Ronan

Ronan

The vine was wrapped so tightly around my ankle that my foot was turning blue. Good. Hopefully, it would fall off and stop the pain from my broken bone.

I was dangling by my broken foot, head down and about a yard off the leaf-strewn ground.

I folded up, straining up to reach my ankles, and snapped the vine holding me up, then plummeted to the earth and banged my coccyx with a loud thud.

I untied the vine from my ankle, which may have been a mistake—blood rushed into my damaged limb, bringing a tidal wave of pain. The agony was overwhelming, and I nearly blacked out, but I placed my palms flat on the cool leafy ground and breathed through it.

Neela had come through her Ascension rite with more power than anyone in years. And she wasn’t messing around. As soon as I’d set foot beside the forest, she summoned a plant to restrain and attack me with a mere thought. It had taken Sebarah weeks of practice to control his power like that.

She was a formidable force.

I opened my eyes and looked down at my foot, swelling fast. A few fae scurried past, none offering to help–nobody wanted to get between two squabbling heirs.

The slender form of the next in line for the Realm of Fen appeared around the corner, so tall, thin, and straight that she looked just like her name.

“Arrow,” I called, and she came closer with a stern expression. “Can you have someone fetch me a Healer?”

Despite my pain, I worded the question carefully. I couldn’t demand an act of service from another realm’s heir, nor could I be seen pleading for help.

She assessed the situation, taking in my blossoming purple foot. “I see you have been bested.”

My hackles rose, and a retort formed on my tongue, but it would have been lame and pathetic to attempt a denial. “Will you find me a Healer or not?” I snapped.

“I will.”

She returned a few long painful minutes later with Jaykey boy from Caprice. As soon as he saw me lying in the dirt, covered in leaves, he cast a mischievous grin. “Trouble in paradise, moody?”

Only Gabrelle called me that, and I didn’t like the reminder of my fight with Neela. “Are you going to help me or not?” I barked.

Jayke had already Ascended and was a decent Healer, or so he said. I guessed this would put him to the test.

“Calm down, moody.”

I swallowed a growl. Jayke had been staring too much at Gabrelle; now, he was copying her speech. The Caprician Prince kneeled beside me and placed cool hands on my bloated foot. I winced at the touch, but soon his healing magic flowed into me like a fountain of warm water, flowing into every screaming nerve ending and repairing the broken blood vessels, knitting together my bone and healing my flesh.

“Thanks. You’re good at that.”

Jayke rocked back on his heels. “Of course I am.” He winked. “And you’re welcome.”

I tested my foot, rolling my ankle and flexing my toes. As good as new. My entire body felt rejuvenated. Jayke stood up, reached out a hand, and yanked me to my feet.

“There’s a place for you on my staff if you ever need a job,” I joked.

Jayke growled quietly, not enjoying the jest.

We walked around the forest, squelching through the moist undergrowth. We passed beneath some torn-up trees, which could be more evidence of Neela’s powers.

“She really has it in for you, hey?” Jayke said. “Or is this foreplay for you guys?”

Jayke didn’t need to know the details of our sex life, so I hummed a chuckle without replying.

Around a bend, a curly-haired fae with bright green hair knelt on the forest floor. For a second, I thought the fae was praying, then I realized it was Dion, whose only prayers were for five-star meals.

“He’s choking.” Jayke broke into a run.

Damn. A large green vine was stuffing itself into Dion’s throat, coiling further and further inside him. His eyes looked panicked, and his belly was distended. Jayke and I sprinted to help him. We yanked on the vine, fighting to pull it out of Dion’s mouth.

When we finally had it out, Dion pitched forward onto his hands and vomited.

“Neela?” I asked.

Dion couldn’t speak, so he just nodded, still retching but not bringing anything up—his stomach had no more to give.

Jayke pulsed Healing magic into Dion, repairing whatever damage the vine had done to his stomach and organs, patching his injured throat and mouth together.

“She detests you guys. I always thought the Verdan Five got along perfectly. You’re famous for how well you work together. Or is that all for show?”

“We got along perfectly until that bitch arrived,” Dion spit.

My shoulders tensed. “Don’t call Neela that.”

“I’ll call her whatever I want.” Dion stepped ahead, walking in front of us, ignoring my command.

I darted beside him and stuck out a foot so he tripped, face-planting into the moist undergrowth. “Don’t call her that,” I repeated.

Dion rolled over and yelled up at me from the ground. “She almost killed me, Ro, and she will kill you one day. Do you expect me to just lay down and take it?”

I stepped forward, my feet on either side of his hips so he couldn’t get up. “As the highest-ranking heir, I expect you to do whatever I tell you.”

Jayke chuckled like he was enjoying the show. “I’d say the human will rank higher than both of you.”

He was right. All signs pointed to Neela being the most powerful of the five. She was unstoppable.

But having an outsider from Caprice witness our disagreement made me remember that the five of us were supposed to present a united front. Hell, we were supposed to be united.

I looked down at Dion and sighed. Eventually, I offered him a hand, then yanked him to his feet, and we stared at each other for a moment. “Are we good?”

“We’re good.”

We clapped each other in a quick hug, then headed home.

Jayke’s words stayed with me even after I bid him farewell and long after I had settled into my leather armchair at home. Neela would be the strongest of us. She was inevitable, like the change of seasons. There was no point trying to stop her from reaching the Floran throne, even if I wanted to—which I didn’t.

She belonged there more than any of us. Her inner strength was forged through fire, through her crappy childhood, and she would always be stronger than the rest of us.

I sipped on a whiskey and stared at the flames of a roaring fire. I’d had my staff light a cooling fire since the day was so warm, so the flickering flames wafted a cool breeze toward me, and I slouched back in my black leather armchair.

The Prince of Caprice had also called us out on our internal squabbling; he was right about that too. We were heirs, and heirs of Verda worked together.

The word heir echoed through me like a gong, and I sat bolt-upright in my leather armchair.

Blood pounded in my ears.

I summoned my family’s Secret Keeper.