I began to pull my magic forward. “Do it,” I rasped.
Tears streamed down her face, but she nodded, and they vanished. I rolled, feeling more skin rip, and the shock of it nearly stunned me. One moment the beast was on top of me, and the next I rammed my death magic into it, and it rolled, crumpling to the ground.
Before I could begin healing myself, Gaea returned. “Temir? Oh gods, Temir,” she cried, kneeling beside me. “Your back.”
I dug deep and pushed the magic through my body, letting it flow. It stung, causing me to nearly call out, but I bit back the pain and willed my flesh to stitch together. I lay panting.
“I don’t understand what happened,” Gaea said as I rolled over. “I thought for sure I’d come back and you’d be ...” She couldn’t finish.
I sat up and let the world below me right itself as I pushed my thumbs to my temples and forced the nausea and spinning away.
“I don’t know,” I lied. “It was about to kill me and then howled and fell over.
She took a few tentative steps toward the fallen monster. Its legs were longer than Gaea was tall, and though she wasn’t sure if it was truly dead, I knew better. She looked back to me and then at the beast again and shook her head.
“Perhaps there is a hunter in the woods. We should go.”
She nodded, eyeing the cat warily. She took my hand, and before we knew it, we were back in my rooms. My wound had nearly healed, but using the death magic was incredibly draining when I also had to heal myself.
“Your clothes are ruined, Temir.” She gripped the edges of my shirt and pulled.
My heart caught in my throat, remembering the last time she had pulled my clothing from me. I lifted my arms, and her knuckles grazed my ribcage as she moved. I tried not to think of her that way, but I couldn’t help it.
She dropped my tattered shirt to the ground and stepped closer to me, resting her small hands on my bare chest. “Does it still hurt?” she asked, scarcely above a whisper.
“There are plenty of things that hurt far worse.” I stroked her cheeks with my thumbs.
She looked to the floor, and I thought she would step away, but she didn’t. “I know I’ve been distant, Temir. I know it isn’t fair to you or to us. I can’t force my heart to heal. Every time I think of being with you in that way, I get flashbacks of his body lying in a puddle of blood on the floor, and I can’t get past it. The guilt is eating me alive every single day.”
I pulled her tiny body to my chest, wrapped my arms around her, and rested my chin on the top of her head. We stayed like that for a long time. “I’m not in a rush, Gaea. I’ve got all the time in the world to let your heart heal. I know Oleonis was like a father to you. I’m here, though. If you need me.”
“I think I’ll always need you, Tem.” She looked up at me with those beautiful eyes.
I wanted to tell her so many things, but I didn’t know how. The rebellion was not my secret to share. I couldn’t tell her about my magic. I would never tell anyone. But, also, I loved her. In whatever capacity a broken male could love a wounded female. And those words would only send her running, as she so often did when she couldn’t deal with reality. Oleo had told me she was like the wind, but I was beginning to think she was more like a storm. Once she was free, life would be on her terms only, and she’d settle for nothing less.
Chapter 4
KING TOLERO
“Umari.” I looked down the steps to the leader of the draconian fae with her raven-colored hair and high cheekbones. Her watchful eyes were cruel and unforgiving as she stared at me.
“Your Grace.” She bowed low and gracefully, though I knew it grated on her nerves to show such reverence to me.
“How are our people fairing?”
The storm within her cracked through her glare. There were visits when it was hard to look at her at all. She looked so much like Efi it pained me.
“Fine,” she snapped.
“Are you ready for the Trials to begin?”
She looked around the throne room and rolled her eyes as she tapped her bo on the tiled floor, the wooden staff echoing throughout the chamber. She leveled her gaze to mine. “Shall we?”
“I’ll meet you there,” I said, rising from my throne.
She stormed out of the room before I could do it first. She resented me more than anyone in the world, but we were both stubborn enough to keep a promise, even if it meant nothing now.
I crossed the castle and exited the main grounds, with sentries accompanying me on both sides, as we traveled down the worn road to the open pits just outside the packed city below. I sank slightly into the sand of the arena floor and looked to the crowds of fae filling the seats around us. I supposed watching royalty belittle themselves was a spectator sport in the southern kingdom. I dipped my head to the accumulated fae as I waited for Umari to join me. She had to wait on the sidelines for the king. I could barely hide my grin at the upper hand.
