Chapter 39
After the numberof rounds Ayna has been pacing in the limited space, an oval trail should be appearing on the ground Clio has been freezing and unfreezing for the past hours while I’ve resorted to watching my mate. The lines of her body are too hard after weeks under the influence of the drug, of not keeping down her food. It painfully reminds me of the first day she arrived at the palace in the Seeing Forest, straight from prison.
Rubbing my hand across my sternum to ease the heaviness in my chest, I rest my head against the dusty wood making up the wall. The sun is declining, painting thin streaks of gold and orange along the packed earth floor. Under different circumstances, I’d have bemoaned my fate: home gone, power gone, what’s left of my family locked up… But I have Ayna, and the tingling in my shoulder reminds me this isn’t a dream.
“Any changes?” Kaira wants to know, rummaging through her satchel where all her food supplies have been used up.
I shake my head, the same response I’ve given her the last seven times she asked. My power hasn’t stirred since Clio taunted me about my intermezzo with Ayna between the bushes. Thankfully, she hasn’t tried again, or I might have accidentally torn the shed apart with an onslaught of the erratic magic I can’t yet control.
“It will come,” the Flame promises, and I choose to believe her. I’ve watched it happen for the fairy princess and Ayna, so it’s only a matter of time until it happens for me. Time Royad and Silas don’t have if Ephegos is to be believed. They don’t have a purpose for the King of Tavras or for the Crow traitor. It’s me on whom he wants to exact his vengeance. And I have to admit, it’s a good plan. Using Erina to draw out my pain by sitting by as he marries Ayna.
Not going to happen.
Magic surges into my limbs so fast I need to clench my fists and push my feet into the ground so I don’t allow it to burst out of me and accidentally harm one of the females waiting with me. If only I could create a shield, then what little power I already have control over would be useful to wrap it around Ayna so whatever assaults of my power may break down this place eventually won’t harm her.
The thought alone is enough to make my hands shake all over again.
It’s foolish to promise myself I’ll never see her hurt again. Ayna will fight at my side when we free the others, and only a mad person would believe she won’t find her path into harm’s way.
So I wait, resorting to studying Ayna, learning her movements, her tells and shows when she’s nervous, the way her hands rub over her stomach when it growls in demand of food we no longer have available, how her hand keeps drifting back to the side of her biceps when she finds my gaze every other moment and our bond tears at the center of my chest, tugging me toward her.
I stay on the floor, no matter how strong that pull. I will need to keep my hands off her during our rescue mission as well, so now feels like a good time to practice, even when all I want to do is rip her clothes off and take her right here on the dusty ground.
Ayna’s eyebrows rise as she meets my gaze, heat shimmering in hers as if she can sense the direction my mind has taken me, and I press my mouth into a tight line so I don’t tell her exactly all the things I want to do to her.
“For fuck’s sake, Myron,” Clio complains, stopping her own pacing in the path between Ayna and me, blocking my mate from view. “Could you be any more obvious?”
My growl is as involuntary as it is menacing.
“I know it’s been a hot minute since you claimed her, but we have other problems right now, like mastering your fucking power.” She waves her hand at me as if that’s all the explanation I need.
“How much time did you have with your mate when it all started?” I don’t want to ask, but it comes out anyway. There’s so little I know about mating bonds that, even though I have a few centuries on Clio otherwise, I feel like a novice next to her.
Clio’s gaze turns mock-deadly. “You don’t ask a lady such unspeakable questions.”
But both Ayna and Kaira are listening intently, probably eager for an answer as to when that initial frenzy will wear off.
Clio grinds her teeth, wiping away her mask with a sigh. “Never. It never wears off. You just learn how to balance things.”
I blink. Because that’s not the answer I’d hoped for.
“Deal with it, Crow King.” She turns on her heels, flicking her fingers and releasing a flash of ice at me.
I dive out of its path at the last moment.
“Focus on your magic instead of on Ayna’s curves, and you’ll find that balance a lot faster.”
Shaelak bless Astorian, who knows how to deal with this particular female. Then, on second thought, Astorian isn’t so different. The two of them together must be explosive when turning on the same enemy.
Perhaps the gods have a bigger plan after all and this whole mating thing isn’t just random in our magical world.
By the time the moon peeks in through the windows, I have mastered to shape the beam of my magic with my palms. It’s harder than I care to admit, but it’s progress. Perhaps Ayna’s offer to stand in front of me so I’m forced to make my magic bend in order to avoid pushing her over and hurting her has something to do with it.
I’m far from satisfied with the semblance of control I have, but Royad and Silas are still in the dungeons, and I need to get them out alongside the fairy general who has proven more ally than the Crow I used to trust and is now setting the heavens and Hel’s realm into motion to destroy me.
“We should go,” I say to no one in particular, but my gaze is on Ayna. Always on Ayna, like she’s the axis around which my universe spins.
Clio steps to Ayna’s side as if that will tear my focus from her. “Can you pick up a blade and fight with it with your magic?” she challenges. “Because if you can’t, you’re not a help but a liability, and I can’t risk needing to look after a Crow King when I have a fairy general to save.” If I’ve learned anything about Cliophera de Pauvre of Askarea, it’s that she will always put the ones she loves first. She doesn’t need to refer to Astorian as her mate for me to remember what he is to her. Ayna is her friend; even Kaira has a weird connection to her. I am the only one she’d be willing to sacrifice if it comes to a choice of whom to leave behind.
Honing my focus on the sword sheathed at her hip, which Herinor left for her, I swipe it out of its sheath with a flick of my power—and blink in surprise when I hold it in my invisible grasp. Ayna grins at me, pride shining in her gray eyes as she draws up a string of water to block the blade from coming at Clio the moment I lose control.
I don’t. Instead, I wink at my mate, smirk at the fairy princess, and twist the sword into position at her throat while Ayna’s water wraps around it until the sharp edge is covered in a protective layer.
“Is that enough control?” I draw back the sword and shove it forward once more, allowing it to cut off a thin strand of her impossibly fiery hair, and Clio gasps with outrage.
“Be grateful your mate means something to me, or I’d freeze your heart over right now.” She picks up the strand with a swift motion before turning to Kaira. “I think we’re ready.”
Personally, I don’t think we are, but waiting will only get the prisoners killed, so it’s now or never.
“The night will give us enough cover to sneak back to the palace.” Without waiting for a group consensus, Kaira leaps right back into planning. She glances at Ayna with that slightly distant gaze I’ve noticed them exchange whenever they speak in their minds. It shouldn’t bother me that someone else is privy to Ayna’s thoughts when even I, as her mate, can’t reach that far into her. I stifle a grunt. Maybe it’s a connection between siblings that leads to blind understanding. Maybe it’s a Flame ability I haven’t yet heard about. Or maybe it’s plain cruelty of fate that I will never know all the nuances of thoughts flaring behind those beautiful gray eyes.
I have to admit, I was shocked there is blood relation between the two of them. Between Clio and the Flame, Ayna’s temper seems more similar to the princess’s.
“If we’re fast, we could make it in and out before sunrise,” Kaira continues. “Herinor will help us get into the palace. Will let me into the palace, more specifically,” she corrects. “Ephegos didn’t forbid him from helping me. So, I’ll be the one letting you into the palace right after he helps me get in.”
“Sounds complicated,” Ayna comments, and I couldn’t agree more, but—“Herinor made a bad call bargaining with Ephegos, but after everything he’s done to protect you and get all of us out, I’d rather he remain alive so I can get him out as well. If thinking of his aid in a specific way will save his life, I’m inclined to do just that.”
The three females nod, all of them aware of what it will cost Herinor if he helps Ayna directly. Shaelak help us if Ephegos figured out what’s been going on and punished the male for it.”
“Let’s get out of here while we’re still strong enough. If we wait any longer, we might become too weak from not eating or sleeping enough.” Of course, Ayna is the practical one. She would never have survived this long if she hadn’t learned to adapt fast and be pragmatic.
I hand Clio her blade, withdrawing my power as soon as she takes it from my grasp, and prowl to Ayna’s side. “I’m ready.” Or as ready as I’ll get without a week’s worth of rest.
Kaira claps her hands. “All right. Let’s get to the eastern gate. I’ll let Herinor know we’re coming.”
“How exactly does that work?” Clio prompts, sheathing her blade. “I’d like to be prepared in case your signal involves a dramatic uproar that will cause us to have to fight our way in rather than getting to the others in secret and only having to fight our way out.”
She has a point.
“It won’t cause anyone on our side to fight,” the Flame promises. Somehow, I’m not convinced.