Page 47 of Reign of Stars and Fire

“Gods.” He swiped at me. “What?”

I flew toward the old burrow where I’d left Calista. Gunnar cursed but had the brains to follow. He moved like a shadow. His time with the thieves and the guild of the Nightrender paid off now.

When we reached the lump of the overgrown burrow, I went behind a boulder and slid from one form to the next.

“Gunnar,” I said, rough and low. “My clothes, they’re in the burrow.”

Gunnar didn’t wait for me to respond before he pulled back the overgrown vines.

“Ash?”

“Gunnar!” The boy’s thrill drew a faint smile to my lips. Muffled laughter hinted he’d been tugged into the prince’s embrace. “You should’ve seen this score I got by the docks, Gunnar. Huge. Bigger than Kase coulda got.”

“Boy, I’ve no doubt you’ll be the trickiest Kryv. Well, second to Hanna.” Gunnar grunted. “Watch where you’re hitting, Ash. I still have vows to take. Gods, when did you get so damn tall? And what are you doing here?”

Boots shuffled over twigs as more people joined at the mouth of the tunnel.

“Nik.” Gunnar let out another laugh, one heady with relief, and more claps of palms over shoulders and backs woke the night. “It’s good to see you, but why . . . how did you know to come? Wait, Kase and Malin, they can’t—”

“Take a breath, princeling,” Niklas said. “We came alone. For now. But you know as well as me, much longer and we won’t be able to keep anyone away from these shores.”

“Hello, thieving prince,” Calista’s taunting voice sang from the hole. “How’s your scarred lover? Still crying over the sea fae’s mark?”

Gunnar scoffed. “She’s stunning as ever. Is that the tracker?”

“Bo is coming with us,” I called out.

Gunnar laughed, but the sound was tinged in bitterness. “How does it feel to be in the shackles, you bastard? You’re tearing down your own people.”

I didn’t look, but the smack of skin on skin led me to believe Gunnar, the playful, young thief, struck Bo. Based on the moan that followed, I’d wager he struck him hard.

“Angry?” Calista said through a snort.

“He invaded a small township filled with merchants and innocent folk. He helped steal their daughters, enslave their sons, and sent them tohis lord. I don’t need to guess what’s become of them. Angry is not the word I’d use.”

My stomach lurched and bile slithered up my throat. If we ever reached the true loyalty of Bo’s heart, he’d despise himself like Sofia.

“Come on out. We must hurry,” Gunnar said. “There are watchers everywhere, and they’re brutal.”

“Clothes.Someone.” I hugged my naked body, shivering and irritable.

“Yeah, yeah. We’re coming,” Calista said. She tossed my tunic and trousers over the boulder, then leaned against it like a silent sentinel for my dignity.

I dressed hastily, my tunic crooked and hair disheveled by the time I rounded the boulder.

Niklas met me, arms folded over his chest again. “You are Ari’s raven?”

“I shift, yes. I was no traitor to you in the East.”

“You saved our queen.” Junius spoke with somberness. “You saved Ari’s queen.”

“Can’t wait for Valen and Kase to find out.” Gunnar winked at me.

The past didn’t matter right now. I waved the notion away. “We need to get to the Court of Blood. Gunnar, you said there are burrows leading inside?”

“Yes. Saga, you need to know we’ve learned something this bastard can do. It’s not good.”

“As I said,” Stefan muttered, his gaze on me. “Dark glamour learns, adapts, and grows.”