Chapter 5

Hanna

”Wake up!” The sound of banging on the door was muffled. I leapt out of bed as Thorne rolled to his feet, but as he paced to the door, drawing his sword, the doorknob jangled.

As if someone were breaking in.

Then the door flew open, just as Thorne reached it with his sword out.

Coril stumbled inside, wide eyed, and turned to slam the door shut again. She locked it, dropping the glowing key on the floor in her rush. She”d lock-picked us.

There were clean clothes laid out on one of the tables for us, and I rushed to dress. Alongside them was a pretty knife, both sharp and bejeweled along the hilt, and a nicely-balanced slender sword–lighter than any Thorne would carry. There was no time to thank him.

”What”s wrong?” Thorne demanded.

”Edric”s soldiers are coming into the city,” Coril said, wide-eyed. ”Some of them are already in the house.”

”You can”t be here,” Thorne told her, moving to the door. But as he reached for it, we heard boots marching down the corridor.

There were enough boots to make the room shake.

”You”re welcome!” she insisted. ”They detained Mother and Father and Alys, but they couldn”t catch me.”

She couldn”t hide the childish pride in her voice or in the lift of her chin. But fear seized my heart, afraid she”d be hurt.

”This is Edric”s work,” Thorne said tersely. ”Kaelan wouldn”t have sent his soldiers in. He”d have kept them at a distance.”

”You said Kaelan would stop at nothing to murder us!”

”Himself.Kaelan would never send someone else to do his work.”

”Wow, what an honor,” I muttered.

”I need you out of here and safe,” Thorne told his little sister as he buckled his sword belt. ”Can you climb?” He glanced at the window.

”Soldiers everywhere,” she said, giving him a quick, terrified shake of her head.

”Then you”ll have to come with us,” he said, but before we could do anything else, the door blew open.

The entire wall blew open.

Fragments of wood and stone rained down on us. Thorne caught his little sister in his arms, turning his broad back to protect us both as he arched over me. Our breath mingled for one wild second as destruction rained down on his dark hair and powerful shoulders.

”They didn”t bother to ask to come in,” I said.

”They know better.” Thorne swung his little sister up onto his shoulders. He added to me, ”Stay out of my way.”

She sat on his shoulders as he turned to greet the soldiers, his sword a silver arc through the air as they ran at him.

”You should stay out of my way,” I disagreed.

The two of us began to fight what felt like an endless wave of soldiers who crashed through the room.

”Go!” I shouted at Thorne. ”They”ll want me alive. No one cares about you.”

”I”m not leaving without you both,” Thorne gritted. He and his little sister were a blur moving quickly through the destruction as Thorne cut a swathe of violence through the soldiers.

”You”re not going to win me over!” I shouted at him as we kept fighting side by side, closing in back to back.

We didn”t have time to shift and safely get his sister out of here. Not yet.

Thorne scoffed as he cut a man”s head off, his sword a blur as it arced. Blood sprayed across the wall. ”If you don”t see my value, Hanna, I”m not going to beg you. You”ll beg me soon enough.”

”You are such an asshole!” I said.

But he was a beautiful paragon of destruction right now, too.

I was fighting three soldiers when one of them managed to slash across my back. I stumbled forward, almost slamming into the blade of the man who had attacked me from the front.

Thorne twisted away from the soldiers he was fighting. His eyes were black and fathomless as they fell to my wound, then his head snapped up.

He moved in fiercely, killing the three men who had attacked me with quick, brutal strokes of his sword.

”Out the window!” he shouted at me. ”Let me pass Coril to you!”

I generally objected to following orders, but I would do it to save his little sister. Still, we couldn’t shift within the confines of Caer Far. The world beyond the enormous, arched window was a frantic, barren blur.

“You’ll be able to shift–that’s why my room is up against the city wall,” he promised me. “Once you jump, you’ll be outside the bounds of Caer Far’s enchantment.”

I didn’t hesitate, even though if he was wrong, I’d be jumping to my death on the stones far below.

I leapt out the window.

He slashed out once more with his sword against the three soldiers who pressed in on him. Then he turned and ran to the window.

I was already shifting. My wings snapped out. Coril let out a cry as he tossed her out the window, but I caught her in my claws. The wind billowed under my wings, bearing me up as I carried her fragile weight.

Through the arched windows, I caught sight of one of the soldiers striking Thorne from behind. He slammed forward against the window. My fire pressed against my throat, rising with the urge to annihilate these men to protect Thorne.

But he turned, fighting them off, then leapt out the window.

As he jumped, they rushed at him, but they were too late.

In midair, he transformed into his black dragon form.

We flew across the poisoned fields. Thorne took the lead, and we landed lightly in the no man”s land beyond the borders of the ice fae kingdom.

Thorne transformed, stepping down from his dragon form into the hulking man he was with so much grace. He held out his arms for Coril, and I released her from my talons before transforming myself.

I was afraid I might”ve hurt her when I caught her in my talons, but as I rushed to their sides, she let out a cry and pumped her little fist, her face splitting into a grin. ”That was amazing!”

”Thank you for warning us,” Thorne told her seriously. He set her down on the ground, but hugged her tight. ”You were very brave. We needed that notice.”

Pain burned against my back, and I frowned at the pain. I tried to start a healing spell, but every time I moved, it felt as if the sword were still digging into my skin.

Meanwhile, Thorne and Coril were still talking. ”Can I come with you?”

”Not a chance in hell.” Thorne glanced across the fields. ”Alys will come find us soon. This is our meeting place for when things go to hell.”

”Do things go to hell like this around you often?” I demanded.

”Only with you around,” Thorne told me.

Then Thorne sat down on the ground, making himself at home anywhere. I gripped my naked, blood-soaked sword; I didn”t have a sheath, and I didn”t want to burn any of my magic making one.

Thorne slapped his thigh. ”If you need a seat, princess.”

I would”ve told him to fuck off if his sister hadn”t been right there. Instead, I gave him a cool smile that should convey the same thought. ”I”d rather stand.”

I”d rather rot.

Thorne”s gaze roamed over me, then he rose suddenly. ”You”re hurt.”

”I”ll live.”

But Thorne reached for me as if he couldn”t keep his hands off me. I folded my arms over my chest and glowered at him, but he didn”t seem to notice as he took my shoulder and turned me gently.

”You need to heal yourself,” he ordered, his voice concerned.

”I already tried. I”m not wild about pain.”

”It didn”t work.” He cursed softly. ”Edric sent his men in with poisoned blades. I wish you hadn”t gotten hurt.”

He was such a condescending bastard. As if I”d just let them cut me.

I jerked away from him, turning on my heel. ”Me too.”

Thorne looked considering, but I cut him off before he could say anything else irritating. ”Is there a cure? Am I going to die?”

”Yes, there”s a cure. No, you”re not going to die.”

”How long do I have?”

”Enough,” he said quietly, resting his big hand gently at the small of my back, just below where the wound began, as if he couldn”t resist touching me. ”Alys will have something to help you endure, if she hasn’t picked up the cure herself.”

”Alys?” I glanced around. We”d flown so far.

”You can turn into a dragon?” Coril asked, wide-eyed.

I turned my attention to her and tried to summon a smile.

”And so will you, if you choose,” I promised her. ”When you”re old enough.”

”That is amazing!”

”Your brother can turn into a dragon too,” I reminded her.

”But he”s the queen”s nephew,” she said. ”And a man.”

I gritted my teeth. ”Men don”t have a monopoly on the badass magical forms. No matter how much they wish they would.”

”I don”t want that,” Thorne said. ”I want you to be powerful.”

But even though he said the words to her, I could”ve sworn his energy radiated toward me. As if he meant those words for me as well.

”Then it would be helpful if you kept her appraised of what”s going on and don”t lie to her,” I said.

”I would never lie except in situations where the truth would harm her.” Thorne said.

”Oh, very fucking gallant,” I snapped back.

Coril”s wide-eyed gaze pinged back and forth between us. ”Are you two really going to keep pretending this conversation involves me?”

”Sorry,” I said.

”He”s really nice,” she told me quietly. ”Don”t be too mad at him.”

Gods. My heart melted.

”You don”t deserve your little sister,” I told Thorne over her head.

”I know.”

I bent down to whisper into her ear, ”I can”t stay too mad at him, don”t worry. But I”m not ready for him to know. He needs a little worry.”

She grinned and hugged me around the neck suddenly, the movement surprising me.

”Are you going to marry my brother one day?”

My heart felt like it was being ripped into two. I”d just married Kaelan. Was there any chance I could have both of them someday? ”Maybe. If it turns out he deserves me.”

”You should work on that, Thorne.” She told him.

”I”ll try,” he said dryly.

”You two were a really good team, even mad at each other!” she said. ”Imagine what you”d be like if you were nice to each other.”

Thorne scrubbed his hand across his face.

”Someone”s coming,” I warned them, catching movement in the sky.

Thorne rose to his feet. The two of us moved in front of Coril, standing side by side with our swords drawn.

A hawk swooped low over Thorne”s head, making him duck, but as it reached the ground, it transformed into Alys”s dark-haired form.

She strode toward him. ”Mother”s worried about you. She wanted me to give you this.”

She slapped him across the face. The sound split the air.

I leapt forward, my first instinct to protect Thorne despite everything else.

Thorne crossed his arms over his powerful chest, looking nonplussed, even with her red fingerprints across his cheek. ”Mother did not tell you to slap me.”

”Well, she should have,” Alys fumed. ”For putting all of us in danger!”

”Edric must”ve caught wind of what happened and sent his soldiers to take Hanna captive,” Thorne said. ”Kaelan would never have sent them in after her.”

”Oh? Why”s that? I thought he wanted to murder her!”

”Because of this.” Thorne took my shoulders and turned me so she could see the gash across my shirt, the blood soaking into my trousers. ”They came in with poisoned blades.”

“And?” Alys demanded.

”Kaelan would never allow anyone to hurt her,” Thorne explained. ”He”ll hurt her himself, but he won”t accept it from his soldiers. If he finds out they hurt her, the survivors are dead men.”

Alys raised her brows. ”He”s an even bigger psycho than you are.”

Trying to be subtle, she massaged her palm with her fingers, as if Thorne”s face had hurt her hand as much as she had hurt him.

”How do I heal this then, exactly?” I demanded.

”There”s an antidote. I”ll find one for you,” Thorne promised.

”You need to focus on running!” Alys told him. ”The two of you need to get to the Grey kingdom.”

”What”s for us in the Grey kingdom?” I demanded.

”What”s for anyone in the Grey kingdom?” Coril echoed.

”I have a friend who used to work for the Snake Queen. Ekardo. From my work last night, I can tell you it’s a compulsion spell, and I can tell you it was made with herbs from the Snake Queen, but it looks like it was made in the Grey kingdom. It feels like their magic. Bring him the cloth. Ekardo can help you unravel the specifics.” She handed him the bloodstained cloth that Thorne had delivered to her last night.

I felt something hollow open up in my gut whenever I saw the cloth coated in Kaelan’s blood, drawn by Thorne’s hand.

As if I had lost something I could never regain.

”Thank you,” Thorne told her.

”Don”t thank me. I”m still pissed at you.” Alys opened her cloak and crouched on the ground, sitting back on her heels. She began to unpack potion bottles and little boxes of herbs onto the ground.

”Thank you,” Thorne told her again, crouching.

”Don”t thank me,” she repeated, tapping a finger over one item after another as she named it. ”Explosive, one foot radius. Explosive, six foot radius. Incineration spell.”

She rattled on, and there was an amused glint in Thorne”s eyes as he watched her, though I didn”t doubt he was able to keep track of every object she had just disgorged from the many pockets inside her cloak.

I was glad Thorne had sisters who loved him, even if they showed it in their own odd ways.

Alys straightened and held out her arm to Coril. ”Come along. We need to get back. Mother”s pacified the soldiers, but we know that Edric and Kaelan are on their way. We should pack to visit cousins until we know they aren”t going to burn our castle to the ground.”

”I am sorry, Alys.” Thorne told her.

Alys scoffed.

Coril hugged Thorne. ”It”ll be alright. We”re glad to have you come home. You should come home more often.”

”I”ll try,” he told her.

”Without bringing hell on your heels, next time,” Alys snipped.

Coril held out her arm toward her sister. ”Come on and hug him. You”re mad now but you”ll be sorry later if you don”t.”

Alys scoffed and rolled her eyes. Then she stomped over and joined her sister, the three of them sharing a tight hug.

”You”re an idiot,” Alys told Thorne. ”But you”re our idiot, so try to come back to us alive.”

Coril and Alys walked off back through the poisoned fields toward the distant city without a backward glance.

Thorne watched them go, emotions darting across his face---love, regret, guilt--the feelings that I knew well could be intermingled when it came to family---before his features settled back into the usual stoic lines that gave nothing away.

”We”d better fly,” he said.