Chapter 2

Elide Lochan had once hoped to travel far and

wide, to a place where no one had ever heard

of Adarlan or Terrasen, so distant that Vernon

didn’t stand a chance of finding her.

She hadn’t anticipated that it might

actually happen.

Standing in the dusty, ancient alley of an

equally dusty, ancient city in a kingdom south

of Doranelle, Elide marveled at the noontime

bells ringing across the clear sky, the sun

baking the pale stones of the buildings, the

dry wind sweeping through the narrow streets

between them. She’d learned the name of this

city thrice now, and still couldn’t pronounce

it.

She supposed it didn’t matter. They

wouldn’t be here long. Just as they had not

lingered in any of the cities they’d swept

through, or the forests or mountains or

lowlands. Kingdom after kingdom, the

relentless pace set by a prince who seemed

barely able to remember to speak, let alone

feed himself.

Elide grimaced at the weathered witch

leathers she still wore, her fraying gray cloak

and scuffed boots, then glanced at her two

companions in the alley. Indeed, they’d all

seen better days.

“Any minute now,” Gavriel murmured, a

tawny eye on the alley’s entrance. A towering,

dark figure blended into the scant shadows at

the half-crumbling archway, monitoring the

bustling street beyond.

Elide didn’t look too long toward that

figure. She’d been unable to stomach it these

endless weeks. Unable to stomach him, or the

unbearable ache in her chest.

Elide frowned at Gavriel. “We should have

stopped for lunch.”

He jerked his chin to the worn bag sagging

against the wall. “There’s an apple in my

pack.”

Glancing toward the building rising above

them, Elide sighed and reached for the pack,

riffling through the spare clothes, rope,

weapons, and various supplies until she

yanked out the fat red-and-green apple. The

last of the many they’d plucked from an

orchard in a neighboring kingdom. Elide

wordlessly extended it to the Fae lord.

Gavriel arched a golden brow.

Elide mirrored the gesture. “I can hear your

stomach grumbling.”

Gavriel huffed a laugh and took the apple

with an incline of his head before cleaning it

on the sleeve of his pale jacket. “Indeed it is.”

Down the alley, Elide could have sworn the

dark figure stiffened. She paid him no heed.

Gavriel bit into the apple, his canines

flashing. Aedion Ashryver’s father—the

resemblance was uncanny, though the

similarities stopped at appearance. In the brief

few days she’d spent with Aedion, he’d

proved himself the opposite of the softspoken,

thoughtful male.

She’d worried, after Asterin and Vesta had

left them aboard the ship they’d sailed here,

that she might have made a mistake in

choosing to travel with three immortal males.

That she’d be trampled underfoot.

But Gavriel had been kind from the start,

making sure Elide ate enough and had

blankets on frigid nights, teaching her to ride

the horses they’d spent precious coin to

purchase because Elide wouldn’t stand a

chance of keeping up with them on foot, ankle

or no. And for the times when they had to lead

their horses over rough terrain, Gavriel had

even braced her leg with his magic, his power

a warm summer breeze against her skin.

She certainly wasn’t allowing Lorcan to do

so for her.

She would never forget the sight of him

crawling after Maeve once the queen had

severed the blood oath. Crawling after Maeve

like a shunned lover, like a broken dog

desperate for its master. Aelin had been

brutalized, their very location betrayed by

Lorcan to Maeve, and still he tried to follow.

Right through the sand still wet with Aelin’s

blood.

Gavriel ate half the apple and offered Elide

the rest. “You should eat, too.”

She frowned at the bruised purple beneath

Gavriel’s eyes. Beneath her own, she had no

doubt. Her cycle, at least, had come last

month, despite the hard travel that burned up

any reserves of food in her stomach.

That had been particularly mortifying. To

explain to three warriors who co

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***