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A tear trickled off my lashes, down my nose, until I tasted the salt on my lips. Dagny befriended me when I was afraid of the Kryv. She fought tirelessly for Von, for Luca. She was bold and selfless.

Luca, all he’d wanted was his family. His friends. His peace.

“Save us a seat,” I whispered to the flames.Every sunrise, I will miss you.

Kase shifted and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, holding me tightly against his side. I hugged his waist.

To those who did not know him, the Nightrender was a fiend, a heartless shadow. To the rest of us, he was a man who valued nothing over those in his family. Luca Grym was his family. Dagny was both honorary Kryv and Falkyn. She was his family.

He loved them.

He hurt without them.

And he would try to hide it from the rest of us.

I tightened my hold on his waist a little more. “You were his brother, Kase Eriksson.”

He didn’t take his eyes off the dying pyres, but a muscle ticked in his jaw. “And he was mine.”

The pyres would fade through the night. Silence followed the procession back to the open gates of Felstad. Inge mutely ushered us toward the doors where we would soak up what time we had left before a new wave of sea fae, doubtless, returned to terrorize our shores.

We had plans to seal the shores. If we could but reach Niklas and the others across the Howl, perhaps we could manipulate some Elixist warding. Boil the sea so the fae would cook through their innards. Something equally brutal to make up for those they stole from us today.

On my next step, the ground shuddered. The same as it had done at the shore. Kase gripped my elbow and whirled toward the shore. Perhaps he had the same thought—had the North arrived?

Nothing, until . . .

“What is that?” Lynx asked.

A flash of strange, golden lightning burst across the sky.

“Raum, what do you see?” Kase gestured to his Kryv. Raum’s eyesight and mesmer had only gained potency over the turns.

Raum stepped forward, eyes narrowed. “I-I can’t tell exactly, but it looks like a burst of just . . .light. It’s from—gods—it’s hailing from the West.”

Calista. My pulse quickened, but I had little time to fret over our storyteller. In the next breath, the ground lurched again. More violent. A sick crack below us gave way to the truth that our foundation, the damn bedrock beneath our feet, was crumbling.

Kryv moved swift as shadows and reached for the young ones. Lynx snagged Von, while Inge shouted for Hob to shield their daughter.

“Jonas! Sander!” Kase shouted, one hand on me, the other arm open, beckoning to our sons. “Come to me, now.Now.”

The twins sprinted for us. No sooner had they wrapped their skinny arms around their father’s waist, the soil shook with such force that we stumbled to our knees, and Klockglas seemed to sink into the sea.

Chapter25

The Raven Queen

The Court of Hearts—Southern Kingdom

Ari’slong Night Folk legs could outpace me by three strides to one. I fought to lengthen my gait, but with the violent shudders in the soil, it made the journey worse. My heart was screaming for speed. We needed to reach the burrows. I needed her in my arms.

All at once, Ari yanked me off our path as the ground sunk into a deep crevice.

“What’s happening?” A pointless question. Ari knew as much as me.

For days the isle had, once again, succumbed to the wild plague, only worse. Fae folk thrashed and writhed in spitting rage until the healers tended to them with Niklas’s elixirs. Since the battle of the isles, every kingdom was well stocked with the wards against Davorin’s dark glamour.

Still, when it caught their blood, the wild plague was vicious and unforgiving.