Page 35 of Wings of Snow

Tears of frustration welled in my eyes as I understood what the young prince was trying to tell me.Of course.Drachu had thoroughly and completely tricked me. He’d never set out to help me from the goodness of his heart. On the first day we’d met, the Lochen king had felt the kind of power I had and wanted to use me, just as Prince Norivun had when he’d whisked me from my village. Drachu had even admitted that the queens before him—the ones that reminded him of me—had ruled like no other. They’d held power like mine, and now he held that kind of power too...by tetheringmyaffinities to him.

And I’d never consented to that.

My tears vanished, and anger abruptly scorched my nerves. I wouldnotbe used again, especially not by a foreign fae king.

I crouched into a fighting stance as I whipped a ring of fire around me and kicked up a sharp rock from the ground in the same beat. The rock was in my raised hand, and then it was zinging so fast through the air that I doubted anyone even knew what I intended before my makeshift blade headed straight for the king’s head.

Cailis’s breath sucked in after the blade was already airborne. Genoova let out a startled scream, and Tylen shouted.

But just when the sharp rock should have imbedded itself within Drachu’s eye, a gust of wind flung it to the side. The burst of air was so abrupt, so perfectly streamed, and a slight rise of my affinity pulsed in my gut.

My mouth opened in horror when the wind abruptly turned course and slammed into me, knocking me off my feet until my rump met the rocky ground.

“None of that, Ilara,” Drachu said with a waggle of his finger. The stone in his necklace glowed, as though a sun lit it from within. “I don’t want to steal your powers from you or control you with them. I merely want to borrow them from time to time as I need them. That’s all. Surely, you can learn to live with that and not try to murder me every time you see me.”

“You vile, loathsome, horrible—” My chest was heaving so fast that I couldn’t form a coherent insult.

“Bastard!” Cailis seethed. “I should?—”

“You should do nothing.” Drachu’s canines flashed. “If you’re wise, you’ll accept this quietly and go about your way. If you come after me...” Malice flashed in his expression. “I shall do as I see fit to ensure the power of my kingdom.”

I stared up at him as hair flew in my eyes. My attention snapped to his necklace. Was that how he’d also known of the power I carried and how he’d known when I arrived on his shores? Did he have endless magic with that necklace? Perhaps that pendant gave him the ability to see what magic lay in others or allowed him to see the future. And if he’d tricked others as he’d tricked me—other fae with powerful gifts—it was possible that Drachu’s magic waslimitless.

Blessed Mother, and I’d just fed his strength.

I rolled back on my shoulders, my new wings bending easily to accommodate the movement, then bent my elbows, placing my hands by my ears, and pushed off with my arms and kicked up to a stand as my warrior affinity throbbed within me.

Drachu’s eyebrows rose. “Impressive.”

I bared my teeth as my blood boiled. It was such a contradicting feeling since that strange need to be near the Lochen king still flowed through my veins. “Give me back what’s mine.”

He laughed. “I think not.”

I eyed his necklace. If I could reach it and snap it from his neck, perhaps his control of my affinities would break.

A scowl darkened his face. “Don’t even consider it. Do you really think you’d be the first fairy to try and steal this from me?” He placed a hand protectively over the pendant.

Hope surged through me. So the necklace was the full source of his channeled power. I needed to take it from him if I didn’t want to be tethered to him for the rest of my life.

I was about to attempt another attack, his warning be damned, but a tearing feeling in my stomach doubled me over, and then a huge whip of air magic knocked me off my feet.Myair magic that the king had just stolen again.

Pain ricocheted up my spine I landed so hard.

“Don’t, Ilara,” the king warned. “You won’t win.”

I hissed in agony, clutching my belly as I pushed to a stand, but a rumble of power shook the mountain beneath us, stopping my advance. Magic flashed through the air, and then my mate, Sandus, Ryder, Haxil, and Nish stood before us.

I blinked, then blinked again.

All five of them still stood there.

Oh dear gods, I’m truly losing it. I’m hallucinating that my mate is here.

“Ilara?” the prince growled. In two steps he was in front of me, his expression turning to shock as he assessed my white wings.

I was dreaming. I had to be.

Mother Below, I’d lost my damned mind.