Broken and jumbled words fill my mind, her voice too far away to make sense of.
I know that my thoughts won’t reach her, so instead, I mouth:I love you.
A sheen of tears blurs her eyes as she begins to fade. I reach my hand out, desperate for just one touch. I yearn to feel her body molded against mine, to taste the fire of her lips and breathe in the scent of pine and juniper that clings to her flesh.
My fingers cross over the invisible barrier between us, sending my heart pumping twice its normal speed. I move toward her in the blink of an eye, both of my hands sliding onto her face and cupping her cheeks.
Just as my palm meets her skin, she disappears from me completely. The stars around me fade instantly in her wake, leaving me in a black void, wishing I didn’t have to return to a place she wasn’t going to be.
Twenty
Fluorite
Graylen was there—inmy dreams. It wasn’t a quick and hazy image like last time; it washim. Really and truly him. Even if he were shrouded in fire, I would know those eyes anywhere.
A deep ache balls up in my chest, and I press my palm against it, trying to ease the tension. But I know there won’t be a way to lessen the feeling, because the pain is coming from the place where my connection to Graylen should be.
It was as if the dream bound us back together, only to sever it the moment I awoke. It reminded me of what it felt like to feel him, what it felt like to not be so alone.
He tried to hide his pain—tried to keep what was happening to him from me—but I couldfeelit. Though it was faint, there was no denying the dampening of his steadiness. His normal calming presence was like a brewing storm he was trying to hide.
Anger stirs in my stomach. Vidaris is going to realize she messed with the wrong fucking person.
I have to get him back.
He may have warned me against it—and he’s probably right, that my focus should be on how to keep the realm safe—but who’s going to keephimsafe?
Even if the entirety of Penyth knew he was gone, it wouldn’t change the burning rage coursing through me. It wouldn’t lessen the stabbing pain piercing my heart each second that he’s gone.
Every fiber of my being wants to scream at the gates of the Vale and see exactly what thisgoddess-forgedmagic is capable of, leaving a trail of bodies in my wake.But…I have to be smart about this—have to think like Vidaris thinks and find a way to actually save Graylen.
After getting a nod of approval from Mylah and doing a short series of strength tests, she clears me to leave the cottage. Leda and Calix tried to get Adrian to tell them how to get back to Crea, but he didn’t budge. He refused to talk to them, and according to Leda, they had tried…severalmethods to get him to talk last night.
But I knew he wouldn’t talk to them.
He doesn’t trust them, and he’s only seen a side of fae that confirms his hate for them. They’re his enemy.
I may be fae, but I’m still the girl he got out of the camp. Still the one he brought to the castle and tried to marry. If anyone is going to get him to talk, it’s me.
So, my feet carry me to the last place I want to be, but the one place Ineedto be. Anger pulses beneath my skin—frustration at not knowing how to get to Graylen or what darkness is brewing within the realms.
“Lu, you can’t be serious.” Adrian’s voice grates against my ears, sending a wave of fury through my veins. Or maybe it’sthat he called me Lu, something I specifically told him he lost the right to do. “Is this really necessary to keep us locked in here?”
More than necessary, considering he planned to force me to go back to Crea, assisted in putting a collar on my neck so I couldn’t use my powers, and put my lifeandmy friends’ lives at risk.
Adrian gestures to the Lyle boys. He, Beryl, and Ember sit together against the back wall, while Mica is off to the side by himself—a clear distance away from his brothers and Adrian.
“She’s a lost fucking cause,” Beryl mutters, his face streaked with dirt and dark circles beneath his eyes.
I grit my teeth, the story of what Beryl did to Graylen flashing in my mind. Of the scar he left across his chest. My body trembles as I look down at him across the open room, fury burning through me at his relaxed position on the floor, leaning against the wall.
He looks back at me with as much hate as I feel toward him, and I tear my eyes away before I hurl a ball of fire at his head.
Leda has already been in hereseveraltimes, and she assured us that whatever magic Beryl possessed along the border was now gone. Looks like the goddess that granted it either abandoned them, or doesn’t currently have the ability to refuel them.
Either way, they’re surrounded by fae—mostly warriors with wyverns nearby. Trying to fight their way out of here wouldn’t get them very far.
The four boys aren’t shackled or restrained—their time here could bemuchworse than simply being stuck in an empty cottage. But unlike the rest of Kauri—with the trees all connected by walkways, branches, or bridges—this one is only accessible by a Woodland who can open the staircase in the center of the tree and again at the top.
