I manage a slight nod before shutting my eyes. Instinctively, I reach for the small key hanging from my necklace, clutching it in my right hand and drawing strength from its presence. I exhale with relief. It’s still there. I haven’t lost it.
My left hand comes up, and I curl my fingers into the fae male’s leather shirt. I bury my face in his chest.
Then I feel the rush of wind as he launches into the sky.
CHAPTER 2
MERAK
I fly toward Ellonnar,one of the larger fae settlements beyond the borders of the fading Winter Court, certain I’ll find suitable accommodations for my mate there.
My mate.
I can scarcely believe it.
The tiny human woman cradled against my chest is my fated mate.
I sensed the bond between us the moment I laid eyes on her. First came a sudden, overpowering warmth, followed by a hum of magic that tingled through my body. I also thought I heard distant tower bells pealing across the mountains. Then came something even stranger, an emotion I’m not certain I’ve ever experienced. Until now.
Tenderness.
A fierce, aching tenderness unlike anything I’ve ever known swelled within my chest, along with a sharp wave of possessiveness.
Mine.
She is mine.
The Lord of Nothing has finally found his mate.
I nearly scoff at the cruel nickname my own people bestowed upon me long ago. Few have ever dared speak it to my face. Those who have are long dead, their throats opened by the sharp tips of my wings.
And yet… there is truth in the title.
I have no lands. No people. No wealth worthy of my status as a highborn male.
On the morning I was born in Vaelnor, the province that is my birthright, a strange black frost swept across the wintry landscape. The ussha-blessed vegetation withered within hours, heralding a blight that poisoned the land.
The faefolk of Vaelnor quickly came to believe my birth was a bad omen, especially after sickness spread among them in the days that followed. Within a month, the province stood abandoned, save for my family manor and the few servants too fearful to flee.
The land never recovered. Eventually, my parents built a manor high in the mountains overlooking the barren remains of Vaelnor, and that is where I spent my childhood. Always within sight of the birthright I would never truly inherit.
When I later joined the Winter Court army as an aerial scout, I became aware of the whispers.
The Lord of Nothing.
That is what the soldiers called me behind my back, particularly those who once hailed from Vaelnor.
But in recent years, the whispers have faded.
Vaelnor is no longer considered unusual.
As ussha continues spreading outward from the four fae courts and into human and orc territories, more and more provinces within the ancient fae lands are dying. Ussha sustains our magic, and so my people have little choice but to follow itsspread, abandoning the lands of our ancestors to establish new settlements beyond the old borders of the courts.
I am no longer the only highborn lord who has watched his people scatter across distant lands while his birthright withers into ruin.
As I continue flying toward Ellonnar, icy wind rushing past my wings, my thoughts return to the fragile human female in my arms.
How will I provide for her?
