When I fell back asleep, the dream changed. The silver eyes were still there. But he wasn’t chasing me anymore. He was reaching for me.
And I wasn’t running.
I woke at dawn, flushed and breathless. Warmth pooled low inside me, but I had no desire to examine why.
CHAPTER 7
HADRIEN
The darkness above offered me freedom each night. My wings sliced through the air as I ascended, flying away from the castle. From—her.
Why had I agreed to make any sort of bargain—and with a foolish human, no less?
I needed distance.
I needed to see.
The wards hummed faintly as I flew over the boundary lines of Castle Valgarde. The threadbare vibration set my teeth on edge. My attempt to reinforce the shields had been pitiful. My magic weakening.
I was weakening.
Failure scraped against my skin like sandpaper.
Another night. Another reminder that my power no longer obeyed the way it once had.
Below, the forest sprawled in layered shadows beyond Valgarde. My land. The only thing I had left that still belonged to me.
And now humans were able to stride right in.
Lilia.
I scowled into the wind.
She had looked too tiny standing in my great hall. Strangely defiant for a human. She had argued with me. Challenged me. Offered herself in exchange for her family without hesitation.
Stupid.
Willful.
Foolish girl.
And dangerous, a treacherous voice added. Beautiful.
She was small-framed and lightly built, with long dark hair that appeared tousled by her trek. Wide, expressive hazel eyes that shifted between green and brown depending on the light. Her face was fine-boned, her cheeks still flushed from exertion or fear or both, and her full pink lips pressed with determination. Her clothes and brown boots were well worn, the off-white tunic slightly large for her frame. She smelled of the forest and flowers, not at all unpleasant, the scent of someone who spent their time outdoors.
I bared my teeth. She was an intruder, a prisoner, nothing more.
I should not have been hospitable at all. The boy’s sickness was not my responsibility. Mortals died every day under the queen’s rule.
Still.
The boy had been weak, burning with fever. I had seen it.
Perhaps I had been harsh in imprisoning them.
But harsh is what kept the queen out of Valgarde.
And I’d promised to let the boy and his mother leave. That was more than fair.
