The land was dying.
Time slipped by. I didn’t worry about anything else. Drawing up handful after handful of magic, I gave as much of myself as I could handle, until a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
Jolting upright, I yanked my hands from the earth as I withdrew a dagger from the sheath on my thigh. Turning in one swift movement, I stood.
Xander’s golden eyes met mine, and he smirked. “Did I startle you, Sunshine?”
Shoving my dagger into the sheath, I brushed my hands on my tunic before stepping toward him. He opened his arms, and I walked into them, pressing my head against his burly chest. His warmth ran through me, pushing away the chill brought on by the air, and I pushed myself onto my tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his stubble-covered cheek.
“If by startle, you mean ‘tried to scare me into stabbing you again’, then yes,” I said cheekily.
He chuckled, and the sound warmed me from the inside out. “My deepest apologies, High Lady of Life,” he said in a mockingly contrite voice. “I would never want to anger you in such a fashion.”
I snorted, my eyes sweeping over him. His silver-white hair was in a bun on top of his head, and though tiny beads of sweat dusted his forehead, his light brown tunic was dry and lacking that telltale scent of exercise. He must have changed before coming to find me.
“How was your run?” I raised a brow. “Did it… help?”
A haunted look filled Xander’s eyes, and his mouth pinched in a firm line. “Not really.” He shook his head, and a tendril of hair fell out of his bun. “I just… I can’t believe she would do this.”
I didn’t need to ask who “she” was. Xander’s sister Saena, mysteriously back from the dead, was all he seemed able to think about these past thirty-six days. Not that I blamed him for the direction of his thoughts. If I had a member of my family somehow appear after being missing for decades, I would think about them, too. Especially if they reappeared as the evil queen who wanted to rule the Four Kingdoms.
Unfortunately—or perhaps, fortunately, considering recent events—I was an orphan. High King Edgar had been hell-bent on destroying Earth Elves, and as far as we knew, I was the only one remaining. I had met another, once. The other Earth Elf, Fenris, had worked for the Crimson King, but he’d disappeared after Remington, my once-fiancé, had sent him to the capital to warn the king of my bonded mate’s dragon.
Having no family to speak of was rarely a positive thing, but at least I would not have any surprise siblings show up out of the blue and try to destroy the world.
Wrapping my arms around Xander, I squeezed tightly. “I know,” I whispered. “We’re going to figure out what to do.”
Maybe there was a chance that this draken—the creature that had taken over Saena, pushing aside her mortal sensibilities, and making her into the power-hungry dragon shifter that now called itself the ruler of Ithenmyr and Drahan—could be stopped. Maybe this wouldn’t end in disastrous grief for Xander.
Or maybe I would have to kill her like I did Edgar.
How would Xander react if it came to that? Taking the life of the evil king who had spent years delighting in torturing me was one thing, but my mate’s sister…
That was another problem entirely. He loved me, that much was clear. But would he still love me if I had to kill her?
Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
A dark look flashed through Xander’s eyes, and I knew his mind had gone to the same place as mine. Gods. This was so horrible. Why couldn’t the Southern Queen have been someone else? Any other person would have been better than this evil queen, whose very existence caused my mate pain. I’d never wished anyone dead before, but our lives would have been a lot less complicated if Saena had stayed away.
It all came down to the prophecy Firana, the Spirits of the Waters I had met in the Sanctuary, told me. That much was clear. We simply hadn’t yet figured out how all the pieces went together. There was no doubt the hands of fate were playing in our lives—but what was their end goal?
“What are you thinking about, Aileana?” Xander’s voice broke through my thoughts, and I pulled away from his chest, looking up at him.
“The same thing as always.” I reached up, running my hand over the bump beneath his shirt where the five pieces of the map lay. “The prophecy. The map. What it all means.”
Xander nodded. Reaching down, he laced his hand through mine and tugged me along to the cave where we had been staying these past three nights. I had encouraged moss to grow on the stone floor, along with a leafy canopy that covered the area where we slept. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
When we were out of the elements, he sat and drew me onto his lap. I went without arguing, letting him pull off my cloak and lay it beside him. His natural heat warmed me, thanks to his dragon, and his fingers ran through my hair, untangling the knots that had taken up residence while I fed my magic into the earth.
I sighed, leaning against him as he worked.
“Tell me again what the Spirit of the Waters told you,” he requested after a few minutes had passed.
Closing my eyes, I thought back to that horrible day when High King Edgar took Xander from the Sanctuary. Even now, I could remember the feeling of absolute hopelessness that had taken over me. I hadn’t finished Maturing, and I did not know where Edgar had taken my bonded mate.
“A time would come when Life and Death would be torn asunder, and the Four Kingdoms would be thrown into disequilibrium.” I drew in a deep breath, forcing myself to remember the rest of the Spirit’s words. “No one would be safe—not human, elf, witch, werewolf, vampire, fae, or dragon. No creatures above or below the earth would escape the destruction that was to come. The only way to repair the balance was to rid Ithenmyr of the darkness and to restore things to the way they once were.”
Xander’s hands moved to my shoulders, and he pressed firmly. I moaned as he hit a particularly painful spot, and he chuckled. He worked out my knots until there were none left. Only then did he shift me in his lap, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “That’s it?” he confirmed.