Chapter Thirty-Three
The dark engulfed us, then released us back to our bodies.
I gasped for air, hands still locked with Theron’s on one side and Minha’s on the other. The cottage ceiling came into focus, the smell of herbs, the low fire, the shelves of jars. The stone floor cool beneath the blanket.
We let go of each other’s hands and sat up. Rowhan and Palto stood before us with their eyebrows furrowed, taking in the cottage they’d never seen before.
“It’s about time,” Fraya said, giving us a curt nod. “It was awkward having unexpected company. I was about to attack them until The Priestess stopped me.”
The Priestess stood beside them, hands folded, expression unreadable. She looked at Rowhan, then Palto, at each of us in turn. “I’m going to assume you have good reasons for their resurrection.”
“We do.” Calroy pushed to his feet, then helped me up.
Jina embraced me before I heard her coming. “You were gone so long. I counted every breath.”
I held her tight. “I’m here, sister.”
She didn’t know. She still saw me as Star, and that was how it would stay for now. I’d tell her when the time was right. When we were somewhere safe enough for that kind of truth.
She pulled back, grabbed Minha, then Ranis, then turned to Calroy, whose arms dangled at his sides like he’d forgotten what to do with them. She hugged him anyway. Warmth flickered across his face, surprise, then softer.
The Priestess waited to speak until Jina stepped back.
“The Seelie queen knows you went to the land of the dead.” Her pale eyes moved across all of us. “She knows who you both are. She has been expecting you to come to her. And she is making sure you will. She holds Nam and the girls in the dungeon. She is counting on you to come for them.”
“She’s right,” I ground out, fists clenching.
Calroy said nothing. But his jaw tightened.
“We have to get them out.” Minha’s hand went to her dagger.
“Come.” The Priestess led us to the back where a map had been lain across the table, edges worn soft from years of use.
I’d never seen a map of our world before. All seven kingdoms spread across the parchment, the seven seas named in faded ink between them, and there in the north, set apart from the others, the Seelie queen’s castle.
I found Jeju first. Small. Coastal. The kingdom I’d never got to explore, except the castle when Jina, Minha, and I faced the king and queen. It looked so small on the map.
Then I found Caelum, larger than I expected, stretching along the northern coast, the kingdom of the winged people.
Varen sat above it, cold and remote, the ice kingdom pushing into the far north where the map’s ink had faded.
Solara spread wide across the east, all desert and distance.
And Auris nestled west but closest to Caelum, the merchant kingdom whose ports touched both worlds.
“We need a plan.” Calroy leaned over the map. “And we need one that doesn’t get anyone killed walking through her front door.”
“I know every stone of that castle,” Rowhan said, his finger tracing the castle on the map. “I helped design it. I can tell you every entrance, every weakness in the walls, every passage she thinks no one else knows.”
“Then start talking,” Fraya said, the tone the kind used on a child rather than a god.
Rowhan glanced at Calroy, who gave the smallest nod.
“The castle sits on high ground,” Rowhan began, tracing a finger along the map.
“One road in from the south—heavily guarded. But there are two passages beneath the eastern wall, built for supply carts. The queen never used them. She considered them beneath her dignity.” His jaw tightened.
“They lead directly to the lower cells.”
“Where she’d keep hostages,” Ranis said, inching toward Jina beside me.
When they exchanged a warm smile, Jina blushed, and so did Ranis. How did I not see their connection before.
“Yes.” Rowhan’s fingers stayed on the map.
“And the onyx?” Calroy asked.
“Embedded in every outer wall. But the passages beneath, they were stone and mortar only. I ran out of onyx before we reached them. She doesn’t know.”
Calroy studied the map. “So we go under.”
“A small group,” I said. “While others draw her attention from the front.”
“I can distract her army.” Palto spoke from the other side of the table. “I can send spirits into the land of the living, unsettle her soldiers and drive fear through the ranks. It will buy you time.”
“How much time?” Ranis asked, and I caught his sly finger hooking with Jina’s.
“As much as you need. You can’t kill the undead, but it goes both ways.”
Calroy’s gaze darted around the table. “Here is what we do. Fraya takes my ship north and positions it off the coast near the castle. We need it there when we draw the queen out. She cannot face us on her own ground.” He looked at Ranis. “I need you to ride for Varen.”
Ranis stiffened. “You’re asking me to go home, then?”
“I’m asking the Crown Prince of Varen to remind his kingdom who he is and bring his ships to Caelum for battle. The Seelie queen will be prepared on all fronts. Can you do that?”
“I will.” Ranis ran a hand over the back of his head, releasing a long, defeated sigh.
Ranis straightened, shoulders back, chin up, something settling into place that hadn’t been there before.
He’d left Varen because he didn’t want the title.
But I had a feeling there was more to his story.
Perhaps his father thought him worthless or not man enough.
But he was going back with a purpose and perhaps he would see his worth.
“The rest of us go in through the passage.” Calroy’s finger moved across the map to the eastern wall. “We get Nam and the girls out before the queen knows we’re there. Then we fall back to the coast.” He looked at me, tenderness in his eyes. “And we draw her to the water.”
“Where she’s vulnerable,” I said.
“When your power returns.” He held my gaze. “Not if. When.”
“It will return,” The Priestess said, her voice stern. Her colorless eyes found mine across the table. “When the moment requires it, it will come.”
I hoped she was right.
I hadn’t said anything about my power aloud. I glanced at Jina and Fraya, bracing for questions, but…
“Fraya and I know, Yeri.” Jina, beside me, took my hand. “The Priestess told us.”
I expected the wide eyes and the too-many-words—since when and why didn’t you tell us?
None of it came.
“You’re still you,” Jina said. “That hasn’t changed.”
Something loosened in my chest I hadn’t known was tight.
I looked at Fraya. She gave me a single nod, the way Fraya acknowledged everything, without making a fuss.
“You can all take in the map later.” The Priestess folded it in half. “Some of you need proper fitting for battle. Then a proper meal. But Ranis leaves now.”
“How do I—” Ranis began.
The door opened. Selene stepped in and bowed to The Priestess, her blond hair falling forward with the motion.
“I called for her,” The Priestess said. “She will take Ranis in flight. She is faster than any horse.”
Selene’s eyes found Calroy’s across the room. “Your warriors await your order. They have assembled.” Then her gaze shifted to me. “The children are safe. Hope asks for you every day.” A small smile played across her lips. “She misses you very much.”
My heart dropped. “Thank you.” The words felt too small for what I meant. “For keeping them safe. For everything.”
Selene dipped her head. “It is an honor, My Lady.” She held my gaze a beat longer. “I have known who you were from the moment Calroy brought you to the tavern.”
“You knew?” I whispered.
A look of knowing passed between Calroy and her. “He never stopped looking for you,” Selene said.
Something tightened in my chest that had nothing to do with gratitude.
He had never stopped looking for me. That was true. I believed it without a doubt. But Selene had been there. On his ship. In his bed. If what I’d seen meant anything at all. I wouldn’t think about that now. There was no room for it.
Selene’s gaze moved past me to where Rowhan and Palto stood near the hearth. She went still in recognition. She bowed. “My lords. I didn’t expect to see you.” Then her gaze slid to Calroy and her expression said everything. You and I are going to talk later.
Rowhan and Palto said nothing, the indifference of gods who had been asleep for years and had no memory of one-winged woman among the many.
Selene stepped back out of the open door and released her wings.
They unfurled in one smooth motion—enormous, dark as night, the feathers catching the light with a faint iridescent sheen. They filled the room, tips nearly brushing the shelves on either side.
Jina made a sound that wasn’t quite a word. Minha’s dagger was halfway out before she caught herself. Fraya took one step back, knocked into Jina, and said nothing. Just stared.
“She’s going to—” Jina pointed. “You mean he has to—”
“In the air,” Ranis murmured, turning pale, his eyes on Jina. “She wants me to go in the air.”
“You’ll be fine.” Calroy gripped Ranis by the shoulder. Easy to say for someone who had wings of his own. “I’ll meet you at the sea, Crown Prince of Varen.” His voice dropped. “Tell your father what is at stake. Do not under any circumstance stand down. He doesn’t know what’s at stake, but you do.”
Calroy stepped back and gave Selene a nod.
That was all the warning anyone got.
Selene moved with swiftness, one arm hooking around Ranis’s waist, yanking him against her side before he could draw a breath. His eyes went wide. Then Selene’s wings beat once, twice, and they were launched to the sky. Ranis’s faint scream trailed behind them.
Jina gasped, but when she saw me looking at her, she shrugged and her cheeks turned pink. When I smiled, she knew I knew the connection between them.
Calroy watched the sky where Selene had disappeared, then turned back to the room. “We leave at first light.”
I glanced around the room one last time at our crew.
A pirate captain who was a god. A crown prince who had just taken flight with Selene.
Minha, who fought like she’d been born with a blade.
Jina, who’d survived everything the sea had thrown at her.
Fraya, who despite her father’s doing, found the courage to stand up for herself.
Two gods who owed us a debt. And me—a goddess who couldn’t feel her own power yet—about to walk into the Seelie queen’s territory to take back everything she’d stolen from all of us.
Either our plan would work, or this would be the end for us all.