Suddenly, the door bursts open, crashing against the wall as a flood of Ithranor Fae swarm the room.
“Ronin! What have you done?”
Even through the haze of pain, I recognize the voice. Anethesis. My vision swims, but I see them seize the Golden Son, ripping him from my bed, dragging him toward the door.
“Get the fuck off me!” he roars, thrashing against their grip. “What are you doing to her, Anethesis? You lying bastard!”
“Take him away!” Anethesis commands.
Even with Ronin torn from me, the agony doesn’t fade. It burns, relentless, consuming. Anethesis is beside me now, his bony fingers pressing into my skin.
“Princess, you must calm yourself,” he urges. “You’re only making it worse.”
But I can’t stop. My fingers claw at the collar, nails scraping, snapping against the metal.
“I can’t…” My breath shudders. My throat constricts. “I can’t breathe.”
“We must release her,” a Fae voice insists.
“No!” Anethesis bellows, his voice cracking.
“Then she will choke to death, and all will be lost!” another voice pleads.
The room tilts, my vision narrowing. Anethesis is no more than a pale blur now, a wraith shifting in and out of focus. His hands close around my neck, and for a moment, I wonder if this is it. If he will grant me the mercy of ending it.
But then, I hear a click.
The collar falls away.
Agony unfurls from my body like a snapped chain, releasing its grip. My mouth opens, a scream tearing free, and the room explodes in a brilliant burst of blinding green light before everything turns black.
Chapter 13
Daed
Before her.The image of Emranth lingers, a specter in the shadows of my mind. Even here, beneath the endless night sky, far from the cursed halls of Baev’kalath, I feel him. Him and the demon god he serves.
Emranth is only a messenger, a wretched errand boy for something far older, far worse, and that I feel more than anything. For I am never alone. No matter how far I flee, no matter how many miles stretch between us, the void is within me. Bound to me. Cursed to me. And as long as I draw breath, I know I will never escape it.
Beneath me, the waves churn, a restless, raging thing. The sea is wild, untamed, as beautiful as it is deadly. My wings slice through the frigid night air, rain needling against my face, beading on my black feathers before sliding off in rivulets. I drag a hand across my eyes, blinking through the downpour, my gaze narrowing on the island ahead.
It is unremarkable. Barely more than a jagged rock jutting from the sea. It is not large enough to mark on a map, and even if it were, the Fae of the Untold Sea would scratch it from existence. Not because of the island itself. No, that is nothing but stone and dirt. It is whatlivesthere that unsettles them so.
But not me.
Never me.
I tip my wings, streaking down in a swift, controlled descent, pulling up at the last second to hover before touching the ground. The island is as barren as I remember. Nothing grows here, nothing ever will. But ahead, nestled into the craggy rock, a cave glows with the flicker of orange light.
I move toward it slow and cautious. The roar of the ocean dulls, swallowed by the nearer crackle of burning wood. My wings fold against my back as I brace a hand on the cave’s entrance, warmth brushing against my damp skin.
Inside, a wooden dish rests near the fire, littered with fish bones, a meager meal, long since cold. A bedroll lies crumpled in the corner, beside a haphazard stack of books, their pages curled with age and use.
But the one who calls this place home is nowhere to be seen.
My brow furrows. I duck my head, stepping forward but freeze when cold steel kisses my throat.
“You dare show your face here?” The voice is a low rasp, sharp as the blade pressing against my skin.
