Page 42

Chapter Forty-Two

A elia

Over the last few days, the steady routine of training grounded me. With my hands clutched around the familiar hilts of my daggers, I finally began to feel like myself again. Physically, at least. I’d grown weak from that month of confinement in Helroth’s dungeon, my muscles soft from lack of exertion. Reign and Kaelith sought to remedy that, and I was thankful for it. Mostly…

Sweat poured down my back, my muscles straining from the past hour of tireless effort. A swirl of light and dark hair lashed across my face, the icy breeze lifting from the sea below cooling my heated skin. I drew in a breath, reveling in the hint of normalcy after months of upheaval.

The hair on my nape prickled, and my gaze lifted to the manor above, my eyes drawn to the spot like a magnet. Reign’s familiar form was braced in the doorway etched into the cliff, piercing stare razing over me. Splaying his fingers, he loosed a shadow, and the dark messenger curled around the back of my neck.

“I’m watching you.”

Summoning my own nox to the surface, the dark tendrils oozed from my pores. I threw my hands out, sending my reply. “Don’t you have better things to do?”

“Oh, I do, but I can’t seem to tear my gaze away from you.”

Unexpected heat flushed my cheeks, then dove down, deep into my core. Oh, Raysa . The cuorem pulsed to life, only exacerbating the warmth flooding my system. I would never get anything accomplished with that smoldering gaze sending my body aflutter.

My true cuoré. How had I been so blind to the obvious? Even with Helroth’s cursed memories, I should have listened to my heart which had screamed the truth from the moment I set eyes on Reign after the endless months of imprisonment.

“You’re distracting me,” I shot back, a smile threatening. “Go away.”

“Fine, focus. Your training is important.” Icy tendrils danced across my spine as his shadows whispered their goodbyes before shooting back to their keeper.

His velvety orbs remained pinned to mine for an endless moment longer, trapping me in their hypnotic gaze. How could one look be filled with so much everything? He finally turned away, releasing me from that mesmerizing hold, and I drew in a much-needed breath. I would worry about this thing growing between us later. Now, it was time to concentrate.

Balancing my dagger in the palm of my hand as I’d often done with Aidan, I searched for the calm, my thoughts transported to the quiet clearing beside our home in Feywood. Despite frequent urging, Reign still insisted going to visit my adoptive father wouldn’t be safe. I nagged him daily, nonetheless.

Flying with Sol was also deemed an unnecessary risk, so I hadn’t been allowed to engage in what I was sure was one of my favorite past times. I’d reached out to Sol on numerous occasions only to find the shimmering bond between us walled over. I hated that I’d hurt him—that I’d hurt everyone, apparently. Ruhl hadn’t returned in days, either, and despite finally understanding he wasn’t my cuoré, I still missed him. The memories Helroth embedded in my brain still lived, flaring at the mention of my betrothed—another situation I’d have to contemplate later.

“Throw, Aelia!” Kaelith’s shout reverberated across the jumble of thoughts warring for dominance.

Flipping my wrist, I sent the dagger flying end over end across the ragged terrain of the cliffside. I watched as it met its mark, sinking into the heart of a nightmarish illusion Kae had conjured.

The Night Fae’s powers were extraordinary—not only was the creature he’d summoned from his mind realistic, it seemed to have corporeal form. The thwack of the blade sinking into his body as real as the tips of my newly sharpened ears.

After the night I’d accidentally hopped into Rue’s body in a fit of jealousy—jealousy that, as it turned out, had been only in my mind—Reign had insisted Kae train me on astral possession. It was as if the enraged bond had made me see things in a completely exaggerated way, the discussion between Reign and Rue much more amorous than it had been in reality.

Despite Reign’s urging, my Night Fae instructor had been less than amenable to oblige me. Instead, he focused most of his training on combat, something I could have easily done with Reign.

A wisp of a memory lingered at the corner of my mind. Countless hours spent with the blazing sun caressing my shoulders and the broody Shadow Fae at my side. The visions were fleeting but increasing the more time I spent with him.

Reign and I had passed the last few evenings sitting on the balcony off my room staring up at the starlit night. He’d ask me to recount detailed stories of my first months at the Conservatory, then correct the parts Helroth had twisted into lies. It was a painstaking process, but after nearly a week, I’d made noticeable progress.

“Again, Aelia!”

I glanced up to find Kaelith’s citrine eyes fixed to mine. I still held a dagger in my fist, poised to strike. Focusing on the new target he’d conjured, my brows drew together as I recognized the familiar features, the long dark hair, the high cheekbones and blazing midnight irises.

“You’re joking, right?” I lifted a dark brow at my instructor.

He’d created the spitting image of Reign. Not that the two males got along well, by any means, but this was a blatant insult.

“What?” He crossed his thick arms over his chest, the smirk creeping across his wide jaw plain even from this distance.

“Kaelith…” I growled, marching closer.

“I thought the image of the male destined to destroy you would only provide more motivation.”

The lightheartedness I’d finally started to recover over the past few days slowly shriveled. How could I have been so stupid to disregard the obvious? Though most of the terrible memories of Reign that Helroth had planted were lies, this one was not.

My cuoré was still bound by blood to kill me.

It didn’t matter. A surge of fury bubbled deep in my core as I ate up the final yards between us. Jabbing my finger into Kae’s unyielding chest, I hissed, “Change him now.”

His eyes flared, the citrine glowing more intense. “Watch yourself, Light Fae.”

“You mean princess , don’t you, Kae?” I rose to my tiptoes, pinning the big brute in my steeliest glare. “Do not forget who you are speaking to. I am Princess Aelia of Inferna, your future queen.” Power surged through my veins, the trio of energies rattling my ribcage with such force I struggled to keep still.

Kae’s head dipped, eyes dropping to the rocky ground. “As you wish, princess.”

I eyed the illusion, and now up close, his resemblance to Reign was even more striking. “Never mind, I’ll do it myself.” Calling the cloying zar to the surface, I kept one hand on my medallion before I allowed the insidious energy to overtake me. Somehow, the warm gold pendant grounded me through the worst of it. The power blossomed, inching across my body instead of in the usual overpowering torrent.

Focusing on the smoky trails, I splayed my fingers at the second-rate image of Reign and imagined a new face, one of my own making. I blinked and the illusion blurred for an instant before sharpening into a recognizable shape.

Kaelith’s brilliant eyes widened, the expression of shock worth every second of torture at this man’s hand.

“Well done, Aelia.” Reign appeared beside me, his wings of shadow coiled around his shoulders. “It’s an amazing likeness. Helroth would be proud.”

With my gaze still pinned to Kae’s, I drew my dagger back and sank the blade into the Night King’s chest.

A wave of satisfaction sailed through the cuorem bond, a tangle of Reign’s and mine. His hand curled around my own, the faint squeeze filling me with a strength I didn’t realize I was missing. My grandsire may have thought he’d succeeded in stealing my memories, twisting my very soul, but I would find my way back, even if I had to fight to the surface with tooth and claw.

Reign turned his lethal stare on the towering Night Fae. “I suggest you begin working with Aelia on astral possession, as I asked days ago.”

“It’s not that simple,” he ground out.

“Seems simple enough,” I replied. I had no problem spontaneously jumping out of my body, not only on one occasion, but two. The first time I’d done it, when I possessed Mera’s body, it had been in my sleep and I’d had no control over it. But with Rue, it had been different.

“It’s Helroth, isn’t it?” Reign snapped. “He’s only allowing you to instruct her in certain Night Fae abilities, the ones he can control.”

“I am simply following orders,” he rasped.

“Well, then I’m giving you new orders, Kae.” My powers surged to the surface again, but with Reign’s hand still wrapped around mine, the typically overwhelming energy felt oddly subdued. “I need you to teach me everything.”

Reign’s shadows spilled from his form, curling and wrapping around the Night Fae before he could make a move. “What Aelia is too kind to say is this: train her in every last one of her Night Fae abilities, or you’re useless to me. The only reason you still draw breath is because of her mercy. I don’t share her kindness. Prove your worth, Kaelith, or face my shadows—and trust me, after the hell you’ve put me and my cuoré through, I’ll make sure mercy is the last thing you’ll find.”