I left the library after an hour, a stack of ten in my arms. Seven on the history of faekind throughout the realm, one specifically detailing the Goddesses of the Veil, and two more books of poetry I’d gathered without his knowledge—taking them from a small table near the library doors.
I declined his offer to escort me back to my rooms, instead requesting he search for more of the books I needed.
It was only when I assured him I did not need his assistance in finding my rooms that I headed to the staircase instead. I thought of those stairs leading to the surface and the possibility of my freedom, and I stumbled upon them quickly enough. I setthe books carefully at the base of the stairs, glancing at the black door leading to his rooms.
Up I went with more strength, my body fueled and ready, knowing Arthur was somewhere in those corridors, and I had to take this opportunity.
I left my shoes at the base of the stone staircase, shifted into a raven, and flew out into the bitter cold, my wings pumping me forward as I reached for the edge of the sky, searching for my freedom.
CHAPTER 26
Arthur
It wasn’tuntil the Beast woke that I registered what Reshina had done.
In declining my help and setting me with a task I found interesting, she had distracted me enough to attempt an escape from the boundaries of Heartstone Castle.
But the Goddess did not yet grasp the will of the Beast.
He roared, transforming before I could stop him and there we were, racing through the corridors once again, leaving deep scars in the stone as we slid around corners with one single purpose.
HUNGER. MINE. OURS.
I didn’t attempt to rein him back, my own desires for the Goddess far too developed and my heart buried too far underground to be considered a man with morals any longer. I wanted the Ravenfae Goddess to end me, but not until I’d had a taste, a mouthful, another moan, another sigh, and she ended me in a different way tangled in my bedsheets.
The Beast made it to the surface in record time, focused on the hunt, hardly sniffing the air before bolting forward, leaping over the frozen hedges like an echo of the last time she’d attempted her escape.
Her black feathers reached high above the castle towers. Shewas flying upwards instead of racing the Beast to the edge of my lands. Clever Goddess. The Beast prowled below her, circling and watching. Waiting for something to happen.
“She’ll escape. There’s nothing we can do.”
WAIT.
My mood turned sour watching her climb. Reshina was leaving me and I’d only just gotten to touch her. To know her. To show her.
WAIT.
“What exactly are we waiting f?—”
Reshina fell from the sky in a rush of black feathers, shifting to her Ravenfae form mid-fall and landing in a heap of black lace at the feet of the Beast.
His roar echoed through the gardens and he bared his teeth, encasing her under his form. He nestled into her neck, opening his maw for another bite when the ground shook. She’d beaten him to it, opening her skin and bleeding into the snow before his teeth could sink into her flesh again.
I pulled her to me as we fell and the Beast melted away, leaving the man twisting to take the fall for her into the corridors of the Underrealm.
Rock, dirt, roots—I shielded her from all of it, wrapping my arms and legs around her, never dreading the landing, but already grieving the moment I had no excuse to hold her to my chest.
My back slammed into solid stone, cracking below me. I inhaled sharply through my teeth, still holding onto frozen wings, both of us heaving sharply, adjusting to the warmth and the position we were in.
“I had to try,” she panted.
“You were right to,” I gritted, pain seeping into my spine as my heart slowed.
She lifted her head from my chest, pulling herself out of my grasp. “I flew up, thinking the Beast couldn’t get to me and I’d beable to escape across the land from there. But I couldn’t get any higher and then…my power…it just left me. I tried to stun him but that didn’t work, either. I managed to shift, but I could no longer fly.”
I tested the strength of my back, deciding I’d be left bruised instead of broken. I sat up, running my hands through my hair. “You are confined to this curse. It’s unlikely you’ll escape through leaving its boundary. The Beast was waiting for you to fall.” I shrugged, rising to my feet. “He knew you would.”
She met my stare. “I cannot stay, Arthur.”
