Page 97 of Emylia

Knowing exactly how much it was tearing Sebastian apart.

“I’m fine.”

We both knew he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t push it.

“Come on, you two, or do I need to chaperon?”

I gave Sebastian a piercing glare.

Ignoring me, Sebastian offered me Stormfire’s reins. “You ready?”

I nodded.

But in that moment, I felt anything but ready.

ChapterTwenty-One

Wind claimed my hair, the honeyed strands billowing behind me as Stormfire raced across the grasslands, in pursuit of Maalikai, Sebastian, Jet and Orion–Sebastian’s horse he let me name when I was a child, back when I was obsessed with the constellations.

Grass petals blurred into a sea of green, as miles dissolved away like it was nothing. Neither of them told me where we were going, but they didn’t need to. I knew exactly where we were headed:

Aelinthian Forrest.

Keeping a consistent pace, we didn’t slow until we reached a large, almost translucent stream. Making a sharp left, Maalikai and Sebastian veered, Stormfire and I hot on their horses’ tails. Time faded away to nothing as we raced alongside the river until the ancient trees of the Aelinthian Forrest loomed before us like a never-ending sea of otherworldly bliss.

Even several hundred yards from the edge of the forest, it was undeniably vast, thick, and kind of intimidating.

Men armed to the brim with weapons patrolled the perimeter of the woods, extending back towards Ophelia. Their utilitarian uniforms were royal blue, the color of the forces my uncle had once commanded. Once he was made chief, he had taken the time to oversee the training of a small militia in Ophelia. If nothing else he was relentless—assiduous to a fault.

We had passed dozens upon dozens of men dressed in the same uniforms on the ride here. They made up a giant enclosure, skirting from Aelinthian Forrest back to Ophelia. When Uncle Thrainn said he was going to keep us safe, he meant it.

After we found a spot and dismounted, Maalikai turned to me with that I’m-your-superior-commander posture of his. “Are you ready?”

I didn’t answer him. Instead, my gaze flicked to Sebastian, heat behind my eyes. “Wait. Isn’t Sebastian supposed to teach me?”

My dress was wrinkled, dirt-streaked, windswept like I’d walked straight through a battlefield. Perfect. I looked how I felt—untamed, unpredictable. Finally, me.

Sebastian’s voice came low, controlled. “If I teach you, my attention’s split.” He ran a hand through his hair, frustration barely veiled. “I won’t be able to focus on anything except you.” A pause.

His eyes flicked toward Maalikai, then back to me. “So Maalikai’s taking the lead on this one.” The words tasted like surrender. Bitter. Unwilling. He stepped in closer, voice dropping just for me. “I’ll be watching,” he said, slow deliberate, “making sure no one so much as breathes wrong near that pretty little head of yours.”

And just like that, I knew. He wasn’t stepping back because he wanted to. He was doing it because he couldn’t bear to let someone else guard me—not even for an hour. Not even if it meant giving control to someone he hated.

But that was Sebastian.

Always my protector first.

It was the worst kind of devotion—the kind that bled quiet. The kind that said,I’ll break my own heart if it keeps yours beating.

I gestured lazily to the ring of warriors surrounding us. “Bit of overkill?”

Sebastian stepped closer, the heat of him brushing my skin, that infuriatingly commanding heartbeat of his syncing to mine. “One of me is worth twenty of them. And you know it.”

The air thinned.

Tension coiled between us likeflint waiting to be struck.

He wasn’t wrong. If the world fell apart, I’d bet everything on him. But I also knew what it cost him to step back.

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