House of Pounding Hearts (The Kingdom of Crows #2)(134)

It strikes me that no other arrow has come whizzing our way. If we’d been under attack, wouldn’t a regimen of Fae have charged us by now?

Something is amiss.

Lore! When he doesn’t answer me, I shriek his name out loud.

“Quiet, girl!” Bronwen hisses.

But I scream my mate’s name at the top of my lungs.

Bronwen slaps me. I lunge back, nursing the sting off my cheek.

“If you care about him, Fallon—if you care about the Crows—get inside that cavern now.”

“We’re not under attack, are we? You struck Aoife down?” I turn my head to the sky. “LORCAN R?HBIADH!”

“He cannot hear you, Fallon.”

“What did you do to him?” My fingers clench into fists as I stare around me for something to use as a weapon. If only I could reach Aoife and steal the arrow from her stone body.

I eye the feathered hilt, then throw myself on my powerless friend. Just as my fingertips graze the scrawny fletching, wind claps into my body and sends me hurtling into the cavern wall. My skull jounces against the rock, and my vision fractures.

Bronwen is an earth-Fae not an air-Fae, which means . . . which means other Faeries are here.

I lie on my stomach, stunned, for precious seconds, but then adrenaline drenches me, and, jaw gritted, I drag myself onto all fours.

“I’ll take it from here.” The deep voice pins my heart to my ribs. “Hello, Fal.”

I twist my head toward the cavern just as a male dressed in gold armor appears in its darkened mouth, bracketed by four pointy-eared soldiers. Although Bronwen is still present, Dante has eyes only for me.

I slam my gaze on Bronwen. “You tricked me.” My lungs are in such a tight vise that every inhale burns as though the air were made of fire.

Hoofbeats vibrate the ground, amplifying the booming beats of my heart. I pray for the rider to be a friend but am greeted by a one-eyed, riderless horse—Arina.

I think the sweet mare has come to save me, but Dante bursts my fragile hope. “Dargento, help my aunt climb astride her steed.”

My skin breaks out in gooseflesh at the sound of that name, but also . . . my aunt? Bronwen told him? Just yesterday she was asking Gabriele to keep his silence.

“Immediately, Maezza.”

I peer through the mist at the bladed face of the male who’s wanted me dead for weeks now.

“I’ve no need for help.” Bronwen seizes Arina’s reins and climbs atop the filly with the grace of a seasoned equestrian. It’s evident that she, like Nonna, must’ve once had a stable full of horses at her disposal.

My gaze drops to Aoife. Although she is stone, sound penetrates. When she awakens, she will tell Lorcan everything.

Lorcan . . . “Was Lore even struck, Bronwen, or was it all a ruse?”

Arina jerks her head at the sound of my voice, her eye growing large. As much as I want her to pad closer, to toss Bronwen off her back and choose me, I fear that Dante or one of his brutes will harm her if she does.

“I’m speaking to you, Bronwen!” Still, she doesn’t answer me. “At least have the decency to tell me why you pitched me onto Dante’s lap!”

“I will let my nephew explain. After all, you two will have plenty of time for chats in the coming days.”

A pair of shiny black boots outfitted with gleaming spurs stops in front of me, blocking my view of the duplicitous seer. “Shall we get on with our evening?” Dante crouches, his cold blue eyes boring down on mine.

“Fuck you,” I snarl. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“That’s no way to speak to your king.”

“You’re not my king! You’re not my anything!”

LORE!!! I shout down our bond.

My heart jolts when the sky rumbles.

Did he finally hear my call? “LOOOR—”

Dante springs open his fingers, sending a reedy cord of water into my mouth. I gag on the icy trickle.

“Better not tarry, Dante. I suspect Lorcan has noticed her absence.” As Arina paws at the mist, Bronwen nods to Aoife. “And take the Crow into the tunnels with you, or Lorcan will awaken her with his call, and she’ll disclose your whereabouts.”

I snort. The only reason Bronwen wants Aoife out of Lore’s range is because she fears her involvement will be revealed. “Lore and my father will shred you once they learn of your betrayal, Bronwen. And Cian . . . he’ll despise you.”

“Except none of them will ever find out. Unlike you, child, I’ve learned to guard my mind.” She stares at me with her moon eyes before kicking Arina’s flanks and taking off toward Lore’s mountain.

I will the sky to fill with wingbeats.

I will this to have been a marvelous trick to draw Dante out of hiding.

I will Bronwen not to have left me here alone.

“BRON—” Water fills my mouth again, and I choke because this time, it isn’t a weak ooze but an unending gush. One that’s coming from the raised palm of the blue-eyed soldier beside Dante.

“Are you quite done shouting, Fallon? Or does my guard need to feed you more water?”

I snap my lips closed and use the mind link. Since my words aren’t reaching Lore, I picture him and will my soul to leap toward his. Yes, I’d be leaving my body unguarded, but it isn’t as though I’m doing a swell job at protecting it as it is.