“Now focus on all that anger,” I said. “Take it and shove it into the ground. Let’s see what you can do, love. Make the stars weep.”
Nodding, she knelt again. All her wary unease vanished beneath the furious determination flashing through her eyes. Jaw clenched, she palmed her hands against the glowing iridescent grass, the blades poking between her fingers. She closed her eyes and leaned forward with her knees digging into the ground. I held my breath and waited.
There was no doubt in my mind Tessa Baran could do anything she put her mind to. With the power in her veins, she could rip this world to shreds if she wanted. She truly could make the stars weep. That power should terrify me, especially after what had happened to Oberon. With the flip of a coin, she could yield to the darkness, just like he had.
But deep down, I knew—I justknew. Call it intuition. Call it stupidity. Call it love. I knew she’d do the right thing.
A long moment passed. The breeze dusted sand into the air, rustling the grass. Tessa’s braid slipped over her shoulder as she leaned further forward, her jaw tensing, her fingers trembling.
“Think of Oberon and his soldiers,” I said, hating that I was pushing her to that place. But she had to go there. She had to face it. If she was going to master the anger, she had to fully embrace it. “Think of everything they did to you and your people.”
A growl rumbled in the back of her throat.
“Remember everything he did to you. Remember how it made you feel.”
Tessa heaved out a breath and then shouted at the ground. Her fingers formed claws as she dug into the soil, her entire body shaking. I had to fight my instinct to rush forward, to hold her in my arms and tell her everything was fine. I hated to see her like this—hurting and angry and shaking from the force of all those emotions churning within her—especially when my words had been the cause. But—
The groundthumpedlike a single drumbeat.
A few blades of grass around Tessa’s palms curled, browning, crinkling. Dying. The brown spread from the tips of her fingers past the sides of her hands, forming a perfect circle of rot around her body. When she glanced up at me, tears glassed her eyes, but the smile on her face released the tension around my heart.
“You did it, love. You fucking did it.”
Still smiling, she stood and rushed toward me. I opened my arms to lift her from the ground and squeeze her against my chest in a victorious hug. But she stumbled to a stop only inches away, and then held up her hands, grimacing.
“What if…” She stumbled over her words, paling. “Now that I’ve used it, what if…”
I took her hand and yanked her toward me. “I’m fae, love. Not some blades of grass. You’ll have to try a lot harder than that to kill me.”
Sighing into me, she slid her arms around my waist. I held her against me, resting my chin on top of her golden head of hair. “I knew you could do it.”
“It’s a start, at least.” She tightened her hold on me. “Andromeda won’t expect this, either. She won’t know that I’ve found a way to unlock this power.”
“Hmm. She knows you exist, though. I think we can’t be—”
The ground rumbled. Frowning, I pulled back and gazed around, scenting the air for the pungent scent of incoming beasts. But the air was fresh, the breeze full of mist and the cool scent of night. Tessa turned toward the onyx castle where my soldiers still stood, guarding the place. Her faced paled as another rumble shook the earth.
“What is that?” she whispered. “It’s not coming from the castle.”
“No.”
“Shadowfiends?”
“There would have to be an entire host of them to make the ground shake like this,” I said, frowning out into the mists. “And there’s no scent of them on the wind.”
The ground shook—harder this time. It knocked Tessa sideways, and she lurched into me. I grabbed her arms and pulled her against me, her back to my chest. I tightened my hold on her shoulders as I tried to peer through the mists.
One of the castle guards jogged toward me, his face lined with concern. “Your Majesty, do you feel that?”
“Find somewhere safe. Not the castle. Take the guardhouse instead,” I ordered.
He nodded and jogged off to warn the others while I turned toward the house we’d chosen to camp in for the night. Toryn appeared in the doorway, his spear in his hands.
“What’s happening?” he shouted as Tessa and I jogged toward him.
“I don’t know.” A crack suddenly appeared before us as the ground shook once more—this time, so hard it knocked me off my feet. Tessa slammed into the sand beside me and rolled to the side as another crack yawned between us.
Tessa scrambled to her feet and leapt over the widening crack, her body slamming into me. I held her close and raced toward the house. Everyone was on their feet now. Caedmon rushed down the steps, Fenella just behind him. She had her daggers out, shielding Nellie, whose pale face rivaled the moon. But weapons would do nothing against whatever this was.
