Freed from Gravity (Bound and Freed #2)

Chapter 14

Fourteen

SENAN

NOW

It’s snowing again.

I still hate the stuff but tonight there’s something peaceful about how each cottony flake pirouettes through the air, stark against the backdrop of night like the stars I haven’t seen in so long.

The cold isn’t so bad anymore either.

At least it numbs the pain. After years of dusting, I’m accustomed to feeling nothing.

I could get used to this?—

Fire rips through my flesh, engulfing my entire chest.

Get it off! Get it off!

I writhe in anguish, but the snow is too deep, a casket of ice and misery. I have no choice but to endure the suffocating torment, hoping it will end.

Knowing it won’t.

A pair of glowing hands anchor to my bare chest. I follow the hands to their owner’s face, but what I find makes no sense at all.

Not because I don’t recognize the man shooting flames directly into my heart, but because I never thought I’d see him again.

My brother Aeron cannot possibly be here.

This is another hallucination. A dream.

The fire burns stronger.

A fucking nightmare.

“Stop!” I gasp.

Aeron removes his hands, and Allette leans over me, the dark strands of her hair falling like a shroud, shielding my face from my tormentor. “You’re back,” she whispers.

What does she mean, I’m back? I’m in the same bed we’ve shared for weeks. Where does she think I’ve been? More importantly?—

I nod my chin toward the other person in the room. The one who doesn’t belong. “Who the hell is that?”

Allette’s hands fly to her pale cheeks. “Oh, stars. Senan, that is Prince Aeron. Your brother.”

“That isn’t my brother.” Sure, he has the earrings and the scowl, but Aeron isn’t in the human realm. I left him in Kumulus.

“He doesn’t recognize you,” Allette says in a wobbly whisper. “Do you know who I am?”

“Besides the most beautiful woman in the world? You are my Allette.” Hers is a face I could never forget. I twist my head toward where my brother waits, silhouetted by the window, his arms folded and mouth flat. “But that man is not my brother. Aeron was always the handsome one, the strong one. This weak, weasel-faced person is no relation of mine.”

“How can you make jokes at a time like this?” Allette scoffs.

Nothing like death to put a few things into perspective.

Aeron’s eyes narrow into slits. “If you weren’t dying, I’d kill you.”

My brother always did love idle threats. “Go away. I refuse to have your ugly mug be the last face I see.” I smile up at my girl, hating the tears glittering on her cheeks but too weak to wipe them away.

Her shaking hands curl against my bare chest, ice cooling the fire that continues to burn beneath my skin. “Stop that talk right now. You’re not going to die.”

If only she could share some of that hope with me. This poison infecting my veins hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s still coursing with each beat of my slowing heart whether Aeron is here or not.

“We have a way home,” she says.

Do we? Right now, all I have are more questions than answers. “Why is he here?” Aeron shouldn’t even know we’re alive, let alone where to find us.

Aeron’s scowl deepens. “I’m here because I need your help. Minister Donnell abducted Kyff and locked him up in Nimbiss castle. Their king refuses to hand him over until we return their princess.”

That fucking prick.

And I thought I hated Donnell before.

I plant my hands on the mattress and force myself upright. Even sitting on this damn bed, I still feel as weak as a kitten.

How the hell could Boris let this happen? Why wasn’t our baby brother protected?

Aeron swallows thickly. “If Princess Leeri is not returned by the end of the week, Nimbiss will declare war on Kumulus.”

Gods …

What if Aeron is lying? What if he’s using this information to manipulate me into returning to Kumulus? Boris used Kyff’s well-being far too often to force me to do his bidding. Who’s to say this isn’t one of those times?

“How do I know we can trust you? That you’re not working for Boris?” Everyone seems to be working for Boris nowadays. The king’s influence is like this poison, invisible but spreading, tainting everything it touches. He could’ve gotten his evil claws into Aeron in the weeks I’ve been away.

Aeron’s hands flex into white-knuckled fists at his sides. “Do you honestly think I could ever forgive him for what he stole from me?”

“You don’t have to forgive the bastard to be blackmailed.” Look at me. I didn’t want to marry the princess, but I did anyway because Boris held Allette’s life in his corrupt hands.

We need to remain vigilant.

“I haven’t been blackmailed,” he says. “Boris doesn’t even know I’m here.”

Maybe. Maybe not.

Aeron grips the back of his neck, his features painted in frustration. “Look, I held up my end of the plan that night, brought the gold to the inn, and drew as many guards as possible so you could escape. When I returned to the castle and found out you’d gotten married instead, I realized something must’ve gone terribly wrong. I know how Boris works, the way he controls everyone like fucking puppets.” Blowing out a breath, his hand drops once more. “A friend showed up to my door two days later. He told me what the king did to you.”

So much for keeping my downfall a secret.

There’s only one person who would have such intimate knowledge of my whereabouts. “Bilson.”

With a nod, Aeron continues his fantastical story. “Boris obviously wouldn’t confess to what he did, and with the princess missing as well, he had no choice but to lie to everyone. He told them that you and your new wife left for your honeymoon and had plans to arrive in Nimbiss the following week. Minister Donnell kicked up a fuss but couldn’t refute the word of a king. Meanwhile, the guards have been scouring the city for the woman. Until today, there have been patrols watching the portal day and night in case whoever took her tries to abscond with her to this realm.”

Until today . What changed?

Aeron grimaces. “I went to wake Kyffin for breakfast this morning and found a note saying Nimbiss took him as retribution for losing their princess. They issued an ultimatum.” From his pocket, he withdraws a piece of parchment and drops it onto the bed next to me. A broken wax seal bearing the Nimbiss crest clings to the folds.

My body begins to shake as I read the damning words.

Nimbiss stole my baby brother, and Kumulus has seven days to locate the princess or there will be war.

“Boris ordered our fastest men to the border to see if they could catch Donnell before he reaches Nimbiss. Almost all the others have been called to arms and are headed north. It’s mayhem up there and there’s so much fucking confusion. I saw a gap in the guard and took my chance.”

While I appreciate the risk he took and the fact that his healing magic might have saved me from death’s door, one part of this still doesn’t make any sense. “What do you expect me to do about it?” Even if I wanted to help, I’m wingless, powerless, and dying .

Aeron sinks onto the end of the bed. “You are the last person to see the princess alive. I thought maybe you would have some idea of where she might be. We’re desperate, Sen. Can you think of any details that might help us locate her?”

… see the princess alive.

Gods, what if she is dead? What will Nimbiss do then?

What if we never find her at all?

I close my eyes and scour my memories from that fateful night. Memories I’ve tried to forget. “After the wedding, the king locked us in my chambers. Leeri insisted on consummating the relationship right away. I used a vial of stardust to incapacitate her.”

Aeron slams a fist into the mattress, narrowly missing my leg. “What were you thinking? ”

“I was thinking I never wanted to marry the woman in the first place!” He knows all about being forced to marry against his will. If he were in my shoes and saw an out, he would’ve done the same fucking thing.

My brother shakes his head, the veins near his temple pulsing. “How did you escape?”

“The servants’ stairs. A friend added my blood to the enchanted register so I could cross the wards.” I shudder to think of what would have happened if Jeston hadn’t come to my aid. If he hadn’t given me the first vial of antidote, I could be dead already.

Hold on?—

“I wasn’t the last person to see the princess.” Fucking hell… “Jeston was.” That’s it! He must know what happened to her. I reach for Allette’s hand. “How much do you know about your friend?”

“Not much at all, I’m afraid,” she says with the smallest shake of her head. “His uncle used to be the House Master before you sacked him. Oh! And he has another uncle who owns The Black Hole.”

I’m not sure if any of that information is very helpful, but at least it’s a start.

Aeron pushes to his feet. “So, if we locate this Jeston fellow, we might find the princess.”

Allette rises as well, her voice so full of hope. “And when we find the princess, they’ll release Prince Kyffin.”

Maybe it’s the weight of imminent death, but I find it difficult to share their optimism. What if we get caught crossing through the portal? What if we make it to Kumulus but spend the next week searching for Jeston to no avail—sealing both my fate and poor little Kyff’s?

Nimbiss won’t keep him indefinitely.

When a fae kingdom declares war, they send a member of the enemy court to the rival castle’s gates…in pieces.