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He’d once told her it was up to them to keep the world of plants thriving, for dark creatures—like demons—intended to burn it all to ash. Together, they could travel the world like pollen and dust, flit from forest to jungle to make sure new seedlings would sprout when a large natural disaster took it all away.
If Arkimedes lost all his knowledge about his connection with Ari and Nava again, they wouldn’t be able to defeat the evil coming into this land. She hated to admit it, but this went far beyond their love for one another.
“I can offer a healer who will help him, and you staging this little…performance is harming him more than I ever would.” The king gestured at Arkimedes’s unmoving shape.
Her heart ached at his words. He was right. She couldn’t help Ark right now…
King Oberon took another step forward, ignoring Devon completely. Nava believed her initial assessment about the king not wanting to hurt him, but she also believed his warning. Did Devon not care whether he lived or died?
Whatever his wishes were, his life wouldn’t be on her hands.
“You can’t take Orion’s memories again, Your Majesty, or your kingdom will suffer. We are working against something much bigger than politics,” she said in an unwavering tone that conveyed her conviction. “I am a healer, and I can make him better. I just need time.”
The king tilted his head and paused. His face softened, and so did his shadows. “Humans lie constantly, yet I sense you’re speaking the truth. I have allowed you three to run around my city, searching for things I can’t claim to understand. But I also know you went into the forest when new fires rose up. To fight the demons, I presume.”
“Yes.”
“My men couldn’t find a trace of the Zorren when they got there.” The king spoke more quietly than before and glanced around the wide-open street. On one side, the dark waters of the Leona Sea crashed in wild waves against a rocky wall, and on the other, two-story-high buildings shielded the view of the castle in the distance. “I don’t intend to harm you today, sorceress, but you will come with us, and I recommend you comply.”
A part of her wanted to fight him, to tell the king to go to the shadow lands himself. But when she looked at Arkimedes, all the fight left her. If she didn’t come willingly, she would get hurt—or worse yet, he might command his guards to kill her. It seemed unlikely, as he probably suspected they were soulmates by now. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t use Devon as a bargaining chip. Besides, while Nava possessed the gift to heal, she had no idea how far or how fast it would work with his kind of injury.
On Grey Island, when Mortimer stabbed him, her healing powers had worked remarkably fast. In a day, Arkimedes had been fighting Devon’s army.
Nava glared at the king and shot Devon a look while she lowered her weapon. To think that this man had been her enemy a year ago. And now she was here, ready to comply with her other enemy so he wouldn’t get hurt. Her softness knew no bounds.
The king stepped to her side, crouched down, and picked up his son from the ground as if he weighed nothing.
“Do you have to be the one taking him?” Nava returned her dagger into its sheath, her hands clenched into fists. She wanted to scream in frustration. And to fight him.
“Inar, Liure, and Olli—take our wounded civilians to the nearest healer. Kane, send a message to the Society of Crows and tell them that if they set foot in my kingdom again, we will kill them all,” the king said.
Of course he’d ignore her question completely.
“Wait,” she said. What did he mean by that? Surely he wouldn’t hurt Devon, right?
King Oberon’s blue eyes met hers for a long, suspended moment. “Eris, take the future queen back to the castle. She only gets to speak to you until I give permission otherwise.”
Nava’s lips parted as the king’s words registered in her mind. He’d called her the future queen. Her heart hammered inside her chest so fast that it hurt. Arkimedes lay unmoving inside the king’s arms.
Her hair blew into her face as the king flew away without another word. Debris scattered around them as most of the guards took off after him.
Unlike the time she’d arrived in the kingdom months ago, when all the guards had treated her as if she was the scum of the world, this time the guard approaching her from the shadows took off his helmet and dipped his head. A sign of reverence. Nava blinked, confused.
She recognized him as one of the two who had been fighting the Crows before the rest arrived alongside the king. He brushed his wavy, blond hair away from his face, revealing the sharp angles of his cheekbones and smooth skin, now covered in a thin layer of dirt and sweat. Blood dripped from a deep gash on his chin.
“Are you the sentinel that’s been trailing us?” she asked. What was she meant to do with this? Was it all an act, a trap, or was he truly showing her respect?
“I am Eris,” he confirmed. “The land compels us to obey and protect our royals. King Oberon commanded us to keep you safe, and we did so, gladly.” The fae placed his open hand over his armor, right in the spot where his heart would be, and dipped his head once again.
Nava could only gawk at him. Surely she had spilled some of Alera’s spell on herself and gone mad.
“Horseshit,” Devon said, stepping forward, closer to Nava. He lifted his sword with the smooth motion of a trained warrior. “You almost killed her back at the castle, multiple times. And you called her a witch.”
Faster than Nava could register, the fae scooped her up in his arms and lifted her off the ground before she could protest. She screamed, tightening her hands around the guard’s wide neck and shoulders as they rose into the sky. The street below became smaller and smaller.
“Nava!” Devon screamed, and his hands brightened with his magic as a spell shot from the ground, grazing the long feathers of Eris’s right wing.
“You didn’t have to leave like that. Devon is part of our group!” Nava complained. She’d better not move too much. She couldn’t transfer away from his arms and into a safe spot if he were to drop her.
