And he smiled.
I launched myself into his arms, dotting kisses to his cheek, his neck, his chest.
His laugh was like a song, deep and rumbling. “Can we do this later?”
“Right. Yes. Of course.” I scrubbed the tears from my eyes and stood.
Rían remained on the floor.
“Aren’t you coming?”
He tried to stand only to collapse again. I helped him to his feet, bracing his arm across my shoulder, taking as much of his weight as I could. “Princes. So pathetic and weak.”
He chuckled.
My soul sang as we slowly made our way down the stairs, Rían’s feet dragging and face pale. My heart leapt as we trudged into the empty yard, through the gates, and back to the path along the cliff.
And then my heart sank when I saw the Queen.
37
The Queen’sfeathered skirts fluttered in the salty breeze. The sun on the horizon silhouetted her slender frame.
Nostrils flaring, she glowered at the two of us.
I let Rían go, stepping between my prince and his mother.
Rían had insisted on a contingency plan for if something went dreadfully wrong. We both knew exactly what we had to do.
Her presence just made things a little more complicated.
The Queen’s head tilted as she watched me, an impassive expression on her thin face. “You were free and yet you returned. Why?”
Simple.
“I love your son.” My love for this heartless prince had helped me find my voice. Had helped me find myself.
She inhaled, long and slow, something flickering in her endless black gaze. “You know the penalty for crossing the Forest,” she said, a curved dagger appearing in her hand. “One life.”
“Rían,” I said without turning around. “I love you.”
He chuckled. “I love you too, my little viper.”
I whirled . . . and shoved him off the cliff.
The Queen’s ear-piercing shriek rattled my bones. “You fool!” She lunged, catching my arm. Black nails bit into my flesh. The black veins beneath her skin pulsed. “You will pay for this!” she snarled, her heated breath sickeningly sweet.
Through chattering teeth, I smiled. “I just did.”
One life. That was the price of crossing the Forest.
“I choose which life I take,” she snarled, pressing the tip of her dagger against my chest. “I choose.”
“Not if the penalty has already been paid.”
The law made no distinction over whose life was forfeit if someone were to cross the Black Forest. Rían could die and come back. And Rían had been more than willing to pay my debt.
The Queen threw me aside, lowering her dagger. The fire in her obsidian eyes swelled. I could taste her rage, like sulfur and smoke. “Mark my words, this crossing will be your last.”