Smolder (Crown of Fae #3) - Sharon Ashwood Page 0,53

for chaos.

“Let Anna go, Fionn,” Leena said again, pleading now. “She’s not your enemy. None of us are.”

Fionn exploded, eyes blazing. “Don’t you think I know that?” he howled.

Leena fell back a step. “What?”

“I know, I know, but it’s gone too deep.” Suddenly, he was weeping, dark tears staining his ruined cheeks. “I can’t stop. I don’t have a choice anymore.”

“Fionn?” Leena whispered, her voice too pinched to speak.

He broke into sobs. “It hurts, Leelee. Make it stop. Please, make it stop.”

She made a noise, almost a whimper. He’d used her childhood name. Tears blurred her vision. This was a wound she couldn’t bind and kiss better. “Put the knife down, Fionn. I beg you. The only way to help yourself is to stop.”

He sucked in a gulping sob. “I can’t. They know where I am. They know I’ve failed. I’m being called back.”

He was right. A pinprick glow spiraled to life in front of the window. Someone was opening a Shimmer.

There were only so many things that could happen next, especially when Fionn was still holding Anna at knifepoint. Morran had spoken of Juradoc’s interest in the woman. If Fionn couldn’t touch Barleycorn, he might take her instead.

Leena drew closer, wondering how best to snatch Anna away.

“Don’t,” Kifi cried.

The door banged fully open as Morran plunged into the room, followed by a blur of orange fur. The tomcat landed on the bed beside Kifi, fangs bared at the enemy.

Morran vaulted over the end of the bed to grab at Fionn. The prince landed neatly, skidding to a stop, but Leena was already there. Her hand brushed Anna’s sleeve, but Fionn lashed out, knocking Leena away.

The force of his blow sent her reeling into Morran. Leena bounced off the hard wall of his chest and stumbled against the window, banging her elbow on the frame. Morran caught her, but it was too late.

Fionn dragged Anna through the Shimmer to almost certain death.

18

“No!” Leena plunged toward the Shimmer, but the silvery light swallowed Fionn and Anna, leaving nothing but a ripple behind. A cry ripped from her throat, half frustration and half a moan of loss.

“Wait.” Morran gripped her arm. “We can’t leave Barleycorn undefended.”

Leena whirled to face him, the words barely finding their way through the storm of her emotions. Fionn had begged for help. Every part of her needed to answer that cry. “We’re losing them.”

The Shimmer flared brighter, its magic responding to the tension in the room. Color blazed high on Morran’s cheekbones. “Juradoc wants Barleycorn for his own ends.”

“I know.” But knowing wasn’t everything.

Leena’s chest felt as if a wild animal were tearing it asunder. Morran was right. Somehow, Barleycorn was a weapon against Juradoc. He could not be left undefended. And Anna loved him.

But at the same time, Fionn needed her as never before. She couldn’t abandon him, not even for the sake of Faery. She simply couldn’t do it.

Morran’s expression changed, showing he understood.

She caught his hand. “Let me go. Fionn knows me.”

“Why don’t you both go?” Kifi put in. “You won’t be leaving the patient unguarded. Not with a hundred cats ready to answer my call.”

Leena turned to face the felines. “What if Juradoc sends another assassin?”

Mo lashed his tail. “Then they will have to get through us and the pack of wolves Anna summoned. I hear their boots on the stairs.”

“How do you know it’s her pack?” Morran asked.

“The smell of muddy dog.” The orange feline puffed himself into a disgruntled ball.

Kifi sat on Barleycorn’s chest, as regal as a sphinx. Leena’s heart squeezed at the thought of leaving her friend behind, but the cat was far safer here than in Juradoc’s camp. “We’ll come back for you,” Leena said.

Kifi licked a paw. “Or we shall rescue you. Either way, this provides for more options. Now hurry.”

Boots tromped down the corridor. Anna’s wolves had arrived. At the same time, the Shimmer was beginning to dwindle.

Morran took Leena’s hand. “Leave the cats to explain.”

Before Leena could answer, he pulled her through the whirling light. This time, the airless dark was twice as bitter, as if Juradoc’s venom had infected it, too. Leena screamed inside her mind, then a blinding flash made her fling up an arm to protect her eyes.

Pain flared through her joints as she plummeted onto hard-packed earth. The momentum sent her tumbling over and over until the cracked, sandy dirt caught her in its curving slope. Leena squinted up into a sun-washed sky, its blue paled by a haze of dust