Page 50 of A Reign of Roses
Relief swamped me as that pain in his eyes blossomed into awe and then male pride. “You can shift? Into what?”
“Well, nothing yet,” I admitted. “Someone distracted me.”
“I thought I could catch you before you leapt.”
But…he hadn’t shifted. We’d been falling to our deaths, and he hadn’t shifted…“Why didn’t you transform?”
His gaze devoured my own, filled with sorrowful understanding. “I don’t have use of my lighte right now. And I don’t have my Fae strength, or my heightened senses…”
“Kane, you’re…” I couldn’t fathom the words.
“Mortal. For the time being, yes.”
He moved us deeper in the bushes until we could stand. A long stick scraped along my thigh, still exposed in my scant gown, but I hardly noticed. Kane…the mostFaebeing I’d ever known—wasmortal.
My dragon, unable to shift.
“Do you miss it?” I couldn’t help the question.
His breath shuddered out. “Terribly.”
“How did this happen to you? Why did you come here? What were you even doing on the roof?”
“A piss-poor attempt at a rescue, clearly. Though, in my defense, I hadn’t expected you to fling yourself out a window.”
I tried to smile but my lips split where I had scrubbed them raw.
“What did you do to your lovely mouth?” he asked, reaching to stroke my bruised bottom lip with his thumb. The sensation sent sparks along my veins.
“He kissed me.” The memory curdled in me like sour milk.
Kane’s nostrils flared with thinly concealed rage. “I saw.”
“You did?” I angled my head toward the castle roof, towering high above us. “How did you even know where to find me?”
He sighed tightly. “Every Solstice they hope the most fertile Fae will bear my father a full-blooded heir. I’m familiar with the ceremonial chamber.”
I winced.
Kane marked my reaction, and wrath—blisteringwrath—rippled from that stare. “Which is why you need to go. It won’t be long before they realize you’re no longer in the washroom.”
“How, though?” I peered through the dense shrubbery as best I could. We were outside the castle, but in the heart of the city. Soldiers surrounded the perimeter, wealthy homes were gated and the streets too wide to offer cover.
“You’re going to cut through that leftmost alleyway. The one to the right of the marble fountain in the center of that courtyard. Run until you reach the city’s eastern limits. Then you trek for the next city over, Aurora. Once there—”
Horror was beginning to patter in my heart. “Wait, Kane—”
“Once there,” he pushed on, “ask around for Hart Renwick. Find his compound. How much lighte do you have right now? Was that protective sphere the last of it?”
“Kane, I’m not leaving you. No chance.”
His eyes gave his remorse away, and for some reason that was worse than if he’d argued with me. His hands tightened where they rested on my shoulders. “You’re going to have to, bird.”
No, no, no—
He released me—misery, puremiserybeing parted already—and fished through the dirt for his helmet.
“Why?” I knew I sounded desperate. “Where are you going?”
