A Clash of Three Courts (An Heir Comes to Rise, #4)

by C.C. Peñaranda

What others experienced as the untamed elements were living entities to her, one with the ability to manipulate the push and pull of wind.

“You needed to mend your broken heart before you could give it to me. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes. I want to help you, and I hope in any way I have succeeded, but most of all, the strength you’ve regained, the confidence and determination you’ve taken back with a vengeance…it was all your own will and resilience.”

“This dress looked beautiful on you,” he said in a deep, gravelly tone. Her sharp breath was swallowed by the tear of fabric when Nik effortlessly helped her out from the front instead. “Remind me I owe you a new one.”

Every question about what she wanted or desired, what her body craved, what her mind needed… Nik was the answer.

Should she discover his alliance with Valgard to be true, King Varlas of Olmstone could never know that he had unwittingly invited High Farrow’s ward, the ally of Rhyenelle and avenger of Fenstead, right into the heart of his kingdom. And she would tear it apart from the inside. Just as they had done to hers.

Her chest clenched every time she thought of it. Because “home” wasn’t her conquered lands of ash and blood. It was him. No matter what became of her time here, she would never forget the century she’d spent prior to this that had defined “home” not as any land. She’d come to associate all sense of the word with Nik.

Nikalias was wicked. Alluringly, infuriatingly wicked and sinful.

To mourn the living was an unfathomable burden to shoulder.

Nik knew very little entertainment outside this room. Yet it wasn’t court matters that drove him down here even against the protests of his body. It was her.

“Your heart never has to be sacrificed for us to take back our kingdom.”

It was Nik who saved her. Nik who brought her out of the dark and gave her a reason to keep living when she felt she deserved to have died with her parents on the battlefield. It was Nik who inspired her resilience to go on. And he didn’t even know

Yet she couldn’t get that symbol out of her mind. The side-facing stag emblem carved into a brass pin. Lennox was from Fenstead.

“A mate is a match of the power we have within. It’s not always felt in the heart.”

“It’s often the bravest faces that mask the worst troubles. Don’t stop reaching to her. I can’t fathom the burden she carries with her gift. I’m sure she will tell all when the time is right.”

“I’ve often wondered if we’re all born cursed to desire what doesn’t come so easily. To long for what is always just out of reach.”

The blacksmith wasted no time in dropping to the grass and shifting to get comfortable. “We brought this for a reason,” Jakon said, extending a blanket. Marlowe grinned up at him. “That’s for the book.” She patted the space in front of her.

She saw the grand scale this could reach: a bigger war beyond the possible clash of three courts when High Farrow, Olmstone, and Fenstead negotiated a treaty.

“All we can be grateful for is that we survived. The battle may have been lost, but the war is far from over while we still live. I have Nik to thank for keeping me from spiraling into helplessness. He grounded me, reminded me always that while I was the ward to his father, I was still the Queen of Fenstead.” Her voice strained with ache. Her head formed a dull throb. Tauria all but whispered, “He never let me forget that.”

Perhaps all the Olmstone king saw her as now was not her father’s daughter, but her savior’s spy. Tauria liked to believe she was both, as well as her own avenger.

Tarly Wolverlon was not hateful or cruel; he was lost and broken.

“What if I happened to tell you my balcony is two up and four across from yours, and that there are many nights when sleep eludes me too?” An eruption of warmth delayed her response. “Then I might say that balcony is a particular favorite of mine to dance across, and should there be a sleep-deprived prince inside, he would be more than welcome to chase me.”

Give them what they want to take everything I need.

This was determination. She was Tauria Stagknight, rightful Queen of Fenstead, and it was damn time people stopped forgetting that. Including herself.

“When two people find a song that can be sung in ever-changing harmonies…I don’t believe having their attention sway to discover a new one will be of any concern.”

“It’s having a darkness you never knew you harbored. Because if anyone tried to harm them…” Gods, he had left her there. And now he couldn’t be certain what was happening. If she was even safe. Nik’s hands tightened into trembling fists. “There’s no telling what a person might be capable of.”

“You would make a great king, Tarly Wolverlon. One who could heal what was broken here.”

“You will make a gracious queen, Tauria Stagknight. One who will reclaim and restore what was taken.”

She wondered if it was tragic or liberating that their bond might not come from their many shared activities and interests, but from their two dark and desolate pasts.

“Not a single weapon has been brought into this library in millennia. It was considered sacrilegious to the Library Masters of Old. They have long since passed on, but the superstition stands that it would be a grave insult and bring bad fortune to disobey them even in death.”

“What do you see?” he asked quietly. The question emitted an ache in her chest. He seemed to long for an answer that would counter everything he felt within. Tauria searched those lost pools, contemplating. “I see someone worth everything.”

Whether you defy or bow to fate, it is your choice.”

She needed some time to figure out how she could help a soul as tragically lost and burdened as the prince.

there's that virgo energy

“People often forget this detail as the emblem is always woven into tapestry or carved into brass. But it was prophesized that Ahren, the Silver-Antlered Stag, would choose the first King of Fenstead.”

When Ungardia was first divided into kingdoms, the rulers were chosen in many different ways. For Fenstead, it was having Ahren by his side that made our people believe in our king. Not for his triumph in battle or any means of conquer; it was in the peace and prosperity he promised the land. The values we’ve come to uphold to this day.”

“Nothing noted is ever useless, Lycus.”

It was a challenge to find out what made him and what broke him, but anything worth treasuring was worth fighting for.

“Actions can silence, while words can be twisted in any which way.”

Her heart—she couldn’t tame it.

me too sis

Nik glanced down. “Interesting choice of pet,” he mused. “Why don’t you come closer and call her that again?” Tarly enticed.

“You have never been my ward. Or my subject. Or my princess. You are my equal, Tauria. In every way, you shine brighter than the moon I’ve watched change in the sky since you left, knowing it was the one thing we could look upon all the same. Is that pitiful of me?”

Tauria had spent so long yearning to prove herself, but now she saw…it was never needed with him.

Every time she spun, her gaze instantly snapped back to his as if he was her orbit. Tauria could find those beautiful emeralds in any room, any crowd, and they would never fail to stop the world.

“In a world less cruel, you would have been mine long ago.”

“Where are we going?” she asked, breathless with adrenaline as they wound through dark halls, abandoned while the solstice ball was in full swing. “Somewhere I can have you alone.”

“I’m not much, but I’m yours, Marlowe. And that’s enough for me.”

“Why does the sun rise each morning and the moon cross the night? Why does fire devour and ice preserve?”

“Some things are unstoppable.”

“And when the moon meets the sun?”

“Time—it doesn’t...

No longer a composed princess. No longer an esteemed monarch. Who they were was nothing more than two unburdened, unforgiving souls.