Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,36

as his feet twisted beneath him. He blinked up at the brilliant blue sky, his lifeforce pumping out of his veins and onto the grass. He tried to call upon his shadows, but they slipped between his fingers like invisible ghosts. His vision blurred until the clouds transformed into a strange grey haze that tugged him into darkness.

“Your Highness.” Segonax’s familiar face blurred in Lorcan’s vision. A second face appeared beside him, his brows knitted together in concern. Priest Tighe, still clutching his damn book. Nollaig popped up beside him, though her cloak still hid any hint of her from view. Pain pounded against Lorcan’s shoulder, and he groaned.

“What happened?” he grunted, his vision blurring. He could scarcely think straight against the pain, and his memories were vague. There’d been green all around him, and then…nothing.

“The wood fae hit you with one of their poisoned arrows,” Seg said grimly. “Priest Tighe here managed to draw it out of your skin quickly enough. If it weren’t for him, you’d be dead.”

His heart pulsed. “And the others?”

Seg’s voice was grim. “Only Alys survived. Both Riordan and Sean are dead, but so are the two wood fae archers.”

Lorcan let out a heavy sigh, letting his eyes slide shut. “There will be others who know about that tunnel. We cannot exit the city that way.”

“No, Your Highness, we can’t,” Priest Tighe said. “There is only one option for us now.”

Lorcan sagged against the weight of it. How could he surrender the city to the wood king? But what would happen if he didn’t?

“How much longer until I heal, Tighe?” Lorcan asked.

“You are stronger than most, Your Highness,” the priest answered. “The throne’s powers seem to be healing your wound quite quickly. It’s likely why you aren’t dead already. I imagine you will be fully healed within days.”

“Days.” That might be just long enough to decide on the right path forward. By the time he rose from this bed, he would have to make the call. Surrender or not.

“Seg, Nollaig,” he said before sleep could tug him back under once more. “I need you to gather the council and brainstorm ideas. See if any of you can think of any way for us to save ourselves. Otherwise, I will open those gates and welcome the wood king into Findius. I see no way to avoid it any longer.”

13

Eislyn

“Welcome to the Empire of Fomor, little fae.” Blaine shoved her forward, and her feet tripped on the cracks of the wooden dock. Her knees slammed into the ground. With a chuckle, Blaine yanked her to her feet. “Stop acting so pathetic. You got to where you wanted to go, didn’t you?”

“Not like this,” she hissed through her teeth. “Let me go.”

The journey had been made of nightmares. Eislyn had been locked in a tiny room for the entire duration. No windows. No fresh air. Nothing to keep her company but her own stink. They’d brought her food when they remembered. Sometimes, she got water.

She never got a bed or a pail.

Her own scent clung to her like a hungry leech. Her eyes locked on the crystalline sea, the brilliance of it shining through the cracks in the dock. Her heart ached with yearning for that water, to sink beneath the waves, to wash her skin and her mind of the memories that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

She had not been given light on the ship, either. She had not known day from night. Her ever-present shadows came to haunt her, bringing with it the sound of her mother’s dying screams. She had been forced to endure those memories over and over and over again, until she was no longer sure if those images were from her past or from her future.

No, Eislyn felt like nothing more than a broken thing. Any hope she’d have of saving Tir Na Nog from the Ruin was gone.

The human shoved her a step forward. Eislyn stumbled, biting the insides of her cheeks until they bled. She could barely see through the tears in her eyes. Not that it mattered. It wasn’t as though she would see much of anything for long. The humans had made one thing achingly clear. Fomorians truly did hate the fae. She would likely be killed the moment she got thrown before the Emperor’s guards.

She glanced over her shoulder. The human was pushing her along, but his eyes were drawn to the magnificent city spread across the rocky hills. This would be her