She whines.
“I need you to trust me.”
Shuddering, she lifts her head. Her eyes are wide and fucking terrified. “I do, but I can’t move.”
Another fairy lands beside us. “Get up, or I will kill you here, then resurrect you later.”
“Echo –” I say as I stand.
“We’ve lost two guards and a Dragon, and my steed is dead. We move now.”
I don’t argue. If it was anyone other than my wife having a panic attack, I would’ve knocked them out already. So I grab her, ignoring the fact that her entire body is shaking. Spreading my wings, I take to the air. She starts to cry. I ignore that too.
Lock it down.
Freeze all emotion out.
As we race to the safety of one of our trees, I wonder if Jace is amongst the casualties.
Twenty-Three
The head of the FI-9 is a queen’s greatest asset. The people trust her. She can work outside the law. Never make her an enemy.
Fuck her. She’s dying.
- King Richard
“What the fuck was that?” I demand as I face the head of my Royal Guard fifteen minutes later, standing in the castle at Valarassi. It’s always a risk flying through the forest. So many things like to eat us. But to be attacked by a jungle cat and hawk at the same time? Not to mention the thirty-odd assassins who descended on us like locusts during a famine? “They were lying in wait for us. Who planned the route we took here?”
“I did.”
I don’t ask her if she told anyone. Echo keeps a secret better than the dead. And despite my anger, I don’t want to risk her wrath by insulting her honour. Besides, that is not a duel I will win – even if she is heavily beaten up right now thanks to that jungle cat.
“How could they have found out about it?” I ask instead. But as soon as the words leave me, the answer hits me like a fucking hawk.
“I informed Evangeline,” she says calmly at the same time I growl that bitch’s name.
I knew she wanted to use my wife as bait. I didn’t know she wanted to do it to lure out every single assassin at once. Though I should have known she’d try something like this. Patience isn’t a virtue to Evangeline; it’s a fucking sin.
“Find her and bring her here,” I snap at Echo. Then more respectfully, I add, “Please.”
She inclines her head and leaves the small study.
Turning to my queen, who’s still clinging to my side and shaking, I pick her up. Cradling her to my chest, I sit down in the chair behind the desk.
She screams as we crash to the floor, the damn thing breaking underneath me.
The door to the study bangs open. But instead of Echo coming back in, it’s Jace.
His hair wild, his eyes hard, he sweeps his gaze around the room. A knife glints in his hand. Blood pours from him from various wounds but nothing looks serious.
“Echo’s already cleared the place,” I say as I check my wife over. “It was this fucking chair.”
He sheathes his blade as understanding darkens his teal eyes. “Evangeline planned the attack?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve sent Echo to find her.”
He walks over to us and pulls Arienna to her feet. She’s shaking like a leaf in a storm, and I wrap her in my arms as soon as I’m standing.
