“Lioran!” I screamed. “Cora!”
My voice came thundering back at me through the dense fog.
“Fyn?” I pivoted in my saddle. Fyn nervously shifted in his. “Thank the stars you’re still here. How do we find them?”
“They have to still be there—the fog hasonly separated us.” Fyn’s hands trembled on the reins. “You’re here with me. I’m not going anywhere.”
A lump lodged in my throat. The mist was too thick to inhale.
I jumped down from Gaia, clinging to her side as we inched forward—hoping I would have a better vantage point closer to the ground, but still I saw nothing.
Fyn climbed down off his horse. “Should we be walking through here?”
The ground came alive, pulsing and trembling beneath my feet. White haze engulfed me, until even Fyn faded from view.
“Fyn?” I waited for his response, but it never came.
Something shifted.
The haze wouldn’t fade.
I tried to take another step forward, but my feet wouldn’t obey. Each breath I drew was shallow. My heart drummed in my ears.
Something was wrong—terribly wrong.
My hands gripped for anything around me, any indication of what was real and what wasn’t. Something that told me I was still alive.
I felt the ashy soil in my fingers as I crouched down.
A shadowy figure approached from behind a tree.
“I’m crushed, Aelira.” Pyrran pushed his crimson tunic sleeves up over his elbows. “You didn’t even invite me to the bonding ceremony.”
He wouldn’t come all this way. Pyrran would never willingly enter the Grove.
It had to be an illusion.
He stood inches from me, glaring at me. “I bet it was lovely.”
“You’re not real,” I murmured, my voice so low I didn’t know if he could hear me.
Pyrran cackled. “Do I not look real to you?” His eyes were wild. His hand clenched around my wrist, pressing deep into my skin.
My free hand trailed the embroidered sleeve of his tunic, feeling the raised threads, the buttons on the cinched-up fabric. It was all real. I felt it all.
I trembled, reaching for the quiver. It was still on my back.
“Don’t be a fool,” he said as he seized my free hand in his—he pressed firmly on my fingers until I feared they would break. His breath was hot on my cheeks. The onyx chilled against my skin, pulsating with each word he spoke.
“You don’t belong with my brother—you don’t belong here at all. You are nothing…not human, not fae. Neither realm wants you.”
His words couldn’t undo me.
I belonged in Lythira, I would guard it beside my husband.
“Lythira is my home,” I said.
“Then why is no one here to protect you? Look around. You are entirely alone.”
