Page 3 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

Her eyelids fluttered, and my lungs seized.Come on, sprite. Open those huge, beautiful eyes.I needed proof that she was coming back to me more than anything.

She flinched, and her expression twisted in agony.

“Almost done,” Finola whispered. “Hold on.”

Lira nodded slightly, and my chest expanded with so much hope.

The jolt between us grew stronger, and I wanted to bundle her into my arms and never let her go. No one would ever harm her again, even if she didn’t choose to be with me. I wouldn’t force her to remain here any longer.

Sweat beaded on her face, and I leaned over, brushing my hand against her skin.

“This might hurt a little, but I need to tie it off,” Finola warned. She leaned down and bit through the silk thread.

After a quick whimper, Lira went still again.

Cold tendrils of fear squeezed my heart. “What’s wrong?” I leaned down, her heartbeat the only thing grounding me.

“She passed out.” Finola grabbed the kit and headed around the bed to Lira’s other side. “I don’t know how she came back, but she’s in a lot of pain. She needs rest more than anything.”

Someone knocked on the door frantically. “Your Majesty,” Faelan called. “May I come in?”

I didn’t want to handle whatever frivolous crisis was going on, but Caelan and Finnian were here with me, and Eldrin was in prison where he belonged. I had no choice but to handle this, if only to put it off longer. “Come in.”

The door opened, and the dark-blue-haired guard hurried in. His gaze went immediately to my bed, and he wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t hiding his disapproval of the Seelie princess getting tended to in my bed.

“Do you have a problem with what’s going on here?” I released Lira’s hand and turned to face the guard head-on. My blood boiled. Since I couldn’t kill Eldrin because of my life debt to him, it would be nice to take out my anger and frustrationon someone else. “Is that why you came here, to see if my vow during the gauntlet was true?”

“Of course not.” Faelan wisely kept his attention on me. He rubbed a hand over his dark armored guard uniform, and his blue wings fluttered gently behind him.

He was nervous about informing me of something, and I didn’t have the patience for it.

“If the people want me to talk to them about my decision, that’s fine.” I didn’t like answering to them, but this would be an exception to the rule… anything for Lira. I didn’t want to burden her conscience by killing everyone who spoke out against us. She’d blame herself for that. For her, I’d give my people one chance, but that was it. Anyone who continued to show dissent would meet the sharp tip of my blade.

“That’s not it.” Faelan huffed and glanced out the door as several guards flew past, hurrying toward the prison. “We have a pressing situation, and we need your assistance.”

My stomach hardened. The guards wouldn’t be rushing like that unless something had gone horribly wrong… like when Lira had escaped. “What is it?”

“Eldrin.” He exhaled. “Eldrin has escaped.”

Out of every possibility, I hadn’t expected that. “That’s impossible. Torcall took him to the holding cell.” Torcall was one of the best guards we had.

“Eldrin stabbed Torcall in the throat with a poisoned dagger.” Faelan scratched his neck. “It was a paralytic toxin, which is why Torcall couldn’t scream. Two of the other prison guards stumbled upon Torcall, but he died. With his last breath, Torcall managed to communicate in slurred whispers that Eldrin had gotten away. We immediately began searching but so far have come up empty-handed. We believe he made it out of the castle since no one but Torcall was aware of his escape.”

“Then let’s find him,” I snapped. My blasted cousin had betrayed me once again and, in doing so, had killed one of my most skilled and favored guards. I couldn’t kill him, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t hunt him down and punish him. I had to make a point to show my people what happened when someone rose against me… like I had to do when I was fifteen.

I turned around, knowing that Lira was in good hands with the three of them. I trusted them, even Caelen, though he wasn’t happy with my latest decisions. “Keep watch over Lira. I’ll help find Eldrin and make sure my people see that even my blood gets punished. If anything changes—” My words cut off.

“We’ll let you know.” Finnian placed a hand over his heart.

“I’ll send Nightbane here.” That beast loved Lira and would protect her with his life.

I pivoted on my heels to leave, but something stopped me in my tracks.

2

LIRA

Iwas drifting in peaceful darkness when discomfort tugged at me. I tried to jerk away, to remain in this comforting abyss of nothingness, but the tugging strengthened to a yank, and pain flooded into me.

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