Faint, glowing orbs came into focus. Two eyes caught on fire. Then a low, rumbling voice greeted him.
“Are you ready to return home,moh Rí?”
The last time Tiernan heard that voice, he’d almost drowned in a river of blood.
Balor.
The Fury had returned.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Tiernan!” Maeve screamed for him, even as Rowan’s shadows stole her away. Darkness surrounded her, and a numbing coldness coated her skin. She struggled, blindly reaching for the space between the shadows where the barest scrap of light was slowly disappearing from sight. “Let me go!”
But Rowan’s grip remained tight around her waist as she kicked and clawed through the mass of shadows. There was a burst of raw power, of punishing magic, and she tumbled backwards into him. Her lungs squeezed, stealing her breath, and the intense jolt left her lightheaded as a rush of nausea slammed into her.
“Rowan, please,” she begged, her voice cracking. She slumped in his arms, bone-deep exhaustion dragging her down, weakening her. “We can’t leave him. She’ll kill him, she’ll kill both of them.”
A strangled sob escaped her, fracturing her heart.
Rowan continued to hold her, refusing to let her go even as the shadows slowly dissipated, and the courtyard of Niahvess came into view. Warmth cradled her, welcomed her. But itwasn’t the same, it would never be the same because Tiernan wasn’t here. She sucked in a ragged breath, chest heaving. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks.
Maeve blinked, and a blur of gold and turquoise appeared before her.
Ceridwen sprinted toward them, her usually smooth brow creased with worry. “Maeve!”
“Ceridwen!” This time, when Maeve attempted to untangle herself from Rowan’s fierce grasp, he released her.
“Sun and sky, Maeve.” Ceridwen cupped her cheek, her twilight gaze roving over her face while she took in Maeve’s blood-splattered clothing. Then she slowly reached down and touched the iron collar around Maeve’s neck. She hissed and jerked her hand back. “We have to get this off of her.”
“I know,” Rowan muttered, crossing his arms.
But Maeve wouldn’t be deterred. She didn’t care about the iron still clamped around her throat. She only cared about Tiernan. Hersirra. Her mate. “Cer, you have to help me. We have to go back. Tiernan and Casimir, they’re in Suvarese with Parisa. She has them in this arena, there’s dark fae everywhere. They won’t survive on their own. Please, we have to save them!”
“Is this true?” Ceridwen asked, glancing over at Rowan as Brynn and Merrick ran in from the opposite side of the courtyard.
Rowan nodded. “Tiernan convinced Parisa he would kill Maeve unless she brought down the veil.”
He ran one finger along the skin of Maeve’s neck, just above the iron cuff. The tip of it came away smeared with her blood. “He did one hell of a job, too. For a moment, I thought he’d actually go through with it.”
Brynn stormed between Rowan and Maeve, her eyes flashing from a vivid green to near red. “So, you justleftthem there?”
Rowan visibly stiffened. His jaw clenched, and tendrils of inky shadows hovered around his shoulders. “I did what I was told to do.”
“Bullshit.” Merrick nudged Brynn out of the way and stabbed a finger into Rowan’s chest. “We all know you want Maeve for yourself. You’ve been pining over her for thousands of years. Just had to wait for the right opportunity to present itself, didn’t you?”
Rowan knocked Merrick’s arm away, closing the distance between them so they met face-to-face. The contempt between them was palpable. One loyal to his king, the other loyal to no one.
Destructive magic pulsed around Rowan, threatening as his shadows continued to amass. “What are you trying to imply, hunter?”
“Stop,” Ceridwen demanded, fisting both of her hands on her hips. “Stop this at once.”
Merrick matched him with a cruel smile. “You know exactly what I’m implying, Nightweaver.”
“Enough!” Maeve shouted, wedging herself between the two overprotective males. “I’ll hear no more of this. We don’t have time to stand around arguing with each other.”
The sheer command in her voice must have struck a nerve, because Merrick stepped back first, his hands clenched into fists as his sides, and the rise of darkness lingering around Rowan vanished.
“Maeve!”
