someone would be so kind as to roll this lump of a frozen turd into the cell below, I’d appreciate it,” Raile said.
“Oh, no you won’t,” I told Raile.
Raile crossed his arms over his chest. “He tried to steal you for himself.”
I was truly amazed by Raile’s ability to make me so furious, he left me breathless. I just stared at him—he looked nonplussed—until I reminded him fiercely, “I’m not a thing that can be stolen, you pompous ass.”
“I’m not saying he tried to steal you from me. He tried to steal you from yourself,” Raile corrected. “I was twisting the spell so no one would claim you, so the vows would only bind you to yourself. He ruined it.”
“I know,” I said. I was still stunned by what Raile had tried to do for me, and I needed time and space to myself to understand him.
“And I’d wager he knew that was not what you wanted,” Raile said, pressing a hand to his chest, his long fingers splayed across the fine cut of his lapel. “Because your sweet obsession with me is obvious to all, I’m sure.”
“You are so delusional, it’s almost adorable,” I shot back.
“Please don’t be boring and forgive him,” he said. “I like the bloodthirsty version of you far better.”
I didn’t feel particularly forgiving, but suddenly I wanted to forgive Tiron just to spite Raile. “I don’t even know Tiron’s story yet. I’d like to hear that first.”
Raile’s face fell.
I was in no rush to let Tiron off the hook for that disaster in the throne room, though, so I added, “Dungeons later, if necessary.”
“As long as you promise,” Raile said lightly.
His words earlier about his magic were still bothering me. “Then we need to talk about how I give your magic back to you.”
He gave me a smile that said nothing—the Raile special—and went off to check on his sailors and marines. My towering white castle at the edge of the sea was already distant, with an expanse of shimmering blue water between our small vessel and land. I took one last long look at the city that spread to the side of the castle, climbing up the hills to the side of the harbor.
I wondered when I’d see my home again…and take my throne. A pit seemed to open up in my chest, but I shook it off and turned my attention back on what was happening on the deck.
Duncan was kneeling on the ground talking to the wounded Fae knight with the green hair. He was tending her wound, and she was in obvious agony.
For a second, jealousy flooded me. The next, I realized how ridiculous that was, especially when Duncan was so ham-handed healing anyone. No one wanted Duncan’s tender ministrations; the autumn court was far better at wounding than healing.
“Let me help.” I shouldered him aside and knelt beside her. “What’s your name?”
This close up, I suddenly recognized her face. I’d only seen her as a blur before, when the two of us locked up in combat, but I was sure I knew her. Her lips parted as she recognized me. She was the same green-haired Fae I’d fought in mid-air when I returned from the undersea, the one who brought me down to the ground, protecting me from a hail of arrows.
I pressed my hand over the wound. It wasn’t quite my magic now that flowed out as I concentrated on a familiar healing spell; it was Raile’s, and she hissed in pain for a second before it subsided, as if salt water had entered the wound. Her face relaxed as the wound began to heal.
“Calina,” she said after a moment. “And thank you.”
“Thank you for fighting on our side.”
“It wasn’t your side I chose, Princess,” she said. “It was Duncan’s.”
Duncan loomed over us both, leaning against the ship’s railing; the wind ruffled his dark hair. “That’s a strange thing to say when we’re rather dependent on the princess’s hospitality at the moment, Calina.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. The wound healed to pink skin, and I pulled my hands away, rubbing them against the damned fluffy skirts to cure the tingling that healing always left in my palms. My palms brushed over all those thousands of ridiculous gems; the dress was unbearably heavy. No wonder the males had been able to outrun me so easily in the hallway. This gown was a lovely atrocity.
“I don’t expect anyone to be particularly loyal to me until I’ve earned it,” I said. “But