Page 36 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

Riven watches him with raised eyebrows as Lyrian pauses in front of us. “No flattery left for me, Lyrian?”

Lyrian flinches before he says, “Of course, my lord. You look as fresh as the morning dew on a rose petal.”

“I was speaking of flattery, not poetry, but go on now.” Riven waves a lazy hand, and Lyrian leans forward to bring his lips to Riven’s boot.

I hold my breath. But somehow, to see Lyrian humiliated like this feels better than hurting him would.

Riven lets out a sultry chuckle when Lyrian stays on all fours, his head still lowered, as if he can’t bear meeting anyone’s eye. “Groveling suits you, Lyrian. One might almost assume you have been born for this.” At the last sentence, Riven finally glances over at me. This moment… I know Riven did this for me.

I flash him a grateful look before my eyes drift back to the Dark Lord’s, still a churning red but darker now. I feel a twist in my stomach when I find him studying me in return, his gaze so intimate it could burn a hole in me.

I blush at his stare but keep looking back at him, at the swirling shadows all around him. Spellbound.

Too late, I notice the blur of movement behind me. Someone grabs my long hair, pulling my head back. The blond warrior, suddenly next to me, his green eyes vicious slits.

I spin out of his grip to face him. He raises his hand too fast for me to comprehend, too fast for me to dodge… but then it’s suspended, mere inches from my face. His palm is already open where it would have connected with my skin and no doubt split it open a sliver of a second later. I feel the gust of wind in my hair provoked by his movement.

But there is no collision. No slap. No pain.

The warrior just stands there, in this position, hand raised, as if he has been frozen.

Only then do I feel the wave of power flickering through the room, those dark shadows that have been gathering in the corners,now swirling everywhere around us. Soft as the night, but just as deadly.

The Dark Lord has just stopped the blond man from slapping me with his power and an invisible command.

His voice follows a second later, calm, but cold as he says, “Don’t, Kyrith.”

Kyrith.

My heart is in my mouth. Hammering. Slowly catching up. My eyes search for Riven’s. I find them wide open, as if he too forgot about Kyrith. Kyrith’s face to my right is still an angry mask, still motionless, his eyes still narrowed to slits, and his fangs exposed when I glance back at him. He still can’t move. He looks like he is going to kill me with his gaze though.

He manages to growl, “I warned her.”

“I take it upon myself to discipline my slaves.” The Dark Lord doesn’t look at me again when he declares, “We’re leaving.”

***

I follow them outside and to the forest. The Dark Lord is leading the way, Kyrith trailing behind him, followed by the quiet but beautiful man with red hair and Riven walking next to me. We take my path through the woods, the path I’ve run a thousand times, until we reach the cliff. The cold wind’s soaring up from below, the Abyss again beckoning, the ocean churning.

This is the very cliff where I stood so many times as if something was calling me.

I finally dare to glance at Riven, who is carrying my bag. I know he reads the question in my eyes, the panic, when he says, “This is the fae gap. Now, we jump.”

And with that, he grabs my arm and together we go over the cliff.

11

Riven

Melody fell asleep as soon as they entered the fae realms. Riven feels the familiar rush of magic in his veins at his return, his own magic singing at the reunion.

He has been away for too long.

The human world is a funny thing. Those weak little creatures that populate it, so tender and fragile without magic.

He looks down at the woman he carries in his arms. Her dark, long hair falls over her shoulders, covering most of her face, brushing his forearms. Her beautiful half-fae face glistens in the moonlight as they emerge from the waves and wade toward the shore to the stretch of neutral territory between the three kingdoms—Avandal in the north, the Emerald Forest bordering it, the range of those absurdly high trees and the mist that surrounds them visible in the distance.

The Kingdom of the Two Moons—Caryan’s kingdom—spans over the whole southern continent to Riven’s left.

---