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“Oh.” Nua’s soft, grief-stricken voice made my entire body clench up. “It’s all dying.”
I wanted to protest, to defend myself, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t get the words out. Because Nua was right. It was all dying. Everything around us was dying.
I pressed my flesh-and-bone hand to a trunk and shuddered at the too-warm bark beneath my palm. It felt… wrong.
“It’s time, Ash,” Nua murmured, which made me tense up again for an entirely different reason, my head already pounding with fury. “Lonan needs to take his crown.”
I rounded on my brother, a snarl curling the corner of my lip, the horrible argument with Lonan still far too fresh. “I’m not putting Lonan in danger.”
“Why do you assume Lonan would be in any danger?” he asked calmly.
I stared at him in disbelief. “Are you joking?”
Nua’s brows twitched. “No. I am not.”
“Because—” I cut myself off with an incredulous laugh. “Do you really think the Carlin plans on just letting him waltz back onto unseelie? If that’s the case, why the fuck does she have her guards scouting the forest every day?”
“I believe Lonan can handle himself,” Nua said steadily. “He lived with the Carlin for over twenty years.”
“Yes, when he was still useful to her,” I snapped, not understanding how no one else could see this. “He could handle her when she was no real threat to him, because she wouldn’t have ever tried to kill him while she could still control him. He’s useless to her now, Nua. She has no reason to keep him alive. And she’s the queen. How can he possibly beat her?”
“You beat the Brid.”
“Barely.”
“He has her name. He can—”
“He has to get close enough to her to say it first,” I interrupted. “He has to get through all her guards. He has to get through his brothers. There are so many ways it could go wrong. So many ways he could get hurt. Get killed. I’m not risking it. I refuse.”
Nua’s face remained calm, but I saw a hint of fire flare in his green eyes. “Is it solely your decision? What about what Lonan wants? Surely he is not happy to just sit back and watch Orna and unseelie land wither away and die.”
Pain sliced through me, so sharp I flinched.
“I have been staying here for you, not for me. I don’t want or need to be here.”
“Lonan agreed to wait.” The words burned my throat, but I got them out because they weren’t technically a lie. I turned to continue stamping through the forest so Nua wouldn’t see the untruthfulness of the statement in my eyes.
He followed, his light boots crunching over too-dry leaves. “You know, many of your problems would vanish if Lonan became king.”
My gut clenched up. “You don’t know that for certain.”
“The forest would right itself. You could stop worrying about the Carlin and her other sons. Lonan would be near unkillable, just like you. You wouldn’t have to worry about him so much.”
Shut up shut up shut up. I clenched my jaw so hard a muscle ticked. I knew he was right, but Lonan becoming king just brought with it a new set of problems.
He wouldn’t be here anymore.
“It’s not enough that he has her name,” I spat. “That’s not a plan.”
“Then make a plan. Together.”
I exploded. “I have enough problems to deal with right now, Nua, without planning fucking regicide.”
“And like I said”—Nua’s voice remained infuriatingly calm—“many of those problems would disappear if the Carlin were gone.”
“Stop,” I burst out, spinning to glare at him. “Stop… talking in roundabout ways and trying to trick me. Just stop, Nua.”
“I am not trying to trick you.” Hurt sparked in his green eyes, but I was too worked up to feel guilty. “I am trying to show you how simple this could truly be if you just let it play out the way it is meant to. The wheels are already in motion, Ash. Do you remember Gillie saying that when you got your memories of Lonan back? There is no stopping it. The Higher Spirits have spoken. Lonan is going to become king, and this is them giving you the sign that it is time. You can’t delay it any longer.”
