Page 75 of Realm of Wind and Vines
“Please, Lavendera.” Desperation bleeds into my voice. “I need to rescue Draven.”
“I know you want that. But your want is a drop in the world’s oceans compared to how deeply I want what I want. And I need it. I need it.”
Shaking my head in confusion, I stare at her as I edge the final step to the front door. “What do they have on you?”
Her eyes go out of focus for a few seconds. I reach for the door handle. Then her vision snaps back into focus with her eyes glowing.
“So fucking crowded!” she growls.
Branches shoot out from her in every direction, shoving furniture aside as if they were toys and shattering every window in the room. Fresh night air washes inside.
I bolt out the door.
“Intruder!” Lavendera yells.
Her voice carries through the broken windows and echoes across the village.
My heart jerks as I skid out between the buildings and onto the next dirt road.
Black smoke explodes from behind.
And then ten silver dragons are climbing into the sky.
I run.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
My heart pounds as I watch a portal form a few steps away. They shouldn’t be back this soon. Why are they back this soon?
The glittering blue rectangle rises to its full height. Then a room becomes visible on the other side.
I can barely breathe as Orion, Galen, and Grey step through the portal and back into the meeting room in Orion’s castle that I have been pacing impatiently for the past ten minutes.
After my disastrous rescue attempt in Hunter’s Marsh last night, I barely managed to make it back to the portal without being killed. When I did, I was in such bad shape that poor Grey ended up getting blood over half of his bedroom. Orion was so furious that I had blackmailed Grey in that way that he made me grovel for his permission to let Haldia heal me. Which, to his complete surprise, I did without question. I don’t give a fuck about my pride. I just needed to be in perfect health today so that I can help get Draven back.
Lyra and Alistair stand up from where they were sitting at a table by the wall when they see Galen, Orion, and Grey walkthrough the portal. Across the room, Isera is leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest and her sharp eyes watching our returning friends.
“What happened?” I demand as soon as they’re through the portal.
Morning sunlight streams in through the windows of the elegantly furnished meeting room, and one of them has been left open a crack. Air smelling of morning dew and blooming summer flowers swirls in through the small opening, making some of the documents that are scattered across the tables flutter. In the distance, the waterfalls that surround the Unseelie Court’s capital rumble steadily as the water flows down into the lakes below.
Grey closes the portal behind him and, after a nod from Orion, bows and then leaves the room.
“She left a note,” Galen at last replies to my question.
His expression is grim as he holds up a folded piece of paper. My heart starts beating faster.
“She wasn’t there?” I ask.
Galen shakes his head. “No.”
This morning, we agreed that we would sneak back into the Golden Palace in the Seelie Court. Since Jessina no doubt despises staying in some backwater village which lacks all the comforts that she is used to, we guessed that she would return to our castle in the Seelie Court instead. She might have been able to knock Draven out when she first captured him, but transporting him all the way back to Frostfell would no doubt be difficult. And besides, I doubt she would ever leave Bane behind. As unhinged and cruel as she is to everyone else, she does seem to genuinely love her mate.
But apparently, she didn’t go back to stay in the Golden Palace. Instead, she left a note in there, no doubt assuming that we would return there as well.
“What does the note say?” I ask, staring at the piece of paper in Galen’s hand while my pulse continues thrumming in my ears.
“It’s a time and a meeting place.
