Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,6

to Segonax, who stood waiting at his post. “Any change since this morning?”

The old commander shook his head and sighed. Weariness wrapped around him like a cloak, and evidence of his lack of sleep lined his eyes. The commander was one of the oldest fae in the castle. He’d been around at the time of the Fall, and now the lack of fae magic was finally taking its toll on him. He was ageing, and fast.

“They’re still waiting out there in the dreary sea, as far as I can tell. The siege continues on another day, and I expect for many more days after that. There is no reason for them to give it up, Your Highness. The sea does not threaten them so long as they stay on board, and they have all the supplies they need.”

And we don’t.

“How many would you say?” Lorcan asked.

Segonax shook his head. “I don’t have a better count today than I did yesterday. There are at least a dozen ships. That much I know, but there could be far more. Hundreds, even. And the army to the north of the wall? In the thousands. Far more than what we have here, thanks to your father’s madness.”

Lorcan’s lips flatlined. His father had once had an army ten thousand strong, but he’d sacrificed more than two thirds of them to an invisible god in the hope of gaining more power for himself. In the end, Bolg Rothach had not gained power. Instead, his severed head had fallen from his shoulders, and his tainted blood had spilled across his precious throne.

“We don’t have the warriors or the resources for this, Seg,” Lorcan said tiredly. Most kings stepped into their reign in times of strife and war. He was not the first to face impossibility, particularly in the Shadow Court. But that did little to comfort him, knowing that the entire realm was likely to die because of this. Because he did not have what it took to save them.

With a sigh, he dropped back his head and gazed at the sky. If only Reyna were here. She would be able to solve it all. Hell, they should have crowned her the High Queen of the Shadow Court, and he could be her loyal advisor, fighter, and lover all the way to the end of everything.

His hands fisted. He would have done it, too. If she hadn’t made that damn deal with a god.

Now, they could never be together again. Seelie would see to it.

“Ah,” Seg said gently. “I know that look. Missing the princess again?”

Lorcan strode up to the wooden bannister and gripped it tight. “‘Missing’ is too weak a word for what I feel for her.”

“It truly is a shame,” Segonax said. “We could use her powers right now. One blast of ice, and she could take out a hundred of them.”

Lorcan slid Segonax a sidelong gaze. “Perhaps if you’d told me she’d fallen out of the sky and landed on Thane’s boat, she’d be here now instead of half a world away.”

Seg’s weathered face sagged beneath the weight of Lorcan’s gaze. “I’m sorry. I truly am. But if I’d told you, you would have run right after her instead of confronting your father.”

“You’re right,” he replied through gritted teeth. “I would have.”

“And do you not see how that could have ruined everything?”

“I see that it means I’ve lost her forever.” Lorcan shook his head and pushed away from the bannister. Seg was one of his oldest friends, more of a father than his own had been. But the old commander had betrayed his trust. Lorcan wanted nothing more than to forgive and forget, and he gladly would. If Segonax’s actions had not meant that Lorcan would never again set eyes on Reyna Darragh.

It felt as though a piece of his heart had been carved out of his chest and cast into the mists, never to be found again. The shadows had claimed it as their own, and they were not known for giving things back.

“Maybe we’ll win this war,” Segonax said. “And you can be reunited.”

“And maybe the mists will clear, and the sun will turn from red to gold,” Lorcan replied dryly.

A small smile tugged on Seg’s lips. “If we win, it will. There are no mists in the wood lands.”

“There’s no hunger either.” Lorcan sighed, turning back to the army laid out before him. From this vantage point, they could see the wood fae camp. There were thousands of tents scattered across