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“I feel as if this is meant for Sol,” I admitted.

“It is a start, then,” Cuyler offered.

“I always burn them.” I glanced at Forbi. “May I use your candle?”

Danna huffed, flicking her fingers toward Silas. “No need for flames of old. When the moment is right, the song of heart will take hold.”

My pulse quickened. Silas was the other half of my song, and we were reunited again. Fire likely paled next to the power of the connection in our joined seidr. Kept apart all this time, doubtless the flame had purpose, but now . . . perhaps all we need was each other.

I tucked Sol’s song into my trousers and reached for the quill again. “There’s more.”

Silas’s soft voice followed every scratch of quill to parchment. The same brilliant flame ignited in my gut, a desire so fierce I nearly reached out and pulled him closer. It was consuming, confusing, and intoxicating all at once as the words flowed between us.

When shields fall, a heart will call.

Send light to crowns of fate.

When enemies stand on this first land,

Then ends this battle of hate.

I studied the parchment. No time was wasted wondering what it could all mean. It didn’t matter. Deep in my belly, I knew it was a path written in stone. No matter what I did, this fight would reach our shores.

Davorin was attacking. He was weakening fated crowns through his ploys and dark games.

“I don’t want this battle sod to win,” I whispered to Silas. “I cannot stop his return.”

“It has already begun,” he said.

“I don’t want to run. I don’t want more funeral pyres. He’s harming the people I love.” He would come for Silas. A surprising thought, but it ached. Davorin had already tried to murder my Whisper before. The scar was visible forever.

“What is it you want, Little Rose?”

“To understand this feeling. This pull . . . to you.”

His jaw pulsed. “Will you deny it?”

“I want to.” I admitted. His body stiffened when I stood by his side. “But only because I don’t understand it.”

Silas hesitated, then held out a hand. “Then stay with me. I will tell you all I know.”

Cuyler cleared his throat and faced the few blood fae who’d followed into the cellar. “The princess and Wraith will do their part in preparing these shores against more sea fae and our common enemy. We take our places with the restored Rave. We serve them as fiercely as we serve the fae isles of the South.”

His men slammed their fists against their chests.

“We serve you, Calista Ode.” Cuyler gave me a small smile, then looked to Silas. “And the Mad King.”

Silas’s cheeks heated in a flush of pink. He didn’t deny it. Another of those questions for which I needed an answer. How had he been here, known as a king, a leader in this dreary kingdom, yet never been seen?

“Come on.” I slipped my fingers through Silas’s. “You don’t say much, Whisper, but I will need you to do some talking.”

His mouth twitched in a small smile. “Say the word, Little Rose, and I will tell you anything.”

“Good, because I have a feeling, a nasty one, that we don’t have much time to figure out what steps we ought to take. I have a feeling my kings and queens are fighting battles, and I’m not certain any of us can defeat them without each other.”

Chapter20

The Phantom