“It’s my wound,” she hissed through the pain in her stomach. “It hurts like hell.”
“I’ll go fetch the alchemist.”
She heard him bustle out of the room and wished she could stop him. She felt as if she had torn her heart open wide, and now that she was lying bare before him, she never wanted to see him go. A moment later, he returned with Meredith, who was making a lot of agitated tsking noises.
She fussed with the bandage, poking and prodding. At one point, she spread another dose of the herbal ointment across the wound, and a million tiny stars danced in Reyna’s eyes from the sting of it. After applying a clean bandage and making Reyna drink another dose of nettle and rowan draught, Meredith took a step back and looked at the both of them very sternly.
“Might I ask what caused this?” she asked, her eyes aimed very pointedly in Lorcan’s direction.
Lorcan pressed his lips together. Reyna coughed. She knew she was blushing furiously.
“I see.” Meredith tsked again, crossing her arms over her chest. “Reyna, would you say you’re well enough to stand up and walk a circle around the room?”
Reyna pulled the covers up to her chin. This was mortifying. “Unlikely.”
“Until you are, you’ll be doing nothing else,” Meredith said firmly. “Particularly vigorous activities.”
With a heavy sigh, the alchemist twisted on her heels and stormed out of the room. Reyna stayed hidden beneath the covers. Partly because she was pretty exhausted after all that. Meredith had given her another dose of her infamous draught, and it had the tendency of making the world slow down almost instantly.
Lorcan grabbed a chair and dropped it on the opposite side of the room, as far away from Reyna as he could get. He crossed his arms, smiled, and tipped back.
She narrowed her eyes. “Why do you look so smug?”
“I’m too much for you to handle.”
“Oh, give me a break,” she muttered.
“It’s true.” His smile widened into a full-on grin. “You got so hot and bothered that your wound popped open.”
Her jaw dropped as a new wave of heat rushed into her cheeks. “You’re delusional.”
“Is that so? Then, prove it.” He tapped a finger against his chin. “Oh wait. That’s right. You can’t. Alchemist’s orders.”
“You’re having way too much fun with this,” Reyna said, rolling her eyes. “You get one little kiss, and you suddenly think you’re the Dagda’s gift to females.”
“Not females,” he said. “Female. This gift is purely singular.”
Her heart began to thump again, pulsing in time with the ache in her core. She wanted him fiercely, even while her wound throbbed with pain. He’d tried to lighten the mood after the embarrassment with Meredith. It had worked, but it hadn’t made her forget how they had been moments away from screaming each other’s names.
Her eyes began to drift shut as the healing potion took hold. She fought against it. There was still so much unsaid, so much more she needed to know. About everything. His life. His feelings. The world he’d been forced to inhabit all these years.
“Rest, Reyna,” he said softly. “We’ll have our chance again. That I can promise you.”
23
Lorcan
Duff burst into the room, knocking the door clean off its hinges. It fell with a heavy thunk, but the wood fae scarcely even noticed. Lorcan was on his feet at once. He’d nodded off in the chair, having drifted off while watching Reyna sleep. She’d grown stronger over the past three days, so much so that Meredith had said Reyna would be ready to leave on the morrow.
“We’ve just had a scout rush in, wounded from an arrow in the knee.” Duff growled. “Damn wood king. He’s on his way. He’ll be here within the hour.”
“Within the hour?” Lorcan’s heart thundered in his ears. “Are you certain?”
So much for the wood king following the trail left behind by Nollaig. The diversion hadn’t worked.
“Aye. Meredith’s getting a boat ready for you. If you leave now, the army won’t catch sight of you.”
“And if I stay and fight?”
Duff’s lips went white. “Then all of us will die.”
“Allies never leave each other behind.” Reyna’s clear voice cut through the room. The two warriors turned to find her standing tall at the edge of her bed, shoulders thrown back in stubborn ferocity. Lorcan’s heart swelled. It was the strongest he’d seen her in days.
“You can’t stay,” Duff argued. “The king doesn’t know you’re here. When he arrives, he’ll take a look around, find nothing, and leave. Same as every other time he’s tried to catch us housing the enemy.”
“Nollaig tried to draw him away,” Reyna said, putting voice to Lorcan’s thoughts. “If the king is coming here, it’s because he knows where we are.”
Duff let out a curse, one that Lorcan felt deep within his bones. And yet, he felt strangely ready for whatever might be coming for them. Reyna had brought him alive again, in a way that he had not been in a very long time. He could not remember the last time he’d had hope in his heart.
“But his army is marching this way,” Duff said, face draining. “We’re just a village. A strong one, but just a village all the same. We cannot fight against the numbers of the wood king.”
“All of his army?” Reyna asked.
Duff shook his head. “The scout doesn’t believe so.” At the look of confusion on Reyna’s face, he explained. “We don’t know the full extent of the wood king’s army. He’s been very secretive about it for years. We know he has some air fae companies now as well, but our scout did not see any banners with the golden crown sigil waving in the wind.”
“Those would be Lord Bowen’s warriors,” Lorcan said grimly. “The ones Sloane Selkirk sent, and the Grand Alderman never called back.”
“The Grand Alderman?” Duff asked. “You mean, the foreigner?”
Lorcan nodded.
“He would never get those troops back now, even if he called them. The wood king will not be concerned with a pesky nobody playing at thrones.”
“That’s a good description of him, really,” Reyna said with a strained smile. “That said, I think right now I’d rather Aengus be in control of—”
“Wait,” Lorcan suddenly said. “Does that mean Aengus is still in control of the throne?”
Duff nodded. “As far as we know.”
Lorcan let out an irritated huff. All this time, Lorcan had thought his father had Thane, so he’d thought little of the prince’s disappearance. But now that he knew the truth, there was one question that begged for an answer. Where the hell was the High King of the Air Court?
Where is Thane?
Reyna’s soft touch, a gentle hand on his arm, pulled him away from his dark thoughts. “We’ll find him, Lorcan. I don’t know how, but we will.”
“If you’re going to be finding anyone, we’re going to have to survive this attack first. Any bright ideas?” Duff asked.