Bane of the Wild Hunt (Heart of the Tithriall #2)

PROLOGUE

Ornella

A task. Critical. Must go. Now. Go now!

The sense of urgency flooded my veins with fear and adrenaline. It must be Amira, she was in danger, and I needed to save her, but I was trapped inside a nightmare. The one I knew best and hated the most.

There was water in my lungs that burned and throbbed like they were on fire. My screams streamed around both sides of my face in a flood of bubbles from my mouth as I heaved up against the large hand on the back of my head. My fingernails chipped and bent backward on stones as I grappled for purchase, my palms and knuckles split open, but I didn’t care. I could easily ignore that pain while the panic of being drowned was blaring through my veins.

A hateful punishment disguised as an attempt to teach me to use my magic.

But the water was becoming hotter, so hot it overcame my desperate need for air, and that was not a usual part of this memory that had become a recurring nightmare.

And then I remembered.

The task had been to save Amira, an orphaned witch, who then broke the curse on Riordan Vasilikós and would be his mate when he took his place as King of the Vale. But just as I thought I had accomplished this assignment given to me by the Tithriall, the three of us were attacked in the Vale. I had been ready to make one final sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, to ensure the safety of my future king and his mate. My precious friend.

But I had not expected to kill a rider of the Wild Hunt or to be taken as their captive. Rian would have gutted me for murdering his lover if not for their ancient custom in which new riders had to kill their predecessor.

It had been such an unexpectedly perfect opportunity to infiltrate an enemy of the Vale, and I had been ready to capitalize on it. I was ready to do whatever was necessary to keep protecting Amira.

Until Sage. Until Carrick and Asha…

The water around me was not the dreaded fountain in my father’s favoured courtyard but a shield I had erected which now felt like it was beginning to boil.

I screamed again, another primal cry as I stood before the Autumn Prince and his tidal wave of flame and fury that threatened everything good I’d come to care about.

But Rian wasn’t the first to try and destroy me, and he certainly would not be the last.