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I saw thousands. Hundreds of thousands, but to say that would reveal too much—it would get too close to a truth I don’t ever want to speak again—and so instead I let the quiet settle over us once more.
Tyton exhales before he murmurs, “A marriage between two enemies to unite the land and save our people.”
The Fates are cruel to bind me to this male.
I still send a silent prayer for him to the Fates. Let him come back safely. Let him return to a wife and a child, let his father survive whatever horrors are happening out there, let this mess that we have found ourselves in unravel and the high fae return to their true purpose once more for the sake of the entire kingdom and those most vulnerable within.
There are no healers left in the Southern Lands—none but the witch in my dungeon with cold silver eyes and a fate to match mine.
“I have learned enough patience to wait this fate out. The moment I’ve fulfilled it, I’ll feel the warmth of your blood run down my arms as your life leaves your body. I’ll sacrifice everything for my people and my land, but the ending will always be the same—your blood spilled and your life forfeit. Nothing will fill me with greater joy.”
This is the real reason I let her come with me—the reality check that things in the kingdom are far worse than her father would ever let her believe. Her stay at Yregar Castle is not one she’ll soon forget.
Sari waits until her shock and fear have settled before she speaks again, her voice soft but strong. “I will speak to Father about this and see what assistance we can offer. We haven't been hit so hard up in the north. Perhaps it’s the cooler weather down here that inhibits the crops so badly. I will do what I can for you, Cousin. I don't want to see our people living in such despair and you with so much on your plate. It hurts my heart to see Yregar like this.”
It’s here to take the life of the baby.
Is my beart about to break
Tauron’s lip curls at me, and he stabs a finger in my direction. “I don't want to hear it, Soren, don't tell me about the things that only you can do right now, because I will shove you out of that fucking saddle and beat you to death myself.”
Do it.
Sari Celestial, Heir Apparent to the regent, just woke up to the world as it exists around her, violent and on the edge of total ruin.
A sound rends through the air that must stop everyone in the castle dead in their tracks, a hush falling like a blanket over us all. A sound so familiar, so longed for, so foreign now for however many centuries it’s been since we last heard it, and yet there’s no denying what it is. A newborn baby screams. A high fae baby. Living and breathing.
“The goblins never stopped speaking to the trees. The Ravenswyrd has missed you for a very long time, and the sorrowful melody it sang for you reached far across the kingdom. I hope you return to the trees again soon, they have mourned your loss.”
“He told me the Fates know better than we do, and if they placed us together, then we can trust in that. He’s sure that someday, we will find our way to one another, not just in our physical forms but in our hearts as well.” She turns to me, her silver eyes flashing in the icy, white depths of winter’s hold. “I don't see any danger of that happening here, do you, Prince Soren?”
I push on toward him just in time to see yet another arrow land, this one alone as it hits its mark…dead center in Roan’s chest. I see fear in his eyes for the first time as blood spills from his lips and he slumps forward in his saddle.
I glance down and find the thigh of my riding leathers stained with blood, the silver of my chain mail now ruby red and, with a curse, I begin to pray to the Fates once more. I promise them endless submission if Roan survives this ride home, that I’ll marry the witch and become the King of the Southern Lands.
“Tell Princess Airlie that her husband will live. I dug the poison arrows out of his chest myself, my magic weaving around him as it wove around his son. A filthy witch helping another high-fae prince, even at great personal cost, because none of the high fae have ever given a blessed Fates-fuck about the innocent witches of this kingdom. Kharl Balzog’s deceptions only swayed the weakest from our path—the rest wanted nothing to do with his madness. I know my role in honoring this land, do any of you?”
Yes Rooke. Get mad!
“I trust that witch with my husband's life, just as I trusted her with my son. Roan said all along that the Fates have led you to her for a reason. She's not just your mate, Soren, she’s the future queen of the Unseelie high fae and the Southern Lands. My loyalty is to you and your fate, and now with her. You and Tauron are suspicious enough for the rest of us. I’ll spend my time tending to my family instead.”
She’s here to undermine us, to drive a wedge between me and my closest confidants, and I can see it happening right before my eyes.
If soren was a ball id dropkick him into a group of dogs so they can distroy if.
No matter how many high-fae lives she saves, she will always be a witch first.
I hate you :)
It wants the Favored Children back.
I’ll be three steps ahead.
Big head bigot. Youre an idiot soren.
“The witch
Rooke. Her NAME IS ROOKE not "the witch"
He gestures to one of the wagons, small and covered, and says slowly in the common tongue, “For the witch. A gift from the Goblin King.”
It doesn’t fool me. The soldier was clear. This is not a gift for Yregar—this is for the witch alone, and he was sent here with an army to deliver it to her.
Only a king should sit on the Celestial thrones spread throughout the castles in the Southern Lands. It's the Unseelie way, and yet, my uncle has sat on them all.
She toils away in the garden unimpeded, and moving her there was the best idea I’ve had yet. She’s able to be useful to the castle while freeing up my cousins while we wait out her end goal of betrayal.
You were so close to being somewhat decent
We did this. We ruined it all, we took until there was nothing left to give, we forgot it all… The words ring through my mind until they weave their way into my very being.
It's not my fate to be with this female, no matter what the Fates may say.
Soren. Do i have tosay ig
If he kills you, the Fates will break and the castle will fall. Come, Soren, you're no use to your people dead. For once, just listen!” I don't listen.
Of course you dont listen
I might have been wrong about her allegiances and her motives, but she’s definitely a beacon, only I’m the one drawn to her and unable to resist the pull.
A ripple of irritation breaks through the protective haze clouding my mind at his dismissive words towards my mate, the witch who has saved us all today and proved just how obedient to the Fates she’s been all of this time. She chose to stay in the dungeons and endure our treatment, she chose to leave the iron cage behind to break the curse and save the baby, and then again she chose to come out here and fight for Yregar. She didn’t deserve the mistreatment or scorn then and she certainly doesn’t deserve it now. With a deep breath, I remind myself that Prince Roan has just arrived and has no
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Fuck you soren. Blind pain in my ass fae prick. Im not mad.you are.
“That doesn't look like begging to me. I'd rather walk until my feet bleed.”
YES ROOKE!
