Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,18
out of her.
She should have known. She should have realized there would be repercussions. But she’d assumed Seelie’s magic made her indestructible, invincible. And she was. But she was also vulnerable in a way she’d never guessed. Without her familiar, her magic was gone.
“Reyna, do something!” Duff shouted from behind her. “Kill it. Now!”
“I’m trying,” she screamed back.
The Coinchenn rose from the sea as Duff roared. Reyna glanced up, and her heart froze. Bulbous eyes pierced her soul. Yellowed sword-like teeth glinted beneath the moonlight. With a grunt, she threw out her hand once more, desperate to find even just a sliver of magic inside of her.
And then the sea monster ripped the world apart.
6
Thane
Tairngire sparkled beneath the midday sun. The city rose up in great gleaming shades of gold, and an aching knot took shape in Thane’s throat. It had only been months since he had set eyes upon his home, and yet it felt as though decades had passed.
From the bow, it looked as though the city slept. The Sea Court ships had slowed just outside the Bay of Wind, so most of the buildings were nothing more than a smudge on a canvas. He could see no one striding through the streets or hear the merchants hocking their wares. He couldn’t hear the boom of laughter from the taverns down by the docks, or spot the beggar boys sneaking coins from pockets.
He sucked in a lungful of salty, sea air and leaned forward, bracing himself against the harsh, unyielding wind. A strange sense of hope ballooned inside of him, threatening to carry him away with the clouds. There it was, his city. The sparkling gold, the windswept roofs, the bustling markets, all of it. He had left Tairngire behind. He’d thought he would never see the city again, at least not for decades or more.
He had not realized how much he had missed it.
Home.
The sea was in his blood. He knew that. A mother always passed her court’s powers on to her children—back before the Fall. And so, while he looked like the perfect picture of air fae nobility, he knew sea magic sang inside of him. Or it would have, if magic had still been alive.
But there was nowhere else like Tairngire.
His aunt, Iona, edged up beside him, donned in head to toe sea fae armor. She’d cast aside her pretty dresses for some steel. In a strange sense, it suited her.
“How should we attack, Thane?” she asked in a matter-of-fact tone that grated Thane’s nerves like knives.
“I’m not sure we should. They won’t have many warriors. It isn’t as though they can put up much of a fight.”
She scowled. “Not this again.”
“You know it’s true,” he said, ignoring her. “Their numbers are few. Perhaps they’ll just surrender.”
“Surrender does not give me Aengus’s head.” Her voice was vicious. It reminded Thane of his mother. Imogen would not have wanted to wait for the enemy to surrender either. She would have risen from the depths of the sea with great, terrible fangs, and she would have sunk her teeth into every street, every corner, and every alley inside that city. As long as it got her what she wanted: vengeance.
“I doubt their surrender would stop you from freeing his head from the rest of his body,” Thane mused. “You would find a way.”
Her brows slammed down. “You speak as though you don’t approve. Lest I remind you, Thane, you agreed to this. You said you wanted to return to Tairngire and make Aengus pay for what he did.”
“I did say that. And I do want to make him pay.” He closed his eyes. “But I do not think we should make all of Tairngire pay for his mistakes. It is not the low fae’s fault that he killed my mother.”
“You’ve gone soft,” she spit. “It was that Reyna, wasn’t it? She talked you out of invading.”
Thane ground his teeth together. “Actually, she encouraged me to come with you.”
Iona tsked. “She shouldn’t have left like that. The Ice and Sea are allied courts now. A princess scampering off when she’s agreed to fight for us…”
Thane swallowed down a knot of annoyance. “She never agreed to fight for you.”
“Her father assumed she’d be joining us. When he realizes she isn’t here, he might turn around and march his troops right back home,” she chided. “She’s put the entire battle at stake and for what? A shadow fae?”
“That shadow fae is my friend, my brother,” Thane said through gritted teeth.