Page 9 of The Kingdom of Flames and Ash

No, I’m not. I’m only able to do this because you’re with me. Otherwise, I have no doubt my hatred would take control.He straightened his shoulders despite holding me and said, “We won’t attack you unless we feel threatened.”

Mom and Dad looked at each other and nodded.

Unease floated through our bond—Tavish’s discomfort from turning his back to his enemy. My skin crawled from the sensation, adding more stress to my own. He took off back toward the castle, with the Seelie following right behind us.

Everywhere Tavish and I turned, we couldn’t catch a break. I could only hope that Eldrin did have a way to get my parents out of the contract with the dragons, or I feared that, for the rest of our lives, Tavish and I would be facing threat after threat. The thought of being with anyone else made me sick to my stomach. He was it for me, and I didn’t want a life without him by my side.

Sprite, I won’t allow them to do anything to you.Tavish kissed the top of my head.I’ll protect you to the end.

He thought I feared what the Seelie might do to me, and I didn’t want to correct him. We needed to face one adversary at a time, and at the moment, I needed to decipher my parents’ intentions and inform them that Eiric had been taken.

A sharp ache pierced my heart, making it feel as if it might shatter. If something happened to Eiric, it would have a huge missing piece. A sob built in my chest, and I tried to push it away. Maybe if we worked together, we could uncover an effective way to get Eiric back with minimal bloodshed without having to hand myself over.

The Unseelie men and women stood in the streets. The handful of children who had been outside were no longer in sight.

“The Seelie have vowed to let us be as long as we don’t attack them.” Tavish spoke slowly and clearly, making sure that everyone could hear each word. “We shall honor that request and retaliate only if they betray us once again.”

The two thousand people who had to be standing in the pathway between the two rows of homes lowered their weapons but kept hold of the hilts, ready to wield them at a moment’s notice.

I couldn’t blame them.

Tavish continued to fly overhead, leading the Seelie guards to the castle. Nightbane remained at the stairs where I’d left him, his glowing lime eyes keeping watch.

The silence was deafening as both sides sized each other up, determining the threat. When we reached the top of the stairs, Tavish landed, placing me gently back onto my feet.

Wanting to comfort Nightbane, I threaded my fingers through his fur. His body uncoiled ever so slightly at my touch.

“Open the doors,” Tavish commanded his guards.

A second later, the doors creaked and opened. Struan and several guards he seemed to trust stood in the center of themassive, dark hallway. Lanterns hung on the walls, flickering only dim light that limited vision.

The way Tavish had preferred to keep the castle when I’d first arrived here.

We stood in the center with the dark wall at our backs as Struan took up a position to the left of Tavish and a woman guard moved to the right of Nightbane, with me in the center.

Most of the Seelie guards stopped outside, hovering above the people while they created a hole in the center where Mother and Father would fly down, heavily protected on all sides.

Mom and Dad landed a few feet before us, scanning the guards.

“Lira doesn’t need protection from us.” Mom snorted and wrinkled her nose as if the thought were insulting. “We mean her no harm.”

“But you do us?” Tavish countered, tilting his head and interlacing our fingers.

“As we said, we mean you no harm.” Dad cut his eyes at Mom and sighed. “Lira is our daughter, and we love her. That’s all that she meant.”

Normally, Mom was the one smoothing out Dad’s words, but Eiric and my leaving the way we had must have rattled her more than I’d realized. My shoulders sagged. I hadn’t meant to cause her that much distress, but of course, our actions would have impacted her. Both daughters gone in one breath.

A commotion sounded outside, and I looked over their heads to see Father and Mother almost at the stairs, Father wearing his golden tunic with black pants and Mother in a matching golden gown. The Unseelie grumbled, and a few spat on the ground.

I winced, but they weren’t attacking… just expressing their disgust, which was fair.

My father, King Erdan, didn’t appear fazed.

When Mother’s emerald-eyed gaze landed on me, she let out a shaky breath and soared toward me. “Lira,” she exclaimed in both relief and frustration.

A tone damn close to resembling a threat.

Nightbane snarled and moved in front of me. He hunkered down, and before I could reach him, he jerked forward to attack.

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