“Phoenix.” I startled when I realized Roark stood too near. I swallowed nervously.
A Phoenix? They looked like featherless chickens with leathery skin, like the one I’d seen on that first night Sabine had taken me.
Roark must have sensed my confusion. “With magic bound, they did not have their flames.”
My mouth formed a circle, and I nodded in understanding. Roark looked on ahead and said nothing more. His face was expressionless. It was like a switch had been flipped. That place I had felt him inside of me remained mute, and I blinked tears away from the ache of feeling like I was missing a crucial piece.
I didn’t want to give in and turn to him. I didn’t want him to know I needed him. I steeled myself and buried all the feelings he had wrung from me. The ballooning in my chest undulated and settled.
“I need to get to Annie,” I bit out and crossed my arms. He stared at me with a grimace and nodded shortly. I followed after him as we ran headlong toward the castle. I needed to see if they had healed my sister.
29
We arrived in record time. The entire town was raucous in their celebration. There weren’t even any guards at the wall to check us in. It sounded like a massive party in full swing. I rushed through the bustling streets, the people livelier than I had seen them. I bumped through the crowds with one focus in mind. Annie.
Fae tried to stop me as I made my way through them, but I hurried past them with a smile. Thankfully, when they saw Roark looming over my shoulder, they swerved in the other direction. I climbed up the steps of the unusually quiet castle and pulled open the tall heavy doors easily. Too easily.
“Cora,” I called out, hoping for a response that didn’t come. She was probably celebrating the return of magic with Conan. I called out for Ty next. Through the small connection with Roark, I felt a stab of something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I ignored it and reinforced the block.
Pursing my lips, I concentrated on listening and then wished I hadn’t. Fae were getting it on, real hard. I hoped to hell I hadn’t just heard Cora’s sex scream. Weren’t the bedrooms soundproof? Unless they weren’t in the bedroom… My face flushed.
“They’ll probably want to make her as comfortable as possible,” Roark intoned behind me. Of course, they would. She must be in my room.
Rushing in that direction, I didn’t wait for Roark. I pushed my door open when I heard the familiar voice of my sister. The doors bounced off the walls and almost ricocheted back into my face. Roark reached up in time to stop them. Honestly, if the door had hit me, I wouldn’t have even noticed. I was too busy looking at the large bed in the middle of the room.
Annie lay sprawled on it, scowling at Ty, who stood at her bedside.
“Annie,” I gasped. I shot toward her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“Oww,” she mumbled. I let her go just as quickly and took a step back. She rubbed her arms up and down with a grimace.
“What’s going on? You should be healed. Magic is back.”
“She is healed,” Tyran said from my side, and I turned to smile at him, grateful he was here. I hoped my eyes portrayed that feeling.
“Took you long enough.”
My head whipped to the side to look at the dark corner where Rian leaned against the wall.
“Rian!” I grinned and walked over to him. I threw my arms around him, squeezing him. He grunted and patted my back awkwardly. I finally released him as Annie giggled.
“You should have seen his face,” she said, grinning.
I rolled my eyes at her and went to her side, perching myself next to her on the bed. I grinned at Annie, glad she was whole and healthy. “She turns when she’s twenty-two, right?” I turned to Rian.
“That’s the general consensus,” Ty huffed and approached. “Remember, you all are new territory. The only human-turned-Fae transition we have on record is Cora. She had just turned two and twenty of your human years when she matured, and soon after she completed, magic was bound. That’s as much information we have, so it may be different.”
I wished they’d told me that earlier. The entire time, I was betting on it strictly being twenty-two when half-breeds turned.
“I’m not too keen on being a guinea pig.” I sighed. “Speaking of Cora, where is she?”
Ty coughed and looked away when I met his eyes.
“Enjoying a returned bond.” Roark’s voice was quiet as he stepped forward.
I hid my grin and glanced away from him. I knew it!
“What are you still doing here?” Ty sneered at Roark.
The violence in his voice shocked me, and I had to hold myself in check before I snapped at Ty. This defensiveness I felt for Roark was not going to fly with me.
Roark didn’t even spare Ty a glance, and that seemed to piss him off more. Annie coughed out the word ‘harem’ and I flushed and shot her a warning look. I rushed to ask Rian a question, so their altercation wouldn’t escalate. “Did you kill the thing that took her?”
“He was a gargoyle,” Annie quickly corrected me, an underlying hint of protectiveness in her tone.
I looked at her questioningly, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze—something to ask her about when we were alone.
“No, he got away.” The underlying anger in Rian’s words told me that fact pissed him off. But I couldn’t care less. Wherever that gargoyle had gone, it was away, and my sister was safe, which was all I cared about. “His poison wouldn’t have reacted that way if she had been his mate.”
I leaned closer to Annie’s bitten neck. The teeth punctures looked deep and nasty. He was lucky to have gotten away, but not for long. What was the point of being Queen anyway if
