Queen of Blood and Vengeance (Secrets of the Faerie Crown #4)

16. Arran

16

ARRAN

I’d never seen her like this. Gwen was stoic. She was composed.

In the wake of the fall of Baylaur, she was frazzled. When she asked to remain in Eldermist, she was coming apart at the seams.

But this… a feral beast raged in her eyes. Not the calculated feline she became when she shifted, but something much wilder.

She did not try to stand. From her knees, she looked from person to person, head whipping rapidly around the loose circle we’d formed, searching each face.

“What do you know of the Sacred Trinity?” she asked again, her voice cracking. Tears shone in her golden eyes.

Ancestors. What happened to her?

Veyka’s voice was soft and sad in my mind— Parys .

Her hand curled into mine. I could feel her agony filling the bond, stretching across the golden thread between us. The same agony that shone out through Gwen’s eyes.

“Percival,” Veyka said. This time, there was no malice in it.

Despite her distaste for him, the half-witch had been the one to recognize Excalibur and the scabbards for what they were— to tell us of the Sacred Trinity in the first place during that harrowing journey across the human realm in search of Avalon.

“The Sacred Trinity consists of three ancient magical items, forged in Avalon long ago. They are said to make the wielder the master of death,” Percival said tonelessly.

Gwen stared at him, her face inscrutable but for the pain etched on it. What else was there—confusion, relief, fear, hope—it was impossible for me to parse. Veyka’s hand tightened in mine; maybe she saw more than I did. Her grip went tighter still when Gwen began to speak.

“Not all travelers are welcome. Some invade the body, others the mind. For this reason was the sacred trinity created. What once was one then became three. The sword. The scabbards. The chalice. Only united can they banish the darkness. Three kingdoms created them. Only when wielded as one can they serve the purpose for which they were made.”

My heart understood before my mind did, surging with something so white hot, so powerful, I rocked back a step.

Beside me, Veyka’s skin was white enough to match her hair. “Is that a prophecy?”

Gwen shook her head. “A book. The Travelers. Parys was carrying it with him when…” her voice broke, but she steadied herself. “When Igraine murdered him. I read it front to back, again and again, trying to understand why he though it so important to hold on to with his dying breath.”

“Three kingdoms,” Percival said quietly. “Human, fae, and witch. A representative from each came together to forge the Sacred Trinity. That is what the legends in Avalon say as well.”

“What does it mean?” Gwen asked, her voice only slightly less desperate. Lyrena was at her side now, easing her fellow Goldstone up to stand.

“It means that if the Sacred Trinity is united, it can be used to banish the darkness,” Cyara said, louder than I’d ever heard her speak. “The Sacred Trinity can defeat the succubus.”

Veyka would live.

My mind sprang to action immediately, reorganizing the plans we’d made. Everything was different now. I’d vowed to her that we’d never be parted again. I’d vowed to myself that I would find a way to save her, even at the cost of this blasted kingdom. But here it was, for the first time since we’d reached that final standing stone atop Accolon’s island.

This feeling burning in my chest was hope.

“Veyka already has the scabbards and the sword,” Cyara explained. “We believe the chalice to be the one that was used at the Joining.”

“Merlin took it with her,” Gwen said, disappointment lining her words.

Her revelation barely dented the growing hope within me. Merlin could be hunted. With Veyka’s void power, we could search the entire continent. We’d have to send someone in our stead to Wolf Bay. Or divide our time.

Veyka —

“No.”

The word reverberated across the hilltop, through our mating bond, between the very fabric of the realms.

Veyka .

Cyara stepped toward her queen, wings quivering. “You were only too keen to expend resources on the Sacred Trinity before. Why not now?” When it is your life we stand to save.

“Merlin is gone,” Veyka replied, unflinching. “She stole the chalice, and with it any chance of uniting the Sacred Trinity.”

The copper-haired harpy was not intimidated. “That is little more information than we have on the Ethereal Queen and yet you will not stop searching for her.”

There were no thoughts in my head. Veyka .

Veyka gnashed her teeth. “You speak out of turn.”

Cruel, to the most steadfast friend she had. But Cyara was undaunted. “You were the one who granted your Knights the right to speak our minds.”

I could feel the void calling to Veyka, sense her desire to throw herself into it and escape. But her booted feet remained firmly planted in the human realm. “The two are not the same. Finding the Ethereal Queen and joining her power to mine is the only way to banish the succubus.”

“That we knew of,” Cyara countered. “But now we have another way.”

“Another possibility .” She said the word as if it burned her. “It is too late to waste resources on vague hopes. You all have your quests. I expect you to fulfill them to the best of your abilities.”

She turned on her heel and walked away—not toward the village, but in the opposite direction. Toward the mountains. But she did not disappear into the void. I could follow her.

Down the hill, up the next. Increasing in speed. She broke into a run, sucking in the bitter cold air and then exhaling it in angry, ragged puffs. The voices of our friends and allies died away to nothing as we climbed deeper into the mountains. I could feel her exhaustion through the bond—but nothing else.

She was trying to block me out. Or maybe she was so fraught that she was beyond all feeling.

I could not take it a second longer.

“Veyka.”

I expected her to ignore me. Ancestors , she was fast.

“We agreed,” she said without turning, driving step after step into the side of the mountain, climbing ever upward as she pushed the words out. “We talked through all of our assets and our needs and we made a plan. A cool-headed, comprehensive plan of attack. You are the battle commander. You are the one who told me the importance of—”

“Veyka.” She was fast, but I was faster.

“—making decisions from a place of reason rather than emotion—"

I grabbed her arm, pulling her down. She dodged me as I tried for the other, wrenching the one I held. But I was stronger and bigger and more desperate, even than her.

I grabbed her by both forearms, shaking her hard. “Veyka!”

She stopped fighting, but she refused to look at me.

“Tell me why,” I demanded.

“I already did,” she seethed through clenched teeth.

I did not dare release her arms. She’d run again in an instant. So I lowered my face to hers instead, using my jaw to force hers up, only pulling back far enough that I could look straight into her eyes. “You can hide from them, but not from me. Your soul is mine, and you cannot hide a single slice of yourself from me. Tell me the truth.”

Veyka caught her lower lip between her teeth.

“You have been obsessed with unraveling Arthur’s secrets. Why stop now?”

She tried to look away, but I pressed my forehead to hers.

“Tell me, Princess,” I breathed.

I felt the crack within her as the wall of ice she’d thrown up shattered.

“There is no time, Arran!” she cried, jerking away. I held her tight, but I let her rage. “He gifted me the scabbards. He left me the sword. Did he know that Igraine would try to kill him? Did he know about the Sacred Trinity all along? Or was it all fate, the fucking Ancestors playing with him the same way they’ve played with me? I could spend a lifetime unraveling Arthur’s secrets. But I don’t have a lifetime.”

Her lower lip shook. That’s why she’d bitten into it before. Her entire body shook as she spoke. “All that matters now is saving Annwyn. My life is forfeit. The Sacred Trinity, whatever Arthur planned, it does not signify.”

“No.”

She closed her eyes, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “Arran.”

“I will not lose you.” I wasn’t holding her in place anymore. She was in my arms, trying to fuse her body to mine. I wrapped one arm around her shoulder, the other around her waist.

She was mine. Annwyn could not have her.

I let myself breathe in her plum and primrose scent, savor the silk of her hair against my jaw, before I drew back again. It was too far, too much distance, but I needed her looking into my eyes as I said it.

“Hear this vow, Veyka. To all of Annwyn, you can be queen and warrior, even savior. But before all of that, you are my mate. We will find another way or I will let this realm tear itself to pieces.”

Her throat bobbed. Another tear slipped down to join the first.

“Arran,” she breathed, halfway to a sob.

I did not let her break away. I pulled her even tighter, ready to fuse our bodies the way we’d already fused our souls. “Do you believe me?”

Her eyes gave one answer. But her mouth formed another. “Yes.”

I held her there for seconds that turned to minutes, needing to share breath with her, to feel the life and love that flowed through her veins.

After an eternity, I pressed my forehead against hers. “What do you want, Princess?”

She exhaled softly, her voice so quiet that the winter wind almost stole her words. “I want to live.”