10. Ayna
Ayna
“You two are disgusting.” Astorian is grinning at me from a few feet away, his tousled hair full of leaves and tiny twigs.
With a groan that runs through my entire body, Myron tears away from me, his gaze following mine and a frown twisting his features.
“What are you doing here, Tori?” he prompts, one hand remaining in my hair and the other one on the small of my back.
“Just making sure you don’t get yourself caught again,” the fairy male replies, a smirk on his lips and an arm braced on the trunk of a fat oak.
I take this moment to force some sense back into me and detach myself from Myron to assess the damage my magic has done.
A lot.
The carriage wheels are the only pieces intact; the horses have fled into a thicket of firs where they stand with wild eyes and steaming breath. But what’s worse is the three motionless bodies at Astorian’s feet.
Stifling a gasp, I scramble to my feet and bolt for what I expect to be my sister’s corpse.
“Don’t sweat it, Ayna,” Astorian comments as I drop to my knees beside Kaira’s hips. “They are alive. It will take them about a quarter-hour to recover.”
Kaira’s relaxed features are scattered with tiny cuts from where pieces of the splintering carriage must have hit her. A glance at Andraya informs me she suffered the same fate. Pouly seems to be the only one who got out of the way in time.
“Those three weren’t abducting you, were they?” He pushes away from the tree, prowling to stand behind me where Myron is already hovering like a shadow. I don’t need to look to sense his presence. My tattoo tells a story of his closeness that makes my skin tingle and the hair stand on the back of my neck.
“No.” I shake my head in emphasis before the two males can make any different assumptions. “They actually rescued Kaira and me.”
Myron’s leg brushes my shoulder as he inches closer like he can’t bear even this smallest of distances, and I allow myself to lean into him. My head is still spinning from the outburst of my magic, and my hands are shaky from the shock of finding Myron and Astorian rather than Erina’s guards ambushing us. I don’t dare ask about the others yet. If Myron and Astorian are here, chances are Royad, Silas, Herinor, and Clio are safe, too.
“Then it’s time to wake them, I guess.” Astorian steps forward, placing his hand on Andraya’s arm, and I taste the magic in the air as he sends a burst of power into the lady whose eyes flutter open promptly.
He’s making a move to do the same to Pouly, when a large bird plunges from the treetops, body shifting into the form of a huge male. I don’t need to look twice to recognize Herinor, but I do need to stare to make sure I’m not imagining the way he crashes to his knees across from me by Kaira’s shoulder, face torn in anguish at the sight of her motionless body.
“If she’s dead, I swear to Shaelak, I don’t care who you are or who you’re mated to. I will kill you.” He grinds out the words like steel over gravel, and ice slides down my spine at the authenticity of his threat.
But before Myron can tear his head off, I grab Herinor’s hand and place it above Kaira’s heart. “Feel that?”
For a brief moment, his features go slack. Then he closes his eyes, listening to the slow thuds of Kaira’s heart.
It is only then I realize how much of the night I can hear: the whisper of leaves in the wind, the rustling of bird wings, the heavy breaths Herinor is trying to calm, and heartbeats. Kaira’s, Pouly’s, and Andraya’s human ones, but three strong, violent ones belonging to the magical creatures around me. Then there are the swift, hard beats hammering in my own chest, telling a story of my own survival.
“Shall I do the honors, or do you want to…”
“I’ll do it,” Herinor cuts Astorian off before he can infuse Kaira with his magic and wake her up.
Myron’s hand finds mine as he crouches beside me, brushing a kiss to my temple, and I can’t stop a sigh from escaping at the simple touch. I’d been fearing never finding him in the vastness of the Eherean realms. Instead, I can relish his presence and the knowledge he’s alive.
“What, by the Guardians, is going on?” Andraya asks as she scrambles away from the males surrounding us while Pouly’s first reaction is to draw his sword and point it at Astorian, who stands closest to him.
“Don’t embarrass yourself, human guard,” he admonishes with a grin that would send lesser men running. “I’m as invested in the Crow Queen’s safety as you are.”
That earns him a pair of raised brows from Andraya and a grunt from Herinor, whose eyes never leave Kaira’s face as he waits for her to wake.
“You mean the Queen of Tavras,” Andraya corrects, Pouly supporting her statement with a nod.
Astorian, however, bursts out in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I rise, trusting Herinor to wake up my sister, now that I’ve seen Astorian do the same for Andraya and Pouly. Like a shadow, Myron straightens with me, a menacing form at my shoulder, but doesn’t interfere as I wait for the fairy general to explain himself .
“You’ve made quite an upgrade to your life since those creatures retrieved you from prison, haven’t you?” He points his thumb at Myron, who tenses to strike yet remains where he is as if waiting for me to land the first blow. “From traitor pirate to queen of two realms in the span of mere months…”
“Shut up, Tori,” Myron eventually snaps when I don’t respond, overwhelmed by the conundrum that should have been plain before my eyes yet I haven’t been spending a real thought on.
I’m Queen of Crows and the true Tavrasian heir. One kingdom is right here, my feet touching its soil, and a group of rebels on standby to fight for me, while the other one consists of one king and about twenty more Crows, who no longer have lands to call their own.
Then there is the problem of me having become more than only their queen. Even if my bird form doesn’t come to me at will yet, I’m a Crow shifter just as they are.
Kaira’s groan as she rolls to her side under Herinor’s touch saves me from more questions that would force me to voice any of my thoughts. Before she can notice him, he flinches away, leaping to his feet and standing back to make room for Andraya and me.
“Thank the Guardians,” Andraya abandons the discussion to reach under Kaira’s shoulder and support her as she scrambles to her feet.
Herinor, however, has retreated a step, glowering at the trees rather than expressing a shred of the passion leading him to threaten my life. The relief is clear in his posture, though, and I am almost certain the moisture beneath his left eye isn’t sweat.
“What happened?” Kaira prompts, gaze finding mine in the midst of drama.
To my surprise, it’s Herinor who takes it upon himself to inform her. “Myron took off out of the blue, so Tori and I followed to make sure he wouldn’t get himself trapped and captured again. I don’t know what Tori found when he arrived, but when I made it here, Tori was just healing you from whatever disaster hit your carriage.”
“My magic hit the carriage,” I correct him. “And I’m not a disaster… Or, only on occasion.”
That summons a grin to the male’s scar-flecked face, and his eyes dance with hope as he studies Kaira, smoothing out her tattered clothes and flipping back her dirty braid.
“Shouldn’t we take this conversation elsewhere?” Kaira suggests, scanning the forest around us as if expecting guards to hop out of the trees any moment. “The blast of light might have alerted people.”
“You mean the three farmers miles away?” Myron prompts, arm winding around my waist and pulling me an inch closer into his warmth. “Because those will need hours to reach the next outpost and alert Tavrasian soldiers.”
Kaira bestows on him the most exasperated frown I’ve ever seen. “I mean the Flames,” she explains. “We’re near the borderlands, and Jeseida has hunters and spies…”
Herinor nods his agreement. “Jeseida has visited Erina’s court before. I don’t know what exactly she’s up to, but it can’t be good if she’s working with the Tavrasian King. ”
Kaira’s gaze falls to Myron, pondering. “Doesn’t being mated to Ayna technically make you the King of Tavras?”
Myron flinches—actually flinches—at her statement but eventually shrugs. “Being married to me made my mate the Crow Queen, but it’s up to her if she’ll grant me the same right should she ever take up her crown.”
“Which she will,” Andraya interjects, the sternness of her expression as unfamiliar as the disheveled state of her appearance. Her gaze meets mine, dark eyes full of hope and a hint of concern. “Right, Wolayna? You will claim your throne.”
I don’t have an answer to that, so I say nothing. Instead, I wrap my arm around myself, refusing to allow the pressure of their expectations to weigh on me more than they already do. “What will happen is written in the stars, and who am I to challenge them?”
While the rest of them merely stare at me, Myron leans down, his breath a rush of heat on my cheek, and whispers, “You changed my fate, my queen. You can do anything.”
I want to turn my head and capture his mouth in a dizzying kiss, but Kaira and Herinor are right. We aren’t safe here. My outburst of power created a beacon anyone could have spotted. It’s only smart to leave behind the remains of the carriage and run—or fly in Myron’s and Herinor’s case.
So we do. Postponing any further discussion of who shall have a crown and of which territory, we abandon the site of destruction. Pouly and Andraya set free the horses, who immediately bolt for their home stables—at least, no one will come looking for them. Then, Astorian takes their hands, a surprisingly bland smile on his features, and disappears with them without a warning.
“I’ll never get used to seeing them do that,” I note, eyes on the spot from where Astorian just pulled my two travel companions through time and space.
“It’s creepy,” Kaira agrees, brushing dirt and leaves off her sleeve. I notice she’s moving without a wince of pain, and the bruises and cuts have vanished from her face, leaving behind only traces of blood.
A glance at Herinor confirms he is studying that same proof of violence which is older than the assault of my own magic, and the fury contained in his gaze is something I never want to get in the path of.
“Shall we, then?” Kaira turns to Myron, and when he doesn’t respond—“I don’t assume the fairy brute will be returning for us magical creatures, will he?”
“Perhaps not the brute, ” Clio’s voice claims, making us jump as the female pops up behind us.
The moment I turn, she sweeps me into a rib-crushing hug. “I didn’t believe Tori when he said—” She broke off with a sob. “Guardians, Ayna. You’re alive.”
An entire mountain collapses in my chest at the sight of the Fairy Princess.
“I told you she’s alive.” Not a hint of doubt resonates in Myron’s words as he stands there, watching Clio squeeze the breath from me. “But she won’t be for much longer if you suffocate her with one of your terrifying displays of affection. ”
As if realizing that, despite my reluctance to let go of her, I am indeed struggling for air, Clio releases me, sweeping Kaira into a similar embrace while I pant for air.