A breeze whipped across the long grass, wrenching and twisting the lush green blades like waves on the ocean. A figure in a dark cloak waited at the crest of the next hill. My blood ran colder than the waters of the Airren sea.
The Queen had come for me.
At least Aveen was safe.
At least she knew I loved her.
At least—
The wind ruffled the ends of the woman’s cloak, revealing blue skirts beneath.
A shaky breath escaped my dry lips. The Queen never wore anything but black. Still, when I inhaled, the air tasted of carrion and death, reminding me of the Black Forest. Except we were a bit far for the stench to be so pungent.
The figure slowly lifted her hands and removed her hood. Red hair danced like living flames around a pale face.
The woman’s name lived on the tip of my tongue.
It couldn’t be.
She was dead.
I’d watched the Queen tear her heart from her chest.
“Leesha?”
The woman’s lips lifted in a familiar smile…
And then she vanished.
1
AVEEN
Do not murderthe man you love.
That had become my mantra over the last five months.
Today, it seemed, would be no different.
I sat upright on the threadbare couch and scowled at the boards nailed to the window. They hadn’t been there when I’d fallen asleep. With a weary sigh, I rolled to my feet, only to find the window above the kitchen sink blocked off as well. Somehow, he’d tacked boards to the window frames while I slept a few feet away.
Birds chirped from the other side of the barrier. The boards made it impossible for me to see them. I stretched my hands toward the ceiling and arched my back, feeling worse than I had when I’d passed out.
“Rían?” When no answer came, I stood and straightened my rumpled blue skirts. The scorch marks on the rug in front of the fireplace scraped the bottoms of my bare feet as I drifted toward the short hallway.
I found my wayward prince pacing the bedroom in a wrinkled shirt with the sleeves shoved over his corded forearms. His black breeches hung off his hips, and his single sock had a hole in the toe. My, how things had changed since we first met.
The floorboards creaked beneath me, and his head whipped toward the door. Dark circles lived beneath his reddened eyes, and a frown lived on his lips. I’d give anything to see him smile. Hell, even a smirk would’ve given me hope at this stage.
“Oh, good,” he rasped, his fingers tapping against his thighs. “You’re awake. I closed the windows. All that glass is far too easy to see through. It won’t matter tomorrow, though.”
I was almost too afraid to ask. “Why? What’s tomorrow?”
He took a step toward me. That was when I noticed the small steamer trunk stuffed with dresses in front of the open armoire and the empty hangers discarded within.
Not this again. “I already told you, I’m not leaving Airren.” Perhaps I should have gotten the words tattooed on his forearm, so he remembered them.
Rían grabbed one of my corsets from the bed and clutched the fabric to his heaving chest. “And I told you that every day we delay is one day closer to our doom. The only way to be together is to leave this cursed island. I’ve secured us passage on a merchant ship in the port. We sail with tomorrow’s tide.”