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Behind us, silver light flashes, and I know Myron is fighting in earnest now.

“To the hedges.” Herinor points with the tip of his sword, but he doesn’t wait for me or make sure I get to safety first. The deal he struck with Ephegos is still in place, and if he as much as tries to help me, he’ll suffer greatly. He can pretend he’s aiding Myron instead for all that I care, as long as we make it to the tall hedges and off the premises.

The plan is better than reality will allow.

Around the corner, where the trees surrounding the estate form a small meadow, a group of at least forty Flames is gathered, silver swords at the ready and tendrils of fire flaring in their raised palms.

Ayna

“Fuck—”

We skid to a halt, Herinor almost losing his grasp on the female bouncing over his shoulder as he throws up a fresh shield. “You could say so.”

Kaira’s corporeal voice hits me in the chest like a ball of fire, and every last bit of hope gutters as I find her at the front of the group in the tight hold of a Flame male who’s pressing a sword to her throat.Bastard.

“What the fuck happened?”I send my question out before I allow myself to identify the leader of the group and let them intimidate me with a look. I don’t search for the others either, just yet. For a heartbeat, Iwait for information. Herinor is a seasoned fighter. He knows how to figure out rank and order in a group of opponents like that way faster.

“It was a trap.”I can’t turn away when Kaira whimpers into my mind. “The fairies, the estate. It’s all a trap.”

For a long breath, I believe that Recienne set us up, that he used Clio to lead us into an ambush; then I spot the female behind the male who’s restraining Kaira. Like liquid copper, her braid bleeds over the forearm of the Flame, locking her back to his chest. He’s at least a head taller than her and at least as broad as Herinor.

“Welcome to the party, little Wolayna.”

I know the voice. Have had nightmares about it. So polite and collected yet dripping hatred with every drawn-out vowel.

“Erina.” I spot him next to Clio, right next to the two Flames grasping Silas by his shoulders and arms. His wrists are bound behind his back—to keep him from using his hatchet or his magic, I can’t tell—and his head is hung, a curtain of dark hair blocking out the view of his features. He could be unconscious by the way his captors are struggling to keep upright.

“What a coincidence, dove.” The expression on Erina’s face tells me nothing about this is a coincidence.

He smooths out the front of his sepia uniform jacket, playing with one of the golden buttons at the top of the double row. With his polished boots, clean pants, beard groomed to perfection, and hair cropped short, he’s a vision of control and deadliness. Not in the way the fae and fairies are. His power doesn’t run in his veins. It’s not in his build or his sword. Erina Latroy Jelnedyn is King of Tavras.He commands an army ready to destroy Askarea and hunt Myron and me to the ends of this realm.

I try not to quake with fear as he gestures to the daggers in my bloodied hands. “It doesn’t bode well for a king’s wife to fight with a blade, Wolayna.” His smirk is that of a man who has a group of bullies at his beck and call to do his dirty work. Only, those bullies are Fire Fairies, and they have two of my friends and my sister under their control. “In fact, a king’s wife shouldn’tfightat all.”

“I’m not yourwife,” I spit at him, ready to remind him with words and blade that no part of me belongs to him.

“Be careful, Ayna. Don’t let him goad you.”

Taking my sister’s advice, I force down a slow breath. Sweat beads my forehead and neck, my arms tired from fighting and my legs shaking from strain and terror.

“What does he want? Why is he here?”The more information I get before reacting to Erina the better.

Beside me, Herinor is still frozen, sword at the ready as if he was going to strike. Around us, his shield tightens and thickens, a layer strong enough to hold off the fire of the Flames.

“I don’t know,”Kaira admits. “One moment, we were sneaking down to help you; the next, we were being dragged into the clearing. He was waiting here with the Flames.”

That doesn’t sound good. Erina was waiting for us. He knew we’d come for the fairies. Well, perhaps notweexactly, but he knewsomeonewould come. Fairies, Crows. It doesn’t seem to matter to him as long as he has more magic wielders on whom he can test his weapons. I’m surprised they haven’t attacked us with the magic-subduing drug yet.

“Did he take your powers away?”It’s the only question I should be asking.

Kaira rolls her head an inch in a silent no. “Didn’t have time yet.”

With a quick scan of the Flames, I reassure myself there are no syringes in anyone’s hands and find it easier to breathe when I don’t spot any.

“Wife, fiancée… Does it really matter when you’ll end upmineanyway?” Erina says when I don’t say anything else. “You’ve caused quite a fuss, Wolayna.” The reprimand in his tone makes my blood boil, makes me want to scream my hatred at him.

I’m not yours. I won’t be yours. I don’t even want to breathe the same air as you.I don’t scream the words at him, though, keeping Kaira’s warning in mind. Erina wants something, and the clearer I can keep my head, the better. If I manage to buy some time, Myron will be at our side, his power ready to blast Erina out of this world.

“Not as long as we’re standing at the center of the group,”Kaira points out, and I realize only then that something is wrong.