Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,20

reach Lorcan in time. “I’m not eager, but I see no way to stop it. We should go through the woods, even if they’re haunted.”

“Haunted? Surely not.”

“By the Dalais family. My father saw to that.”

Iona arched a brow. “It has been a very long time since I’ve heard that name uttered.”

Thane sighed and leaned into the wind. “It would do good not to forget them. The people of Tairngire certainly haven’t, even if they never voice it aloud.”

“You truly believe that.” Iona stared at Thane, her eyes churning with clear surprise. “It has been many years since your father took over. The people moved on from the Dalais family.”

“’Took over’ is the polite way of describing it. My father staged a rebellion against the Dalais family. For power and nothing else. And you see what became of him, what kind of king he was. The people of Tairngire did not love my father. They feared him. Cruelty and fear does not create loyalty.”

Iona was quiet for a long while before speaking again. “My sister should have never married that creature.”

Thane’s heart pulsed. “If she hadn’t, then I would not be here now.”

“Yes, of course,” she said quickly, pushing away from the bannister. “We’re lucky to have you, Thane. You will make a good king, once you have your throne back.”

She turned to stride away, and Thane frowned after her. “So, what is you wish to do, Aunt Iona?”

She paused and flashed him a glittering smile. “We’ll sail for the shores at once. In the morning, we’ll begin our assault through the Witchlight Woods. If we run into any Dalais ghosts, we’ll kill them, too.”

Thane waited until the rest of the royal family had taken to their cabins for the night. He inched back up to the deck and hurried to the corner where they kept their birds locked up in tiny metal cages. Even though he had little care for birds himself, his heart still panged at the sight of them cooped up in those dark, dank cells. They were trapped, and they had no way out except to do the thing they had been trained to do all their lives, instead of the thing they wanted most of all: freedom.

He unlatched the cage and lifted a bird onto his forearm. It blinked at him with its beady black eyes, almost seeming to stare right into the very heart of his soul. With trembling hands, he held out a tiny, curled note, tied together with string. The bird plucked it from his fingers and blinked.

“I need you to take this to Dalais Castle, to the Grand Alderman,” he murmured, casting a glance over his shoulder to ensure he had not been followed. “He’ll be sitting in the Great Hall. He needs to know we’re coming. And that he needs to surrender.”

He knew the bird could not understand the depths of his words. But he needed to speak them aloud, if only to solidify his resolve. Reaching out an olive branch to the Grand Alderman was the last thing he wanted to do. He hated the man just as much as his aunt did, if not more. But Thane had seen what vengeance could do to someone. A blind drive for blood only ended up with piles of bodies everywhere.

Thane had run from his own people. He’d abandoned them to save his own skin.

He would not kill them all now. If he did, he’d be no better than any of the rest of them.

7

Reyna

Reyna fell, and fell, and fell. She fell so long that she was certain centuries had come and gone. Everyone she knew and loved was dead. Kings had risen, and kingdoms had been ripped apart. Entire continents razed and then rebuilt into something twisted and strange.

The lands were covered in shadows.

The ground hit her feet, and she looked down to find her leather boots sinking in a muddy field. She cast her gaze around, only to find herself surrounded by piles of the dead. Swallowing hard, she reached for her ice glass dagger, but found it already in her hand. Blood drenched the blue.

Her heart hammered. What was going on? A moment ago, she’d been with...who had she been with? She could no longer recall. Familiar faces blurred in her mind’s eye, but they were ghosts. Fragments of a time that had long since fled from her memory.

Who was she?

Reyna Darragh. At least that she knew.

But where was she? And how had she gotten here? Reyna swallowed hard