EPILOGUE

ASHER

I sat upright in bed, my head pounding and spinning with the movement.

I scanned the dimly lit room.

Something was wrong.

I had sworn I had heard a scream.

I stood out of bed, swaying a bit with the sudden motion.

The copious amount of alcohol was still very much in my blood.

Gods, how much had I had to drink?

"Emric," I stated loudly enough for him to hear.

He jolted up from his spot on my couch and swore.

"What could you possibly need in the middle of the night?" He rubbed his eyes furiously before they landed on me.

"Something is wrong." Ever the carefree guard, he rolled his eyes and took his time standing.

"What in the hell could be wrong at—" He glanced at the old clock above the fire.

"—two in the morning?" I tucked my shirt into my pants and slipped on my boots as quickly as I could against the ache in my head.

"How much liquor did you force down my throat? I feel like I've been run over by a horse." I groaned.

"Multiple horses." I took a moment to hang my head in my hands.

My senses were dulled, my head was pounding, and I could barely get the energy to move.

"Pretty sure you were throwing those back all by yourself.

Going on and on about how upset you were about a certain someone." Alys.

Her name drifted across my mind like a cool breeze, relaxing my muscles and bringing my senses back to light.

And then my stomach plummeted.

My heart raced.

Why couldn't I feel Alys? I reached out as hard as I could, searching for that cord that connected me to her.

I struggled to try and hear her heartbeat.

I listened for her sweet, dream-riddled thoughts.

Nothing.

Quiet.

It was empty.

The shimmering cord that connected us was gone.

I felt the loss as if I had lost a limb.

"I can't feel her," I said, suddenly up and moving again.

"What? Who?" Emric was still standing there like a lost puppy, drunken and still half-asleep.

"Alys, Emric.

I can't fucking feel her.

Let's go." I walked out of my room, not caring if he had followed.

Her room was so close to mine: down the hall, around the corner.

My steps were heavy but silenced on the thick carpet.

Why didn't I check on her? Why didn't I go to her? I knocked three times on her door and listened.

Nothing.

I stretched out my senses.

Still nothing.

It was so quiet without her there.

What had happened? I threw the door open and burst into the room.

I glanced around, and she was nowhere to be found.

I threw the curtains back from the bed, and everything was folded like she had never even been there.

My breath was coming quickly now, beating in and out of my lungs like drums.

A small sheet of paper lay across her pillow, and I picked it up, nearly ripping it as I opened it.

Asher, You told me that no one had ever chosen you.

This is me choosing you.

This is me choosing your life over mine.

Alys I screamed then.

I roared so loud I heard the windows rattle and felt my blood boil.

My shadows exploded around me, filling the room with Night.

My heart hadn't been ripped out.

It had been scorched, charred into nothing but a black piece of meat that was only there to keep me alive.

She had left me.

She had broken me.

My body vibrated with the loss of her.

I ripped the curtains of the bed and then gripped one of the bedposts and ripped it from the base.

I swung it into her vanity, destroying it in a single swing, and then threw it across the room where it shattered the window.

I tore at the bed, ripping at the sheets, the pillows, the mattress.

Her scent flew around me: spices, chocolate, oranges, her .

Her scent filled every pore of my body until it thrummed, and my magick rolled off me in waves.

I could feel the room shake with it.

"What happened?" Emric yelled as he rushed through the doorway.

I stalked towards him and shoved the letter into his chest.

I pushed past him as he read it.

"Get the guards out now.

We search the entirety of this court!" My voice echoed off the halls as I walked through them.

Emric followed me, handing the note back to me.

I stopped and stared at it a moment before taking it and shoving it into a pocket.

"I want you to get every single fucking man we have available.

I want every road, every forest, and every town checked thoroughly.

We don't stop until we find her."

"Ash." He grabbed my shoulder.

I looked down at his hand and then up at him.

I knew my eyes were cold and black.

"Does she want to be found? You know where she is going."

"I don't care if she doesn't want to be found.

I will not let her walk into her death." I took a breath.

"We still don't know if she actually left alone or if she was coerced.

I should never have left her alone.

Not after last night." I shrugged his hand off and stalked down the hall.

"And have the guard in charge of patrol meet me in the stables.

Immediately." Emric went off to do as I ordered, and I was left alone with my thoughts.

I flexed and unflexed my hands over and over again, willing my temper back into place before I brought down the entire castle with my bare hands.

I rolled my neck as I made my way down the grand staircases.

I could still feel her on my skin.

I could feel her smooth fingertips run their way up my arms and then scratch their way down my back.

I could feel the bite of her teeth against my lips, the taste of her blood coating my tongue.

The taste of her coating my tongue.

That wild, stubborn, ravenous little thing was my mate.

And I would be damned if I let her slip out of my grasp.

I should've known to not leave her alone.

I should've taken her questions on the way home more seriously.

I should've stayed with her, kept her in my bed and in my arms so that she didn't have a choice but to remain here.

Proud, self-sacrificing little creature.

I would get her back and never let her go.

The chill whipped around me as I stepped outside and made my way out to the stables.

Emric and the guard were close behind as I arrived.

I glanced around, looking to see if maybe she had risked taking a horse.

Would've been brave of her with her lack of riding skills, but every avenue had to be explored.

"You and Emric will take horses and go around the perimeter," I addressed the guard.

"I want her tracks found.

Immediately.

I will be in the skies.

How are we on getting the rest of the guard moving?"

"Will be ready within the next five minutes, Your Highness," the guard said and bowed.

"You were in charge of the patrol tonight, and you let her slip through your fingers." I stepped closer, my shadows creeping around his legs, higher, higher, until they found his throat.

His eyes bulged, and his breaths quickened.

"Are you on their payroll?"

"No! No, sir!" he wheezed.

I squeezed tighter against his throat, my shadows coiling as tightly as a snake might.

"I swear it to you!" I let him go, and he dropped to the ground.

"Get your shit together and find her." With that, I spread my wings and took to the air in a swift thrust.

I shot into the cold air until I was high enough that I could see the entire surrounding area around the castle.

My vision wasn't good enough to be able to see tracks that high up, but I could try to look for movement on the roads or through the trees.

I breathed deep, trying to catch her scent on the wind.

How long had it been since she left? How long had it been since I jolted awake, knowing she was gone? At least thirty minutes.

If she was traveling with Aoife, they could be far enough away now that I wouldn't smell her, wouldn't be able to taste her on the air.

I surveyed the land and saw nothing.

Without waiting for the guards to get moving and Emric to find her tracks, I started making circles, tightly around the castle and slowly getting wider and wider until I had encircled all of the grounds with nothing but silence.

"I went around the back where we normally train since there's access to the outside while he checked the front.

We both came up empty, Asher.

She's covered her tracks somehow." I looked over at him where he suddenly hovered to my right.

"The other guards have mobilized and are out looking for her." We both descended back to the ground, landing with hard thuds before I stalked back towards my now empty home.

Mavka was standing in the doorway, wringing her hands in her simple nightdress.

"I'm so sorry," she started as I approached her.

I took her hands in mine.

"This is not your fault, Mav," I said, trying to soothe her nerves.

"We will get her back." She worried her lip but nodded.

"She wouldn't have left you without encouragement." I scoffed and walked past her into the corridor, Emric hot on my heels.

I saw her glance at him, and then her gaze landed on me.

"You can huff all you want.

But I'm telling you, she would not have left this place or you without someone either forcing her or giving her a way out." I ran my hands through my hair and down over my face, my scruff scratching my palms.

"I'm going to get her."

"Of course you are," she said with all the confidence in the world.

"Go upstairs, figure out a plan, and I'll bring you some food and some coffee to kick off the hangover you're already wearing." She glanced back at Emric again, and I didn't like the way she looked at him.

I felt my brows crease.

"The both of you."

"Thank you, Mav," I said as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Go get our girl, Asher." I nodded and watched her stalk off, shoulders slightly hunched with age, grey hair swinging in a braid behind her.

The closest thing I ever had to a mother after what happened to my own.

I looked back to Emric, who was standing there, waiting for me to give an order.

"Upstairs.

Now.

Summon the advisors.

We're going to get her."