Arden stepped into the water, still fighting, as Rainn and Shay obeyed the screaming in their bones.
“Get out of the water!” Rainn shouted. “Now!”
Arden didn’t run; instead, he took to the air.
The water began to churn, and the waves turned white with the force of the wind. Some of the stragglers made it to shore, and Rainn quickly dispatched them. However, when he looked back at the water, the others had been swept away. A bottomless pit formed in the water, the like of which he had never seen before. A whirlpool. The tide churned, too quickly, too hungry, to be fought. If any of them had been in the water, they would have been sucked down as well.
The whirlpool brought the rest of the Fae to the surface, only for a moment, before they were sucked down too in their hundreds. So many.
“Whatisthat?” Liam Cruinn whispered, his face pale with fear.
Rainn hadn’t heard him approach.
Shay jogged to the water’s edge.
Rainn knew what he was waiting for, without needing to ask. He was waiting for the same thing.
The whirlpool became a fountain, gurgling as it digested the bodies. Then the lake was as still as a windless night.
The only evidence of the black-teared attackers was the stains on the sand.
He didn’t dare go into the water. Rainn paced the shore like a pup ready for its first swim, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly.
Shay Mac Eoin stood at the shore, unmoving. He lifted a single finger and pointed to the horizon, the moonlight reflected in his eyes. Rainn stopped, eying the Nymph. Shay was crying. Rainn wanted to offer him some comfort, but his curiosity gotthe better of him, and he followed Shay’s gaze out onto the water.
She appeared, like a goddess, bathed in moonlight. A platinum head of hair, and pearls dotted on her face, reflecting the moon’s glow. A moment later, another familiar face broke the waves. Glaring out at the shore, with a mixture of arrogance and unwavering entitlement.
Cormac Illfinn.
Rainn’s heart leaped in his chest.
Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how absent he had been, his mind and body disconnected entirely. He’d been broken, but determined to move forward. He wished he could be angry at Maeve and Cormac for disappearing when he had needed them the most, but he tabled the emotions. Relief sinking into his bones, like warm water.
Tears glittered on Shay’s face, but a smile broke free. Shay waved his hands, letting out an uncharacteristic shout of joy. Rainn joined him, calling their names every second it took for the two fae to swim to the shore.
He didn’t wait for Maeve to step onto dry land before he scooped her up into his arms, feeling the familiar weight of her settle over their shoulders.
She was alive. She was warm, and she was home.
Chapter Thirty-One
Maeve Cruinn
As Shay Mac Eoin placed a bowl of meat stew in my hands, I realized how hungry I truly was.
Ever since the Frosted Sands, I had grown used to not knowing when my next meal would be. Though I was not fond of the feeling.
More than anything, I had grown to desire security. I’d had my fill of adventure, and I wanted to go home. As long as I got to be around my mates, and I didn’t have to traipse anywhere wearing the same clothes for days, I didn’t mind where we were. The Skala Beach, the Reeds, even Tarsainn, or what was left of it.
The innocent youngling who’d led Cormac Illfinn to the Frosted Sands thought the world started and ended with Cruinn. That magical majority was the most important thing.
I’d come to realize that magic was a burden. The more you had, the more you were expected to use it.
The most powerful Fae I had met, the Dark King and the Huntsman respectively, were utterly insane, and the gods weren’t much better.
Shay sat by my side with his own bowl of stew, his eyes fixed on my thoughtful expression as I spooned food into my mouth. “I take it the afterlife was eventful.”
I nodded, my mouth full.
