Her genuine excitement dispels the heavy emotions that tried to settle over me. Straightening my spine, I draw in a deep breath.
Then I stride through the portal and back into the twisting thorn forest that has imprisoned me all my life.
CHAPTER TWO
Thorny vines cover the trees before me. They rustle in the warm wind, swaying like snakes waiting to strike, as I walk away from the portal to give the others room to move through as well. I suppress an involuntary shudder and turn away from the twisting forest to instead stare out at the city visible through the tree line.
A bright midday sun shines down over the grasslands that separate the forest from the lone city that currently makes up the entirety of the Seelie Court. From this distance, I can’t see any of its inhabitants. But I know that they’re there inside the city walls. Hungry and exhausted fae men and women who work their fingers to the bone in a once glorious city that is now nothing more than a backwater village.
After my visit to the capital of the Unseelie Court, the difference between their court and ours is glaringly obvious. I didn’t realize it back when I lived here, because I had nothing to compare it to. But now that I’ve seen more of the world, I understand the true extent of what the Icehearts have done to us.
I suppress a bitter laugh. I felt like a child after I first left thiscourt. I didn’t know anything and I just believed the things that I had been told all my life. Finding out the truth was a harsh awakening, but one I desperately needed.
My gaze drifts towards the northern side of the city, where my parents live.
Another stab hits me straight to the chest. But this time, it’s both pain and hope mixed together.
Back in the Unseelie Court, I not only found out the truth about our neighboring court, I also found out the truth about my own powers. A truth that my own mind has been blocking out and shielding me from almost my entire life.
That I can create emotions out of nothing. That doing so fills me with addictive pleasure. That the emotions I create are permanent.
And that I might have accidentallymademy parents hate me with my magic.
That burst of pain and hope pulses in my chest as I stare at the pale stone walls of the city where my parents are waiting. All I need to do is to go down there and knock on their door. Then I can reach out with my magic and check. A few minutes. That’s all I would need. And then I would know. Do my parents hate me of their own free will? Or has it been forced on them by my magic?
An embarrassingly large part of me wants to run down there right now and check, but I manage to suppress it. We have more pressing problems right now. But as soon as this is all over, I’m going to go back there and find out the truth. Whatever it may be.
“If you’re just going to stand there and daydream like a useless piece of furniture, we’ll leave you behind.”
Tearing my gaze from the city before me, I turn around and meet Draven’s harsh glare while arching an eyebrow in challenge. “Daydreaming? I was simply calculating how much space your scowl needs so that it doesn’t cut anything down when you turn.”
He blinks at me, looking stunned for a second, before drawing his eyebrows down and simply stalking away without another word. Lyra and Galen once more glance worriedly between the two of us. I pretend not to notice and instead start after Draven towards our entry point.
Alistair and Isera fall in beside me without a word. After giving Grey some instructions for when to return with the portal, Orion does the same. At last, Galen and Lyra exchange a glance and hurry to catch up as well.
The sound of rushing water fills the forest around us as we reach the spot where the River Andunir is pushed up through a hole in the ground before continuing to flow towards the lake beside the city. Draven has already stalked through and is making his way down the small hill below. I watch the way his muscular body moves while I follow him down into the underground forest where the dryads live.
I try to focus on why we’re here. To recruit the dryads to our side so that we can hopefully win a war against two immortal dragon shifters who have ruled this continent for six millennia. But in this place, of all places, it’s difficult to focus on anything other than my more personal problem. Onhim.
My heart beats erratically as we draw closer to the spot where the rock wall is located. The spot where I, for the first time, admitted to myself that I felt something for Draven. The spot where I finally acted on those burning emotions inside me.
Once we’re almost there, I look more at Draven than my own two feet, and almost end up tripping over a root. Catching myself, I straighten again and then snap my gaze back to Draven. I wonder how he will react when we reach this spot. I know that he remembers. The unnatural hatred in his chest didn’t wipe his memories. It’s just forcing him to see his memories and his feelings through a manufactured lens of hatred. But maybe, just maybe, if we?—
“This isn’t a sprinting contest, you know,” Orion snaps from somewhere behind.
“What’s the matter, princeling? Can’t keep up?” Draven replies without even turning to look.
“I find it quite amusing that you keep using the derogatory titleprincelinginstead of my actual title. Could it be because you yourself are feeling insignificant now that your once prestigious Black Dragon Clan is hiding like rats and you’re no longer the Commander of the Dread Legion?”
Draven comes to a halt right next to the rock wall. My heart leaps. Did the sight of it make him feel something other than hatred? I can barely remember to breathe as I close the distance to it as well.
But then Draven simply turns around and locks eyes with Orion instead, as if this place holds no special significance.
“Keep talking,” Draven warns with a threatening smile. “See where that gets you.”
Orion’s eyes gleam, and he opens his mouth.
However, before he can say anything else, Isera cuts him off. “Enough.” Then she turns to Draven and shoots him an impatient look. “Can’t you see what he’s doing, Ryat? Because he can’t get out of this bargain himself, he’s deliberately making himself as obnoxious as possible so thatyouwill snap and send him back to the Unseelie Court instead.”
