Her hands fluttered happily.
I sat beside her, tearing into my own share, and for a moment, we were two companions eating quietly under the shadow of the mountains.
Like a family.
I should not want this.
I am not meant for this.
Yet when she leaned against my side, warm and trusting, chewing loudly and humming between bites?—
I found myself wrapping my wing around her again, protectively. Perhaps possessively?
Wrongly.
Either way, I would kill anything that tried to take her from me.
Chapter Fourteen
WREN
Iwoke to the soft sound of wings. They were not flapping, but restless and uneasy. It took me a moment to remember why.
The child. Ronan had gone off to get her. Had he returned? Had Benedict left secretly after I’d fallen asleep?
My own wings trembled before my eyes even opened.
I inhaled deeply and caught his scent and Kieran’s. Still here.
I resisted the urge to cry. I’d been crying a lot.
Apparently, that was normal, according to Enya. She insisted that producing a living being in my body meant emotions were now overflowing like a tipped bucket.
But something was still wrong, beyond all of that.
The treehouse vibrated with a pulse so strong that I felt through the bedding. Someone paced just outside the nest, trying not to wake me.
“Benedict?” I croaked.
He froze, then turned back, lowering himself beside me,eyes dark with exhaustion and worry. His face was pale—too pale. He was worried.
“Wren,” he whispered. “How do you feel?”
“Fine. Where’s Ronan? Is he back yet?”
Benedict didn’t answer. A cold shard of fear stabbed me clean through.
No. And he needed backup.
“And—” My breath hitched. “They should be back by now. I’ve been sleeping for a while, haven’t I?”
Silence stretched too long.
Benedict exhaled. “They’re both gone. North. Ronan left the wards to chase her.”
Everything in me tightened from my chest to my wings and throat.
I shouldn’t have stood, but I did. “We have to go after them?—”
