Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,56

been so focused on the king that she almost missed its approach. She leaned forward just in time, and the tip sliced through the back of her boiled armor. If she’d been wearing silk, it likely would have hit her skin, and the iron would have spread poison through her veins.

“Tell your guards to back off!” she shouted up at him.

Molt rushed forward with that impossible speed. In a flash, he was in front of her. He wrapped his hand around the front of her armor and hauled her off the ground. Her feet dangled beneath her. Gritting her teeth, she swung her blade, but he caught her wrist in his other hand. He squeezed tight. More bones broke. Crying out, Reyna struggled to hold her dagger.

It slipped from her fingers.

She growled and kicked out, but the king merely laughed in her face. Spittle hit her cheeks. “You should have agreed to join me, Princess Reyna Darragh. It’s a pity, really. There’s dark power inside of you, even if you’re too scared to look it in the face.”

The king tossed her onto the ground. Her back punched the dirt, stealing her breath from her lungs. Reeling, she scrabbled back and searched the soot for her blade, but it was nowhere to be seen. Grinning, the king raised his sword above his head and brought it down upon her.

She tried to roll out of the way, but her body was sluggish. She managed to flop onto her side as the blade hit. It sliced through her leather armor like it was nothing more than parchment. The steel scraped through her gut. Pain exploded within her. A guttural scream ripped from her throat as she watched the king raise the sword once more, readying himself to take the next blow.

Her breath stilled. This might be the last moment Reyna ever saw.

“Hey!” A voice boomed from behind her. “Wood king! You want a fight? Well, here we are.”

Reyna tried to push up to see who was shouting, but her vision had gone blurry. All she saw was a sea of gold. With a slight smile, she pressed her hand against her wound, and curled the other around the ice glass ring that hung from a chain around her neck.

Her gaze dropped to her side. The wound was a mess of torn flesh and flowing blood that slipped through her trembling fingers. She knew she should feel pain, but it had faded along with her sight.

She searched inside of herself for Seelie, but all she found was a gaping hole where his powers had once been. If she bled out, she did not think she would heal.

“Mother,” she whispered, holding tight to the ring. “I don’t know if you can hear me, or if there’s magic in this ring, or if we’re part-Fomorian like Rhain said. But if I don’t get help, I’m going to die. Please…”

Her eyes slipped shut. Pain drowned out the battle until there was nothing left at all.

19

Reyna

“Wake up.” A finger poked her face.

Reyna cracked open her eyes. Several bloodied faces peered down at her. Concern wrinkled their features. One of them was the air fae she’d crashed into during the battle. He must have followed her through the fight.

Memories swept through her mind. Lorcan opening the city gates. The wood king fighting her. Reyna failing to stop him from getting into Findius.

She sprang to her feet, wincing at the flare of pain in her side. “What’s happening?” She glanced down at her wound. Blood coated her entire side. There was a nasty gash in the leather armor, but her skin looked unmarked. “Where’s the king?”

The air fae’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Are you all right? You took a nasty blow with that crazy sword…”

He gave her side—bloodied yet healed—a purposeful look.

“I’m fine. I think. Where’s the king?” She whirled in a circle, searching the night for his familiar flowing locks of green. But he was nowhere to be seen. There were half a dozen bodies on the ground nearby, but he wasn’t among those either. She lifted her eyes toward the wall. From here, she couldn’t see the gates.

“We fought him back.” The air fae jerked his thumb toward the other warriors that surrounded him. “We managed to kill some of his guards, but more showed up. It was all chaotic for awhile. At some point, he slipped away.”

Reyna’s heart jerked. “He slipped away.”

“Headed for the gate, I’m guessing.”

“I saw him,” another fae interjected, joining the group. Blood splattered