Page 67 of King of Fire and Flames

“Arrow will come to your room as soon as he can, probably during dinnertime,” she hissed. “I implore you to listen to him for once.”

My heart exploded in my chest. “Did you tell him what the fire fae did to—”

“Sh...” She cut me off for the second time with a glance at my mergelyn anklet. “As per King Azarn’s order, you must make ready to help the Storm King heal. In the meantime, speak no more to me, Princess of Dust. Your grating voice exhausts me.”

“Likewise,” I murmured, smothering a laugh with my fingers.

The walk back to the tower was solemn, the silence broken only by the sound of our footfalls and breathing as we climbed the stairs to my chamber.

At the door, I turned and touched her arm. “Would you like to come in? If you enjoy books, perhaps I can read to you. Or we could just… train together. Might be fun.”

Pressing her finger to her lip, she shook her head. “Just in case,” she mouthed, dropping her gaze to my ankle again, a look of genuine disappointment on her face.

That damn stupid anklet. It was more than possible that Melaya couldn’t eavesdrop through it and Bakhur had only said so just to stop me from scheming with my friends. But Esen was right. It wouldn’t be wise to say too much just in case.

After an hour of exercise, I bathed, dressed in a simple silk gown, and then took a book of rather gruesome murder poetry over to the window seat. As the sun set, gulls and fire hawks swooped through a gold-tinged sky, hunting for their dinner in the last of the daylight.

Instead of reading, I stared over the cliffs toward the sea, thinking about Arrow.

It was getting harder to believe that he had betrayed me. When I put it all together, the sequence of events, everything he had said and done, his innocence was the only thing that made sense.

So, perhaps he did care about me, and all was right in the realms, after all.

When my eyes grew heavy and I entertained the idea of taking a quick nap before dinner, a fist pounded on the door three times. Then I heard a deep, rumbling voice.

The Storm King had come to visit his Aldara.

“As promised,” he said as the latch turned, “I’m here to feed from you, Princess Zali.”

Arrow and the same two guards from last night entered my chamber, their windswept hair and cloaks carrying the scent of woodsmoke and brine.

“Oh, you came,” I said, meeting the intense gaze of the fae who had once enslaved me. I forced my lips into a sneer. “I was beginning to think you’d lost your nerve.”

Chapter 21

Arrow

Lost my nerve?

Truly my Aldara was the realm’s biggest shit stirrer. The fury in her green eyes hit me with the power of a thousand lightning bolts, causing shock waves to radiate through my body.

She fucking hated that I could just stroll into her room without consent and do anything I liked to her. Which was understandable.

But she probably hated me with a fiery passion because she believed I held her captive against her will. Again. But nothing could be further from the truth. Convincing Azarn to allow the feedings was the only way I could get close to her and strengthen the Aldara bond. To protect her.

And fuck her misplaced scorn. I was Leaf’s hero, not the villain in her story, and I wouldn’t stop trying to prove it until my dying breath.

Sitting in the window seat, she gazed dreamily at the sunset as if I wasn’t there, chin on her knees, hugging them tightly against her chest. The guards took their places on either side of the door, their armor creaking and clanking, but Leaf didn’t turn around.

“Look at me,” I said in her mind.

“Go away, Arrow. I’m not in the mood,” she said, staring out of the window.

Pain lanced my shoulder blades as my wings manifested, black and purple feathers flaring at the sides of my vision. I stalked forward, grabbed the book she clutched, and threw it across the room.

Anger blazed in her eyes.

“Get up,” I growled for the guards’ benefit.

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