Page 60 of A Kingdom of Destruction

Home? No. This place would never be her home, no matter how prettily they dressed it up, finishing with Cillian’s presence like a bow on top.

He must have understood something about her change in mood because he laughed.

They strolled out of the woods and back toward the manicured grounds of the palace. Up ahead, the spires of crystalline towers gleamed. Her beautiful golden prison. For some reason, the sight of it curdled her stomach.

“I think I’d like to stay out here for a little longer,” Aven blurted out. A home? Cillian might call it that, but it didn’t matter how badly the Fae King wanted to force her into marrying one of his two sons. Or both. She wouldn’t do it. Sherefusedto live out the rest of her life in Mourningvale.

And marriage? Forget it. She’d rather?—

Cillian narrowed his eyes on her. “What’s wrong, Aven?”

“Nothing.”

“You would tell me if there were?” Less a question than a statement, on the energy between the two of them.

“Things are fine,” she repeated drolly. “I just don’t want to be in my room.”

He looked at her in silence for what felt like a full minute. “What’s wrong with your room? You’re not going to try to run away again, are you?” He craned down to draw the tip of his nose against her. “Because if you are, I’m going to catch you.”

They’d go around in circles this way if she didn’t play her cards right.

Aven felt a strange tick in her lower abdomen and kept walking. “Cillian, we are always together. And if I’m not with you, then there are always a handful of people trailing me. Like I haven’t noticed the extra guards you’ve set on me. Perhaps I want to be alone.”

“It’s not like I’m making a secret of them,” he explained. “They’re meant to be in plain view.”

When he was being accommodating, his handsome face smoothed of any lines of tension, and his lips lifted in an easy smile. Like now. They were close enough for her to smell the sweet fruit from dessert on his breath and the slightly spicy soap on his clothes.

“Of course. I understand the precaution, but I’d love to have some time by myself. Where am I going to go? Really?” She gestured out toward the expanse of night-drenched forest behind them. “There are creatures out there capable of tearing me limb from limb. I just want… a moment.”

He looked ready to argue with her. Feeling terrible for taking advantage of the situation, she rested her hand on his elbow and let it linger.

“Please,” she repeated.

He softened and turned a pleasant smile on her. “Don’t stay out too late.”

Aven knew she’d won then. “I won’t.” It shocked her when she lifted on her toes to press a swift kiss to his cheek. On her own.

Cillian’s eyes widened in astonishment as she did, but rather than stay to speak to her about it, the way he clearly wanted to do, he gripped her hand and lifted her knuckles to his lips for a peck of his own before he took his leave.

Aven shivered in the sudden hush and wrapped her arms around her torso to keep in the heat. Her skin tingled where he’d kissed her. What made her so brazen to do what she’d done?

Survival.

What wouldn’t she do to find a way to get out of here before her men mounted a rescue mission? From what she’d seen, they would be led to the slaughter if they so much as attempted to breach the palace. Which meant she needed to find a way to get to them before they crossed over the territory line.

Not only were the fae royals prepared, but their defenses were solid. Impregnable. Especially after the small band of rogues had made their appearance.

She had to do something.Anything.

The gardens worked wonders to clear her head.

Aven made her way steadily back to the bird fountain she’d used to save the fae male last week. This place might have been anywhere, not simply in Mourningvale. There was nothing magical about the garden except for the effect it had on her soul. If she closed her eyes and listened, she could almost convince herself she was back home before the war.

When the land thrived and the people with it.

She bit down on her lip and sank down to her knees in front of the birdbath. Sorrow knocked her out of orbit in the worst way.

Her family’s absence was a constant ache inside her that no amount of time spent with Cillian could wash away. Her family wasn’t just gone. They were dead. Killed. Slaughtered. It didn’t matter how this place soothed her. She didn’t belong here. Shewouldneverbelong here, no matter how hard they tried to make it seem like she’d assimilated.

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