Chapter 38
Kaira rubsher hands together as if hoping that would bring forth another spark. It’s the most magic I’ve seen her use, that ice-melting flicker of fire, but it’s nothing compared to Clio’s full powers or mine—I’m not even thinking about what Myron is capable of now that the curse is broken.
The Crow King has been uncharacteristically silent by my side, his fingers twining with mine as he listens to Clio laying out the plan. It’s a good one, I have to admit, but if Clio’s and Myron’s magic continues to recover at this rate, everyone we want to rescue might long be dead by the time we make it into the palace.
“I got the servant uniforms; I can get the military ones,” Kaira says with conviction when I question her for the fourth time. “I got you out of the palace. Trust me to get you back in.”
“Trust me to want to help,” is what Kaira says through our mental connection, while Clio is debating the merits of merely cutting down a military patrol in the streets and stripping off their uniforms.
“I do trust you,” I reassure her through that same connection. Aloud, I say, “If I could shift and fly in, would that help?”
Myron’s hand tightens around mine. We haven’t addressed my Crow form in his presence, so for him, this is the first time he has heard it from my mouth. It still feels like a lie to me.
“Can you shift at will?” he asks instead of telling me that I shouldn’t, that it’s too dangerous, that I’m too inexperienced. His eyes meet mine, ocean-blue shadowed by the rainy night. I spot every streak of light in his irises anyway, my fae senses enabling me to perceive the world in such detail it almost becomes overbearing.
“I haven’t tried.”
He nods in encouragement as if expecting me to do it then and there.
“Is it wise? What if I can’t shift back?” The moments of confusion when I shifted for the first time come back to me, the surreal scope of the world from up high beneath the ceiling.
Bracing a forearm on a knee, he studies me intently. “Considering we’re planning to break into the King of Tavras’s dungeon to retrieve three males from captivity while neither of us is in top form, wisdom has long left this discussion.”
Clio huffs a chuckle, which Myron pointedly ignores.
“We all know you for your lack of wisdom, King of Crows,” she shoots at him as if he’s an inconvenience on her path to free her mate when, in reality, he’s the best asset she has.
“Is that so?” Myron’s head cocks like in his bird form, muscles flexing down his bare back, and I could swear a shadow flickers along his arm.
“Wasn’t it you who traded all hope of breaking a curse for the freedom of one female?” I don’t recognize Clio’s tone, and I don’t appreciate it.
I understand she’s worried about Astorian, ready to run to his aid right now, but insulting Myron will not lead anywhere. It won’t free the males we’ve left behind.
“I’ve done exactly that and worse,” he admits, not one hint of pride in his tone. No shame either. “And I’d do it again. For my mate’s safety, I’d sacrifice my kingdom. For my mate’s freedom, I’d sacrifice myself all over again.”
“No sacrificing.” I stand between them like a buffer absorbing the rising enmity. “It’s not his fault Astorian ended up in captivity.” It’s the only reason I can imagine Clio behaving so openly hostile. She must be blaming him for Tori’s misery. “It’s not anyone’s fault but Ephegos’s and Erina’s.” Those scheming bastards.
“And the Flames,” Kaira adds quietly, all heads turning to her as she saves me from having to physically restrain Clio as she hops to her feet, more graceful than a human should be capable of—because her fairy powers are returning. Slowly. But they are.
“Jeseida is the one who worked with Ephegos and Erina on the drug. She’s the one who used the Crows the Flames captured to draw magic from their blood.”
Her words land like rocks between us, knocking the air from my lungs.
“You knew? You knew what they were giving me all this time?” It’s an accusation as much as it’s a statement of relief. Knowledge is power, and we need every last bit of information we can get in order to defeat Ephegos because I’m certain that, once we enter the palace, he won’t let us go without a fight.
“I’m sorry,”Kaira says into my mind. Aloud she says, “I told you I’d been looking for a way to leave the Flames. When Jeseida started working with Ephegos, I realized that the world is bigger than just the Flame estate and the Seeing Forest and our ancient palace that our Matrone so desperately wanted back. Ephegos came with ideas of grandeur that Jeseida wouldn’t let go of. A new Flame kingdom, a world where Fairies can no longer annihilate our whole species the way the Crows did when they took the Seeing Forest from us.” There is no bitterness in her tone, but it’s clear Jeseida would do anything to achieve that goal.
A goal so similar to Ephegos’s: Reestablish the Crow Realm.
How those two goals work together without another war, I cannot fathom, and I don’t need to. Somehow, Erina got involved, using that substance made of Crow blood to his own advantage—to expand his own realm.
“Exactly,” Kaira responds to what she read from my mind, and I don’t care, as long as we find a way to stop them.
“Jeseida was the one who captured us,” Myron assumes, and Kaira bobs her head.
“If you mean an older Flame with fire-red hair, then yes, that’s her.”
“She trapped us. Poured that damn drug over us to break down our powers.” The horror spreading in my stomach matches the expression on his face.
I sit back on the crate, lacing my fingers with his again to reassure myself he got out, but the thundering of my heart won’t ease.
I say the one thing that keeps pushing to the foreground as we sit together, putting our plan together. “This is bigger than just Ephegos’s revenge on Myron.”
Clio nods then shakes her head. “I don’t care how big this is before I have Tori back.”
And I cannot blame her. I felt the same way less than an hour ago when I didn’t know if Myron was being tortured or already dead. Or if Erina and Ephegos had even worse planned for him.
I reach across the puddle of water at my feet, wondering when my magic will be strong enough again to weave an armor of liquid and slit throats with strings of it again. It simmers beneath my skin now, there enough to give me hope, but not yet strong enough to give me confidence.
“We’ll get him out. All of them.” I turn to Myron, watching the guilt dipping his shoulders at the thought of Royad and Silas, before I turn to Kaira. “And Herinor.”
Her lips tighten. “I wish that was possible. Ephegos will never release him from the bargain he made.”
To my surprise, Kaira’s pain pacifies Clio enough to give her a smile of support. “Then we kill Ephegos.”
Morning light creeps in through the windows as we wait for something to happen. Myron’s magic hasn’t stirred, and Clio still hasn’t summoned more than a snowflake.
My own power is increasing though. By the time we have some of the food Kaira brought, I’ve dried Myron’s leather pants by pulling out the water with my power and sent the puddle into the vomit corner to wash away all traces of our detoxing.
To my surprise, Myron hasn’t hurled up his guts yet, so the dosage they gave him must have been so strong it hasn’t started wearing off. But once it does, he’ll follow in our footsteps.
By the time the sun sets, he’s on his knees, gracing the corner with his retching, and I sit beside him on a crate, brushing my hand over his back in slow, soothing strokes. Clio eyes us from the other side of the room, her impatience written on her features as she tries to make the rain freeze on the windowsill. Tiny streaks of ice are lacing the broken glass as night falls over the city of Meer, tinting the room once more in darkness and starlight.
The street is quiet, and the rain has subsided. Myron is sitting in a corner, breathing through his nose as I pull fresh rainwater in through the window to clean away the bile where he emptied himself out. Kaira’s eyes are following my magic, lighting up with my increasing strength while I’m just glad I have something to keep myself busy as my mind is spinning with the countless ways our plan could possibly go wrong.
“It will be all right,”she comments in my mind, the only one to truly see behind the collected facade I’ve put up.
“I’ve lost everyone before. My parents, my crew, my lover. I watched them die just as I watched Myron die.” My stomach cramps in a fresh wave of nausea that has nothing to do with the drug that has long left my system, and I need to suppress the sob building in my throat. “I can’t lose anyone else.” Myron, Royad, Clio, Kaira, and even Herinor. I can’t bear the thought of Clio losing her mate or to lose Silas, whom I yet need to meet. If he followed Myron all the way into the enemy’s dungeon to free me, I can’t allow him to die.
Kaira comes up to my side, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into a tight embrace. “I know,” she whispers. “But you’re not alone. You won’t lose me. We’re blood.”
“Sisters,”I acknowledge, a shiver of warmth running through me.
“Sisters,” she murmurs into my shoulder.
Myron’s head lifts, gaze locking on mine. Of course, he hears every last word that isn’t in our mind connection. He wasn’t amused when I told him about my blood relation with Kaira, less even when I shared that the part-Flame has a direct path into my thoughts. The corner of his mouth lifts in a sad smile.
His last relative is still in the dungeon, and if we don’t hurry, we might not make it in time to save him.
“We need to get them out.” My hand finds Kaira’s as I pull out of her arms.
She squeezes it. “We will. Herinor is doing whatever he can to help them.”
“To help his court,” Myron corrects, getting to his feet and strolling over, careful not to step onto the small trickle of water I’m sending out the gaps in the front door. At least, the shed no longer reeks of vomit.
Clio meets us at the center of the room, her arms wrapped around her torso. The expression she wears reminds me of a little girl hoping to convince fate with a glower. “As long as he believes helping Tori aids his court, he can do whatever he wants.”
Kaira purses her lips, holding in a comment that would reignite the bickering that has been going on between the two females. Something about it puts me oddly at ease. So much unfiltered emotion is comforting in a way only families can be, and I haven’t had a true family since I was little. The crew of the Wild Ray came close to a family. But this?—
My hand finds Myron’s as he stands behind my shoulder, brushing a kiss to my temple.
“Your magic has gotten stronger,” he says to Clio, gesturing at the icicles on the windowsill.
Following his gaze, Clio notices what I do at the exact same moment. The ice has spread from the window all the way to her toes where trails of water crisscross through the room.
“Must be the urge to freeze Eroth’s Veil over so Tori can’t cross in case anyone decides he needs to die.” Her eyes flash a dangerous shade of green, defying even the near darkness—or my new senses let me see colors in the dark now.
“Must be,” Myron agrees, lifting his hand an inch.
Icicles crumble, filling the room with crystalline music as they rain to the ground. Myron’s mouth twitches into a smirk. “Mine, too.”
My stomach flutters. It’s not much, but it’s magic. His powers are returning to him faster than we’d hoped.
As if in answer to the smile spreading on my mouth, an invisible touch caresses my cheek as he leans down to whisper in my ear. “You bring me to life, Ayna. Your presence alone makes every last part of me be the best version it can be.”
I don’t know what it is about his words that makes me wonder if I like some of him best when he’s at his worst—like the relentless lover.
A shudder rakes through my body at the mere thought, and Myron’s nostrils flare as if he can scent the instant heat pooling in my core. The wicked grin he gives me makes me wish we could leave everything behind and live in a world where only the two of us exist.
At least for an hour. For a moment. A heartbeat, so I could kiss him breathless.
“That’s disgusting,” Clio narrates, her gaze flying between Myron and me, and for once, Kaira agrees.
“Only because it’s not you and your mate,” Myron growls at her, and for a beat, I can feel the power rise in him the way it used to when I pushed him before the curse was broken. A ripple of energy runs through him, tinting his skin black along his forearms. I could swear the tips of feathers push through and retreat as the color fades back to pale.
That lifts the corner of Clio’s lips, and she nods with satisfaction. “Works every time.”
I’m still trying to understand what she’s talking about when a gust of air swipes through the room, almost pushing me off my feet. My skin prickles as awareness of Myron’s power floods me.
Shit—
Clio knows exactly what she’s doing getting a rise out of Myron. His magic is returning in response as if to a threat.
“Well, that took long enough. I thought you’d break free from the drug when you… You know…” Her gaze bounces to me, one brow crooked, then to the window of the backyard. “I don’t need to repeat what the two of you did out there, do I?” She grins and flips her fingers, ice crystals appearing above her palm where Myron’s magic doesn’t reach. “Can you shield, Crow King?”
Myron’s forehead creases as he seems to be trying. “Emotion does seem to help with bringing the magic back faster, but not necessarily with regaining all the control needed to use it.”
“It worked with Clio,” Kaira chimes in, and suddenly, all her annoying of the fairy princess makes total sense. She did it on purpose to help the female regain her magic.
“My powers flooded in most whenever you brought up Tori, so I thought I’d return the favor.” Clio shrugs, more back to her old self than I’d hoped for. It’s not even a full day since we ran, and she’s already freezing over the room. Myron is mere hours behind, so there is real hope we’ll be setting out to the palace before the new day ends.
Rays of morning light pierce through the clouds, breaking up the night’s terror and bringing back the hope that’s so dangerous. I embrace it because, with Myron at my side, I feel braver and bolder than I have in years. He’s the wind under my wings and the sun on my skin, and the wrath that will destroy my enemies—if I don’t destroy them first.