Stepping in, every instinct told me to turn back.
I tried to steady my racing heart. It didn’t work.
So I ignored it.
Deep down, I wasn’t even certain why it raced. Or that’s what I kept telling myself.
Chapter Thirteen
Miriam
Analysing the map taking up a bigger part of the wall and coordinates to the woodlands Michael and his brother had chosen as our first stop was taking me a little longer than I would have preferred. My nails bit into my palm as my mind fixated on all the ways things could go sideways.
The room around us bustled with life and conversation, but all I could think of was that I had to portal us to a land I had never been to before, and such a feat came with risks I wouldn’t normally bear on my shoulders.
‘How much longer are you going to take?’ Luke asked, his irritated tone grating on my already thin patience.
After long hours of pleading with him to join and support me—to show everyone that we might actually make a great team—even I had started to doubt it.
His stubborn nature clashed with mine. My palms clenched tighter, as I explained, ‘I need to land us in the right spot to be safe.’
My fiancé smirked, staring across the office to where Ava stood with her mate and friends. ‘Nothing’s going to happen to me or you.’
I took a deep breath. ‘That leaves Michael. Or do you not care about anyone but yourself?’
‘Lord, why are you so irritable today? Some female shit, again?’ The scowl on his face infuriated me. ‘Besides, he’s fae, so even if you rip him to shreds, he’ll probably heal.’
A drop of blood rolled from where my nail pierced the skin, and I wiped it on my blouse. ‘I will make note of your wisdom, Luke. Thank you.’
I didn’t dare look at him. I might release a nightmare on him. And part of me wanted to.
I chose not to.
The first warning pressure rushed through my body, building and making it harder to focus. It took real effort not to let it out. It meant I would either need to unleash it on someone or do what I usually did and contain it. The only problem was the time. Ava needed all the help she could get.
My sister, whom I had been thrilled to find, was so young and so… damaged.
The word made something ache deep in my chest, but it was the truth. The amount of trauma in her short life wasn’t something one could overcome easily, and as far as I could tell, she wasn’t even trying. Ava endured it. Perhaps she was so used to pain and disaster that it no longer felt like something to run from.
But running toward the eye of a cyclone wasn’t the way to heal either.
It was our family’s responsibility to show her what peace could look like.
But first… I needed to find my own. The fortune-teller’s words echoed in my mind once more:You will find what you seek by your hundredth birthday, or death will come to claimwhat is owed.
Everything else she had foretold for me over the years came true in one way or another. Not always in ways one would expect. Perhaps that’s what Luke was to me… the unexpected solution.
Yet, there weren’t many people who could provoke me as easily as him. The rage he evoked in me sometimes lingered for days. But that’s just what love was. Losing yourself so deeply so you could mould yourself into a version your partner could live with. It just took time. I still had some.
‘Do you need any help?’ Michael approached, carrying three backpacks and some dark folded fabric.
‘What are you going to do, circle the spot she’s been analysing for the last fifteen minutes?’ Luke snapped, making me gasp at the venom in his usually controlled voice.
Michael stared him down until he averted his gaze. Without the usual smile, the Fire Prince looked menacing.
I wondered what it was like to stand at the wrong side of his flames. Could they burn a fae down?
‘These are yours. Please let me know when you’re ready to go. In the meantime, I’ll speak to my brother,’ Michael said, directing his words to me and ignoring my fiancé entirely.
