Page 38 of Straw and Gold (A Realm of Revelry #2)

I shook my head slowly. “She’s just taking his power. He never said anything about?—”

“He didn’t want you to know. He thought he was saving you from needless pain, but I couldn’t do it. He’s my friend and I love him, too.”

He rushed forward, grabbing my bare shoulders and shaking me. “Save him, Morella. Please . You were meant to save him.”

Just like that, I was gone, racing through the dark hall, down the stairs—so many fucking stairs. I would have given up my wings in an instant if it meant I could shift like the Forestfae and reach the cliffside faster.

My feet bare, my heart pounding, I raced to save the man who was mine. I claimed him, I loved him, I worked to break down every one of his fears, and I was not spending the rest of my life without him. I was not ruling this kingdom without him .

His name, his name, his name.

I knew it. He said I knew it.

My lungs were on fire as I rounded another corner, fast approaching the door to the library.

His name, his name, his name .

He’d given me everything I needed and I thought that meant the language of Céaduah. I thought he meant I knew his name intimately because I was so quick to learn the language.

Morelli. Morella.

I yanked open the library door, half flying down the winding staircase.

Morelli. Morella.

Intimately. I knew it intimately .

The jagged stones of citrine crystals hummed in the barest light as dawn continued its approach. I ran through the cavern, ignoring the cuts opening again on my feet.

I knew it. I had to know it .

I reached the end of the tunnel and shifted into a raven, my golden wings alight just as the first break of orange rays hit the citrine in the cliffside, signaling Killian’s last chance at someone saving him from the death that called his name in secret.

Fighting the concoction that had sent me so deep into sleep, I urged on, soaring over the valley below, spotting the cliffside where my husband kneeled, waiting for his fate.

His fate.

Moh Dhóches.

It was the only name he’d given me that was in Céaduah. He couldn’t say his own name, so that wasn’t it. But the others…

He called me Morella. He called me Goldling.

The first, I’d known all my life. Intimately. The second I’d known since the moment our bargain was struck and I became the only hope he had left.

My Morella, My Goldling.

Morelli and ór.

Morelliór.

Golden Mushroom.

That day I’d shouted Morelli across the cliffs, he’d been so proud. He’d praised me over and over, telling me how smart I was because I’d been so close.

So fucking close.

I beat my wings faster, though they felt like they were lighting on fire, and ignored the protest of my lungs, nearing the cliff’s edge as he came more into view. The sun’s rays crept forward as he sat on the edge of the cliff, just waiting to meet his fate as if he’d already accepted death.

Well, I hadn’t and it was I who controlled his fate.

I shifted mid-air, the golden sun hitting my back as I shoved him. Hard.

We tangled together, rolling away from the cliff’s edge, but I was faster, pushing him back down as he began to rise.

I spread my wings tipped in gold, rushing to the very edge of the cliff and shielding the man I loved from a fate I would not allow.

“MORELLIóR!” I screamed. The sound of his name echoed across the Citrine Cliffs, repeating over and over and shifting the wind that blew my hair across my face.

I repeated again and again the name I understood now was his.

“Morelliór! Morelliór! Morelliór!”

With all the breath I had left in my lungs, I screamed in perfect Céaduah, “His name is Morelliór and he is mine! You will not take him from me!”

“ Morella .” He pulled me to him, turning me with a stream of tears down his cheeks. Cupping my face, he kissed me, whispering over and over, “You did it. You did it, you did it, you fucking did it.”

I pushed him back and slapped him across the cheek. “I almost didn’t, you absolute ass! How could you?—”

A figure loomed at the tree line, walking slowly with golden curls I knew.

“Alista?” I breathed, stepping in front of Killian.

As she took a few more steps toward us, other figures came into view. The three guards I’d met when I arrived at the castle. One of the maids and a stable boy—several more I recognized but could not name.

Each Changelingfae neared, disappearing entirely when they touched Alista until all were gone but her. And then she changed, transforming into the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Her hair remained in golden ringlets that flowed down her back like a shimmering, woven river. Her skin darkened further to a deep brown like night itself could never compare. An aura of gold graced over her shimmering gown and eyes, blinding as the sun.

“Céad,” I whispered, attempting to shove Killian again as he grabbed my waist, pulling me behind him.

“Our bargain is over, Goddess of the Changelingfae,” he began. “She has discovered my true name and my power has returned. You cannot harm me.”

I skirted out of his grasp, blocking him with my body and wings as Céad continued forward as if all the time in the world was meant for her. “You cannot take him from me!” I shouted.

A grin, broken through madness, swept over her face as she withdrew a dagger from her hip and plunged it straight through my chest.