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I trimmed up my beard and dressed in my shimmering white robes again before going back out into the main area of my quarters. Flint got up from where he was sitting on the couch with Arden and went to get ready. Lex’s arm was around her, holding onto her as if she was going to be ripped away into another vision. The sudden shift in her and the way her green eyes went white was terrifying, as if she’d gone somewhere we couldn’t reach her, even though her body was right there.
None of us were going to leave her alone for even a second now.
“I still can’t get back there,” Arden said to me when I took Flint’s spot. “I can’t go back into the vision.”
“Just relax, Kitten,” Lex said. “You don’t have to keep trying. We’ll just do our best to keep everything in order and try to change the path of it.”
“Somehow.” Arden let out an uncharacteristically pessimistic snort. “I doubted my own visions before, but I know this is going to happen. And I can’t stop it.”
She sniffed, tears running down her face. I moved the skirts of her formal white and gold dress, the same fabric as our robes, and kneeled in front of her, resting my hands on her thighs. On my knees, our faces were almost the same height.
“Listen to me, Little Flower,” I said, taking her chin in my hand. “You had the vision, and that’s already helped us. We know to be on extra high alert. You’re stronger than ever, and so are we. The vision might not be exactly as it seemed.”
Arden dabbed at her tears with the back of her finger. The makeup spell she’d done made it stay in place.
“I know. I just hate feeling so powerless.” She absently rubbed her chest, where the scar from the rune we’d carved there still was. The dress she’d chosen had a high neck to hide it. “I’m supposed to be a Royal, but I can’t save the kingdom?”
“Who’s to say you won’t?” Flint stood in the doorway to the bathroom, buttoning his shirt. “Your mother’s vision was just as strong, strong enough for her to sacrifice herself to save you. I’d say the odds are good that we’ll figure it out.”
A touch of lightness came back through Arden’s bond with me. Flint was really fucking good at saying just the thing to make her feel safe. I was so glad he’d finally gotten his head out of his ass and let himself love her.
I held her hands, stroking the backs of them in a circular motion with my thumbs until Flint came out, his hair combed into place and his jaw clean-shaven.
“You’re ready?” Lex asked, standing.
“I am.” Flint took a deep breath and came back over to us. “Let’s do this.”
The enforcers escorted us out to the temple, where all the foot traffic was going. Even though they had us covered from every angle, I kept looking around. It all appeared normal, aside from the fact that everyone was wearing white this time. The only spots of darkness were the enforcers’ uniforms, trailing behind various families.
If anyone noticed Elias was missing, they didn’t care or notice. Everyone was probably more curious about how Lex was touching Arden. Fae could sense another fae’s mate bond when they were together, and this was our first outing with all three of us together. Enforcers kept curious fae away, but a lot of them had to be whispering about us.
I threaded my fingers through Arden’s, and she clutched them, a lifeline.
We arrived at the temple, which was directly below where the sun and moon were to align. Our spot was up front near the altar, and we sat down, waiting. Arden fidgeted with her jewelry, staring straight ahead. Her nervous energy was almost contagious. I put my hand on her thigh, and she calmed down.
A cluster of priests, dressed in golden robes, chanted near the entrances to the temple, silencing the crowd behind us. They spoke in the old tongue, their chant wavering between spoken word and song. I had no idea how the ritual was going to play out, but it wasn’t happening fast enough for me. They chanted and sang for at least ten minutes, not even stepping inside.
A murmur drifted through the crowd when something boomed in the distance. Rouhaven was a metropolis, so loud sounds weren’t completely out of the ordinary. But another one happened. Then another. And several more in rapid succession.
The priests stopped chanting, looking just as confused as everyone else. Our enforcers clustered close to us, hands at the ready to do spells. By now, everyone had erupted into chatter, a simmer of panic in the air that the other enforcers tried to calm. Hundreds of fae were in the temple, and if that panic boiled over, someone was going to get hurt.
Our enforcers got a signal from across the temple and changed formation around us.
“Your Highnesses, we need to get you out of here,” one said. “To the central palace.”
The wail of sirens and distant sounds of metal crashing against metal made the fear bubble into something bigger.
“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing Arden’s hand.
We rushed out of the temple, with the enforcers watching our guests taking them in the opposite direction. The sounds of chaos were close enough for me to smell smoke and ash.
“This way!” one of our enforcers said, shifting direction.
I stole a glance behind me and saw a flood of fae descending on our guests. Fuck. Where had they come from? It was a pure numbers game—hundreds of them attacking all at once out of nowhere was overwhelming our already powerful enforcers. Some of the invading fae had shifted and were flying in, dive-bombing the crowd.
“Wait!” Arden cried out, stopping. “We have to help them! We’re stronger than them!”
“Miss Arden, we need to go. Your life is in danger,” an enforcer said, grabbing her arm and trying to haul her away.
