Page 26 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

I needed to touch and see her… needed to make sure she was okay.

After what felt like hours, the Seelie territory appeared.

The moon shone down on the bountiful land now that night was upon us. I could see green trees and a village nearby. A huge mountain hovered in the distance, with a massive field to the east, where some of the best fruits in the kingdom grew.

Down below, the ocean rolled up to the shore, crashing in miraculous waves. I’d bet Lira had enjoyed playing in them as a child.

“Guards!” someone shouted from the edge of the village. “Unseelie are here!”

My head snapped toward the tree line, where a man soared into sight. He yelled again just as something buzzed across my skin, startling me. I searched for the guards the fae was alerting. I needed to cloak myself and Finnian in darkness.

“Tavish!” Finnian exclaimed. “I need help.”

I spun around to find Finnian pounding on something invisible between us. Cool flickers of my darkness wrapped around me but didn’t extend to him as if there was a barrier between us. I tried pushing my shadows toward him to cover us both.

“The Unseelie are here!” someone shouted behind me. “Attack!”

Then something hit me.

8

LIRA

My eyes fluttered open, and instead of finding myself in Tavish’s dark and frosty room with windows overhead that overlooked the sky, I found myself staring at a white ceiling.

My mind fuzzed as panic clenched my throat. I turned my head to the left and found a large open window the size of the wall. A tall tree grew through it right inside the room, full of flowers with pink petals that reminded me of cherry blossoms from back home but were called silathair here in Ardanos.

This was my childhood bedroom. But even though it held good memories, I needed to get back to Tavish. It felt strange and wrong being here without him.

“Lira,” a familiar feminine voice gasped. “You finally awoke. We were worried.”

Mother?

I blinked, my attention drawn to the other side of the room to find Mother, Mom, and Eiric sitting on pink-rose-petal cushions made from the gigantic flowers that had been grown in my room for seating.

Some of the tension released from my chest as I sat up, the room spinning slightly. “You’re safe! Thank goodness. Did Finnian find you? And where’s Dad?”

Something tingled in the back of my mind, like I was missing something important, but I couldn’t yet grasp it.

“Finnian?” Mom’s brows furrowed. “Who’s that?”

“The person Tavish sent…” I trailed off, my mind still misfiring.

“The Unseelie king sent someone for you.” Mother turned to Mom and Eiric, lips pursed. “We need to alert Erdan and Brenin that Lira has awoken.”

“I’ll locate someone to inform the king. I’ll be back momentarily,” Mom replied, heading toward the door.

“Thank you, Hestia.” Mother ran her hands over her long sky-blue dress.

Eiric glided over to me, her forest-green wings spread out behind her. Even though she still looked like my sister, the wings, pointed ears, and glistening skin threw me off.

Was this a dream or reality? And if it was reality, how had I gotten here? I scanned the room again for Tavish.

Eiric sat on the edge of my bed, like she’d done back on Earth, and took my hand while saying, “Olvin, Alor, and Talise retrieved us. Granted, we didn’t remember them, and we assumed the people who kidnapped you had come back for the rest of us, but once we made it back to Gleann Solas, our memories returned. We’ve been so worried about you, and it took us a bit to track you down via your magic.”

Mom returned just in time for my head to clear and the room to come into precise focus. I’d been knocked out, and Tavish had been stabbed. He was injured badly, and I needed to be there with him. “Tavish.” His name flowed off my tongue, and a sob built in my chest.

“Oh, love.” Mother’s sparkly blue wings fluttered as she flew to the other side of my bed. “Don’t worry. He can’t come here. The veil will protect us—not that the Unseelie can rival our magic.” She leaned over and squeezed my hand.

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