“I said you were a great beauty.” Lorcan smiled down at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way they only did when he looked at her. “I’d never seen anyone like you before. I thought you were more likely to eat Thane alive than agree to marry him.”
“Hmph,” Reyna said, biting back a smile. “That doesn’t sound like a great first impression. Except for the whole beauty part. I think you might be the only one to ever say that about me. That kind of compliment is usually reserved for Glencora.”
Her heart sank at the thought of her sister. The Sea Court had received a letter from her father mentioning her improved condition. Reyna wished she’d been by her sister’s side when she’d awoken from her illness. It had been her fault that they’d been caught up in the Ruin. And, in the end, Glencora had been the one to pay for it.
“How are your sisters?” Lorcan asked gently, knowing just how much of a tender subject it was for her.
“Glencora is healing, which is a miracle,” Reyna said. “Eislyn is…somewhere. Likely with my father. Thane was able to get some news from his spies inside of Tairngire. They said she escaped, and rumor had it she went north. I hope the spies were right.”
“Of course she went north. I’m sure she’s back in Falias with her books.”
“Aengus mentioned something when I ran into him in the Wood Court,” she said with a frown. “He said he left the court in the hands of someone else. A girl.”
“Aengus was a human. He was probably lying about that.”
“Yes, but who would he have left in charge?” she asked. “It would have been someone loyal to him. Otherwise, why would he ever leave? To be honest, I can’t make sense of it all.”
“I doubt it’s anything to worry about,” Lorcan said, trailing a finger down her skin. “It wouldn’t have been Eislyn. She’s the High King’s betrothed. Aengus was a weaselly one and far too smart to do that.”
“You’re right.” Still, her frown deepened. The rumors Eislyn had fled north had lightened her spirits, but she hated that they were nothing more than stories passed from ear to ear. She wanted confirmation of Eislyn’s safety. Word from her father that she was by his side. But it was impossible to do anything but guess where she was. Until the wood king was gone, it was impossible to send a letter north.
She lifted her head when red light speared her face. The sun had fully risen, and a new day had dawned on the Shadow Court. Her heart thumped in her chest. The time had finally come. She and Lorcan had barely slept a wink all night, too caught up in each other, too terrified to miss even a single moment of these last hours in Caraid. But the time for war had come.
* * *
They didn’t say goodbye. Lorcan kissed her fiercely before she set off with Nollaig and Wingallock across the Misty Wastes. Neither one of them wanted to speak the word aloud for fear it would feel too final, like the end of everything. Instead, they both pretended that their departure was nothing more than a brief moment, a slip in the fabric of time.
Reyna could only hope they were right.
She and Nollaig took two horses for their journey. Once they were well on their way to Shademore, Nollaig held out a tankard full of sloshing pink liquid that inexplicably appeared from the depths of her cloak. “Want some Buntata?”
“Sure,” she said dryly. “Why not?”
Reyna took the drink and tipped it down her throat. She braced herself for the burn of it, but instead, it tasted quite sweet. Like strawberries.
“You know, you didn’t need to volunteer to watch over me like I’m a small child,” Reyna said, handing the Buntata back to the cloaked shadow fae.. “I can manage fine on my own.”
“You’re hurting far more than you want anyone to think,” Nollaig replied. “You think you hide it well, but I can see it in your eyes. That magic has a hold on you, and it’s not going to let go until you’re dead.”
Reyna winced and glanced away. “You don’t know how close to the truth you are.”
“Do you know what I think?” Nollaig asked over the steady clopping of hooves.
“No, but I’m certain you’re going to tell me.”
“I thinkyouare the Dionadair.”
Reyna snorted out a laugh. “Nice try. Lorcan told me you don’t even believe in prophecies. You don’t think any of it is real.”
“He misinterpreted me,” she said. “What I said was that I never took much stock in the Namhaid prophecy. Some of the wording is very vague, but there’s one part that’s clear as day. And that’s the axe. The one that’s gone. You don’t have it, love.”
“I keep having dreams about that axe.”
“That doesn’t make you the wielder, Shieldmaiden.” Nollaig turned toward Reyna, her face hidden in shadows. “Perhaps your dreams are warning you of what’s to come.”
Reyna shivered. “I think you might be wrong this time, Nollaig.”
“I hope I’m not,” she said with a tone of voice that could freeze the very ground beneath their feet. “Because if you are what you think you are, then I truly am afraid we’re doomed. You’re more powerful than you realize, even now. If Unseelie ever gets control of your mind, hewilldestroy us all.”
