Chapter 26 #2
With a snap of his fingers, the wind shifted direction, blowing my scent away from the Keep and out into the forest. If Caelan came close enough, he might scent the bond on me.
Tonight would be difficult enough. If I could keep this secret until I figured out what to do, I could save Caelan from more heartache.
Not that he deserved much from me after everything, but I would always care about him. Even if he didn’t care about me, not in the way I deserved.
Concentrating magic in my hands, I focused power in one spot just like my father had shown me and slammed my hand against his wards.
“Good luck,” Dad said as he faded away.
Power clanged like a bell inside my head.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed magic into the wards.
They flashed with lightning forks of crimson, painting the Keep with the color of blood.
He’d tweaked them again since I’d left, though I could have flown in if I were in wren form.
Not today. I wanted to make a statement.
A loud crack rang out as the wards crashed and fell, allowing me to step onto Caelan’s lands without harm.
Shouts rang out as shifters flooded from the doors of the main area of the Keep. They saw me and stumbled, surprise flashing over their faces as I stood in the middle of the property.
Caelan walked out behind them.
“I wondered when you’d show up.”
My heart dropped into my feet, but that tug, the yearning to go to him was no longer there.
I loved him, that had always been true, but a gulf stood between us now, a yawning chasm too deep for me to cross.
All my hopes and dreams lay shattered at the bottom, promises made and cast aside, tender words and secret touches, all broken and torn.
Caelan was beautiful, had always been beautiful. He probably always would be. Tall and handsome, and those familiar storm-colored eyes, I remembered the feel of his hands gliding over my skin, how much I wanted him, how much he made me feel.
All I felt now was grief.
I spread my arms out and smiled. “Here I am.”
He stopped several feet away. A tall man I’d never seen before stepped up beside him. “You’re dismissed,” Caelan said.
“Lord.” The man looked at me with fear. I was the wolf in the garden when Caelan only saw a rabbit.
“She is my fiancée,” Caelan said. “We’ll be in shortly.”
We wouldn’t. I smiled at the man I assumed to be his new Second.
He blinked and took a step back. “Lord.”
“Leave us,” Caelan snapped.
The shifter gave me a long look before he turned, motioning to the others to follow.
When everyone was back inside, Caelan came closer, but not close enough to scent Rowan’s lands on my skin.
As soon as tomorrow, the Lords might know what I’d done, how I’d given more power to one Lord than a single man has ever had.
Dario would have felt me removing his mark on my lands. Our lands now, I supposed.
“Such a dramatic entrance for a homecoming. Was there really a need to tear down my wards?”
“No. I wanted you to know how powerless you are against me.”
Caelan blinked and burst out laughing a second later. “Are you trying to strike fear into my heart, Evie? I’d think such was beneath you.”
“What happened to us?” The question was out of my mouth before I could stop the words. I’d come here to prove a point but seeing him standing in front of me was breaking my heart. “All those promises we made to each other. How hard we fought to be together. How did it all fall apart?”
For the first time in months, Caelan was speechless.
“We loved each other so much, and now when I look at you, I see a stranger.” I can’t stop myself from pouring my heart out. “You are not the man I swore my life to, and I’m not sure what happened to break us.”
Caelan’s face went blank, but his eyes burned. “I began with a Floromancer who possessed a spine of steel and ended with a cursed queen.”
His words stab through the broken shell of my heart. “I am the same woman I always was.”
His laugh cuts me. “You are no woman at all.”
“Caelan.” I no longer know who he is. “You evicted us from my shop unless I returned to you and you still say these things to me.”
“Are you returning to me? Even after all this, I still want you and being king would have its perks,” he mused. “But the way you look at me, Evie.” He tsked. “You are not here to stand by my side, are you? And if you are, you plan to slip a knife between my ribs when I’m sleeping.”
“Do you want me to fall on my knees, Lord? Profess my undying love to you?”
Caelan laughed, the sound like ice in my heart. There’s no warmth to the tone. He knows I’m mocking him. “A Lady knows her place. Even when you were the Chimera, you deferred to my judgment, but when your true heritage was revealed, you weakened my position with my shifters.”
I stared at him. “All this because I outranked you?” My fury makes the ground tremble. “If we were married, all of those problems would be gone.”
“The heir issue would still exist. I chose you when you were a Floromancer, stayed and reveled in your power when you revealed your true nature, but when you became the queen, you weakened my rule.”
He came a few steps closer and the light caught on his cheek revealing a small black smudge. My breath caught, the hurt from his words replaced with alarm. “Caelan. What is that on your cheek?”
He touched his cheek. “None of your concern. The Keep Healers are treating me.”
“Have you felt different lately? Is your power stable?”
“Why so curious about me now, Evie? You came here to end things for good.”
It was a struggle to keep my temper in check.
“There is a powerful spell corrupting this country’s land.
I cleansed Rowan’s territory, but I had to claim a portion to keep the magic at bay.
” He didn’t need to know I’d claimed all of it with Rowan’s blessing.
“If you allow me, I’ll cleanse your lands as well and heal the spot on your cheek. ”
His brows drew together. “Why would you do this for me?”
My smile was full of heartbreak. “Because I loved you more than myself once.”
His answering smile almost broke my resolve. “My people have to come first, Evie.”
“You could have had everything if you just waited a little while longer. I would have protected your people, given my life for them and for you.”
His irises ringed with gold. “It’s not your job to protect them, and I cannot ally with the fae against my people and the other Lords.”
I wanted to strangle him. “Is that what you saw our union as? A betrayal to your own?” A harsh laugh cracked from my throat. “If you would have only trusted me, things could have been so different.”
“Loyalty is soul deep, Evangeline. My blood belongs to this land, to the shifters behind me.”
“I deserved your loyalty!” The scream shattered the night. “I would have given you everything, and you pushed me away like I was last night’s leftovers.”
“After time, I realized there would be no mating bond.”
“You said yourself that successful marriages and partnerships exist without one.”
“I am a Lord. My people deserve a true mating bond.”
“So all that pomp and circumstance after my shift to the Chimera was bullshit?”
His jaw tightened. Caelan had claimed me as his Lady but never made it true.
His people had never accepted me. To make it worse, he never again made the declaration the same way, making me feel like he’d forgotten about me or went back on his word.
Most of his people had been wary of me and stayed that way the entire time we were together.
Not like—
I cut the thought of Rowan off.
“Things are different now.” Caelan made no move to come closer, stared at me like we were strangers. Maybe we were.
“Yes,” I agreed. “They are.” Shaking my head, I tried to reorder my thoughts.
“We have to stop going in circles. This is our death knell. I’ll be out of your territory within the allotted time, but I refuse to give up my property until I’m good and ready.
I’m the owner, not you. Until then, my offer stands.
Allow me to temporarily claim the borders of your territory until this dark magic is brought under control. I’ll heal you as well.”
Caelan’s eyes glowed. “Is this the fae plan to seize territory back from the Lords?”
My temper snapped. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Caelan.
Stop being a sniveling brat and listen to me.
I’ve never lied to you. You’ve been feeling poorly.
Parts of your land are dying. That mark on your cheek is the first manifestation of it consuming you.
Allow me to help you. Do not let your pride stand in the way of my assistance. ”
For a moment, he wavered, and I thought we’d reach some sort of truce. But once again, pride won over reason. Caelan’s jaw tightened, and claws slid from his fingertips.
“Get off my lands.” Gone was the Lord I knew, the male I loved. In its place stood a prideful, stubborn-beyond-all-reason Lord. One who wanted to protect his people at the cost of his own happiness.
I tried one more time. “Caelan, please. Don’t do this. Let me help you.”
He scoffed. “Help me? You’ve ruined everything.”
“I will not let you die because you refuse to see reason.”
“Get. Off. My. Lands.” His arms grew fur, his canines sliding into wicked fangs.
Shifters exited the main door, coming to stand a few feet away until I was surrounded. “I’m sorry it’s come to this,” I said softly.
I reached for my power and yanked. A circular barrier shot up from the ground, enclosing us in a cage of green. Caelan snarled. The sounds of shifters howling and tearing through the natural barricade sent a shiver down my spine. But I wouldn’t leave until I gave Caelan a chance.
“Will you take my lands by force, Evie?” The words were garbled by his fangs.
“No, you idiot. But I will do this.” Vines shot from the ground and wrapped around him, trapping his hands against his sides, flowing all the way to his jawline, keeping the Lord immobile.
I lunged toward him, magic at the ready, and slapped my hand against his damaged cheek.
Dark magic screamed against my skin. Watermelon tourmaline-colored power poured from my palms soaking his face with light.
I concentrated, sweeping through his body to destroy every inch of the spell affecting him, not stopping until I found no trace of any more darkness.
I stepped back and studied him. Caelan stared at me like he’d seen a ghost. His hand crept up and touched his cheek.
“Feel better?” I didn’t add asshole to the end, but he deserved it.
His eyes narrowed. “I won’t thank you.”
“Surprise, surprise,” I said with a click of my tongue.
“I’ve only bought you time today. If you won’t accept my help, that spell will continue to run unhindered through your lands.
Eventually, it will infect you again. This is my final offer.
Accept my assistance, or I will not return to help you again. ”
A muscle in his cheek twitched. “Leave,” he said after a long pause.
I slipped the ring off my finger and dropped it in the dirt. “Despite everything, I only want the best for you, even if it’s not with me. I would have loved you for the rest of my days, Caelan.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, I shifted into my fae form and rose above the barrier. With a thought, I released Caelan from the vines and allowed the barricade to fall.
Then I turned my back and flew away, stopping only when I was safely out of reach from his people. From there, I shifted and called Dad.
“Everything ready?”
“Yes. Moira, Tess, and Ash are with me. They have news.”
“I’m ready.”
Dad said nothing for a beat. “It went that well?”
I snorted so I wouldn’t cry. “Can you show me how to keep Caelan and his people from my lands while I figure out what to do?”
“I’ll show you later. For now, I’ll ensure they remain safe.”
“Thank you. I’ll meet you at the place we discussed.”
“I’m sorry things went south.”
Me too. “I planned for things to end the way they did. See you all in a bit.”
We disconnected. I pulled out one of Moira’s precious travel potions and downed it, concentrating on the place I wanted to go.