I pried the stopper from the vial. The purple liquid rolled slowly. One little vial to protect us both.
His gaze rested heavily on me. “I wish you didn’t have to take it.”
“If only you could really leave it all behind.” I tilted my head back and drank every drop.
My eyes only watered.
The sweet liquid sat on my tongue—lavender, rose, chamomile, with hints of something I had never tasted. As I inhaled, I felt it settle within me—warm and calm.
He embraced me as I still clutched the vial. “I meant what I said.”
“I love that you did.” I blinked back the tears. “Council will be waiting for you.”
“I can be late.” He held me tighter.
“Go,” I whispered.
He took the bottle from my hands, and with a loud thud set it on a table in the corner. The sound echoed in the silence between us.
When he left, I slipped from his chambers back into mine.
I would never regret the choice we made.
My hand trailed the window ledge. Sparkling light shifted through my fingertips. It trailed the vines that still clung to my chambers. Blooms sprouted—roses woven into the vines. Brighter and faster than before.
My arrow sailed through the clearing. It lodged itself in the center of the target.
The last month passed in a blur—stolen moments, making love under the moon’s glow. Together we were whole, but the land wasn’t.
The blight crept slowly into the Heart. More trees became infected. Outer edges of the Heart began to decay. Lioran and I could not ease the land’s pain. Even as the shadows crept further inward, I tended to the castle garden. My favorite flowers filled every open space. Each one just as I remembered them in Bailoc, until one bloom outshone the rest.
Deep within me something altered—a swift heat that traveled through me, it left me breathless. My magic simmered with it. With a wave of my glimmering magic, a single dahlia bloomed. The stem was a midnight hue. The fuchsia petals unfurled in waves of color, fading from pink to a blazing coral. I had never seen anything like it before.
Lioran marveled at the dahlia, but he didn’t speak a word about it. His tender smile flashed in my memory whenever I gazed at the flower, but his hesitation lingered beneath it. I still didn’t know if he approved, or if it worried him. It held a dangerous kind of beauty. Still, I cherished it.
Dark circles etched further beneath his eyes. The land’s destruction took a toll on him, but it wasn’t long until I discovered something else was weighing on him, too.
An emissary arrived from the High Court, bearing a command from the king and queen: there would be no more time granted. Their patience was withering.
At any moment he could be called to take the throne. A fae king didn’t need to die for power to shift—the fae lived far too long to always rule. The crown would pass to Lioran when the stars decided it was his time. He was the chosen one, marked as the heir to the throne at fate’s command. When he came of age each tattoo appeared for his three chosen roles—prince, guardian, and future king.
A decision on his marriage would be made with or without him. I heard it all when I went to find Lioran in his study. My heart was breaking, but he didn’t know it. He didn’t tell me at all.
I lived in fading moments.
“The High Court will not wait any longer.” Lioran pulled the bow back from hands, peering into my eyes. “A summons has arrived.”
“When do you leave?” I lowered the bow.
“Weleave tomorrow. They’ve requested your presence, too.” He held a rolled-up parchment scroll.
“I’m not going.” The air caught sharp in my lungs. I wasn’t ready to face it.
“It is not in our power to refuse them.”
“What if they make me go with Thalen?” My muscles clenched, trembling beyond my control.
“I will do whatever I can to keep you in Lythira.” He placed the bow at my feet and wrapped his hands around mine. The circles set even darker beneath his eyes.
