AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Very well, then.” Mab’s expression was grim as she flicked her wrist, and the vine shot out into the windy night, high above the rocky earth. I gasped, and the vine unfurled.
The wind whipped at me, the ground surging closer.
As I plummeted, time slowed. In the hollows of my mind, I saw Torin, a child at his own coronation after his parents died. His expression was far too serious for a boy of his age, his little brow furrowed.
The wind yanked at my hair as I fell, and my memories flickered past me: Chloe making me hot oatmeal for breakfast, the sharp loneliness of her funeral. Shalini laughing so hard that she snorted. The day I’d met Torin in the Golden Shamrock…
The way he’d looked that night in the cabin when he’d told me about his mom.
The cold rock in my chest cracked open, and molten magic exploded at last. Hot tingles raced down my shoulder blades.
Searing power burst from my body, and my wings sprang free, tearing through the thin dress. I caught my breath, exhilarated.
The beating of my wings was instinctive, an innate part of me. I hovered just a few feet from the ground, close enough to see the dark blue pebbles on the path and the clouds of dust formed by my beating wings.
My thin, dark wings pounded the air behind me, and the muscles shifted and flexed against my shoulder blades. Like a heartbeat, they pulsed rhythmically, automatically. The feeling of the wind rushing over the delicate bones in my wings sent euphoria racing through my blood.
My heart slammed hard against my ribs, and my body blazed with power. Never in my life had I felt this strong.
I looked up and saw Morgant, hovering in the air above me, arm outstretched. Inches from me. I stared at the prince, the wind tearing at his white hair. He’d been there, ready to catch me.
A crooked smile curled his lips, and he handed me Torin’s sword. “You need to get out of here, Isavell. Take your Seelie king to his home before anything happens to him.”
I breathed in a shaky breath. Was he really letting me do this?
Pounding my wings against the air, I raced up to the castle’s battlements. My magic sizzled through my limbs as I soared above the tower, taking in the view of the queen. With a growl, I seized control of the vines and commanded them to slither around her, a coffin of vegetation to trap her in place. As the plants slipped toward her, she bared her teeth.
With a flick of my wrist, I pulled the vines off Torin,freeing him. He gasped for breath, his hands going to his throat.
I flew up and wrapped my arms around his waist. He did the same, his forearms locked tightly to me.
I breathed in the scent of him, the earth and woods mingled with his blood, and carried him into the air. The effort of lifting him nearly kept me rooted to the battlements, and pain shot through the top of my wings as I took off. The wind whipped over us as I carried him over the wall, and Torin’s weight dragged us down to earth.
I could fly now, but my wings weren’t made to carry a large, muscular man. I angled them to slow our fall, hoping for a smooth landing.
I didn’t achieve that. We landed hard in a tangle of limbs and wings, the ground battering us.
I winced and looked for Torin. Streaked with dirt and blood, he arched an eyebrow and shot me a lopsided smile. “Graceful.”
“Let’s get to the horses, Torin.”
I bit my lip, turning back to the castle. I could rip it apart. I could use the tree to pull it stone from stone and bury every Unseelie in there so I wouldn’t have to worry about a single person following us.
But I had no idea how many people I’d be killing, and the queen’s haunted eyes blazed in my mind. I swallowed hard.
I only needed my brother to keep her bound long enough for us to escape.
34
AVA
The horse’s hooves pounded hard against the rocks, kicking up dirt. We’d been riding for hours.
After we’d landed beneath the castle, my wings had disappeared again. Now, I leaned back into Torin. He held me tightly as we rode east, his arm an iron bar around my waist.
After all that time, those weeks in the cell, replaying his death in my mind until I’d nearly gone mad, it was hard to believe he was really here with me. Tangible behind me, solid as the earth beneath us.
