The Crown Prophecy

Chapter 25

S omehow Colette had managed to get Maddox out of the castle single-handedly. The story would surely be something out of an adventure novel, and I couldn’t wait to hear it, but when we met at our rendezvous spot, all I could manage was to throw my arms around her in relief.

The journey back to Moiria was slower than I would’ve liked with two extra members of our party, one of whom was seriously injured. We needed to get back to Enorias to see if it would be possible for me to hold the wards alone as soon as possible, but it wasn’t safe for us to split up. Not with what we now knew to be Siphons crawling all over the forest.

The mood was somber and tense as we picked our way back through the Dyminian pass to the east of the mountains. We slept in shifts, looking over our shoulders at every turn. Evander and I spent our watches holding onto each other tightly, sharing stories in hushed whispers about the harrowing events of our separation. I cherished those moments under the stars where we could be a husband and wife instead of monarchs with the weight of a kingdom on our shoulders.

But the night before we reached Enorias, I awoke alone on my bedroll, Evander’s warmth at my back glaringly absent. I sat bolt upright, looking around desperately.

Not again.

Instinctively, I searched for the bond between us before remembering Orobas still had Evander’s Gift. The thought made me sick, and the feeling only intensified when I didn’t find my husband in our camp. Rising from the ground, I took care not to wake the others until I was sure something was wrong.

This is irrational, I told myself. Leftover trauma from his disappearance at the wedding, nothing more.

To curb the panic, I walked myself through the facts: his boots were gone, so it was likely he had gotten up of his own free will. Maybe he needed to relieve himself. Willing my heart to stay calm, I began to make my way toward the treeline. I counted my breaths as I drew the cold air of the forest into my lungs.

One. He’s all right.

Two. What if a Siphon found our camp?

Three. We would’ve heard a struggle if someone had been here.

Four. What if the Siphon had a Gift that dampened sound somehow?

By five, I had broken into a run.

The trees rushed past me as I moved, my arms and legs battered by rogue branches and thorny brambles. I circled the camp as quickly as I could, becoming more and more frantic as I found no sign of Evander.

Finally, a few paces into the forest, I caught the first glimpse of his back silhouetted in the spotted moonlight filtering through the trees.

Hearing me approach, he turned, pulling his hands out of his pockets to reach for me as I closed the distance between us.

“Quinn? What’s wrong?”

Though I tried, I couldn’t hold the tears at bay.

“When I woke up, you were gone. I thought–”

“Oh, my love,” he soothed, rubbing his hands up and down my arms before drawing me into his chest. “I’m so sorry. I’m safe. You’re safe.”

I held on tightly for a moment, breathing in his familiar scent before pulling away to scan his face.

“You’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” he promised, but there was a ghost of something in his expression I couldn’t quite decipher.

“What’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t sleep . . . Nightmares,” he admitted.

“I have them too,” I said, resting my head on his chest again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Evander pressed a kiss to the top of my head and sighed. “I keep reliving what happened in Orobas’s palace,” he said. “The dungeons, Siphoning my power, being trapped in that cage while I watched him toy with you . . . My mind is torturing me with what might’ve happened if your Gift hadn’t taken over when it did.”

I knew the feeling all too well.

“You’re safe,” I repeated back to him. “I’m safe. I’m not going anywhere.”

He nodded, his mouth a firm line. Raising my lips to his, I tried to kiss away the fear I found there. As my hands ghosted over his jaw, the beginnings of a beard tickled my fingers. It wasn’t as if he’d had the opportunity to shave in the past few days, but I’d never seen him with facial hair.

“I like this,” I told him.

“Oh?” Some of the shadow left his eyes as he raised his brows.

I hummed in assent. “It suits you, Your Majesty,” I teased, raising myself up on my tiptoes to kiss him again.

My heart sang when he smiled into the kiss, his arm snaking across my lower back to pull me in tighter.

“Anything to please my queen,” he laughed against my lips. He kissed me back hungrily, taking advantage of the rare moment alone together on our travels. All my fears melted away as he parted my lips with his tongue, and I groaned.

“Would you mind getting a little dirty?” I asked, looking at the carpet of leaves on the forest floor.

“With you? Never,” he smirked.

“That’s not what I meant, but now you’re giving me ideas.” I raised my brows, a smile on my lips as I guided him to the ground. Any trace of shyness had vanished with the threat of losing him forever. The last time I had passed through this forest, I was so afraid I would never be able to touch him like this again. I wouldn’t take it for granted now.

His eyes became heavy with lust as I worked to unfasten his trousers and divested myself of my own.

Straddling him, I leaned down to his lips again.

“I love you,” I whispered, and tears pricked my eyes as he responded in kind.

I sank down onto him, adjusting to the fullness. His hands found my hips and he began to help me move in a rhythm that had us both breathing heavily.

“Gods, Quinn,” he panted.

The sound of my name on his lips drew a whimper from me and I began to move faster.

“Yes, love,” Evander moaned, “Oh gods yes. You’re so good to me.”

I leaned down to kiss him again, and we became a frantic mix of tongues and teeth as I rode him. When I could tell he was getting close, I leaned back to watch him shatter, his hands squeezing my breasts as he climaxed with my name on his lips.

Satisfied with myself, I slid myself off him and went to lay my head on his chest when his smile turned devilish.

“Not so fast,” he ordered. “Your turn, my queen.”

He settled between my legs, lifting my calves up onto his shoulders, and I thought I might die with the first stroke of his tongue. He found that aching spot, circling it until I was writhing, hips lifting off the ground as I gripped his soft curls between my fingers.

“Gods, Evander. Just like that. Don’t stop.” I felt him smile against me and lost all control, spasming as the pleasure overtook me. When I finally stilled, Evander crawled up the length of my body to kiss me again.

There was a gleam in his eyes as he pulled away. “I’m still shaving when we get back,” he smirked. I swatted at him, laughing, and we dissolved into a heap of satisfied giggles on the forest floor.

. . .

We made our way back to camp as the sun came up. Vanessa watched us emerge from the trees together and raised her brows with a smirk, but said nothing as she tended to her mother.

Maddox sat on her bedroll, a shadow of the woman I’d met several months prior. The absence of her magic was affecting her deeply, and she had been quiet since we had left Valine.

Evander was also haunted by the loss of his Gift, I knew, and my chest ached when I recalled how empty I’d felt without mine. I promised him we’d retrieve it together, but in truth, I had no idea how. There were so many unknowns.

As we rode toward Enorias, we puzzled over Orobas’s disappearance and how his plan would evolve in the wake of our encounter. I had no doubt he was out there now, planning his next move in a game neither Evander nor I understood yet.

The moment we crossed the border, I felt the ghost of the wards sizzle and crackle against my Gift, but no matter how many times Evander tried to coach me, I couldn’t get them back up. My show of power in Valine had drained me too much, and he didn’t have any magic to lend to the effort.

“I have no doubt that you can do this, my love,” he promised me, but I could see the shadow of his time protecting the realm alone ghost across his face.

“Being in the castle might help,” Colette offered.

I had to hope she was right, because the idea of our borders being wide open to Falerin was terrifying.

When we finally reached the Lilifel city limits, I nearly wept with joy.

People whispered behind their hands as we passed them on our way to the castle, and I saw more than one business boarded up as we made our way through the city. That couldn’t be a good sign.

How many Wielders had been drained or kidnapped in the brief window when Orobas had managed to lure us out of the city?

Stepping through the doors of the palace felt more like coming home than returning to the cottage ever could. Just knowing I was in the same building as Mellie had me breathing easier. I even found myself wondering how soon I could see Serena and James.

But standing in the massive foyer, I found I didn’t know where to start. Evander, Colette, Vanessa, Maddox and I were frozen in the entrance, looking at each other in quiet disbelief until a clatter came from the base of the grand staircase, breaking the trance.

Georgette stood, white as a ghost, her eyes taking in every inch of Evander as she scanned him for injury. The tray she had been holding was strewn across the floor, tea leaking over the carefully polished tiles, the porcelain pot shattered.

“Miss me, Georgie?” Evander grinned, once again the carefree princeling she had told me about.

Decorum forgotten for the moment, Georgette ran toward us, taking Evander’s hands in her own wrinkled ones.

“Where have you been? We’ve all been worried sick, Evander! Disappearing on your wedding night? Thank the gods you’ve come home in one piece.”

In a hushed tone, she continued, “There have been kidnappings all over the city. They’re saying the wards have been broken.” My heart sank at her confirmation. Orobas’s plan had worked. All those innocent Wielders . . . where had they been taken?

“Evander, I’m terribly sorry to do this. I know you’ve just returned, but there’s something you need to attend to right away,” Georgette said.

That was putting it lightly. There were so many urgent matters to attend to that my head spun. The wards needed to be re-established, we had to figure out the extent of the damage Orobas had done to the city in our absence, and I should find out what happened to my mother. And oh, gods, I needed a hug from Mellie.

Even without our bond, Evander could sense my overwhelm. He took my hand as he encouraged me with all the earnestness in the world. “You can do this, and you won’t do it alone. We’ll figure it out together.”

He turned to his nursemaid. “Our first priority needs to be the wards, Georgie. My wife needs something to eat, and we need to resume training straight away.”

“I understand, Evander, but this really can’t wait,” Georgette repeated, more forcefully this time.

“Your mother is awake.”