Page 115 of Only Flames Remain

Had they killed Emrys’s scout and sent a message in his place? Tortured him and forced him to send the message himself?

They had to have known what would happen. That the sighting of Myrosian spies on Gothryn soil would be dealt with silently and swiftly. That we wouldn’t waste any time sending an army under Rensford’s watch to march against a mere dozen men.

They knew that we would send dragons.

And the only dragons who resided at the castle were the princes of Blackwater and the king himself. They had counted on the fact that we wouldn’t have had time to summon the Shadowed Order. That there would be no other dragons at our back.

Realization hit Emrys and Valerian at the same time—Valerian’s complexion quickly turning pale green. I thought he might truly be sick. He needed to learn to stomach betrayal worse than this if he was going to serve the crown.

We had been lured from the castle to leave it undefended.

Us, specifically.

It had been a trap.

CHAPTER 34

Aveline

Kallias was in Gothryn.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. That he was standing here before me, in the flesh. He gripped me by the shoulders and pulled me against him fiercely, the heat of him soaking through my still damp clothing.

“Aveline, I cannot begin to express how much I have missed you.” He pulled back only enough to place a kiss against the corner of my mouth.

I wasn’t sure what to say.

“I missed you too,” I managed, though the words felt somewhat disingenuous having kissed Sorin mere hours ago.

A flush rose to my cheeks as he gazed down at me.

“I’ve come to take you home.”

Home.

But the problem was…it didn’t feel like home anymore, did it? Everything they had told me about Gothryn had been a lie. The way they treated their humans, the true nature of the Vireth, the blood trade. Even their reason for the start of the war between our kingdoms had been a lie. Twisted and turned for their own benefit.

How could I trust them? Trust him?

“You know that your mother sent me here?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded. “I received a missive from an anonymous source here in Gothryn. The truth of your whereabouts became clear to me only days past. The moment I discovered you were sent into this den of vipers; I made arrangements to get you back. Despite my mother’s strong objections.”

“Where did she tell you I was?” I asked.

“That you were traveling to Emberfell to visit an uncle. That the pass over the mountains north of the Bloodmoon Highlands was too treacherous, and the journey was better made by sea.”

“I do not have an uncle.” The words were bitter on my tongue.

Did Kallias know me at all? I had envisioned my reunion with him many times before, but it had never gone like this. In my dreams, I had fallen into his arms and we had kissed.

Instead, I inched away from him. A seed of doubt had been planted by the lies his family had spun. How easily he had believed them. Was he a liar, too? Or merely naïve, like me?

“We don’t have time to waste. We must get you—” His words cut off as he assessed me. “Why are you wet?”

Did I bother explaining my magic to him? That I wasn’t human at all, and that I had been poisoning myself all these years to suppress the power that had now flourished in Gothryn?

He shook his head. “It’s of no matter, we don’t have time. We must get you to the shore. We have a boat waiting among the rocks north of Scaldrithor.”