My eyes flew to my sister’s from across the room. Cailis was seated at one of the lesser tables, where family members of the more powerful fae were allowed.
She and I exchanged weighted looks. Her eyes softened, as though she understood the desperation weighing upon my soul. Tonight, she mouthed.
I gave a subtle nod in return, and it felt as though my heart was shattering all over again.
I glanced down the table, toward my mate, my love, the male I’d wanted to claim tonight as my own, and I knew with an aching realization that such a bond was never to exist between us.
Even though the gods had made us for one another, the king had decided otherwise. He knew that Norivun was my mate and me his, yet I had no doubt King Novakin took perverse delight in the fact that we would both be wed to others.
So when the time came that we were finally dismissed from the table, I flew from the room with my sister at my side. I could feel the crown prince searching for me, striding toward me, but I couldn’t see him again. I couldn’t look upon his face and lie to him about what we planned to do. Every part of me was shattering into a thousand pieces over and over again, and one look or touch from him, and I would break beyond repair.
So we flew to my chambers, gathered the supplies that my sister had so carefully acquired yet we’d never thought we’d actually use, and then we stood gasping as the weight of what we were doing fell upon us.
“This will be seen as treason,” I said quietly to her, giving her a chance to back out. She didn’t need to go down with me.
She grabbed my hands. “I know.”
A sob threatened to overtake me, but I swallowed it down and rubbed the tears from my eyes.
“Can you mistphase us?” she asked worriedly.
I felt for my magic. It was still trapped, still slow. I’d barely been able to mistphase myself from Norivun’s room to here this morning, let alone a long distance with my sister at my side. “I don’t think so.”
“Then we’ll use the escape tunnel near the training room.”
I was about to agree when the door to my chambers abruptly opened. My heart locked in my throat.
“My queen?” I breathed.
“Ilara!” Queen Lissandra rushed to my side, her hair unbound, her expression frantic. “I know what’s happened today. I know about your magic. Norivun told me.”
“But—”
“Please listen. You must hurry. Guards are on their way here right now to remove you from the prince’s wing.” I blanched, but she carried on. “I know you’ve been planning to escape. I know what your sister’s been doing.”
Cailis and I shared a wild look, and then it struck me, what Cailis had said only weeks prior, that someone had been watching her in the castle. Following her.
It’d been the queen.
“Take this.” The queen shoved two vials into my hand. “The orange one is a very rare potion that allows a fairy with minimal magic to mistphase anywhere in the realm. The other is a potion that will hide your whereabouts. I brought one for each of you. Nobody will be able to find you. Not a seer, not someone with the ability to scry. No one.”
“What? But how—”
“Listen to me!” the queen said firmly, her eyes ablaze. “I know you’re aware of what’s been done to my magic—what the king’s done to me. I’ve had these potions for full seasons in case I ever needed to escape and take the princes with me, but you need it more. You’re stronger than me, Ilara. Our continent needs you. Use these potions now and escape to one of the other continents. You can’t stay here. The king will find you. Escape to somewhere safe, to wherever you and your sister have planned. You need to regain your magic and return so you can fight the Solis king.”
My blood ran cold that she was giving me the only potions she possessed with such rare capabilities.
“Don’t argue.” She pressed the vials more firmly into my grip. “Do as I say. Please.”
“Yes, my queen.” I gave a swift nod as distant boot steps sounded down the hall.
“I must go. May the Blessed Mother be with you.” She kissed me on the cheek, and then she was gone.
Cailis turned wild eyes on me, and in a flurry, I grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill from my old writing supplies on the desk.
I hastily scribbled a note, then tucked it beneath my pillow as the footsteps grew louder. I knew that when Daiseeum found it, she would deliver it. The lady servant had been nothing but loyal, and I knew she would honor my one last wish.
Cailis’s movements grew frantic as she collected our hidden bags. “Where should we go? We can’t go to the Cliffs of Sarum, not if Norivun isn’t with us and isn’t able to grant us entry.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t go there anyway. We would be imprisoned, and right now is the time to act. Not hide.”
“So where?”
“The Glassen Barrier Islands. It’s the only option since I don’t know if anyone on the Nolus continent will allow us entry, but I’ll need you to tell me immediately if Drachu can be trusted.”
She nodded gravely as I uncapped the vials and drank the contents from both in a single gulp. Cailis uncorked hers and did the same. The potions burned through me, heating my blood, and in a blink, immense magic surged through me.
I grabbed my sister’s hands just as the boot steps sounded outside my door. “Ready?”
She gave a terse nod and a shaky smile. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The mistphasing potion’s magic surged forth just as the first guard appeared in the doorway. The guard shouted, rushing toward us, but the world was already disappearing in a blur of mist and shadows, air and wind, as I put all of my concentration on the one area of our realm I wanted us to go.
We moved through the realm like wraiths on the wind, and when our feet reappeared again, a glittery night sky bore down on us as pounding waves from a dark sea crashed against foreign shores.
My heart pounded. My chest threatened to cave in. We were gone. Our home was behind us. My love, my life, my friends, all of it was behind us now.
Cailis and I stood exactly where I’d been the night that I’d visited these islands with the crown prince all of those months ago. I didn’t know if the Lochen king knew I was here or how long it would take for me to find him, but just when I thought for certain we would have to go in search, a presence came into existence behind me.
Drachu’s power wafted over me, the sheer strength of it so strong.
Cailis’s breath sucked in as I turned to face the ruler of the Lochen Fae. I squeezed her hand tightly, trying to communicate that he was the one I needed her to assess.
I wasn’t surprised to see the familiar glowing orb that hung from around his neck shining bright green against his brown skin.
His lips curved in a knowing smile, as though he and I shared a secret.
I lifted my chin higher. “You told me once if I ever needed to escape the Death Warlord, that your shores were open to me. Does that offer still stand?”
Drachu’s grin widened, revealing white teeth and sharp canines. “It does.” His gaze didn’t flick to my sister, not once.
“Will you keep us safe?” I asked.
His lips curved more. “The Lochen will guard you with our lives.”