AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A warning. He was right.
We didn’t know what kind of magic these faeries had. Ethereal powers were long extinct in Annwyn… but void magic had been as well. Until it awoke within me.
We had no way of knowing that one of them wouldn’t be able to tap into the bond between us.
Arran’s voice was smoother when he spoke again, his scowl firmly fixed. “We do not wish to cause you strife. We ask only for time to bandage our wounds, and then we will be gone.”
Taliya laughed mirthlessly. “Is that all you will ask?” She shot a look my direction. “No, I think you will ask for much more than that. More than you have any right to.”
It might come to a fight.
I hadn’t seen a single weapon on any of the faeries. But they possessed magic, that much was clear. There were probably more shifters among them. I doubted any were as fearsome as Arran’s beast. But I’d rather not find out.
Not with Lyrena still injured, and Cyara…fucking Ancestors. Cyara is a harpy.
It was a miracle my head didn’t go flying right off of my shoulders.
Another growl.
Calm, it said.
I can’t be fucking calm.
Another rumble in my chest.Be a queen.
Whatever the hell that means.
Taliya knew. “Isolde, see that our guests are given appropriate accommodations.”
Good for her.
I gritted my teeth. This battle would be fought on another day. After Lyrena had healed and Arran and I could talk. “Thank you—”
“You are not free just yet, Your Majesty.” A doorway opened behind her. “Come.”
Arran’s hand touched my waist. An unspoken signal, just like when we’d first come skidding down into the tunnels.My decision.
I was going to have to speak to him about this—we were supposed to rule together. I was getting damned sick of making decisions.
64
ARRAN
Veyka was all striding sass, swaying hips and hotheaded posturing as she followed the tiny blue female through the arched doorway.
I was more reticent.
A look back to my companions. Osheen would protect Maisri. Lyrena would fight through her pain. Cyara was more than capable of defending herself, apparently. Percival… I could not say what he would do. I’d encountered males like him on the battlefield—conscripted by family woes to a battle that was not their own. They could go either way—become loyal, gifted soldiers; or run at the first sign of bloodshed.
Percival, at least, had fought with us against the nightwalkers.
That was something.
More than something—I let them go with the Isolde, the tiny white faerie beaming once again. But I had somewhere else to be.
The bond in my chest was thrumming. My mate wasn’t far, but I didn’t know what we were walking into. She’d use sarcasm and bravado to arm herself—for now. I fingered the head of my axe.
The small room had been carved out, the arched doorway similar to the entrances to the alcoves that had lined the tunnel on the way in. This entrance was slightly taller, but I still had to crouch. Thankfully, once inside the ceiling opened up again. I briefly wondered what sort of accommodations we’d be given—whether we’d be crawling into them.
