Lorcan whispered out of the darkness, only a few feet away from where they stood. He was alone, hands hanging heavily by his sides. Reyna sucked a sharp breath in through her parted lips, a shockwave of pain blasting right into her belly. He looked so normal, so much like himself that it made her very blood ache.
“Why are you here?” she hissed, biting back the tears. But she needn’t have asked. She knew why. He’d tracked her down to kill her.
23
Reyna
Confusion rippled across his familiar face. He held his hands out by his sides, weaponless. Reyna took a step back, her heart beating like a drum. The others had caught wind of Lorcan’s arrival. They’d all stood from the fire, joining her and Nollaig at the edge of the clearing. She shifted in front of Glencora, blocking his view.
She didn’t want him to get any bright ideas.
“Lorcan, stay back,” Thane called out, his voice clear and strong and firm. His sword whistled through the air as he drew it from the sheathe strapped to his back. “There are five of us and one of you.”
Lorcan took a step closer, the leaves crunching beneath his boot.
“Listen to him, Your Highness,” Nollaig growled, lifting her bow and peering down the aim. “We don’t have to make this a terrible night for all of us. I’ve got ten arrows. You know I need far less than that.”
Reyna could only stare at him. It was unnerving, how much he looked like the male she’d grown to love. The male who had held her close during some of her darkest days. He’d been the fire to keep her warm when she’d thought the cold was all she needed to survive. A hand in hers. A heartbeat against her cheek. Eyes that saw her for everything she was—the good and the bad—and loved her for all of it.
Pain gripped her soul, squeezing tight. She shuddered against the force of it, desperately trying to keep the broken pieces of her heart bound together by fraying string. She couldn’t let this shatter her. It couldn’t be the thing that broke her. She’d seen Lorcan die with her own eyes, and she’d survive that.
She could survive a cursed version of him, even if it killed her to look into his eyes.
A reflection of her pain rippled across his face. “It’s me. The real me.”
The ground beneath Reyna’s feet tipped sideways. She stumbled forward and grasped onto Nollaig’s firm shoulder. Reyna must have heard that wrong.
“Your Highness,” Nollaig said slowly, grasping Reyna’s hand. “What do you mean, it’s you?”
“It’s me,” he whispered, holding his arms wide. “Look. Can’t you tell?”
“No,” Thane replied, stepping up to Reyna’s side. Glencora trailed just behind them all, still hidden from the king. “And after everything that’s happened, you can expect us to take you at your word.”
“I understand.” He closed his eyes. “The illusion has confused you.”
Reyna frowned. “What illusion?”
He glanced from Thane to Reyna and then to Nollaig. Realization dawned in his eyes. “None of you have any idea what’s happened, do you?”
Unease tumbled through Reyna’s belly. “I think we have a pretty damn good idea. You’ve been cursed. You’re becoming just like Ulaid Molt. And the curse is spreading through the whole damn realm.”
“What? No.” He frowned in confusion. “One of the druids knocked me out. Or perhaps it was a priest. I’m not certain. Once I was out of the picture, the bastard cast an illusion upon himself and took my place on the throne. This was just before the coronation. Only a few hours. I’ve been trying to escape ever since.”
“What?” All feeling drained from Reyna’s face. She stared at Lorcan, her heart beating so hard that she almost shook from the intensity of it.
“None of this makes any sense,” Thane interjected. “We’ve all seen you and spoken to you. None of that was an illusion.”
“Yeah, and we’ve come across more than one lot of cursed fae, Your Highness,” Nollaig added. “Thane almost lost his head because of it.”
Lorcan frowned. “Then, whatever this curse is that you’re talking about…that must be real, too. But it has nothing to do with me. It must be that priest that’s done it.”
Reyna’s heart flipped. A strange, gurgled gasp shot from her throat. Shaking her head, she took a step back, bumping into Glencora. “Stop it.”
His eyes widened as he gazed at her. There was so much hope, so much love in his expression that a knife cut through the very soul of her, sharp and piercing. Worse than any physical wound she’d ever endured. “Reyna, it’s me. I swear to you. Can’t you tell? You did before.”
Her eyes burned. The whole world slowed to a stop.
“Don’t you remember?” he whispered, taking a step closer. “You thought Ulaid Molt killed me, but he didn’t. It was someone else, another illusion. And then you found me. Just like now.”
