Page 69 of The Fae Queen's Revenge

Stomach lurching, she just managed to topple backwards with Ber before her muscles gave out entirely. With her energy so depleted, there was no bracing herself this time. She could only fall, her husband’s weight forcing the air from her lungs as he landed atop her. For the second time that night, her vision wavered as she gasped for air, her throat burning with each shallow breath.

It would be a shame to die from accidental suffocation despite her efforts.

Fortunately, footsteps pounded into the room more quickly than they had the last time she’d used the ring. “What in the—”

It was Toren’s voice that cut off with a harsh, strangled sound. Tes couldn’t summon the energy to turn her head,though she needed to warn him to close the door. To hide them. Coming here brought danger to Llyalia, but she hadn’t been able to think of another way. Discretion would only benefit them all.

“Wait.” Ah, Mehl. Was he the reason the door clicked closed? “He’s wounded. Let me…”

She didn’t need to look to identify the footsteps as Toren’s, and not because she was overly familiar with the sound. Sure enough, his worry-pinched face came into view as he knelt beside them, heedless of any danger. No matter what had passed between him and Ber, it was clear that he still cared deeply.

“We need to move him carefully,” Toren said. “I fear that Te…I mean Ryssa…can’t breathe, but the risk of shifting the arrow is great.”

Mehl appeared above her from the other side. “If we tip him up a little, can you roll free?” he asked her.

She could only puff out a sad sigh in response.

It took the two men a moment’s debate, but they finally managed to lift Ber enough to stretch him flat beside her. She could see the steady rise and fall of his chest, but there was so much blood coating his tunic. Too much? Gods, she prayed it wasn’t too much.

Softer footsteps heralded Mery’s arrival. The healer placed cool fingers against Tes’s forehead, and a trickle of energy worked its way through. Not much, but enough that she could move. Tes sat up, wringing her hands together to keep from grabbing Ber. A foolish impulse, since she wasn’t a healer, but one it was difficult to ignore.

“What happened?” Mehl asked, his gaze tracking her movement while Toren stared down at his brother.

“Ryenil discovered us,” Tes answered. Mehl’s eyes narrowed, and she winced at the raw sound of her voice. “When he attempted to choke information about Speran out of me, Berstabbed him. I’m sure you can guess how well the guards took that. I used the ring to bring us here.”

Toren’s head snapped up. “Is Ryenil dead?”

Apparently, he’d been listening more than she’d thought.

“I don’t know,” Tes confessed. “I know he was still alive before Ber was struck, but I couldn’t tell you after that.”

“Will the power of the throne pass to you when he dies?” Toren asked.

Shock stilled her wringing hands. It would, wouldn’t it? Since she hadn’t felt that power, it meant he had to still be alive. Disappointment and relief tangled around each other like her restless fingers, but unlike her physical grip, there was no stillness to be found in her heart.

“I’m sorry,” she found herself saying. “You must hide our presence here, lest we bring war. Oh, and Speran. Ryenil suspects our baby lived. It won’t take him long to figure it out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sends an army to try to claim him.”

She couldn’t watch as Mehl moved around to help Mery remove the arrow. Nor could Toren, it seemed. His searching gaze was on her face rather than his brother.

“There will be no more deception,” Toren said, the regal cut to his tone telling enough. “My brother and his family are welcome here, and any who seek to harm them will be met with death. Let Ryenil send his armies. I refuse to be cowed by the wretched man.”

Tes’s eyebrows shot up despite her best efforts to control them. “But all those treaties—”

“Will be broken by him first if he crosses into Llyalia.” Toren’s lips thinned. “However, I will be happy to restore them during your reign if such perfidy should come to pass.”

Toren’s forgiveness of his brother had been tentative at best, but here he was, supporting Ber without question. It wassomehow both shocking and absolutely normal—a kind of family loyalty she was only just coming to understand.

“There,” Mery said, her soft, tired voice drawing Tes’s attention. “It was a clean wound, easy to heal. Thanks to your quick action, he should be fine after a little rest.”

As Mery and Mehl used magic to get Ber into the nearby bed, Toren caught Tes’s gaze once more. “Have you reconciled with my brother?”

She couldn’t stop the flush of warmth that flashed beneath her skin. “Yes, it would seem so. I suppose I should have guessed that would happen when I couldn’t kill him.”

“I could say the same.” One side of Toren’s mouth tipped up. “Though in a brotherly fashion, of course. How strange to finally understand the source of the hesitation I once believed to be weakness. In this case, it seems that it was instinct.”

Tes pondered that truth long after the kings and the healer left. Long after Ria ducked in to give her a hug and offer her fresh clothes. It flashed in her head as she crawled onto the mattress beside her husband and watched his steady breathing. Yes, instinct had drawn the two of them together far more than it had forced them apart.

Maybe—just maybe—it would help them overcome her father, too.

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