the sky.
“I’m sorry,” Thane said quietly as he edged up beside her and braced his forearms on the parapet. “I want to save him, too. I can’t stop thinking about how helpless he must feel right now, trapped in a foreign city he never wanted to rule.”
Reyna closed her eyes and pulled the salty air into her lungs. “They’re making a mistake. And I don’t just say that because of Lorcan.”
“I know,” Thane said. “Ulaid Molt, the wood king. He is a far worse foe than Aengus, but they can’t see that. Not when my mother’s death hangs like an axe over their hearts.”
“Unfortunately, they won’t be able to ignore the wood king forever. Hewillcome for them, Thane. And he’ll be even far more deadly if he takes the shadow lands. He is already a servant of Unseelie. What happens when he has even more of that power behind him? What happens if he sits on the Shadow Court throne?”
What happens when Lorcan is dead?
She squeezed her eyes shut. That was an outcome she couldn’t even let herself consider. The Sea Court might not be willing to rise to the Shadow Court’s aid, but she was. She would not get on those ships. She would not set sail for Tairngire. The north might have her soul. The ice might be inside of her bones. But it did not have her heart. Not anymore.
“I’m going back to Findius, Thane,” she said quietly. “And I’ll do it without your help if I must.”
Thane rustled by her side. When she turned to gaze up at him, his own face was screwed up in pain. Confusion tore through his golden eyes. “You can’t go alone.”
“I can and I will.”
“You’d be charging straight to your death, Reyna,” he argued, though his tone was soft.
“I have Seelie’s power rushing through my veins,” she said, ignoring an insistent reminder in the back of her mind. Seelie’s power wasn’t the only thing she had. The pulsing magic of the Ruin twitched beneath her skin, itching to get out and storm across the lands. Itching to ruinherbefore she had a chance to fulfill the prophecy and destroy the world. “You know I have to do this, Thane. I can’t leave him there to fight this alone. I have to go to him. Even if it’s only to die by his side.”
2
Lorcan
“Your Grace, you must rethink this.” Priest Tighe knelt before Lorcan, his robes pooling on the floor like a black sea. An ancient leather tome was tucked beneath one arm. Lorcan had not seen the male without that thing for days.
Lorcan sighed, leaning against the sturdy table set inside the Meeting Hall behind the Throne Room, the small space ancient Shadow Court kings and queens had used to confer with their Grand Aldermans and advisors. Only two flickering candles lit the windowless space, flaring orange hues against the grey tapestries that lined the wall. He did not quite understand how he had gotten here. Born in the grasslands, he’d had no ambition but to survive the next Beltane. And now Beltane was quickly approaching once again, and he was to be the High King of the Shadow Court.
“I appreciate your concerns, Priest Tighe,” Lorcan said gently. He understood why it was difficult for the priest to accept his decision to alter the rites of the coronation. It had been a very long time since a shadow High King had taken the blessings of a Druid rather than a Priest. “But I have made my decision. Druid Aric will oversee my coronation.”
