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The fierceness in her gaze was magical. She was the most magnificent being he’d ever laid eyes on. If her face was the last thing he saw before hellfire consumed him, then Rion would gladly welcome his end.

Arianna extended her long knife and her magic spun down the blade in a crackling current. It whizzed past his head, barely kissing his cheek with the cold and Rion turned to find a blade of ice protruding from a male’s throat.

Rion didn’t know what to say or do with himself. Arianna stood before him, dressed in a way he’d never seen. She was covered from head to toe in black with places for daggers all over her body. Her twin blades dripped with water and blood and the magic surrounding her emitted a pulsing current that almost seemed alive.

Arianna was no longer just a female from Móirín. She was a warrior. A queen ready to conquer and take what belonged to her.

And her eyes. They were locked with his. So close. She was so close that he could have reached out and touched her, but Rion didn’t dare.

He should be fighting. They both should, but somehow time had stopped.

Rion let the blade fall from his hand first. She didn’t look away. He released the chain next and still her gaze remained locked with his. He couldn’t read her emotions anymore and he wouldn’t risk reaching for the bond. He wasn’t even sure he could.

A mixture of recognition and disbelief thawed her icy stare.

She gasped.

Then Rion hit his knees.

He was at her mercy now. Whatever she wanted from him, she could have. She was his lover. His mate. His queen.

The battle behind them ebbed, leaving only the sounds of the swollen river behind. Arianna’s lips parted and her body shuddered as she released an uneasy breath. Rion turned his wrists up and stared at the Queen of Alastríona.

“Rion?” His mother’s voice broke the silence, but neither Arianna nor Rion turned to look at her. It was a though neither quite knew what to do from here.

He knew what he wanted. More than anything he longed to pull her into his embrace and sob into her shoulder, begging for some shred of forgiveness. But Rion wouldn’t reach for her, not until she reached first. She deserved that from him.

She deserved so much more from the world.

Talon entered his view, the male placing himself between Arianna and Rion’s mother who was closing in fast with a blade still in her hand. Kaylee trailed her. Talon didn’t attack and Rion knew exactly what the male saw. A female and a child, both bruised and shackled, as ready to fight as they were to flee.

Eimear stepped again.

“You can trust them.” Rion’s voice shook, but his mother paused. She studied his position on the ground then the female Rion was kneeling before. Something sparked in his mother’s gaze and he wondered if she were seeing an old friend in Arianna’s face.

Eimear threw her sword down, then Talon sheathed his weapon.

“You’re The Divine?”

Arianna broke from Rion’s stare to study Eimear. She soaked in every detail, from her waist length matted hair to the tattered clothes covering her too thin body. Arianna’s gaze darkened when she glimpsed the shackles on her wrists. “Yes, and you are?”

Eimear straightened as if ready to present herself even after everything she’d been through. “Eimear, High Lady of Brónach.”

Arianna’s lips parted and Talon’s head whipped toward Rion’s mother. No one moved for a time as they processed the living ghost who’d come back from the dead.

“We need to move,” was all Talon said, but Rion could see the way he watched Eimear. As if he wanted to help but didn’t quite know how.

Rion knew Talon was right. They weren’t safe here, but there were so many things he wanted, no, needed to say to Arianna. This wasn’t the reunion he’d been hoping for. He needed time to apologize and figure out how they were going to move forward with their relationship, if she wanted to move forward at all.

But those things would have to wait. The important thing was that he and his mother were free and Arianna was as far away from Niall as she could get.

Talon picked through their enemies’ weapons and replaced the knives across his chest before fetching a bag and sorting through the contents. Rion’s mother just bent to console the girl.

But when Arianna looked at him again, Rion couldn’t bring himself to move. It seemed as though their world froze all over again and he was locked in an endless moment of agony.

“Tell me what to do,” he whispered, his heart beating so hard he was sure it would stop. “Tell me what you need.”

She didn’t speak at first, but when Arianna cleared her throat, her voice was soft. Hesitant. “A-are you hurt?”