Page 16 of An Archer's Reckoning

“That’s unsettling, given who else could see us, but it is worth a try.” Atikus crossed his legs, ignoring the snow gathering on his head and shoulders. “Give me a minute.”

As Atikus closed his eyes and lost himself in his Gift, I turned to Keelan.

“Do you think I am terrible?”

“Terrible? Why would you ask that?” His brows knitted.

I looked down and fiddled with the royal signet. It fit perfectly but still felt like something foreign on my finger. My voice was quiet when I spoke. “I was named Queen hours ago, and my first act was to run away. I am running away from my people.”

As I looked back up, my eyes begged Keelan for reassurance, for encouragement, for anything other than the scorn I gave myself.

“You can’t help them very much if you’re dead. Throwing yourself onto your mother’s sword wouldn’t help your people very much, would it?”

I shook my head, gave him a tight smile, then turned away, afraid to speak lest my voice break. The weight of the Crown and the responsibilities from which I now fled bore down on my conscience. I wanted to make my father proud, to do justice to the faith he’d always placed in me, but how could he be proud looking down on his little queen on the run?

I was failinghim, and my heart ached for it.

Chapter 6

Declan

The sun had just poked her sleepy head above the mountains when we stood at the cave’s mouth, staring into the whiteness beyond. I knew I should take those first steps, but hesitated at leaving the comfort of the cavern. Órla stirred from where she’d settled with her body poking halfway out of my pack. “You said it would take us three days to get down and out of these mountains?”

“That depends on how much snow fell and if the storm doesn’t start up again, but I think that’s about right.”

She huffed, which sounded like a tiny whirring of an annoyed cat. I could almost see little shoulders slumping where her wings rustled. “You really need to learn to fly. We’d be there already.”

“Is that even a real Gift? Could Mages fly a thousand years ago?”I smiled, staring up at forest canopy.“It would be amazing. We could fly together.”

“Can’t you just blink and show up somewhere? What’s the good in having all that magic if you can’t do things like that?”

I turned my head.

“Oh, no. I know that look. You’re thinking again. No good ever comes of that.”

I chuckled. “What if I could simplythinkmyself to a location?”

An echo in my mind—like a distant, faded memory—told me I would find new uses for my magic, but nothing about this felt familiar. Still, it was worth a try.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate.

“What should I focus on?” I opened one eye and looked toward Órla. “Say I wanted to go wherever Ayden is, what would I think about? He could be anywhere by now.”

“I don’t know. I don’t need to do anything like that. I have wings.” She leaped out of the pack and flew back to the table. “And I have no desire to do whatever it is you think you are doing. Magic has a way of teaching us lessons, whether or not we are prepared for them.”

I shrugged out of my pack and closed my eyes again.

Hair the color of a spring apple appeared in my mind. Ayden’s vision smiled back at me, and warmth bloomed in my chest. I longed to hear his voice. I ached to caress his cheek. Iyearnedto feel his body press against mine. Spirits, I wanted to be near him so badly that—

“Irina’s tits!” Ayden yelled as he leaped off the log where he’d been sitting. His eyes were almost as wide as his mouth, and both hands gripped his bow defensively before his chest, like he wanted to ward off an evil spirit. “Dec? Is that really you? What the . . . how did you . . . what in holy fuckery are you wearing?”

I laughed. Aydennevercursed.

Then I glanced down. The Phoenix emblazoned on my tunic flared to life, melting the snow around us and casting the clearing in a warm glow.

The forest spun, and I wobbled. My legs turned to jelly.

Bracing myself on a nearby tree, I looked up. “Ayden? I was just . . . you were . . . and then I was . . . oh, shit.”

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