24. Myron
Myron
“You’re an asshole extraordinaire,” Clio hisses at me. I’ve had all sorts of accusations and curses hurled at me by the Fairy Princess over the past weeks and disregarded them all.
This time, I’m not immune. This time, I missed my duty to protect Ayna and was nearly too late when the monster of a Flame set her on fire with his cursed magic. Gods, I can barely look at my mate with the blistering burn marks mocking my failure.
I’m not saying anything to Clio because there is nothing I can say. No excuse.
“Want me to heal her, or will you do the honors?”
“Of course, I will heal her.” What a question. “Your ice might have saved her life, but I’ll heal her myself.” Because I won’t trust anyone to be as gentle and thorough as I’ll be with her. “Now move out of my way.”
Clio shrugs, throwing her magic into the battle behind us. Royad and Silas are working together with Herinor and Kaira to lure the Flames into their blades before they can set off another blast of fire. Thankfully, Herinor’s shield is holding most of the strikes now that his guilt about Kaira’s injury is fueling his fury.
Silas is doing a great job at sending sparks of silver power at the remaining Flames, weakening them and distracting them from pulling up an endless stream of fire. It’s the best they can do two fighters short, but they are getting Clio, and the fairy immediately sends her ice magic into a loop of sizzling flames one of the Fire Fairies has drawn up right before Royad’s face.
My heart continues beating, only because I trust Clio; much as she despises me, I trust her.
Kneeling down by Ayna’s shoulder, I place my hand on the side of her neck where trickles of blood have replaced the blisters. Fucking Flames.
If this was an ambush, Recienne better not have anything to do with it.
It does strike me as a bit suspicious that the Fairy Princess disappeared just when the attack happened.
The view of Ayna’s red and blistered skin surfacing from where her leathers are falling apart in places is almost too much to bear. She could have been dead .
She will be if I’m not promptly healing her.
So, I send my healing power into her body, willing calm into my veins and a steady leash on my magic so I won’t accidentally hurt her.
The rock on my chest slowly lifts as the blood ceases trickling down her neck and the burn marks slowly fade from angry crimson to pale pink.
“I’m sorry, Ayna.” Bending over her face, I brush a kiss to her forehead. “I’m so sorry.”
She doesn’t wake, doesn’t groan and spit her blame at me. Whether it’s the injuries or the insane blast of power she set free to eviscerate Arebar, I don’t know. All I know is that my chest is aching, and my head is dizzy. The tattoo on my shoulder is cold as ice where it was scalding a minute ago. Like someone has frozen our connection.
“Wake up, my queen.” Stroking my fingers down the side of her face, I lift her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her to provide some warmth where Clio’s power has driven all of it from her form. Ayna’s steady heartbeat suggests she’s far from dead, but my fear is real as I wait for her to stir in my embrace while the last of the fight dies down behind us.
Worth fifty fairies … I’m no longer sure any of us Crows is worth even three fairies.
“What happened?” Royad is the first to find us as soon as the last Flame has been slayed. His sword still drips with blood, the same as Silas’s hatchet as he stands next to my cousin, rubbing his shoulder where a gash is already healing.
“Myron’s little mate almost blew us all up,” Herinor comments from a few paces away, wiping blood off his cheek with the back of his hand while his gaze darts over to Kaira, who’s sitting on the ground beside him, leaning against the leftovers of a fallen tree trunk. Where before skeletons of a forest greeted us, nothing but dust and lumps of scorched wood is left within a hundred feet radius, and most of it isn’t the Flames’ fault.
Ayna’s power caused that, her untrained Crow magic going rogue to protect her.
My body is still shaking from the force of her attack, and I’m grateful none of us passed out, while the Flames seemed to be less resilient against the vast energy erupting in Ayna’s release of power.
“Myron’s queen ,” I correct, tone laced with violence, “saved her life and probably all of ours.” I don’t want to think about what could have happened without her magic breaking free. It certainly put a few Flames on their asses after it tore through Arebar. “It’s not her fault she hasn’t been properly trained.” It ’ s mine , I silently add. “Besides, how did they find us so fast?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I search the wasteland for Clio, finding her wiping her sword on the leathers of a Flame corpse. “Where did you disappear to?”
Clio shrugs. “I could ask you the same thing.”
I’m not embarrassed for secretly kissing my wife behind the trees like a young male, but I was there to defend the others once Royad warned us. “I asked first.”
I’ve got to give it to Clio; she doesn’t as much as flinch when not only I but three other Crow males stare her down. “I went to take out the backup. ”
Silas barks a laugh. “You’re kidding.” When she doesn’t respond, he turns to Royad and me. “She’s kidding, right?”
This time, anger simmers in Clio’s jade eyes. “While you were busy sucking your mate’s tongue, I went ahead to scout the area. It’s easier with my site-hopping and less dangerous than when any of you shift into your bird form and risk your feathers.”
That catches me by surprise so hard my chest constricts.
“Now, get over yourself, and stand up. We’ve got somewhere to be. Ayna will wake up soon enough.”
When she said somewhere to be , Clio did have a place in mind. Night has crept into the rubble of my former palace by the time we arrive there, Ayna safely in my arms and the others fully recovered from her assault of magic. We’ll sleep in the shelter of the broken walls and set out south in the morning to track down any remaining Crows before we hunt for Jeseida’s murderous Flames.
With what I’ve seen of what destruction has haunted my former kingdom, I’m reluctant to believe any of my people are left lest hope springs to life, paving yet another path to the pain of my own failure as a king.
“You can lay her down here.” Royad clears the area behind a fallen pillar in the remains of my old throne room at the center of the battlefield, making space for me to place Ayna’s sleeping form on the hard stone.
Nodding my thanks at him, I kneel with Ayna in my arms, gently sliding her onto the piece of blackened stone .
When I turn around to ask if any of the other’s packs survived the encounter with the Flames, Clio is holding out a blanket, lips pursed and brows knitted in the resemblance of a wordless apology. “I’ll take the first shift while you rest.”
Herinor prowls up behind her, inclining his head. “I’ll keep you company.” His gaze, however, is on Kaira, who’s curling up against a boulder of cracked marble.
We all look a little worse for wear, but I get Herinor’s attitude. I won’t rest either before my female awakens.
Kaira rolls her eyes. “Your stubborn ass needs a break, too.”
“I’d rather be a stubborn ass than leave your sleep unguarded.” Herinor’s words are sweeter than he makes them sound, and a pinkish tint only true fae eyes can spot in the dark rises in his cheeks.
“I didn’t know you were such a romantic, big bear,” Silas cuts from the side, stretching out his legs and resting his head against a piece of wall that’s still intact.
The laugh Herinor responds with sounds forced enough to make me believe he’s trying too hard. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s not because I care so much about the female. It’s because I worry she might slit my throat if I dare close my eyes next to her.”
That costs me a chuckle. I see the twisting of his words untangle even as he is forming them. It’s not because he cares about the female—even though he does. But he is genuinely concerned she hates him enough to slit his throat. Even with the secret glances Kaira has been stealing at him, he hasn’t realized there is more going on .
It’s almost comical to see a seasoned warrior like him grappling for straws to protect his heart.
“Well, you’ll just need to risk it because I ’ m keeping first watch with Clio.” I don’t care if he’s tossing all night next to Kaira. His king has spoken.
It takes a while for everyone to settle down and doze off, their slow, deep breaths and soft snores as familiar as my own heartbeat. It comes with spending weeks in captivity with the same people. You get to know them inside out. Literally at times. Trying not to remember the images of blood and gore from our imprisonment in Erina’s dungeon, I focus on Ayna instead, but those pictures are permanently etched into my memory. As will be the pale, cold features that are my mate’s as she lingers in what could be a coma—or hibernation.
Clio has taken up post on a high segment of a broken wall, scanning the surroundings with her fairy vision. With a sigh, I make my way toward her, climbing the set of rocks behind which Ayna sleeps, but it’s a far hike up to the wall. One I assume I won’t be able to make without site-hopping abilities. Unless I use my bird form, of course.
I pull on the curtain of feathers separating my fae self from my crow self, watching it turn into smoke on a wisp of wind. My entire body turns lighter, arms elongating ever so slightly as black feathers eat up my limbs and torso, shaping the hard lines of my body into those of an aerodynamic creature. I used to despise this form, despite the freedom it brings with it, but with Ayna the first Crow female since the gods cursed my people, I’m no longer hopeless .
By the time I make it to the bottom of Clio’s vantage point, I’ve fully changed, my wings beating the night air into submission, and I climb, climb, climb higher until I land on the wreckage of stone Clio is leaning against. The heat of the shift is as familiar as the back of my hand, as is the vulnerability coming with this smaller, softer body, but my magic hums in my chest like a well of liquid silver, ready to propel me back into my fae form and find a target.
“This never ceases to be creepy,” Clio says by way of greeting when I don’t shift back. “Honestly, it’s a special talent to freak out a centuries-old fairy with a parlor trick like that.”
Shrugging, she pushes off the remains of the wall, stepping to the edge of the frazzled piece of floor of the top room in the west tower she’s standing on. I only recognize it because of the carvings adorning the cracked, soot-stained stone.
“It’s not a parlor trick if you can sneak up on your enemies like that.” I shift back into my fae form, feathers retreating from my arms last, and plant my boots next to her by the edge.
We could throw each other over the frazzled corner of this ruin without concern. What with one of us able to turn into a creature bearing wings and the other one defying the laws of time and space with her disjointed mode of transportation. For some reason, neither of us makes an attempt though. We’ve formed a sort of truce.
I’m still staring at the stars above this godsforsaken burnt wasteland when Clio sighs through her nose. “What are you going to do about the bargain you made with Tori? ”
Her question takes me by surprise so much I tear my gaze away from the skies. It’s been a while since I made a bargain with Tori, and back then, it was about finding both our mates. Find one, find both. Not a bargain, really, but a promise. “The only deal I made with him is that I’ll take my people and leave Eherea if he works with me to find Ayna and you.”
The gaze Clio gives me tells me she already knows the finer details of it all. “You’ll leave eventually.” It’s not a suggestion, and I am fully aware any objection of mine would be a breaking of my promise.
“Eventually.” Suppressing a sigh of my own, I glance over my shoulder at Ayna’s peaceful face. “I’ll take my people and leave, eventually.”
Clio’s smile is the one reaction I don’t expect. “Good. Because, my brother might be a stubborn ass, but I believe that working together is the only way to save Eherea. We have Erina’s army coming for Askarea. Ephegos’s insane thirst for power. But that’s not all. Those damned Fire Fairies are coming for us left and right, and they’re merely an envoy of this war.”
Raising my brows at her, I rock back on my heels, folding my arms over my chest. “And you’d rather work with the son of the male who wanted to force you into marriage than kick him out of your realm at the next opportunity?”
“My brother ’ s realm. And yes.” She places a small, calloused hand on my shoulder, her grasp almost as strong as my cousin’s, and tilts her head to the side. “Have you forgotten that you helped save Tori? My mate has grown rather fond of your broody constitution, and I’d rather not be the one to break it to Tori that you’re taking off early.”
Inclining my head at her, I breathe in the fresh, cool air drifting from the skies, savoring the lack of stench it comes with. “I’d hate to disappoint your mate.”
“Only because you know he’d tear your head off.” A grin plays on her lips that’s more feline than human. It’s the first real grin she’s given me, and it feels like I’ve won an uphill battle.
The moment doesn’t demand for more words, so I refrain from searching for any. Tomorrow will be soon enough when we all head out to hunt down what’s left of my court and then follow the same path we’d taken when we set out to find Clio and Ayna—and pay Jeseida a visit about those missing fairies.