Page 166 of A War of Three Kings

Gods, I know that feeling.

As she moves on, Niall comes to hold my hands. “Thank you. For everything.” It is all my brother-in-law can manage, but his eyes say so much more.

When Brianna leaves with Niall through the grand doors, I can’t help feeling like I am losing her. She is starting a new chapter in her life, in a city away from Appleshield, and I won’t have a significant role in it anymore.

Chapter 44

Aldrin

We spend weeks at the palace, taking advantage of the gathered nobles to discuss the trade agreement. I begrudgingly send my army of high and low fae back to my realm, only keeping my loyal band close.

After what feels like an eternity, we leave the palace of Sunbright City with both Edmund’s and my full entourage. Naomi remains to restore the Sanctuary of Magic in the capital. Relief floods me as I step through the portal in the palace, replacing the library’s dry warmth and the mustiness of old parchment with the misty rain and rich scent of vegetation at Appleshield Castle.

Keira steps out beside me, Edmund and all our combined warriors trailing behind. She keeps shooting me happy little grins as we make our way through the restored ancient gardens and up a path that leads to the orchards and castle. I place an arm around her shoulders and kiss her hair, and she nestles into my side.

She has been longing for home.

To spend peaceful hours, days and weeks together, undisturbed.

The light rain peters out and stops as we climb a hillside that is as still as a graveyard. No workers or guards are moving about. Not even birds or animals stir. Keira frowns into greenhouse after greenhouse. The glass is mostly fogged, and she bends down to peer through it. A sense of foreboding prickles my skin.

Keira turns to Edmund. “Why is no one working?”

Edmund frowns and cuts his conversation with Cyprien short, quickly glancing around.

“Is something wrong?” I ask, but I feel it too, deep in my gut. There should be guards making their rounds, workers moving between greenhouses, servants traveling in and out of the fortress.

“We will see what is going on when we reach the castle. I’m sure your mother and Caitlin have everything under control,” Edmund mutters, but from the alert look in his eye, it is clear he is worried. He calls a few guards to himself, and they take the lead, hands on the pommels of their swords.

That feeling of unease intensifies as we near the bridge that spans the ravine to the castle. Thick mists roll out of the deep valley, engulfing the bridge and licking across the rocky foundations of the keep. It is incredibly difficult to make out the guardhouse that leads to the keep’s entrance. Keira bites her lip and looks at me, nervousness rolling through her and bleeding into me.

We pause just before the bridge while Edmund frowns into the unknown, his jaw tight. His fingers dance across the pommel of his sword like he could cut down a force of nature with steel alone. After a long moment, he flicks his head toward the bridge and we step into the mist. I exchange a glance with Cyprien, but he only shrugs.

Our footsteps on the stone pavers are dull thuds, their sound muted by fog. It feels unnatural, too thick and unyielding, but perhaps I am being paranoid. It has just been raining and I am not familiar with these lands.

“Is it normal for mists this thick to form here?” I murmur to Keira.

“In the mountains and highest parts of the forest. Never here.” Her doe eyes are wide as they stare back at me.

I search for Edmund, about to tell him to dispel the mists with dry heat from his fire magic, but he is gone. Lost in the wall of white. I reach out to grab him, but something pushes me hard from behind, and I am suddenly staggering forward, fast.

I catch myself on a wield of hardened air, then craft ropes to wrap around Keira’s middle as she propels through the air and almost tumbles face first onto the pavers.

As I gently lower her to the ground, a massive boom echoes around us.The mists evaporate abruptly and the gatehouse behind us is suddenly blocked by a thick iron gate that has fallen in place.

Most of our people are trapped on the other side. They are only visible through narrow slits in the gate. The wall of air that thrust me into the courtyard pushed them backward, separating our force. Humans scream as they topple into each other, and some fall from the sides of the bridge.

Klara bangs against the other side of the gate, still trapped on the bridge and gesturing at something behind me. Silvan and Hawthorne stand on either side of her, whipping together air ropes to catch those soldiers from their falls into the valley’s depths.

Only a heartbeat passes before I turn to our assailants. I should have known the mists were summoned by magic, but they were expertly created. Fae archers line the top of the inner wall that surrounds us, their arrows nocked and pointed. Mostof our fighting force is outside, with only a handful of my and Edmund’s ranking soldiers around us.

I protect Keira with my body.

As I pull on my magic to throw up an air shield, all those fae turn and aim at me in unison. We all freeze and raise our hands, and I let go of the wield.

Cold dread burns through me as I take stock of their large number colonizing the wall. My heart rate ramps up as Keira’s fear pumps into me.

“Are these fae yours, by any chance, Aldrin?” Edmund’s voice is a low growl.

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