Page 75 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

A few guards jerked back as if something they feared stood right before them.

“Thank god we’re on his side,” Eiric muttered, watching the chaos unfold in front of us.

Tavish released my hand and removed a dagger from his sheath, his sights on Eldrin.

He had to die, and I wouldn’t stop Tavish… not after this.

“Death to the sunscorched wildling!” a woman a few feet below shouted near the edge of the houses closest to us.

A whistling noise filled the air, and something sharp pierced my wing and lodged into the other. Agony coursed through me, stealing my breath. Worse, my wings stopped moving correctly, like air was flying through them, and I dropped.

Lira,Tavish linked, his magic leaving our bond and terror replacing his wrath. He followed me, swooping below me to gather me in his arms. When he caught me and moved forward, two guards appeared at his sides and threw chains around his arms, cutting off his magic. They gripped his biceps, the chains biting through his skin and drawing blood. The pressure forced him to release me.

No!Tavish shouted as my body rushed toward the water again.

Unfortunately, my magic struggled to come through, and I couldn’t make the water yield to my power. Like something blocked it. My wings tried catching the air, but they weren’t working well, merely stopping my fall. The wound where the weapon had lodged into my wing burned and pulsed, and I bit my tongue to stop from crying out.

The sounds of blades clashing had me glancing up. Eiric was fighting three Unseelie guards and Finnian was fighting five. Each set had chains to capture them, but I didn’t have time to focus on that. I had to watch the woman below as she readied to shoot at me again.

Pale blue flashed, and strong arms wrapped around me. It wasn’t Tavish but Lorne. He didn’t hurt me, though he flew back upward toward Eldrin.

“Don’t hurt the Seelie anymore.” Eldrin rolled his eyes, though he gave the command too late. “Due to Tavish’s poor decisions, we will have to use them to keep the Seelie from obliterating us. It’s a means to survival.”

When I glanced up, Tavish had a dagger held to his neck by a third guard as two guards held his arms back. Eiric and Finnian had been detained too, and Eldrin’s eyes twinkled with glee.

Acid burned my throat over seeing my mate like that. The snow no longer came down, emphasizing his power was completely bound.

Lira, I’m so sorry,he linked, sounding broken.

It’s not your fault.I didn’t need him to fall apart.Stay strong.We’ll find a way through this.

“Take all of them to the prison cells.” Eldrin crossed his arms as he sneered at us. “We may have to use them as leverage over the Seelie, but they’ll live a prisoner’s life here.”

Lorne nodded. “As you wish,” he said gruffly, and his arms tightened painfully around me.

The guards dragged us toward the castle with Tavish, Finnian, and Eiric bound by chains, suppressing their magic.

We flew in through one of the sizable windows near the back by the prison cells. The dark tile and stone that had once felt like home now felt like a trap.

The guards took us through the hallways’ twists and turns, and soon the cells came into view, accompanied by the scents of piss and feces.

And my gaze landed on something that made me sicker. Something that had my heart shattering into smaller pieces than I ever could have expected.

23

LIRA

My heart hammered as I took in a crumpled Caelan who lay next to a beaten Nightbane. The cù-sìth’s snout had a large gash as if someone had struck it with the end of a blade, and dark blood covered the green ends of his fur.

I suspected Caelan wouldn’t appear any better.

Worse, there were no mattresses in the cell, which forced them to lie on the stone floor with no blankets or pillows.

Lorne pushed me more gently than I’d expected, but my wing jerked, and pain sliced through me again. The pain was worse than being stabbed in the arm and shoulder.

“I should’ve killed you at the close of the gauntlet,” Tavish seethed. “Of course, at the first opportunity to harm my mate, you’d inflict misery upon her. Everyone who lays hands on her will die at the end of my sword or by my magic. I vow to each and every one of you.” His concern for me swirled within me, but the connection between us had cooled since he didn’t have access to his magic.

The door to the small cell that held Nightbane and Caelan opened, and Lorne pushed me inside. My back muscles jerked,causing my wings to spasm, and I could feel the skin of the wing with the arrow lodged in it rip further.

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