Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,123

the stone, providing her a view of the Ruin’s destruction. Almost every wood fae warrior inside the hall had vanished into piles of ash. Char stretched up the walls, melting together with the black stone that had built this castle.

“Reyna!” Lorcan shouted. She could hear the creak of the iron bars bending beneath his force. How was he doing that?

She wanted to crane her head toward him, but she couldn’t. She had to command the Ruin before it turned its ash on her.

“In,” she commanded it, trying to force her will upon the wild magic that had never listened to anyone else before now. “Go inside Ulaid Molt. And end this, once and for all. Become the protector you were always meant to be.”

Electric magic shattered her mind. Sparks of fire blazed on her skin, burning her up completely. And then all her strength left her. The entire world went dark.

47

Lorcan

Lorcan ripped open the iron bars and grabbed a fallen sword from the ground. He raced toward Reyna, where she’d collapsed beneath the force of the magic whorling from her skin. He had never seen anything like it before. Dark shadows had drifted from her body, spinning up into a whirlwind of ash. It had swept through the entire hall, killing everyone but the shadow fae trapped inside the cages.

And now it was hurtling straight toward the wood king.

The magic shoved inside of him, punching into his armor like a steel fist. The wood king’s eyes went wide as the Ruin filled his form. Lorcan slid to a stop beside Reyna, pressing a hand to her cold cheek. She was still breathing.

With a growl, he flicked his gaze up at the king.

Molt’s eyes were wild; his cheeks were pale. When he spoke, his voice sounded like the scratch of a pen against parchment. “What is this?”

Lorcan slowly stood, clutching the sword in both his hands. “You never should have gone up against Reyna Darragh. She’s given you a little gift. It’s called the Ruin.”

Molt shuddered as the magic stormed through him. Soon, the Ruin would rip him apart, shattering his soul into a million pieces. But as Lorcan waited for the inevitable, Molt began to laugh. The eerie sound echoed off the stone walls.

“You think you can kill me that easily?” Molt’s body shook as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. “Do you not know what I am? What I have living inside of me?”

Lorcan edged closer to the king, his heart thumping. “I know exactly what you are, Molt, which is why you won’t survive another day.”

“The Ruin can’t kill me,” Molt sneered. “I feast on blood and bone. Unseelie’s powerful magic fills my lungs with air. It breathes life into my limbs. And it protects me from magic just like this.”

Frowning, Lorcan watched as the king shuddered against the force of the Ruin. But he did not fall. If anything, the smile on his face made it seem like he enjoyed it.

Dread pooled in Lorcan’s gut as Reyna’s words began to echo in his head. She’d survived the Ruin, too. Because she’d been gifted Seelie’s magic to protect her. He wet his lips, edging closer to Molt. If Unseelie’s powers were inside him, protecting him…

Fuck.

Realization rushed over Lorcan like a tidal wave. The Ruin wouldn’t kill Ulaid Molt, not so long as Unseelie’s magic burned within him. This whole plan was doomed. If Lorcan didn’t do something—and fast—Molt might even try to bend the storm to his will. He could force it out onto the city, killing everyone.

Steeling himself, Lorcan glanced at his throne. The power pulsed between them, filling his bones with a strength he had not known he had. It was how he’d been able to bend the iron to his will. A mere blade could not kill Ulaid Molt. Not even the Ruin. But a High King in the presence of his Seat of Power might.

And when the wood king died, the storm would, too.

He danced toward the wood king. From behind him, Nollaig let out a strangled cry. “No, Lorcan, don’t! The curse!”

But he didn’t care about the curse. No one did anymore. Sloane Selkirk had fallen prey to it, but it had been a slow death. If that was Lorcan’s fate, then so be it.

He swung his sword at the wood king. His enemy caught his blade with his own, the steel teeth shuddering as it dragged up the length of it. Lorcan narrowed his eyes and jumped back. The