Page 95 of The Bound Mage
“No.” Loren crossed the room, cupping her face in his hands. “No,ael’sura. You thought you were helping the fae. You didn’t know.”
But she just shook her head, tears spilling freely now. “That’s not what you said in Aetheris,” she said. “You weren’t wrong. I gave up. I chose Jaxon over my people.”
Loren flinched. Goddess save him, if he could take those words back, he would. A thousand times.
“I was cruel,ael’sura.” He pulled her into his arms, holding her as sobs shook her shoulders. “I wanted to drive you away. To keep you safe. I’m sorry.”
He held her until her sobs dwindled to hiccuping breaths, her body sagging in his arms. Loren pressed a kiss to her temple, selfishly letting himself linger there for one final breath before he forced himself to pull back.
“This isn’t how tonight was supposed to end,” he said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “I’ll be with the Small Council all night. You should stay here. Rest?—”
“No.” Araya shoved off the the blanket, scrubbing at her tear-streaked cheeks. “If Jaxon is with them, I’m your best resource.”
“Ael’sura—” Loren hesitated, his brows drawing together as she stood, grabbing her wrinkled dress from the floor. Every instinct he had demanded that he keep her here, shield her for as long as he could for what waited for them beyond that door.
But she was more than his mate. She was his queen.
“Together, then,” he said, holding out his hand.
Chapter
Forty
“We countedsix ships flying New Dominion flags.”
The scout stood in front of the Small Council, still wearing his creased and salt-crusted leathers. He addressed them all, but Araya didn’t miss the way his brow creased as his gaze drifted from Loren and her place at his side—all the way to where Eloria sat beside her own mate, several chairs down.
She slipped her hand into Loren’s under the table, squeezing gently. It wasn’t the scout’s fault—Loren was the prince they’d mourned, back from the dead. But his sister had ruled in his stead for twenty years. Eloria was the one they knew. The one who had kept the fae alive through the long, dark years, one impossible decision at a time. They trusted her.
“How many on board?” Loren asked.
“The ships are large, Your Majesty.” The scout turned, hastily refocusing. “With their full complement, our best estimate is that we could be facing as many as fifteen hundred New Dominion soldiers.”
Araya stopped breathing.
Fifteen hundred New Dominion soldiers. Lumaria had walls, but so many fae lived outside them—and there was no navy, nosoldiers. They had only survived this long because the ShadowedVeil sank any ship that approached it—but now those shadows were thinning with every passing day.
Because of her.
“How long until they reach us?” Eloria asked.
“At their current rate of travel, they should make landfall by dawn,” the scout said.
Hours. They had hours before the New Dominion landed on their doorstep withfifteen hundredsoldiers. It wasn’t enough time. Even if they’d had days, there was no way they could prepare to face an attack of that scale?—
“We should restore the Shadowed Veil immediately,” Eloria’s commander at arms said, his voice slicing through the stunned silence. “They never should have been pulled back in the first place.”
Araya flushed, the back of her neck burning. Cormac didn’t need to name her for everyone at this table to know exactly what he meant. She opened her mouth, the beginnings of an apology bitter on her tongue, but before she could voice it, Loren spoke.
“They weren’tpulled back,” Loren said sharply. “They’re dissipating—because my mate andyourqueen did what was necessary to save my life.” He glanced around the table at his assembled advisors. “I didn’t see any of you walking into the shadows with us. Would you have preferred she left me there and come back here so you could vote on whether she should save my life?”
“The Veil kept Eluneth safe for years.” Cormac stood his ground, glaring at her even as he addressed Loren. “She could have sparedsomethought for the fae she was harming?—”
“Those shadows were starving you,” Loren snapped. “They were harming the fae who remain in the New Dominion?—”
Across the table, Cormac’s brows rose, his mouth twisting in disdain. “The faehereare your people, Your Majesty. They’re the ones you should concern yourself with.”
Araya stared down at the table, focusing on the edge of the map just beyond her reach. Cormac’s condemnation curled beneath her ribs, the silence that greeted his words only confirming it. The fae living in the New Dominion weren’t their people. And neither was she.
