Page 54 of A Trial of War
I held Neera for a moment longer, my mind still racing. She seemed stiff, like she was hiding something from me. Something big. Pieces were missing from the puzzle, and the closer I looked, the more questions began to surface.
“What is going on?” I asked. “Who did Zola leave to retrieve?”
Neera pulled back slightly, her hands still resting on my shoulders, but her gaze seeemed distant and troubled. “Sky,” she began, her voice lower than usual, “I want you to be open-minded about this. What I’m about to tell you… It’s not easy. And it’s going to sound impossible.”
A sudden tightening expanded in my chest as she spoke. “Neera, what’s going on?” I asked.
She looked at me for a long moment, her gaze flicking briefly to Shaw, then back to me, as though she was searching for the courage to say whatever happened out loud.
“He saved me, Sky. He’s my—” Neera’s words caught in her throat. She looked like she was about to say something monumental, something that would shake the foundation of everything I had believed.
Suddenly, Zola reappeared, stepping forward from the darkness, with another male in tow. I felt a chill race down my spine as I looked at him, Daxton’s magic flaring in response. His features were sharp, alluring, and his eyes were the shade of…No.
“Seamus,” Daxton growled, a dangerous edge to his voice. In a flash he released me and stood between us with Valencia in his hand. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, blade drawn, the tip of the magical steel catching the moonlight from the broken windows.
“I’m not here to harm anyone,” Seamus said in a calm voice. “In fact, I believe we have much to discuss.”
The muscles in Daxton’s jaw clenched, eyes narrowing at the High Fae prince. I felt the protective drive from the bond surge through me, but there was something about Seamus Duran that made me pause.
“You will explain yourself, now,” Daxton said, his tone dark and commanding, causing the tension in the room to rise. “How are you here?”
Seamus met Daxton’s challenging stance with a calm, almost amused expression, unfazed by the threat. “There is much more at stake than you realize, Daxton. Much more than any of us could have foreseen.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my eyes darting between Seamus and my cousin, who drifted closer to his side. “Neera?”
Neera swallowed hard, the words seizing like iron in her throat. When she turned toward Seamus, her gaze softened, as if an unspoken truth had finally settled within her. It was a look that said everything had fallen into place, asthough the world, with all its chaos and uncertainty, had aligned in this one, undeniable moment.
“He’smy mate, Skylar.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Castor Aegaeon
The waves slapped against the hull of the ship, and ahead, through the morning mist, the dark cliffs of home finally broke the horizon. The sight should’ve filled me with relief. Instead, it twisted like a knot in my gut.
Salt in my hair, with no tub to bathe in, and not a single decent bottle of wine left on this forsaken ship to dull my senses…
Gods spare me.
It had been three days since Minaeve was crowned the new human queen and Talon took that damned arrow of shadow—the rot eating him from the inside out. Three days since Skylar and Daxton teleported to Solace to help Shaw fix whatever mess he’d managed to step into this time. While I was left questioning if my brother—my king—had once again stumbled headfirst into another trap laid by the humans in their elaborate schemes.
I honestly wondered if any of them would make it back to the Inner Kingdom alive.
I heard her soft steps echo across the deck, and I sighed in relief for her patience with me on this voyage. Evenwithout her voice, she never needed words to be heard. She came to stand beside me at the bow, her long ebony hair whipping in the wind. Her gaze found mine, steady, full of the kind of calm I’d never managed to master.
I forced a grin. “Well, love, if I squint hard enough, I can almost taste the wine waiting for us ashore. Tell me Talon’s still breathing. I will never hear the end of it from Skylar if he’s already made his way to the crossing before we make it back to Silver Meadows.”
Her expression shifted, soft but pained. She signed with quick, graceful motions, “He’s alive, but he’s not doing well.” Then slower, with a hesitation that made my chest ache. “Rhea hasn’t slept. She’s trying to keep him comfortable… I’m worried about her most of all.”
I exhaled as a sense of dread for what was to come for the pair settled. “Of course you are,” I murmured.
The sea stretched out before us, endless and cruel, like our looming fate. I reached for Nyssa’s hand, our fingers twining together, settling my racing mind and granting me a moment of peace.
“We’ll arrive in Silver Meadows soon,” I said quietly. “And when we do, I’ll do whatever I can to make him comfortable. Crimson City healers may be able to help.”
Nyssa’s fingers tightened around mine. Her gaze lingered on the horizon, where the dark cliffs of the Inner Kingdom rose higher with every roll of the tide.
She released my hand and signed slowly, “Any word from Daxton?”
