Page 111 of Crown of Roses
“Here.” Casimir shifted her into someone else’s arm like he was smuggling a package.
“Let me go.” She hissed and wriggled inside the confines of the blanket, trying to break free.
“Be still,” Casimir commanded. Then his voice changed, and when he next spoke, it was lit with a panic Maeve had never heard before. “Go. Go now.” And then, “Don’t think I never cared for you.”
Without warning, a massive gust slammed into her. Wind and rain sluiced over her like she was nothing more than a passing cloud and she realized she was…flying? Her gaze snapped to the face of who she hoped was a rescuer and not someone else who wanted her dead.
A set of lavender eyes met hers.
“Rowan,” she breathed.
“Surprise, Princess.”
“You’re here.” A knot of unchecked emotion lodged somewhere in her chest. In her heart. “You came back for me, but…you were sent to hunt me down. To find me. You knew what I was and you lied to me.”
He shifted her in his arms, and pressed a faint kiss on the top of her head. “Yes, I knew what you were and I had no intention of ever handing you over to Parisa. I was trying to save you from this fate, to protect you from her wrath.” He dove downward, away from the moonlight that was beginning to emerge from behind a curtain of clouds. “I know what you are, and said nothing to keep you safe. The Spring Court will forever be my home, but my High Queen is ruthless. She’s vile and cruel. And her allegiance to her own Court of birth has all but vanished.”
Maeve curled into the blanket and he bundled her closer against his chest. She tilted her head back and looked up at him, at the hard line of his jaw, at the fierce determination in his eyes. “But you left me, Rowan. You abandoned me in the summer woods. Alone. Naked.”
“No. That night I heard something not far from where we slept. And when I went to investigate, dark fae were waiting for me. Casimir had sent them.” His arms tightened around her. “I would never have left you willingly. I hope you know that.”
She wanted to believe him. But there were more questions, like if he’d actually found her when she was a child, would he have turned her over to Parisa then? And what about the favor he called in when they were at the Autumn Ceilie? But more importantly, how was he flying?
“You’ve got wings,” she blurted out when she caught sight of the long, silky black feathers protruding from his back.
He grinned. “I do.”
“But, how? You never told me—”
“Another time, Princess. Right now, let’s focus on getting you out of—” He jerked, stuttered in the air. His lips pulled back over his teeth and he groaned as they started to tumble from the sky. “Hang on!”
He wrapped her close to him and a glint of silver streaked by, right over top of their heads. For the briefest of moments, Maeve thought it could be lightning.
Rain splattered her face and the wind whipped around them like a cyclone while Rowan struggled to maintain control of their downward descent. But the trees were moving too quickly, and colors and shapes careened by them without recognition. They were all blurs. Blobs of muddled colors that were worthless in terms of gauging the distance they had left in their free-fall until they ultimately crashed and burned.
Rowan flipped over at the last minute, holding her against him and cradling her head. Together they slammed into the ground and rolled once, then Rowan was already back on his feet and hauling her up alongside him.
“Keep moving.” He grabbed her hand and took off at a sprint, and she witnessed the fleeting look of shock when he realized she could actually keep up with him. He chuckled. “I forgot you’re a fae now.”
“Funny story about that…”
Another flash of lighting streaked overhead and Rowan ducked, then pulled her along. “Some other time. Right now, we run.”
He darted forward once more, taking her with him, hand in hand. He pointed up ahead. “We just have to get to that tree line.”
“Why can’t we just fade?”
“I can’t fade anymore.”
Her gaze snapped to his face. “What? Why?”
“Let’s just call it a shitty bargain.” He nodded toward the rise of stoic evergreens up ahead. “If we can get to that point, you’ll be safe.”
Maeve stared to where he was pointing and though she knew her eyesight had vastly improved since the removal of her cuffs, she still couldn’t see much of anything, save for the outline of the forest. There was no light. No play of shadows. Only rain and low-lying clouds. Her bare feet hit the soft, spongy earth, sinking into a mist that wound its way like a ribbon of the palest blue over the rolling hills of Suvarese.
More splinters of lightning shot past them, and it was then Maeve saw the crimson soaking some of Rowan’s feathers.
“You’re bleeding.”
