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The fire stabbed through me with such ferocity that for half a second, I thought some seed of magic had finally burst to life within me. But in the next heartbeat, I realized what it truly was.

Jealousy.

40

ARRAN

The days crept by. One, then two, then three. I hardly saw her. We spoke not a word.

The hate that burned in her eyes every time she passed by was enough to put paid to the notion that something had shifted between us. Veyka hated me as much as she ever had.

And I… perhaps it was not quite hate, not any longer.

I would never respect her decisions. I would never forgive her for leaving her kingdom to the treacherous royal council. Nor would I ever forget finding another male lounging in her bed as if he had any right to be there.

But some part of me could understand the rage that burned inside of her, the consuming need for revenge.

I’d once been brutalized.

Held captive and punished for the things that were a fact of my birth and beyond my control. I understood what it meant to need revenge, to be consumed by it. But I’d been a child with no responsibilities beyond my own survival.

She was Queen of the Elemental Fae.

She wanted to avenge Arthur—deserved to, even. But not at the cost of everything else. I had to get her to see that she was being shortsighted. Thatshecould be the ruler that Arthur would have been.

Veyka could be the future of Annwyn. The Princess of Peace.

If only she would give a damn about something other than herself.

41

VEYKA

The festival of Lugnasa was three days away. Mabon would follow six weeks later. Which meant the Joining…

Thatwas not something I could think about.

By Mabon, I would be gone.

Time was not working in my favor.

I had to get to the human.

The preparations for the festival were ramping up by the hour. The Royal Council was overseeing them, of course. I’d thought about asking Arran to do it—for all his posturing about duty and being stewards of peace, I did not think that party planning was included in his background as a commander of deadly armies. It was almost too tempting an opportunity to miss.

But I had other plans for him.

So, I strapped my scabbards around my waist and the long, curved blades across my back. I checked that my braid was secure, and then I slipped out the secret balcony passage.

Last I’d checked, Gwen and Lyrena had been standing guard in the antechamber. Since Gwen had been appointed one of my Goldstones, Arran had given over sleeping outside my door. But an instinct in my stomach told me that he was never far away, that he was guarding me still, though less conspicuously.

That instinct was rewarded around the three hundredth downward step.

I slowed my steps, pausing on the next landing. It could hardly be called that, really. It was double the width of the other narrow stairs, marked with a tiny slat cut into the goldstone that allowed in a thin shaft of light. It was not quite dark yet. Lugnasa marked the end of summer in the elemental kingdom. Sneaking out was always easier in the winter, when the days were shorter. But I didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

I leaned back against the goldstone, letting its perpetual warmth permeate my skin as I listened.

Ten more steps, and he’d round the curve. I’d kept my steps silent, but I doubted he would be surprised to find me waiting here. He seemed to anticipate my movements, to hover right outside of my field of view, waiting and watching. Most of the time, I hated it. But today, I would use it to my advantage.