Page 92 of Black Sea

So powerful it made me understand.

I stared at Amlach, overwhelmed. “Did you feel that?”

He kept watching me for what seemed like forever, his eyes suddenly as hard as granite. “Felt what?” he finally replied, almost coldly.

The hope that had risen within me shattered into a million pieces. Why were the Spirits so cruel to me? How could they make me feel that way, only to erase everything?

Destroyed, I wrenched out Amlach’s grasp and tried to leave this damn cell again. But he grabbed the small door and slammed it shut in my face with a loud metallic bang. Trapped between his outstretched arms, I couldn’t find the courage to turn around and face him.

“What happens to me now, huh?” he hissed, his angry breath ruffling my hair. “Did I survive all the fighting they put us through only to die here, a step away from my kingdom? Are you going to execute me in front of my people?”

I spun around, feeling sick just thinking about it. “Of course not!”

“Then what, Nauriel?” He searched my gaze. “What fate does your father have in store for me?”

I didn’t know. However, I wouldn’t let him lay a finger on Amlach. I was sure of that.

“I will talk to him. Now,” I declared. “And I will fix everything. You have my word.”

Amlach exhaled heavily through his nose, briefly closing his eyes, and his expression only slightly softened. He raised one hand from the bars and ran it through my hair, sighing softly as he felt the wavy strands between his fingers.

“In case I never get another chance to touch them,” he explained. His eyes snapped to mine. “Or to touch you.” I looked at him, as if hypnotized, while he cupped my face with his large hands and leaned down to brush the tip of my nose with his. “Would you have chosen me?”

I put my palms on his chest, listening to the strong beat I now knew by heart. “Yes,” I panted, grabbing his robe to urge him to close the distance between our already parted mouths.

Amlach smiled, just an inch from my lips.

I took a shaky breath and rose on my toes to kiss him . . .

“ Nauriel!”

My mouth barely met Amlach’s before I whipped my head toward the stairs. My brother’s violent roar echoed again, now nearer.

Amlach huffed hard through his nostrils. “I’m going to kill him,” he growled, his voice so cavernous and dark that it sounded like it was coming from beyond the grave.

I glared at him out of the corner of my eye, but I still couldn’t hold back a smirk. “Everything will be fine,” I whispered.

But as my hand slid away from his, I felt the terrifying sensation of falling into darkness.

55

“Are you serious?” Araton shrieked as he hurried across a footbridge over a narrow stream, lit by a dim lantern that made the coppery embroidery on his lead-grey tunic glisten. “Have you completely lost your mind, Sister?”

I lifted my skirt to climb a few steps carved into the ground between two large trees and met him halfway, fixing him in my feral gaze. “I have never been more clear-headed in my entire life.”

Closely followed by my brother, who did nothing but scream at me about how reckless I was, I went back to the main palace buildings, now bathed in a fairy-like glow as evening fell and stars appeared. Believing our parents were waiting in their private dining room, where we used to gather when there were no sumptuous banquets with our relatives or nobles, I headed directly for the entrance to their wing.

“My children.”

I stopped so brusquely that Araton nearly stumbled clean into me.

The King of the Elves was in the garden to our left, standing beside one of the small braziers, almost as if he needed the warmth of the dancing flames to soothe a sudden chill, despite it being summer.

Once we approached him, he gestured for the guard beneath the small archway and those stationed at the palace entrance to leave. He then turned to Araton. “Was she where you suspected?”

“Yes, Father,” my brother answered tartly.

I was about to speak, but the king raised his hand to stop me. His admonishing gaze made it difficult for me to meet his eyes.