Page 383 of Kingdoms of Night

The man in the forest had disappeared.

CHAPTERSIX

VIRIDI

Viridi stumbled back a step, feeling as though the stars themselves had fallen to the earth to live inside his chest and illuminate him from the inside. He put a hand to his pounding heart and swallowed, his throat gone dry at the sight of her.

This was what he’d been feeling, the event that had drawn him to the coastline time and time again in the last sennight, the fated occurrence that had danced at the edge of his dreams, always out of reach.

This was the moment.

Her arrival.

She was all he could see, scent, and feel. He inhaled and shuddered with pleasure at the simple fact that she was here on his island. What did this mean for him, for the Thorned One?

Take her, the trees whispered.She is your mate.

And for once, he was of the same mind as the cursed trees.

CHAPTERSEVEN

ISA

She took a shuddering breath. “Did you see that?” Her heart tapped madly against her ribs and she stood, putting Nico behind her.

“The man? Yes.”

Night insects trilled, and the breeze danced in the thick clusters of tiny leaves.

From the sea, a voice called out. “Ahoy! Anyone there?” They spoke in the common tongue, language of the kingdom of Lore.

Nico launched himself down the beach. “Look! Another ship.” His feet—one shoed and the other bare—threw sand as he hurried toward a skiff that was coming ashore.

A ship almost as large as the Brunes’ bobbed in the silvery waves beyond the shallows. Torches flickered at one end of the craft, and Isa thought she saw crew moving about.

Sweat beading on her upper lip, she took off after Nico. These could be pirates, slavers—anyone. They might even be worse than Ursane and the Brunes.

“Nico, come back!”

A woman wearing trousers leapt from the skiff onto the sand, a hand raised in greeting. The man who pulled the skiff in smiled widely, his teeth white in the low light.

He had pointed ears and horns.

“Fae.”

Isa hated that she was immediately distrustful, but she’d never interacted with a fae and most said they were incredibly clever and could be very cruel.

Catching up to Nico, she grabbed the back of his ripped tunic and flung him behind her.

What was a fae doing this far from Lore? They weren’t even close to the trading island of Khem anymore, were they? Had these folk been following the Brunes in order to steal their stash of provisions and coin?

Nico tugged her sleeve and looked at her with those big eyes that melted her soul. “Princess Brielle has a fae friend, so fae must be good, right?”

“The princess is a politician,” Isa said. “She would befriend anyone just to help Wylfenden.”

The fae bowed low, sweeping a hand through the air dramatically. He straightened and a spark lit his eyes, a glint of mischief not unlike the one Nico had when she’d caught him sneaking into the ship’s kitchen last week. “This is my lovely wife,” the fae said. “How can we be of service?”

The woman took a small apple from her cloak pocket and held it out to Nico. “Are you hungry, love? Please take this.”

---