I bit my tongue, but I saw no other option than to state the truth. “Innocents. They have nothing to do with any of this, and they don’t need to die for your god to get what she wants. You came here for me, right? Well, you have me. Take me to her, and I’m certain she’ll give you a great reward.”
From across the courtyard, I heard Kalen’s roar and felt the ripple of his fear and anger through the bond. He’d spotted me, then, trapped here by this storm fae and the scorpion. He was too far away to hear the conversation, but he might sense my intent all the same and see the resignation on my face. Because as I’d looked across this breaking city from atop that tower, I’d realized there was only one way to stop this battle.
We had to give Andromeda what she wanted, and what she wanted was me.
The storm fae leaned forward and sneered in my face. “Oh, don’t you worry. I plan to take you to my god and get my reward, but this city will die, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
My heart slammed into my ribs. “No, you don’t have—”
He shoved me harder against that piercing bit of broken wood, forcing me to hiss through my teeth. “Kalen Denare is the only one who can stand against her. He and his city must die.”
“Wait,” I said, my voice coming out like a plea. “What do you mean? Kalen Denare is the—”
The storm fae shot his wind into my throat. I choked against the force of it, gasping for air as he sucked the very breath from my lungs. Shaking, I desperately fought for air, but he just kept taking it, pulling it from me until darkness dulled my thoughts.
I was distantly aware of the thud of my body against the ground when he loosened his grip on my throat. The tap of boots on stone sounded near my head, fuzzy and loud. Too loud. The storm fae laughed and kicked me in the gut.
Rage burned through me. I tried to find the strength to stand, but whatever he had done to me left me unable to move, to speak, to do anything other than take in tiny, aching breaths. I couldn’t even blink, let alone see. The only thing that existed was a veil of mist drowning everything in shadow.
“How pathetic,” he spat. “I thought Andromeda’s blood would have more power than this. But you’re just a weak mortal like the rest of them. I can’t imagine she’ll keep you around for long. And the funny thing is, you brought all this upon yourself.”
His words sliced through my heart. Deep down, I knew he was right. I’d clawed my way through life, always fighting, always throwing myself from one bad situation to the next. My father might have been the one to blame in the beginning, but it had been me in the end. I was the one who’d gotten Raven killed. I was the cause of my sister getting trapped in that dungeon cell. I had even stabbed Kalen without any evidence to prove what Morgan had told me.
And it was I who had stabbed Oberon with the Mortal Blade.
I’d only brought this upon myself.
Myself and everyone I cared about.
The storm fae slammed his boot into my head, and the darkness finally consumed me.
* * *
“Daughter of Stars,” a voice whispered in my mind.
I opened my eyes, jolted awake in a blanket of grass that danced in the breeze beneath the soothing sun. Alarmed, I climbed to my feet and gazed around. A large patch of charred ground stretched out behind me. I spun on my feet, spotting a city in the distance that glistened a deep burnished brown with hints of gold.
Like Albyria, but…not.
“Kalen?” I asked, frowning. Was this a dream? Did that mean the storm fae had dragged me out of Dubnos and this was hours—or even days—later? My hands curled as I tried to make sense of it. What had happened? Had the city fallen?
And then another question I did not want to ponder popped into my head.
Who had survived? Had anyone?
Soft voices drifted to me. I turned back to the stretch of charred ground to find two emerald-robed figures kneeling beside it. They were mortals, I could tell, though there was something different about them. Their weathered faces were lined with wrinkles, but there was something ancient in their eyes. Something almost…otherworldly.
One of them stood and pushed back her hood, her fingers brushing the rings along her jaw.
Druids.
Confusion rippled through me. Whatwasthis? And how was I here?
“The poor girl,” the brunette woman said with a sigh. “Will she ever forgive us for what we’ve done to her? What we must still do to her?”
“I feel just as badly for the father. The moment he tossed his daughter over that wall will haunt him for the rest of his days, as short as they are.”
My heart jolted, and I took a stumbling step toward them. “What do you mean?”
