Page 61 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

"Are we close?" Gray asked Emma sharply. Every moment of time that passed caused his panic and fury to build.

"I promise, they’re running as fast as they can. But they can’t keep up with Obsidian." Emma turned to look into the darkness as they jumped over a fallen tree. "I think we can find it from here. They said if we keep going straight, we’ll find a clearing surrounded by green trees." Emma nodded at the invisible men speaking to her. "Right. Okay." She turned back to Gray. "He said it’s the only color in that part of the woods, and we won’t be able to miss it."

Gray didn’t wait to hear another word as he kicked Obsidian's sides, giving permission to his horse to take over at top speed.

"Straight ahead, boy," Gray urged, leaning down and putting his weight through the balls of his feet to allow himself to lift slightly off the saddle. Wind whipped against his face as their speed increased.

Finally, Gray thought, using his shadows like long arms to move hanging branches out of their way and throw tree limbs from their path as they galloped ahead.I’m coming, Little Flower.He continued to search for the tether that connected his magic to his mate’s, waiting for any hint of Lea’s energy, but he was met with nothing but an empty buzzing.

Unable to feel anything other than that Lea was alive, Gray shouted out loud, then down the bond. "I’m coming!" he repeated again and again, not caring that he couldn’t feel her. He would force the bond to carry his reassurance to Lea, no matter how far away she was. He would scream loud enough, love hard enough to make the bond bow to his will.

Gray shouted the words again when…there. A flicker. The warm, bright energy that made his heart sing. "I’m coming!" Gray roared just as a green clearing came into view ahead. Gray had trained for battle his entire life—had learned the hard way to never go into a dangerous situation blind. It had been drilled into his mind that the smallest mistake could be the difference between life and death, but he didn’t care. Without Azalea, there was no life worth living. And so without assessing the clearing in front of him, without searching for traps or attempting to sense how many men may be lying in wait, Gray flew off Obsidian, pulling his sword from its sheath as he stormed toward the small cottage where he felt Azalea’s magic calling for him.

Chapter 41

Lea

Herfathersatatthe table, Lea leaning against a wooden column in the center of the room.

"Talk," she said coolly. He might be her father, but he was basically a stranger to her now. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been loaded down with furs, walking away from their cottage without so much as a glance behind him. It had been months, and it felt like it.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, the door to the cottage smashed open, crashing off the hinges and throwing splinters around the room. Gray’s body filled the doorway, shadows filling in the small spaces his massive body didn't occupy, blacking out the view to the outside of the clearing completely. "Where. The fuck. Is she?!" he growled, shadows shooting out with the force of a cannon and slamming into her father.

Lea heard the crack of bone against the wooden planks as her father hit the back wall, a sword against his throat as shadows pulled his head backward by his hair.

"Give me one reason I shouldn’t slit your throat right now, Henry," Gray hissed through bared teeth. Lea’s father swallowed, a small cut opening beneath his jaw where his Adam's apple moved beneath the razor-sharp edge of Gray’s sword.Has he met my father?

Dark curls of black smoke began to twist around Lea’s ankles, sliding beneath her dress and searching her body for injuries. "Are you okay, Little Flower?" Gray asked without taking his eyes off the man pinned to the wall, his shoulders heaving as he struggled to maintain his composure.

"I wouldneverhurt my daughter," he hissed, spitting at Gray’s feet. "Can you say the same thing, Night Prince? Murderer!"

Lea’s vision flickered and suddenly her father was standing behind Gray, free of his shadows with a dagger pressed between Gray’s shoulder blades. "You do not get to speak to her!" her father spat. "Not whenyoumurdered her mother! My wife!"

Gray whirled on him, knocking the dagger away with his forearm. It spun in the air and he grabbed it in his left hand as if plucking an apple from a tree. Gray restrained her father with his shadows again, pinning his hands to his sides as the dark wisps coiled tightly around him. Realization washed over his face.

"That’s how you stolemywife away, then," he said as he threw the dagger across the room. It wedged into the wall with a deepthudas Gray placed his sword in the sheath behind his back. "You can freeze time. That’s how you escaped with your life when Adelaide had the Lonely Death. I always wondered…"

Lea’s mouth went dry. Gray knew her father. Or at least, knew of him.

Henry tried to move his fingers, twisting them around as Gray pinned his arms in place. He was trapped, his nostrils flaring as he drew deep, furious breaths. "Bug? What does he mean, wife?" he rasped, the grief on his face reminiscent of the day her mother had died. It caused a lump to form in her throat and pulled painful memories into her heart. Lea swallowed, pushing down the pain.

"He means exactly what he says. He’s my husband." Lea walked on shaking legs to Gray’s side, pressing against him for strength. How had things escalated so quickly?

"Even more importantly," Gray shoved her father backward into the chair he had been sitting in moments before, "Azalea is my mate."

Her father physically startled, his face draining of color.

"That’s not possible…" her father whispered, so devoid of emotion it was as if his will to live had simply disappeared. "The gods wouldnevermate her to you. To someone so evil."

"I’d be careful of what you say next." Erik’s flames filled the fireplace, a flickering light warming the room. "Our king here might not harm you, seeing as you are our queen’s father, but I will not hesitate to silence you if you disrespect him again."

"Okay, that was hot…" Janelle whispered to Emma, whose cheeks turned pink as she shushed her.

"Not the time, Janelle!" Emma whisper-scolded back.

"Ourqueen?" Lea’s dad asked, looking past Gray to where she stood slightly behind him. "I don’t understand."

"Have you not heard of the Eclipsed King?" Erik walked to the cupboards and began searching through them. He reached the broken cabinet above the stove, pulling out what appeared to be exceptionally stale crackers.

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