Reyna’s face burned from the twisted hope that flared to life inside of her. He was right. They’d been through this once before. She’d thought he’d died. She’d seen it happen. But it had been someone else. Someone pretending to be him. Could it have happened again? It seemed impossible to believe, but far crazier things had happened. Maybe it really was him. Maybe he’d never been cursed.
“But,” Rhain said, frowning. “Molt cursed his killer. We found evidence.”
Lorcan shrugged. “He didn’t. Maybe his curse was for the one who took his throne. That wasn’t me. That was the pretender.”
Frowning, Rhain twisted toward Reyna. “Could he be right? If he is…”
They wouldn’t have to find a cure. The only reason they’d gone in search of one in the first place was to spare Lorcan’s life. If there was a pretender, an enemy amongst them…but there was still the curse to worry about. Killing the pretender would not cure the cursed fae. Would it?
Lorcan seemed to read the silent conversation that passed between them. He cleared his throat. “We need to return to the castle and retake the throne from the pretender. If we don’t, this curse will get out of control. We need to kill him.”
Reyna fisted her hands, her nails carving crescent moons into her palms. “Prove you’re him. Prove you’re Lorcan.”
“Reyna,” he whispered with a shudder. His eyes pleaded with her. Those midnight eyes that looked at her and saw her soul. “Please. Believe me. Remember our night beneath the stars. Our night along the shores of the shadow kingdom. I remember every breath you took. Ever gasp—”
Thane coughed.
Flushing, Reyna glanced away. She wanted to believe him, but she’d seen what he’d become. He hadn’t been himself, but she would have known…wouldn’t she have? If someone had taken his place. Surely, she would have sensed it somehow.
Surely she would have known.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered, spinning on her heels and taking off through the trees. She couldn’t hear his words in that familiar voice. She couldn’t feel his shadows pulsing along her skin, tempting her to give in to him.
With tears streaming down her face, she ran until she could breathe.
24
Thane
Thane watched Reyna vanish through the trees. Heart pounding, he turned back toward Lorcan. He was only a few feet away now, inches from where Nollaig stood with her bow quivering in her arms.
Quietly, Thane stole back to the fire. He knelt beside Reyna’s pack, keeping one eye locked on Lorcan. As he rustled through her things, Glencora edged back, blocking him from view.
“What are you doing?” she hissed to him.
“Hiding the book,” Thane murmured, too low for Lorcan to hear. “If he’s lying, if it’s not him, then he’ll do everything he can to get this back. We can’t let him get his hands on it.”
“You really think he’s lying?” she asked, voice small. “He looks normal enough to me.”
Thane pulled the book from the depths of the bag and held it behind his back. He stole through the clearing and tossed the book inside a nearby tree trunk where a hole had been carved from some wild animal. Lorcan was still too busy pleading with Nollaig to pay him any mind.
“Stay behind me,” he told his wife. She was strong, like Reyna, but she was no fighter. And if Lorcan decided to attack, he knew she’d be the first target. Reyna’s love for her family had always been her biggest weakness. She’d do anything to save her sisters.
Thane strode back over to the stand-off between Nollaig and Lorcan. Her hand shook as she aimed the bow, but she’d yet to loose it into his heart.
“Thane,” Lorcan breathed. “Please. Explain to Nollaig what is happening.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Thane crossed his arms over his chest. “You have to understand how this looks to us. I saw you with my own eyes back in Murias. We spoke of old times. I find it difficult to believe that a pretender of a priest would know anything about our friendship.”
Lorcan swore. “He got close to me. That’s how. Nollaig, you remember the priests buzzing around us in Findius. It must have been one of them.”
Nollaig growled.
“How did you find us?” Thane asked.
“I sneaked into the Roost after I escaped and sent some birds in search of you. They found you quickly enough.”
“How did you escape?”
