Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,130

spun her to face him. He brushed her cheek with his knuckle, dropping his forehead to hers. She buzzed with life, filling up his head with the scent of her. He did not know how they’d been so lucky. Both of them had survived. The city had won. And now they were here, waiting for their allies to arrive from the north.

Everything was fine.

“You don’t understand.” She whispered the words, her breath frosting on her full lips. “Something isn’t right. I can feel it in my bones.”

“Are you sure a part of the Ruin didn’t get stuck inside of you, and now it’s messing with your thoughts again?”

She shook her head fiercely. “No. It’s not there. Trust me on this. I would know if it was.”

“Well, then you are just worrying needlessly. Look around us. There’s nothing to fear.”

Reyna gazed around, and then her eyes landed on the books. “We need to find someone who can translate Fomorian.”

Lorcan let out a heavy sigh and pulled back. “I wish you’d accept what I’m trying to tell you. I’m starting to feel like you don’t want peace. Not when you refuse to accept that we have it. It’s like you’re looking for something to be wrong, inventing things just so you have an enemy to fight.”

Reyna blinked and stepped back, flinching as though she’d been slapped. “I thought you of all people would understand.”

He frowned. “I do understand, but I still think you need to calm down.”

She threw up her hands. “I am calm!”

Rubbing his jaw, he turned away. This was not how he’d expected victory to feel. He had dreamt of it for so long, tangling his reunion with Reyna along with it. Now, they had everything they’d both said they wanted. Time together with nothing to keep them apart. And yet it felt like the distance between them had yawned wider than it ever had. She was here with him, but her mind was somewhere else.

“I wish you could just be happy that we have a chance to be together now,” he said quietly. “After everything we’ve been through, after how hard we’ve both fought to get to each other. I’m standing before you now, Reyna. You have nowhere else you need to be. I have no more enemies to fight. Neither do you. We can just be us. There’s no reason to invent an enemy.”

“And after everything we’ve been through, I would think you’d trust me by now.” Tears filled her eyes, splashing onto her flushed cheeks. Instantly, he regretted everything he’d said. Sighing, he wrapped her up in his arms, his heart beating hard against her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair, once again the brilliant silver it had always been. “I didn’t mean to upset you. All I want is you by my side while our realms know peace. A simple life where we can wake up next to each other in the morning and kiss each other goodnight. I thought it was impossible for so long. Now that we have that chance, I want nothing more than to take it.”

She squeezed him back, pressing her face against his chest. “I want the same thing, Lorcan.”

“But?”

She was silent for a good long while before she finally sighed. Pulling away, she tipped back her head and smiled up at him, but he swore the lightness did not reach her eyes. “But nothing. I’m just being silly, like you said. The hundred years of war are over. We should do something to celebrate it.”

The corners of his lips lifted. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well…” She flushed, biting her bottom lip. “Have you picked out your quarters yet?”

“Our quarters, you mean.” Need pulsed between them. “Not yet. But I think it’s time we did.”

Epilogue

THE KING OF ERETIA

“I received another letter from Aengus.” Prince Cyril dropped a slip of parchment onto the table in front of his father. The King of Eretia sighed and leaned back in his leather chair. He flicked his gaze across his troublesome son. He kept trying to find ways to redeem himself in his father’s eyes, and then he’d pluck new playthings from the streets. And then murder them.

He was giving the Kingdom of Eretia a terrible reputation.

“Aengus is a smuggler,” Adonis said, flicking the parchment away from him. “I am tired of his schemes. All he wants is power. Playing with the fae is a terrible idea. The worst he’s ever had.”

“His schemes are working,” Prince Cyril said with a raised brow. “You