Page 83 of Heart of the Raven Prince

“Really, I should thank you. You’re doing me a favor by ridding me of such a weak son,” she says. Is that fear I detect in her voice? Caden snaps his fangs at me, trying to lean as close to my face as the metal bindings will allow.

I raise the arrow, the one painted with golden ivy, and I say, “He’s not weak. He’s magnificent.”

Then I stab the arrow directly into his heart.

There is a blinding yellow light, like the first rays of the sun rising over the horizon, and Caden lets out a scream. It is the wild banshee cry of a demon—a whole chorus of them wailing together as I burn them from his heart.

I hold on, keeping the arrow lodged firmly in place as he struggles underneath me. The blinding rays of the sun begin to burn the thorn vines, and they recoil, withering in on themselves. The metal bindings snap around Caden, and his strong arms ensnare me. Whether to keep me held tight to him or to try and shove me off, I’m not sure, because the next thing I know we are sent flying through the air.

“You were supposed to end him,” the queen shrieks as rubble from the shattered altar sends clouds of soot shooting into the sky. Caden’s arm is still around me, but as the ash settles, I can see him clearly. He’s standing up, pulling me with him. Hundreds of cuts litter his body, gashes and rips from the barbed chains that shredded his skin. But the once gaping hole in his chest is healed, all except for the arrow that protrudes from it. With a grunt of pain, he grips it, and pulls it out. The hole quickly closes, the once decaying black scar healed completely. Blood drips from the arrow, and he drops it to the ground.

Caden turns to me and holds me in a dark teal gaze, the exact color of the seas surrounding Gaelynn. The ones that have always calmed me. The queen continues to scream, chanting in a harsh, serrated language that cuts into my ears. I barely hear it; I am lost entirely in his sparkling gaze.

“I thought this ended with you killing me,” Caden says, ignoring the queen as she draws in a swell of power to her. She’s about to kill us, of that I’m certain.

Instead of giving her an ounce of attention, I place my hand directly over his freshly healed heart, and I say, “Then I guess this isn’t over yet.”

Stepping up high, I press my lips to his. Dark energy courses around us as the night bleeds black magic into the air. The queen is moments away from ending our lives, and I am only too happy to spend my final moments in his embrace. I throw my arms around his neck, and he holds me tight to him when I feel a rift open in the world.

The wailing cry of death is what eventually breaks us apart, but we do not release each other. He’s looking directly at me, but my eyes are snared entirely at the rift that has opened at his back. It appears as nothing more than a swirling black mist. It’s not the sight that has me frozen in terror; it’s the essence that drifts out of the opening in the world. It is as thick as graveyard dirt, heavy like grief, and coated in so much blood I choke on it. I know in my soul wherever that rift leads is somewhere I do not want to go.

But then I realize I’m not the one she wants gone.

Caden’s boots move, as he is pulled slowly back. He looks down, panic filling his gaze, and suddenly he slides several more inches.

“Caden,” I shout when he goes flying out of my arms and slides nearly through the portal. His feet dig deep grooves in the earth as he fights against the force pulling him in. His wings strain behind him, feathers ripping off in chunks and flying into that swirling black rift.

“This hasn’t ended,” he shouts, straining against the force that is sucking him into the rift. “You and I are far from over.”

I run to him when cold, caging arms clamp around me and yank me back. Lochlan presses his lips to my ear as I scream and thrash against him. “Go on, squirm, give my brother a show before he gets banished.”

“Fight like hell, Oisín,” Caden shouts over the chanting chorus of demons that cry from the depth of that rift. The look in his eyes tells me he knows like I do that our time is finally up. I want to keep screaming, but I hold it back so I can hear him as he grins wickedly and says, “Make them regret meeting you, Fawn. And know that I never will.”

My heart lodges in my throat, strangling me as Caden is jerked into the rift that slams shut the second he is pulled through. The haunting cries cease, and once again the only sounds in the burnt forest are the churning waves and the spitting fire. Even the queen’s footsteps are quiet, muffled by the soft ashy ground. She steps in front of me, her beautiful face a mask of rage.

“If you are smart, you will obey me,” she says.

I don’t even look at her, I’m still staring wide-eyed at the last place I saw Caden. Pushing as much hate as I can into the words, I say between clenched teeth, “If you were smart, you would fear me.”

My head snaps to the side, pain bursting behind my eyes as she strikes me so hard across the face I am momentarily deaf. Without another word she turns and stalks off across the clearing, opening a rift that leads directly back to her throne room. Lochlan hoists me up, carrying my limp body after the queen as he says, “You’re brave, I’ll give you that. It’s a good thing I like breaking the brave ones.”

Lochlan tosses me over his shoulder, turning my world upside down as he carries me over the rift. I’m still watching that same spot, the last place I saw Caden. Like he will appear at any moment and rip the queen’s head off her body. He does not appear. He’s gone.

But he’s not dead, and the queen no longer owns his heart.

I hold those truths tight in my mind, and I use them to give me strength. Niamh said the road ahead would not be easy, but as Lochlan throws me on the cold stone ground and snaps a pair of shackles around my wrists, I hear my father’s words ringing out loud in my mind.

Anything worth loving is worth fighting for, Fawn.

Fight like hell I will. The road ahead will be hard, but I am not weak, and if at the end of it I see Caden again, then it will be worth it. I vow to myself that I will see his deep teal eyes again. I cling to that hope like a raft in a churning sea. I know I will need it.

Because my trials have only just begun.

Hell reeks like a decaying battlefield, a scent I am unfortunately familiar with.

I grunt as I am dragged over a rough stone floor by my arms. This beating lasted longer than the others, or maybe I just blacked out more often. Either way, I find it impossible to walk under my own two feet, so a pair of vampire guards are pulling me by my arms toward a cell. Tossing me inside, I cry out as I hit the floor. It’s hard to determine which part of me elicited the sharp shout of pain. Everything is coated in such a thick layer of agony there’s no telling it apart. The cell door slams shut behind me, the lock clicking into place.

A cell is a good sign. A cell means they are done beating me for now. Groaning, I roll onto my back, hissing in pain at the motion, but it’s better than lying on my arm, which I’m fairly positive is broken. Shutting my eyes, I breathe slowly through the hurt as my body begins the laborious task of healing. It takes far longer than necessary, depleted as I am and without access to magic. I have no idea how long I’ve been imprisoned for. How long I have been separated from Fawn.