A Kingdom of Venom and Vows (Stars and Shadows #3)(3)

I balled my hands into fists, knuckles white and eyes closed.

I felt the stone, cold and unforgiving, behind me. The heavy brick beneath my feet was rough and worn. The smoke from the large fireplace smelled pungent and nauseating, burning my nose and curling away into nothingness. I could taste her power and feel it drip thick and slow down through my veins as if it were waiting to strike.

My breath rushed in and out of me, filling my lungs, and the tightness in my chest intensified.

I tried to focus on anything else, but I couldn’t see anything beyond her.

The ground blurred beneath my feet as they staggered forward, my heart in my throat, my chest heavy and tight.

The sweat, the tears, the blood, the pain all flashed before my eyes. A reminder that I had been willing to sacrifice anything and everything for my people. To give everything I had to keep them safe.

Yet, it had all been for nothing.

Because I failed at protecting her.

My anger fueled my magic, making it stronger and stronger until it pulsed beneath my skin with the same desire to know she was safe.

I felt it begin to tighten, squeezing my chest as if trying to suffocate me until I let it out. Her magic joined my own, and they started to consume me, feeding off my anger.

She hadn’t thought of the consequences when she had given me her magic without taking a moment to think of what the consequences would be.

Now Adara was in the enemy’s kingdom, and her power remained with me.

She made herself powerless, and I couldn’t stop my fury.

I couldn’t allow myself to imagine a world where she wasn’t mine, a world where I could never feel her skin against my own, never hold her.

Gavril had dared to put his hands on my mate, to manipulate her into going back with him, and I would kill my own blood to get her back.

I would kill him without hesitation.

I knew he had grown more powerful. I had suspected it when I had arrived back at the fae kingdom, when I had left her behind to make sure she was safe. The idea seemed preposterous now.

She would never be safe as long as Gavril was alive. The prophecy foretold that she would save our kingdom, but it also damned her fate. She would always be caught between two brothers.

She was our hope, but we were her destruction.

But there wasn’t a force strong enough in this world or the next that could stop me from loving her.

If I could, I would do so. I would do whatever I could to make sure she was safe.

I would go to whatever end. My kingdom be damned.

I pushed forward and almost ran into Thalia who stood before me. She looked as haunted as I felt, but I knew the ghosts that hid in the dark depths of her eyes were something I would never understand.

“What’s our plan?” She crossed her arms over her chest, the same stern look on her face that I had always known her to wear, yet there was the slightest tremble of her lips that betrayed her bravery.

“I’m going to the fae kingdom.”

“His magic…” Her voice shook, her words laden with fear.

“I know.” I nodded and looked past her to find Sorin and Jorah.

“He used death magic, Evren.”

“I know,” I said lowly, thinking about what my brother would do with Adara in his grasp, and a deep-rooted fear shivered down my spine. Adara’s power took notice, restless inside me.

I would tear the damned kingdom down to the ground if I had to, and her magic would be as eager to do so as I was.

“We can’t just march in there and take her. If he has that kind of magic, who knows what he’s capable of. Who knows what he’ll do to her.”

I bit down on my tongue until I tasted blood. I wanted to rage, to tell her there was nothing he could do to stop me, but deep down, I knew she was right.

The bastard had death magic, a magic I had only ever heard about but never seen, and I worried I wouldn’t be strong enough to fight it.

“To get death magic, he would have had to…” Thalia trailed off, her fear palpable between us.

“Kill his mate.” I met her gaze as I ran my fingers through my hair. “I was foolish to think he wouldn’t go this far to get what he wanted.”

“I didn’t know he had a mate. Did you?”

“No.” I shook my head and tried to scour my mind for anything I might have missed. “They’ve always been so consumed with Adara.” I gritted my teeth at the thought. “I’ve never heard him or Queen Kaida talk of another.”

Thalia’s hands trembled, but she pushed them against her hips to hide the movement as Sorin made his way toward us.

“That was…” His eyes darted from Thalia to me and back again, lingering on her a beat longer. His jaw tightened and his brow furrowed as he stared at her intently, as if he were trying to convey something that couldn’t be put into words.

“Death magic. We know.”

“How do we fight it?” He finally broke the intense gaze he had locked onto her, and his hand gravitated toward the hilt of his dagger at his side. I knew from the resolve in his gaze that my friend and captain was as ready to march into the fae kingdom as I was.

But Thalia was right. If we weren’t smart about this, we would do more harm than good. We would get Adara killed.

Only death magic allowed someone to transport, but it also came with so much more. An unending power, as it was told through legend. The thought of what he sacrificed to get it ate at me.