Page 100 of Crown of Wrath

I hug him back. “I know,” I say soothingly.

When he steps back, there are tears in his eyes. “I’ll let you get back to what you were talking about. I just…”

He shrugs, and without another word, he walks away. I look up at Cole, and his eyes are hard as he watches Darian walk away. “She is hiding something. Darian’s right.”

“Why do you say that? I haven’t noticed anything different. My Earth senses aren’t telling me she’s lying about anything.”

Cole shakes his head. “She’s not lying. She’s just… different. Where is she, Maeve? Why isn’t she near us? Darian’s been spending time with Hazel, but where’s Lee been? She’s just been wandering off into the forest. She’s been quiet at the fire. She’s… she’s acting like me, not like her. She should be exploding with words, and she’s just… quiet.”

Now that he says it, I nod. “What could it be?” I ask.

Cole shakes his head slowly. “I don’t know. Darian’s right, though. We need to watch her. I don’t know what happened, but there’s no question. She’s different.”

I feel like this is the worst thing that could happen. Lee’s been there with me from nearly the beginning. She and Darian have been the happy when Cole was… Cole. She’s been my friend even when friends were hard to come by.

“Fine. We’ll watch her, but Cole, I will not kill Lee. Even if she’s done something terrible. I don’t think I have that in me.”

He shakes his head without looking at me. “I don’t think I could either. Maybe it doesn’t have to come down to that, though. Maybe it’s something stupid. She’s been away from me and Darian for the first time in our lives, and that might be all there is to it. Maybe she’s just finally learned to enjoy her own company.”

I shrug. “Maybe. You’re right, though. Let’s not get too carried away. I’m glad we know to watch her, but she’s one of us. She’s earned the benefit of the doubt.”

He nods emphatically. “She has.” Then he looks down at me and grins. “Now that that’s done, do you want more training? Or do you want to spend a little more timerelaxingall alone in our cottage?”

I grin and run my hand over his cheek, my thumb brushing his lips. “Training and then relaxing. I like you all sweaty. You taste better that way…”

Interlude 5

Humansaresomeofthe weakest creatures in the world. Their teeth and claws aren’t capable of rending and tearing like wolves or big cats. Their bodies are not armored or fast enough to protect themselves from other predators. They have but three advantages in this world.

They are dauntless, always thinking themselves capable of overcoming any disadvantage.

They refuse to give up regardless of how far the prey runs.

They know how to dig in and weather the storm, no matter how strong it may be.

Even the magical creatures should be wary around humans who embody these traits. There is a reason they’ve never lost a war and have become the dominant species when there are creatures so much stronger and faster.

So it is that Maeve Arden created both her worst enemy and her best ally in a single moment when the mere human Alistair Hawking made her an offer that she could not refuse. She saw in him the strength that let him lead King Aric’s armies, but she saw more. He now knew that he could not overpower someonewith Immortal bloodlines, but he could not accept that as a fact. Like her, Alistair could make mental leaps and grow in ways that Immortals couldn’t.

Maeve appreciated this. She wanted to keep people like him close to her, so when he came to her and asked for a favor, she took advantage of it.

“Queen Maeve,” Alistair says. “You made a deal with Aric, and I’d like to make one as well.”

She looks at him with surprise in her eyes. Why would Alistair want to put himself in her debt? “You understand how those deals work, don’t you? You cannot back out of a magical oath without dying.”

“Yes, I understand the way they work, and I see no other way to get what I want.” He frowns, and for the first time in fifteen years, ever since he was a squire, he hesitates. “I want to know what it feels like to use magic. I’ve heard the stories about you. You grew up as a human, your bloodlines hidden from you, so you, of all the Fae, will understand how frustrating it is to not understand an entire world.”

Maeve is quiet as he continues. “I am one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom. I have proven my strategic skills in multiple wars. I am twenty-five, and I have peaked. As a human, I cannot compare to you. I’d thought that with steel and training, I could become more… Then Cole showed me just how different we are.”

He sighs and puts out his wrist to Maeve, determination written all over his face. “For just a single hour, I would like to know what it felt like to be as powerful as you or Cole. I know that the possibility is held in the Shadowed Cloak. I know that if I were to wear it, I could do the things that you do, and I am willing to offer you whatever you demand in exchange for a single hour of supervised use with it.”

Maeve stares at the general of King Aric’s armies a long time without saying a word. She’d never had anyone offer this to her. She’d never even considered what it’s like to be human in this world that she’s dragged all of Sylvantia’s soldiers into.

But Alistair is like her. He doesn’t need someone to tell him what to do to get ahead of the competition, and he doesn’t ignore the chances that are put in front of him. He’s willing to sacrifice to get what he wants, and Queen Maeve appreciated those traits. She hasn’t found them in the Immortals of the world.

She makes a decision that will forever change the place of Stormhaven and all of Sylvantia in relation to the magical world. She gives a human the chance to experience magic. Not wisps of shadow as she first learned to use. No, she teaches a twenty-five-year-old man to use a magical cloak and shadow walk. True power. At the end of the hour, he reluctantly gives it back to her.

He doesn’t try to steal it. He makes no effort to find more ways to use the Shadowed Cloak. In fact, he doesn’t seem interested in that particular relic because of its obvious limitations. Shadows can only do so much, and flames are their bane. Prince Cole Cyrus could kill him just as easily if he had the Shadowed Cloak as he could right now.

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