Page 130 of Atop the Faerie Throne
Prae is an inventor. If we give her the challenge, I’m sure she could create a device to aid him. Especially now that she has the opportunity to work with fae magic.
I have to cling to the hope that she can come up with something. Because it’s becoming abundantly clear that I’ll never hear him say my name in that exasperated tone ever again.
The doors slam open, startling all of us. Cailu pants, his face sweaty as he casts about before his eyes fall on Jaro.
“Knight commander, news from the northern shore. Something’s happening.”
Forty-Two
Lorcan
The black sand of the beach is already in my boots. I take one off to shake it out as the others stare at the horizon in stunned disbelief.
“I fucking told you so,” Caed snarls, pacing away from the group, uncaring of the rain. “Give him enough time, and I knew he’d do it.”
A knife falls out of my boot, and I pause. Maybe that was what was uncomfortable? No. Definitely the sand.
“I’ve never seen clouds that dark,” Bree whispers, his wing wrapped around my pet as they ignore my suffering in favour of continuing to stare at the pitch-dark clouds that have turned the usually blurry horizon into a helpfully defined line.
“I never liked not knowing where the sky ended and the sea began, anyway,” I offer helpfully, but they ignore me.
At least now I can pretend the dullahan appreciates my good humour. He stands apart from the others, surveying the auras of the fae running around behind us from beneath that deep hood.He really should try red headwear, but when I tried to fix the problem, he set my hair on fire.
Grumpy guts.
The soldiers he’s so focused on are trying to load rowboats with equipment and supplies while shooting distrustful glances at the Fomorians doing the same. The air is thick with the promise of violence, and I wonder if Rose would really hate it if I played with them just a little bit.
A dagger to the ribs here… a tiny shove into the ocean there… Nothing like a pre-battle warm up to raise morale.
“So you really did survive Beltaine,” Prae says, rushing up from the left to punch her cousin in the arm before dragging him into a hug.
“You knew that already,” he retorts but offers her a wink as she pulls away. “Turns out, even the dour knight can’t live in a world without me.”
“Where’s Florian?” Rose asks.
Prae rolls both eyes. It’s still strange to see the left one unclouded. Maybe she can get a glamour charm made so she looks badass again. “Already on your ship, arguing with the Fomorian navigators. They want to wait for a good wind.”
“Even the Endless Sea is part of Faerie,” Kitarni says. “A good wind will come if the Nicnevin requires it.”
The high priestess is accompanying us, which is exciting. I’m going to try to get into her luggage. There’s got to be some more of those fun exploding potions in there.
“Boom,” I whisper, cap rising in excitement at the thought.
The púca shoots me a questioning look, but it’s forgotten as Rose disentangles herself from his arms and walks towards the sea, Wraith close at her heels like the good boy he is.
I’m so glad my Nicnevin has so many lingering enemies in the ranks of the Temple and the Summer Court after Mervyn’s little stunt. Even better, Kitarni actually asked me to take careof the apostates. Wraith and I will be hunting them together for decades.
Sighing in anticipation of returning and gathering even more confetti for our mating ceremony, I roll to my feet and blink forward as I realise they’re leaving me behind.
“Hey! Wait for me.”
“You can just blink to the ship,” Jaro points out, grabbing an oar. “And bring Wraith with you.”
Oh. But I wanted to capsize the rowboat and see if the dullahan can swim headless.
Oh well. I can always push him in later.
Wraith’s tongue lolls out of his mouth as he pants, pacing the shore, and I roll my eyes, blinking his fluffy ass to the deck. Our position puts us directly behind the withering prince and Rose’s brother.
