Page 9 of The Reaping Rose

I nod, walking beside her with my sword in my grip. The hilt warm, and my body is ready to strike.

My senses perk, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Animals avoid us, scurrying into their burrows as the wind worsens. Elorie and I walk in silence, pushing through the dense trees until we reach brush too thick to navigate.

“If Dorn and Isra went any deeper, there’s no way they’ll survive.” She eyes the trees.

“If they did, that’s not on us. They were warned to stick to the village.”

Elorie follows as I continue walking. “Maybe they tried and couldn’t. Maybe they were running from something?”

“Maybe.” I adjust my stride when my hip aches, and I nearly trip a step.

Thankfully, Elorie doesn’t notice my wince. Her eyes dart from the path ahead to the prison spires towering above the trees.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” I ask her, trying to take my mind off the pain.

“As ready as I can be.” She drops her gaze, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. “If I don’t come out⁠—”

“You will.”

She huffs out a laugh. “Try telling Callum that.”

“Callum can’t help worrying. He’s not one to take risks,” I remind her.

“You didn’t use to be one to take risks either.”

My throat tightens. She isn’t wrong. But that was before I understood what I was fighting for. Who I was fighting for. Now, I’m questioning everything.

“Callum understands what needs to be done.” I keep the focus on him. “He’ll come to terms with it. Don’t let his fears make you doubt yourself.”

“You think I’m doing the right thing?”

“I think we’re out of options, and that puts us in a dangerous position no matter what. But if there’s a chance, you’ll find it. Even here.”

A place where only one Fae has woken a drop of magic—Elorie. She did it once to save her mate, and again when she somehow told the Gate to bring us to Alyssium.

A Gate is a doorway between two places within the same realm. It roots in magic on both ends, which is why, when we stepped through the Gate in the Ley Court, it should not have been able to let us out on an island void of any. Somehow, it did.

I don’t understand Elorie’s magic or what the fates have in store for her, but I’m smart enough to know that if there is someone who can find hope when there is none, it’s her.

“Do you miss the Ley Court?” she asks, walking at a steady pace beside me with her daggers in hand.

“I miss a warm bed,” I muse, grinning. “I miss my options for partners to fill it.”

“Was that a joke, Greer? Oh my gods.” Elorie laughs, and I shrug. “Now I know you must think I’m walking to my death tomorrow, because you never joke with anyone.”

I chuckle, not blaming her for thinking that. While Elorie and I have grown close out of necessity, I’ve never been good at making friends. It’s rare I open up. Even when it’s only been the four of us these past few months living in Letia’s house, I mostly keep to myself.

Elorie is right; I’m looking for a distraction. Anything to avoid thinking about what might come of her entering the prison tomorrow.

I hold my chin up, not giving a voice to those fears. “I’m simply stating a fact. This is a cold place in more ways than one.”

“True.” Elorie sighs. “I miss a warm bed too. And a warm bath.”

“I miss my family.”

Elorie’s smile slips. “You’ll see them again.”

When I meet her gaze, it’s not comfort I find in her silvery-gray eyes, but determination. A promise she may not be able to keep, but I appreciate her offering.