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A silent, almostsereneplace, like the still surface of a lake hiding unfathomable depths.

Alyra fluttered from my shoulder and soared along the shoreline. Only when I turned to follow her did I notice Tared, Lyn, and Naxi, who had appeared a few hundred strides away on the other side of the bay. Beyla was already marching towards them. I risked a glance at Creon beside me and found him studying the crystalline rocks around us with soft, almost wistful eyes.

‘You’ve never been here,’ I murmured, unwilling to disturb the peaceful silence.

He shook his head, then sighed and nodded at the others, jaw tightening.Let’s tell them we’re getting out of here.

I blinked. ‘Beg your pardon?’

To explore the island, he clarified as he started walking, signs sloppy enough to be unreadable from a distance.Don’t think we need to trudge around the place with the full group, and I’m not in the mood to tolerate Tared’s face a moment longer than necessary.

‘Right. Yes.’ I forced a chuckle and tried not to think of Tared’s face if I were to announce that I was about to set out with Creon and only Creon as my company. ‘Do you have a rough idea of where to find the castle ruins?’

He shrugged.Wings help.

Of course.

I was still bracing myself when we reached the rest of the group. It turned out not to be necessary. The moment we came within hearing distance, Lyn said in that firm tone that did not allow for objection, ‘… so if Em and Creon go take a look at whatever that shield is …’

I could have kissed her, but I managed to keep my expression carefully neutral. ‘What would you be doing instead?’

‘See if we can find any traces of recent fae activity.’ She shrugged at Beyla, whose cold nod contained equal parts annoyance and agreement. ‘You’ve been to the east side of the island, too, I presume?’

‘Yes.’ Beyla sighed. ‘I’ll take that side. Naxi, coming with me?’

The reasonable grouping, assuming that Lyn and Tared would stick together even through their disagreements of the day. But Beyla and Naxi faded off without further discussion, and that left me alone with Creon and the two people whose doomed love I had potentially blown up – the four of us standing on that glittering black beach in a long moment of stifling silence, threads of excruciating tension stretching back and forth between each and every one of us.

Was this a moment to apologise yet again, or would that only make everything worse?

‘Well.’ Tared flatly broke the silence before I could remember how to move my lips. ‘Let us know if you need any help with that shield, I suppose.’

Get the hell out of my sight, the undertone suggested.

Not the moment for apologies, then.

‘Will do,’ I forced myself to say, sliding my bag off my shoulders and dropping it in the sand. ‘Do we meet you here when we’re done?’

They barely had time to nod before Creon scooped me into his arms and took off into the pale blue morning sky, Alyra following us in a blur of fluffy white and grey. Infinitely familiar arms around me, strong and reassuring as always, and yet I couldn’t suppress a twinge of dread at the thought of the people we’d left behind – of the way Tared would be re-evaluating every touch I shared with the male holding me, every moment we’d spend alone.

What an irony, that a week ago I would have been overjoyed at this moment of freedom, the lack of alves running after us to protect my honour and innocence. Now I felt the accusing glares weighing like millstones on my shoulders, lingering even after we’d passed the first mountain ridge and disappeared from the others’ view.

Give him time, Lyn had said, but how much time was it going to take?

Below us, the breathtaking landscape of the island unfolded, and its sheer untamed beauty was enough to break through the smothering haze of my worries for a moment. The rugged mountain slopes stretched across most of the inland, valleys cut between them like deep claw marks in black stone. Windswept olive trees and the occasional sturdy cypress covered the slopes. Deep pools on the higher plateaus mirrored the blue sky, surrounded by wisps of vapor that made me wonder whether the water rising from the depths of the earth was warm in those spots; creeks and waterfalls ran from those wells, sparkling across the slopes and terraces like a crystal spider web.

It wasn’t pretty the way a meticulously kept garden would be pretty; it wasn’t lush or colourful or sweet. But there was a magnificence to the panorama below us, a sense of tranquillity, as if we were treading on the last patch of earth that hadn't been tainted by war and bloodshed.

Until the castle loomed up before us, at least.

Perched atop a cliff on the northwest edge of the island, the Cobalt Court was a grand vision of a bygone age – a mess of crumbling turrets and gaping archways, surrounded by rubble and overgrown with ivy. Once it must have been an idyllic place, a labyrinth of corridors and grand halls surrounded by extensive gardens. The last blue-grey granite walls and their high, vaulted windows still suggested a soothing place full of light and peace – a place of healing, even, and I had a sudden vision of long library halls and bright flowers and slow sunsets over the whispering sea … But the gardens had turned into wilderness, barely a quarter of the building was still standing, and even the remaining towers stretched towards the sky like skeletal fingers.

A shiver ran down my spine, nervousness and a strange, twisted admiration for this grandiose, forgotten place.

‘It must have been beautiful,’ I breathed, clutching Creon’s labouring shoulders as we flew. ‘How could she ruin a place like this?’

He didn’t reply as he began his slow descent, his arms beneath my knees and armpits, his gaze focused on the ruins ahead. But as we landed at the foot of the castle’s cliff, on a narrow path that winded upwards to our destination, he averted his eyes and signed,Destroying beautiful things is what she’s always done best.

Too much weight, too much meaning. I rubbed my face and muttered, ‘She didn’t destroy you.’