Fires of Ruin (War and Deceit #3) - Erin O'Kane Page 0,103

the main door slam open. Vaeril slips out of bed and pulls on his leggings as Naril bursts through the bedroom door. His eyes instantly fall on me, half naked in the bed, and then lock onto the bite mark on Vaeril’s neck. His expression is stark, his eyes shadowed, but realising what’s happened, he pushes it away with obvious effort and grins at us.

“About fucking time!” he exclaims, striding in and clasping hands with Vaeril in a gesture of appreciation.

“Naril, what’s wrong?” I ask, a sense of dread settling over me.

Glancing at me, he sighs, and his face drops as he rubs his hand over his face. “I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t have to tell you this,” he replies, looking away from me to face his friend. “You deserve to have happiness this morning, like a newly mated couple should.”

Vaeril is frowning now, picking up on my fear through our connection. “Stop stalling. What’s wrong?”

Taking a deep breath, he nods his head, his expression firm. “Something happened at Galandell. It was a slaughter, they didn’t stand a chance,” he explains, as nausea fills me. I know what he’s going to say next. “The queen is blaming Clarissa. She’s ordered her to be captured and executed.”

I hastily pull on a simple wrap dress. It was waiting for me on the edge of the bed once I returned from the bathroom, and I assumed Vaeril had put it out for me. I hadn’t paid attention to it at all as I pulled it on, but now as I look in the mirror, my heart clenches painfully as I see what I’m wearing. It’s a deep forest green colour and dotted with small golden glittering leaves.

“That’s a beautiful gift,” Vaeril remarks from the other side of the room, trying to lift my spirits and confirming my suspicions all in one. Closing my eyes tightly, I take a deep breath. The wood elves gifted me with this, claiming me as one of their own just as I have to leave them. Vaeril must feel my grief through our bond, because he comes over to me and pulls me against his chest. “We will return, this isn’t goodbye forever,” he whispers, but he can’t promise me that. The queen has declared me a traitor to her people, and that includes the wood elves.

“We need to leave quickly,” I say, changing the subject. Pulling away from his embrace, I glance over and see my bag is packed and ready to go. Vaeril is wearing his travel clothing, and I so desperately want to just stay here in his arms and trace the mark on his neck, my mating instincts pushing at me. However, the dread and nausea from Naril’s words override it.

Looking solemn, Vaeril nods his head. “I know. Are you ready?”

I hum my assent and walk through the house and straight out to the platform it’s built on, not looking back. I make my way down the twisting staircase built into the tree, my eyes widening as I reach the bottom and see the small group of people waiting for me.

Naril is standing with Speaker Hawthorn and the female speaker with the delicate antlers. There are a couple of elves tying wrapped packages to the horses’ saddles behind them, but it’s the person at the front talking with the speakers who makes me freeze in place.

“Tor?” The tribesman instantly looks up, his eyes locking onto me. Striding forward, he pulls me into his arms, wrapping them around me tightly. I inhale his fresh scent and return his embrace, not realising how worried I was about him until I saw him.

The sound of something hitting the ground sounds behind me, but I’m so focused on the feeling of Tor’s arms around me that I don’t bother to see what caused it, although I have a theory. Vaeril mutters something under his breath in elvish, and I don’t need to know the language to understand he’s not happy. There’s some movement around us, soft voices, and the whickering of the horses, but right now, my whole focus has narrowed to the tribesman in my arms. When Naril spoke of a slaughter at Galandell, my first fear was that Tor had been hurt. I have no idea how he got here, and I have so many questions, but every time I try to speak, my mouth dries up.

There’s a snicker, and as I lift my head, I see Naril stalking closer. “Oh, yeah, I probably should