Page 110 of Shadows of Ruin

Together, the two of them held me as the fragile shards I had so carefully reconstructed broke again, shattering into a million pieces.

A few hours later, I sat with a blanket over my shoulders in front of the campfire Storm easily kept alive.

The others handled erecting the tents in the small meadow, though they maintained a clear division. Those from Mysthaven on one side, and those from Brookmere on the other.

Stew warmed over the fire, but my body rejected the idea of eating.

My silence lingered long after the tears stopped, and I had been unable to ask the question burning in my throat. “How?” I finally croaked out.

Ian sat, arm around me, but Kade’s shadows hadn’t left my side either, wrapped around my ankles, touching whatever skin they could access.

Numbness threatened deep, unreachable parts of me, and I knew if I succumbed I might not climb back out of the bliss it promised.

“Andras killed her,” Ian said, his unwavering presence enveloping me. His reassurance constantly crashed into me, despite knowing he suffered greatly from my mother’s loss too, in addition to the horrors he’d experienced at Andras’s hands.

“She fought alongside us,” Corbin added. “She moved like the Fae old stories are written about. She fought for our freedom. She was a true queen.”

I hung my head before leaning against Ian’s shoulder.

“We will kill him, Lan,” he whispered before placing a kiss on my head.

“No,” I said, my head jerking up as I stared straight into Ian’s gaze. “I will kill him. For killing her. For touching you. For myself. He dies by my hand. Understood?”

No one spoke, but their silent nods acknowledged my declaration. I once again rested my head upon his shoulder as I struggled to find any other words. Starting and stopping a hundred times in my mind, yet nothing came out. My mother had fought to free our people. She knew our purpose wasgreater than the pain I’d face without her. Just like my father knew. Her mate.

I knew it too.

At least my parents were together again in the afterlife. It was the only small piece of comfort I could latch onto.

Lifting my head from Ian’s comforting embrace, I wiped my eyes, sitting straighter. In order for Andras to pay, I had to keep moving.

Though my voice quivered, I didn’t stop. “What happened after I left?”

“After you were kidnapped,” Ian corrected, shooting a glare at Kade.

Kade didn’t take the bait, flipping a dagger between his fingers with his focus on me. The heaviness of his attention bothered Ian, maybe the others too, since they shifted uncomfortably watching the exchange. It didn’t bother me though.

The comfort his gaze, his presence brought me was too great for me to care what anyone else thought of it. I could only wonder how my life had turned upside down so fast. I shook my head.

“We’ll get to that at some point,” I said. “What happened?”

Clearing her throat, Kalliah spoke first. “I was sequestered in your mother’s tower initially. We were not allowed to leave unless with permission only from Andras and in the presence of multiple guards. It was terrible, Lana. Living in that state of constant fear of what he’d say or do. Andras is out of control. But the queen—she was so strong. She fought him. Fought his mind magic.”

Another piece of my heart chipped away, threatening to turn my soul into black nothingness. The shadows stroked my calf where they rested.

“He left me alone, unless he wanted to use me to taunt Ian,” Corbin said, adding to the story. “I quickly learnedpretending to hate Ian meant I’d be granted the tasks that would send me to the dungeons, allowing me time to map out an escape route.”

“Clever,” Storm said.

Corbin grunted. “Hale and I connected, and we were able to form a plan—not to Hidden Henchman standards but good enough.”

“He let us escape,” Ian said, staring at the crackling fire. “I don’t know why, but we would be fools to think otherwise. He told us, after he killed—” Ian swallowed, closing his eyes. I slipped my hand in his. “He told us after, if we could get past the guards we could go. He knew you’d come back for revenge.”

“It was too easy,” Corbin agreed.

“Were you followed?” Kade asked, looking away from me for the first time this evening.

“No,” Ian said. “I shifted a few times to backtrack and check. We weren’t followed.”

---