Keeper of Storms (The Fallen Fae #3) - Jenna Wolfhart Page 0,76

inside of her. And it had protected her from death without her owl familiar by her side. Seelie’s powers had been doing their damnedest to keep her alive for so long that there was nothing left of them now. She could feel it in her very bones. She had for days now.

All the magic was gone.

With shaky hands, Reyna ground the herbs and dropped them into her open mouth, hoping swallowing them down would be enough to stop the Ruin’s taunts.

I die with you, Reyna Darragh. In the end, we both win.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the herbs to do their magic. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

And give you a chance to change the course of our future together? I was brought into existence to kill you. And now I will.

Reyna’s fingers curved against the ground. She’d gone into the birthplace of the gods to ask for help. She’d begged for a way to defeat the Ruin. In the end, she had gotten what she’d asked for, but not in the way she’d thought.

“If you being inside of me can kill me, then why did Seelie only give me limited magic?” she whispered. “The whole point was that I could survive you. Wasn’t it?”

Perhaps Seelie knew you are the Namhaid. The destroyer of everything. The scum of this world. The—

“But that doesn’t make any sense.”

Reyna’s heart pulsed inside of her as the effects of the herbs finally numbed the pain and guilt. The Ruin’s voice faded away, leaving her alone with nothing but her own thoughts. Relief shuddered through her, but it was short-lived. The Ruin might be silent for now, but it was not gone. It would be the thing to kill her in the end.

How much longer did she have?

A familiar flap of wings snatched her attention away from her dark thoughts. Hope jolted her heart. She tipped back her head and looked up. White wings speared the night sky.

With tears in her eyes, she launched to her feet. “Wingallock!”

Waves of emotion crashed over her. She stumbled forward, reaching out toward the skies, desperate to feel his talons against her skin. She’d known he was still alive—she’d felt it—but seeing him brought so much relief that she almost crashed to the ground.

He let out an agitated hoot and continued to soar through the skies, casting a single glance at her face as he did. Frowning, she followed after him, her feet still bruised and aching from running through the night.

He led her across the Misty Wastes, the intensity of his flight increasing with every moment that passed. Soon, sunrise streaked across the skies, transforming the darkness into red-drenched fields of ash.

Wingallock slowed. In the distance, Reyna spotted two forms trudging through the mist.

“Nollaig!” she shouted, picking up the pace. “Commander Segonax!”

She spotted no army behind them, but in that moment, she did not care. She needed to see their familiar faces. She needed to hear their voices, and wrap her arms around that silly, ever-present cloak. It was the only thing that could keep her going.

The forms solidified as she raced toward them. One of them—the taller and wider of the two—pulled a sword from his side. They would not know she was a friend and not a foe.

“It’s me!” she shouted. “It’s Reyna!”

The forms suddenly stopped.

“Reyna?”

Her heart stopped. All the blood in her veins stilled. That deep, melodic voice did not belong to Segonax. It was a voice she’d memorized and imagined a hundred times since the last time she’d heard it, oh so long ago.

“What?” she whispered, stumbling to a stop. “No. It can’t be.”

She must have imagined it. The Ruin had gotten into her head, and now it was twisting her senses to hear things that weren’t there. Or the mists had tricked her. Or she was so tired that she didn’t know what she’d heard.

There were a million explanations for that voice. None of them were the one thing she wanted more than anything else in the world. For it to be real. For it to be true.

The mists parted. The form came into view.

Lorcan Rothach stared at her from across the field of ash. His familiar lips tipped up into a smile. Everything within her shattered.

“Reyna? Is that really you?”

Her heart exploded inside her chest, and she threw herself toward his open arms.

26

Lorcan

A week before Lorcan found Reyna stumbling through the Misty Wastes, he sat in the Meeting Hall listening to his advisors bicker like siblings. Priest Tighe was convinced