I would assume control of the kingdom from which I’d once fled. There was the loss of Roth’s palace—my true home—Farrah’s betrayal and curse, the return of Leonora, and Ashleigh’s unexpected charm.
While Queen Raven couldn’t concretely know Ashleigh was Leonora, she did suspect. My suspicions had just been confirmed. She’d attended the funeral, and she’d heard about the fire, and she’d suspected Ashleigh’s role in my life.
And you still believe she didn’t send those soldiers to hurt Ashleigh at the Temple?
The Raven I’d known always delivered her blows herself. But I’d never really known her, had I? I’d never thought her capable of watching her husband attempt to kill her son, either.
“How long is she planning to stay?” I demanded.
“Six days. She doesn’t trust her advisors to lead the avian without her for longer than that.”
I swung my gaze back to Ashleigh. “I will speak with your father. I want you to remain in the palace for the next six days. You are not to leave it for any reason. This time, you will obey me.”
“Six days? Saxon, I swear I’m not going to harm your family.”
She misunderstood, but I wasn’t going to correct her. “Nevertheless. You will stay inside.”
Tempest snorted. “As if you could harm me, little girl.”
“You will go to my tent and await Mother,” I told my sister. “Tonight, I have plans.” Plans I would see through. Since I wouldn’t be seeing Ashleigh for the next six days, I would have to end our night with a punishment, after all.
Always follow through. I couldn’t have Leonora thinking I’d softened.
Adriel approached at last, a feather floating from his wing, drawing Ashleigh’s gaze to where he hovered. She shrank against me, as if I were a hero. A protector. I found my chin lifting proudly—there was no one stronger or better able to defend her.
Follow. Through.
“Escort my sister to my tent,” I told the soldier, who stayed far away from Ashleigh and never glanced her way.
Resentment vibrated from Tempest, but she pivoted and stalked off without protest. Avian were nothing if not loyal to their leader. Adriel followed from the air, his broken legs hanging limply.
“Hey,” Ashleigh said, her tone gentle. She rested her fingertips against my stubbled jawline and softly urged my attention back to her. “I’m drunk on the night, remember, so I can do this.”
Now that we’d started touching, we weren’t going to be able to stop, were we?
“I don’t know what happened between you and your family that hurt you so badly,” she continued, “but I’m sorry for that, too.”
She comforts me still? Me? I dipped my forehead to her shoulder, and she combed her fingers through my hair.
The worst of my mental chaos quieted, as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing what I was supposed to be doing, with the girl I was supposed to be with. The one who belonged to me. The one I belonged with.
It was a lie, of course. But, in that moment, it was a lie I desperately wanted to believe.
“What makes you think I’m hurting?” Few people ever saw past my unending anger.
“Let’s just say the lost glaze in your eyes is familiar to me.”
Did she encounter it every time she peered into a mirror?
My chest did that tightening thing again, guilt flaring anew. “If you seek my pity—”
“I don’t. I really don’t. I sympathize with you, that’s all.”
Or she thought to trick me into softening, the same way Leonora had so often tricked Craven, and I was letting her win yet again.
I stiffened. “Save your sympathy. Tonight, I will have a measure of restitution.”
She pursed her lips. “What’s it going to be this time? Hmm? Do tell.”
“You’ll see.”
“Yes, I guess I will.” Animosity draining, she offered me a broken smile, and it was a thousand times worse than tears or fury. As if she’d been trampled so many times, her heart had developed calluses, and yet she pitied me. “I haven’t ever had a friend, not really, and I’ve interacted with very few people in my life, but I have observed many. Whether you deny it or not, your sister’s visit threw you. You’re hurting, and you’re lashing out at me. But, darling that I am, I’ve decided not to demand restitution for your rudeness. So let’s get this over with.”
Let’s. Before I lost my resolve. My chest was now on fire, and she hadn’t needed magic to ignite the flames.
I tightened my hold and jumped up with her still in my