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To save Annwyn…

Then he saw nothing at all.

77

ARRAN

I didn’t like the idea at all.

The Faeries of the Fen had been nothing but good to us. Provided refuge, food, and information. But priestesses were dangerous in any race or realm.

A priestess had foretold my birth and led to my mother’s rape at the hands of dozens of brutal terrestrial males.

Another had made the Void and Ethereal Prophecies, sending us on this mad flight across the human realm in search of answers.

The witch in the Tower of Myda, mind stolen by the succubus, had almost killed Veyka.

I was beginning to think we were better off not knowing what the future held—or the past.

But Veyka hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the glittering faerie’s offer. It had weighed on her conscience, even in the most joyous moments.

I can help you.

My mate wanted answers. The half-human priestess who’d made the Void Prophecy was in Avalon, still no more than figment of possibility on the horizon. But the faerie priestess was here, accessible. I couldn’t deny Veyka the chance to quiet the possibilities that terrorized her.

“Stop growling.”

I hadn’t realized I was.

“My mistake, Princess. I thought you enjoyed when my beast growled for you.”

Her hair whipped over her shoulder, the white gleaming almost silver in the low light of the tunnel. “He’s not growling for me.”

Yes, he was.

Just not for lust.

“How much farther?”

Veyka dragged a hand along the stone and dirt wall. “We are nearly there.”

“If you haven’t gotten us lost.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and turned back around without another word. But she was right—less than a full minute passed before she stopped right in front of an alcove. I could see why it had surprised her when she and Maisri first stubbled across it. It was shallower than the other alcoves, and didn’t appear to lead into a network of rooms like the others. It was just one room, a yard or so deep, and largely unadorned.

The only items within were the altar with crystals, as Veyka had described, and the low fire. It wasn’t lit—not yet.

The faerie sat directly between the altar and the unlit hearth. “You have returned sooner than I expected.”

“Not much of a seer, then.”

If I’d have said it, Veyka would have embedded her elbow in my side. But she ignored me entirely, regarding the faerie from beneath skeptical eyebrows

The silvery-black female merely folded her hands in her lap. “I did not need the sight to know that you would come searching for me Veyka Pendragon.”

Veyka’s mouth tightened. “You said you could help me. I have many questions. I need answers.”

“But which ones are the most important to you—the ones that will save your kingdom, or the ones that will save your soul?”