C.C. Peñaranda

A Clash of Three Courts

Bia || Alpi 

"Just as well." She perked up, snapping him from his trance. "I feel I may be too tired after my dance with the Olmstone prince." Her smile was confident as she passed him by, but in an instinctive reaction he twisted, not registering what he was doing until it was too late. Nik reached out, plucking one of the many jeweled combs from her hair.

Tauria whirled to him with adorable incredulity.

"You have far too many of them," he said, only to get a rise out of her, as if this had become an exciting game between them. "They wear you."

Tauria lashed out to grab it, but Nik raised it out of her reach, ignoring the small scowl he found oddly attractive. He pretended to admire the light reflecting off the emerald crystals. At her silence, he slid his gaze back to her, but she'd composed herself to indifference. Nik smirked, holding out the comb. Tauria's attention shifted from it to him, and she poised her chin.

"Keep it. It would match your eyes if you dared to let a sparkle ofjoy into them."

With that, she turned from him, and he could do nothing but stare in fascination.

TADICO 😭😭 provavelmente a Mate dele deve estar morta já a esse ponto 

pelo menos ele vai poder ficar com a Zaiana assim 🤩🤩

Callen smirked. "T'm spoken for, actually. In fact —"

"It's becoming an effort to keep my concern for your absence at bay." A gentle female voice drifted out to them. A beautiful fae wearing white and amber floated out with it. Her eyes sparked with something that look like yearning.

"Allow me to introduce my mate, Lady Katiana." The prince's gaze was nothing short of pure adoration. His fire winked out as she approached, and his arm circled around her. "This is Prince Nikalias Silvergriff."

"Just Nik is fine." He offered the same respect — after all, she was as good as titled the Princess of Dalrune.

Katiana leaned into Callen as he reclined against the railing, and the look they shared signaled Nik's leave. He said nothing more as he headed back inside, but Callen's last words called at his back.

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT IS THIS MAVERICK ??????????? CTZ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

"I see you met the princess," a cool male voice said. Easing out from the shadows, the unwanted company joined Nik, but the word caught his attention.

The male's smirk made him feel a fool for not knowing. "Nikalias Silvergriff, Prince of High Farrow. Am I correct?"

Nik's eyes narrowed on him, having never met him before. The male appeared around the same age as him, with dark black hair like his and electric blue eyes. Burnt orange adorned his clothing with the emblem of an owl. His wears...

"You're Callen Osirion, Prince of Dalrune."

He raised his cup. "Guilty" The prince stepped further out, taking a long, deep breath. "I wouldn't take it personally. She's shown no one any interest. Tarly Wolverlon asked fora dance earlier, albeit by the force of his parents, but I doubt he'll try again after the rejection. It was highly entertaining to watch."

Nik chuckled. Tarly was one royal he had in fact met. Only because of the closeness of their kingdoms that had seen their fathers grow into power together. Nik had never been best fond of him, perhaps because their fathers constantly tried to force them to bond despite the two having no similar interests. All it stirred was resentment.

"She's a Windbreaker. I hear there's not many of of those left." Nik felt pitiful for his subtle probing for information about the princess in case Callen knew more and could feed his interest.

Setting his cup down, Callen leaned on his forearms against the railing. He flipped his palm, sparking a cobalt flame within. It almost matched his irises. His other hand hovered around it, stealing his own heat against the bitter night. "Not like your talent or mine," he agreed.

AAAAAAA AS ORELHAAAAA AAAAAAAA KSJSKSJKSSJ 

Ent aquelu artista não tinha errado mesmo HEHEHHEHEHE 

Reylan blinked when he caught a shimmer, sparing a glance around the cave as though he would find a source. All was dark save for the flickering of flames in the torches. His eyes fell back to Faythe, and his pulse quickened... because 

 was the source. That beautiful shimmer rippled like the thinnest sheet of iridescent water until Faythe was aglow with the energy it encased her in. Reylan's hand traced over her face in a surge of panic that this was her final farewell, her soul preparing to leave him finally.

He pleaded. More than he ever had in his existence, he pleaded with everything he was.

"We didn't have enough time, Faythe," he whispered, leaning his forehead to hers and pinching his eyes, holding her close as if it would return the warmth to her cooling body. "I promise to stand by you. Until the end of days. We'll fight... we'll fight it all together. Just please come back to me."

Light penetrated the darkness of his closed lids. When he snapped them open, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Faythe was still glowing, so mesmerizing and ethereal that despite everything, he wanted to treasure the sight. Because the blood that had dried on her face was gone, the dirt cleaned away. It looked like Faythe, but.. 

Then his attention caught on something else that stopped time.

Impossible. Yet with the sight, the tiny tinder he'd desperately tried to keep alive within — it flickered. It grew. So slowly he didn't think he was still breathing to track it.

The flare that came from her chest was felt in his.

Reylan felt compelled to brush the hair from her face, but as he did, it was as if he wasn't within himself anymore. Or present in this room. Or bound by the law of time. His eyes were fixed. His fingers lingered over the delicate pointed tip of her ear. Hope was a wicked torment, but 

, if it didn't capture him completely with what he discovered was happening.

The most treasured sound filled the room, spiking his adrenaline. Faythe's chest rose witha deep breath that would stay locked in his memory for all eternity. Her eyes fluttered, wincing as she slid them open. Reylan remained utterly still as though this were a dream. One blink of movement and she would go back to being the lifeless ghost he cradled. But there was beautiful color on her cheeks now, a new vibrancy in her hair.

IMMORTALITY WAS NOT a gift given kindly. I It was fire-torched blood against ice-kissed bones. It was a peaceful still wave beneath the thrash of a storm. It was dying in agony and the birth of something powerful.

Faythe was suspended in a void she knew few souls had ventured before. Between death and life, with the blessing to 

. Let go, and she could embrace a dark, painless end. Let the world cycle days without her, let others carry fate, relieve herself of feeling another heavy burden. Or she could pull back on that tether that ran within, straining toward breaking point the longer she stayed in the veil between realms. The Afterlife called to her with warm arnms and a freedom from anything that could harm her. Yet despite the harrowing, the damned, and the foreboding that awaited her if she decided to return... there was a light in the dark. A flicker of silver and sapphire. A scent that wrapped around her and coaxed her to come…

Taking a stand against the dark force of death was never destined to be a ride of bliss and reward. Time was a precious currency. And Faythe had stolen far more of it than the Gods had planned. She had never desired more time than what was owed to her in mortality, but now it was within her grasp she didn't want to let it go.

Yet it was a cruel taunt. An immnortal body on borrowed time.

The hourglass of her days had been turned. Moments of life turned to grains of precious sand that fell with the weight of stones.

For now, she would return. To them, to him... she must return.

"We've wronged each other in the past, but I hope you know none of that matters. Everything we've been through that brought us to now has only made us stronger. I don't ever plan on letting you go or being apart from you for a moment. You are so brave. So perfect. You are mine." His forehead pressed to hers while he cupped her cheek.

Then spilled from his mouth a question he'd harbored so deep, treasured, never believing he would have the privilege of asking her. "Marry me, Tauria."

She took a deep breath as if in deliberation. Nik's mouth curved before she spoke.

He chuckled, his spirit so light, and squeezed her waist. "Not really, no."

Her head lay back against him, and his lips pressed to her temple. "I want a ring."

His hand slipped over her forearm until their palms met. After dipping into his pocket, his other hand came around her, and Tauria gasped as the cool metal slipped onto her finger. Adorned with the sparkling emerald, she raised her hand.

"You brought it with you?" she breathed, admiring the reflections off the stone.

Nik's arm tightened from the flash of panic at their narrow escape. "I didn't plan on leaving without you." He took her hand, guiding it to his face, and she twisted on the saddle to look at him. Nik tapped the stone on her finger. "It was in the bracelet before. My mother's bracelet."

Tauria's mouth parted in surprise as her eyes fell to the ring. Then she shifted, reaching into her pocket to produce the item that was no longer needed to conceal his scent.

"I wanted to give you something close to me while you were far, and I asked Marlowe to take out the emerald and replace it with her enchanted stone. But I knew you would have no need for it once we were back together. Then she made the ring, and it was so perfect. It was you."

AIIII 😭😭😭😭 CHLOE NÃO TOCA NO MEU TARLY 

He watched them ride off through the trees, unable to move, and he couldn't be sure why when his mind was still. Or perhaps too lost to form a single thought. Tarly fixed the bow over his back, finally yielding a hiss with his wince of pain as he moved his injured shoulder.

Weeks, and it had not healed. Pulling back his collar, he tried to catch a glimpse, if only to keep track of its changes as best he could. His tanned skin was gray around the wound. The bite wound he hadn't wanted to alarm Tauria with the knowledge of since the library. Truthfully, he had no idea what it meant. A bite from a Transitioned dark fae felt like a very slowly spreading poison. The healer he saw had seen nothing like it before, so completely baffled that all she could do was offer a salve that numbed the pain for a short while but didn't stop the slow spread.

Só isso??? KSJSKJSKSJSN tô reclamando não ent 

Something other than the hard beat of Nik's heart caught her hearing in the silence that settled. A faint whisper, chanting words she couldn't decipher — but that didn't matter, because the voice...

"You loved once, Marvellas," Marlowe said as clear as day, and Tauria's eyes snapped open to find the blacksmith crouched halfway down the aisle, her fingers finishing a tracing she'd made in crimson on the floor. Blood. Marvellas's blood. “You don't get to tear down a realm on a broken heart."

Jakon stood firm with an arrow aimed at the Spirit. Marlowe rose as the final ancient words spilled from her mouth.

Nik gently pushed Tauria away and stood while Marvellas was distracted. Then a wave of power blasted through the room, and Tauria folded into herself.

Her head snapped back up just in time to watch Nik make it to Marvellas. Her heart leaped up her throat, and her mouth parted on a silent scream, but Nik was fast. She could only stare in shock as he reached her, and with no hesitation, Nik snapped her neck before she could turn around.

The thump of her body to the ground wasn't enough for Tauria to believe this was real. She breathed, staring and staring, on her hands and knees, unable to allow the relief to settle as she waited for Marvellas to launch straight back up and go for him first. 

 him first in her rage at the mockery they'd made of her.

Tauria couldn't move. She didn't know how many seconds or minutes ticked by.

MARVELLAS TIRA AS PATAS DOS MEUS SOUL-BOUNDED SAI SAI SAI 

Marvellas stroked a dark touch on the tether that bound them. Their mating bond — that precious, absolute thing  — became as vulnerable as the delicate string of a harp. The Spirit plucked at it without care, testing its strength and resistance, and Tauria whimpered, fighting with everything she had to wrap some protection around their bond. It was something only to be treasured and shared between them, invaded by the Spirit of Souls who had them at her complete mercy.

"I spent my entire existence as a Spirit guiding souls to one another. Watching as they fell in love and adored each other, their magick thriving, their off spring strong. But sometimes, there would be those ungrateful for their match, rejecting what I presented." Her gown lapped the ground like blood spilled in her wake. "I’ll admit, there was always a part of me that wondered why they would give up the perfect match I brought to them. Until I followed the severed bond to see what became of them. They did not live on in misery or heartache or longing. Most of them found happiness with one who was not their mate, but in turn, there was another soul taken from its match. Every untrue pair created two severed bonds. It seemed... tragic. Love — it is the ultimate weakness. Those who rejected their bond rejected the power thatI gifted them to be strengthened in their union. It was their foolish hearts that chose to disregard all that could have been." She took the steps slowly up to the dais, and all Tauria could do was watch. With a terror so stilling she feared one movement could snap the bond. "But look at you two. In all my thousands of years, very few have come close to such a powerfully perfected match."

Nik's palm slid against hers, and their fingers entwined. Tauria gripped his hand tightly. 

The husband, I assume?" Marvellas sang with mocking amusement. "Human. Mortal. I suppose it would be contradictory for me to fault you for your choices. Yet I hoped with all the knowledge you bear, all the twisted stories of history you know the real truth behind, you would not make such damning mistakes."

Confusion was an unexpected twist to the suffocating fear and threat. It flinched on Jakon's hardened expression too. Yet Marlowe… all her face bore was 

There was a long moment of suspended silence, as though the Spirit expected Marlowe to have an answer to her mocking gibe. Then Marvellas's shoulders squared, eyes darting between Marlowe and Jakon, even sparing a glance back at Tauria and Nik, but whatever she read on their expressions rumbled dark laughter in the Spirit.

"They do not know," she delighted. As if she thought this a brilliant climax to the entertainment. "Are you afraid of what they will think, Marlowe Kilnight? Or are you afraid to break his heart with the truth?"

Marlowe's expression was etched with defiance and a sharp anger. "It means nothing."

Marvellas chuckled. "It seems not even the smartest of us, not even the one who has seen as much to know nothing good will ever come of trying to repeat history, will learn from past mistakes." She took more steps toward Marlowe, and the groan of Jakon's bow was heard but no arrow loosed before a choking gasp left him. Without even sparing him a glance, Marvellas had seized his movements.

The Spirit stopped at a deadly proximity, but Marlowe didn't balk. Tauria was stunned at what she witnessed, not recognizing the human before them.

Marvellas cast her eyes up to Jakon. "It's a tragic twist of fate when a mortal" — her gaze fell down, and so did the weight of a revelation so crushing Tauria's mouth opened on a silent gasp — "falls in love with an immortal."

"I’m not immortal," Marlowe quickly hissed in defense.

"In comparison to him, you may as well be."

Tauria couldn't confirm it, and she cursed her lack of time spent getting to know the layout of the castle. She followed the queen anyway, racing down halls, until she knew the way herself and the grand doors came into view. Tauria stilled her mind and braced for the guards they might find protecting the space. The doors were open, and as she steered them sideways, her steps halted abruptly.

These were perilous odds all the same, yet she yet couldn't be sure why.

Upon the throne sat one figure. A creature of flame and beauty was all Tauria could think, yet something about her was of sin and malice. She sat so elegantly it was as if she were a Goddess. Her vibrant red hair waved like fire against the blood red of her gown. Her eyes...

Tauria blinked long and hard. She had seen them before, yet the gold irises of this female were ablaze. 

The conclusion was glaring, yet she couldn't believe it.

"I have been waiting for you, Tauria Stagknight."

Her voice was power in itself, conflicting as it willed her to bow or run far and fast from its grip of allurement. The female's bright amber eyes slid beside her, and that almost shifted Tauria into defensive mode until she spoke again.

Thank you for leading her to me. As promised, you are free."

She couldn't believe it. Tauria's breath fell from her as her head bowed with the delivery of betrayal. Silence vibrated through the air for a few long seconds before the queen began to back away from her.

"I had to protect my daughter," Keira confessed.

Tauria knew. She didn't look at Keira or Opal as she gave a barely-there nod of understanding. They would be safe. That was all that mattered.

"Please — she's just a child!" Keira's voice was unrecognizable in its choked plea, eliciting nothing of the arrogant guise that saw her through courtly life. Stripped of crown, title, and wealth, all she was in this moment... was a desperate mother. "She won't survive it."

This inspired Tauria to act. She slipped out of Nik's protection to run to the young princess who trembled in terror. The guards shifted but didn't stop her as she made it to Opal, and the princess immediately clamped her small arms around her waist.

"You're going to be okay" Tauria whispered down to her. Smoothing down her hair, she met Keira's wild, pleading look. It was a promise. Tauria would do whatever it took to see the princess spared.

Nik was close at her back, and Tauria targeted a cold gaze of fury at Varlas on his knees, about to unleash her words of hatred that he could be capable of inflicting such evil on his own children.

Tauria picked up on the distant cries before the shuffling feet entered the room. She had already pinpointed the wails of distress before she laid eyes on her. It wasn't only the queen who was dragged in disgracefully... Tauria's heart came close to matching the deep strike of terror in Keira's as she watched the small, terrified form get escorted in by a different set of guards.

"No," Tarly snarled, but it lacked wrath under the blanket of his own horror.

Opal's usual sun-kissed skin was washed pale and ghostly. She wasn't dragged as her hollow steps guided her to stand before the dais. Tauria's spine curved tight at Keira's heart-Wrenching wails from where she was restrained at the side of the hall, fighting against the guards. "You promised!"

The prince's loud shout snapped her eyes back to him. Both his hands shook around the hilt of his sword, ready to plunge it straight through Varlas, but his desolate face gave away his hesitation. The king was still his father. Still a male he had early childhood memories of joy and love with despite the harrowing turn of fate that had befallen them both.

"You gave your word that if I brought her to you, Opal would be spared!"

Tauria's knees weakened, threaterning to pull her into a darkness so tormenting at his words and what she concluded in them. She should have thought of it sooner. She should have 

 in the prince. Yet in her anger and hopelessness, it had been so easy to paint Tarly as the villain. 

Yet it was not a beast but a broken savior whom she had come to know throughout her time in Olmstone. A prince who, despite all that cursed him with a melancholy heart, still held onto what was once pure and alive in him. He only buried it deep to protect what little shards were left.

"When the winds gale force from the east..." He recited the words of her letter, and she released a breath of pure gratitude. "Tauria Stagknight, I presume?"

The pride in Nik's gaze thumped in her chest as she nodded.

"I didn't know if you would believe me," she admitted.

"I didn't," the chief was quick to say. "You also have her to thank."

At the door, a large beast of brilliant white fur and silver eyes stalked past the others. Tauria blinked, her head snapping back immediately, because she was sure she'd seen —

There were two of them. Katori behind her moved as if to meet her twin. Tauria spared Tarly a look, but his confusion only sank her disbelief further.

Tauria picked up on the thundering footsteps at the door before two guards burst through, halting abruptly, hands darting to their weapons after a quick scan of the room.

"You — Your Majesty," one stuttered, clearly debating if the information he held was of urgency compared to the compromised position of his king he'd stumbled upon. "They've begun to siege the city."

"Who?" Nik prompted, amusement slithering into his tone. Then his gaze flashed back to her, and Tauria knew. She'd been heard. 

The letter she'd entrusted Lycus to see out of the city. She wasn't entirely confident her voice would be heard by the chief.

That echo through the hall was a declaration that halted time. For the voice that disrupted far behind Tauria caressed her neck and raced down her spine, until that phantom touch traveled within, stroking her senses with exhilarating awareness. 

Tauria turned slowly, pulse quickening, and her skin broke out in a thrilling shiver. Her mind taunted he wasn't real. He couldn't be here. But her heart found him without falter. Guiding her eyes up to land on a cloaked figure among the masses on the balcony, she confirmed his presence undeniably when the people parted and he pulled down his hood, unclasping his black cloak to let it fall.

A stab of despair halted her reeling mind. She tracked Tarly as he made his way over, face devoid of emotion, ever the obedient prince. 

, she wanted to hate him, but her heart broke at watching him close in to bring her down once again. He stopped right in front of her, freeing a blade from his side. In her utter conflict of loathing and sadness, she could do nothing but stare into those lost brown eyes, searching and searching for the warmth she'd slowly been easing from them. Yet the She point of his blade aimed at her throat.

"I may have underestimated you, son, but you have proven your loyalty to the cause in all this. Your mother Would be proud of us."

Tauria blinked her blurring vision, just in time to catch the slow turn of Tarly's head. But him looking at his father wasn't what mnade her tears dry up and a chill rattle her bones. It was the shadows that formed in that gaze.

 never deserved her." Those words had barely departed the prince's mouth before the glint of steel went hurtling toward the king.

Tauria's mouth parted, eyes wide as Varlas grunted, shocked. He stared at Tarly in bewilderment but was met with nothing but an emanating fury, a cerntury of Wrath unleashed by the prince all at once as he went for his sword. But it wasn't a lone blade that sang through the hall. Commotion ensued behind them as guards became armed. The prince, however, was fast, standing before his father in a heartbeat. He halted, seething through his teeth as he braced to plunge the length of steel through his father's chest.

"You could have had it all your way." His hand took her chin, slowly applying more pressure until she whimpered. "Now, we do this my way."

"You took everything from me." Tauria was silent, careful not to chime her shackles. The spindlelillies disguised her reach to a fold of her dress. "This is only the beginning of me taking it back."

Dropping the flowers, Tauria's maneuver was quick. Her hands gripped and twisted. Once. Mid-size. Twice. Full-size. Her finger found the trigger without falter, and the click of the blades didn't finish resonating before her staff whirled between her hands. She slid one foot back to brace, thrust forward, and then her aim made its mark. 

Niltain steel. She couldn't have thanked her brilliant blacksmith friend for the creation more in that moment as Mordecai spluttered, wide-eyed, glancing down at the spear through his chest.

Por essa aqui eu realmente não esperava pt. 3

Keira fell, but not before hooking an arm around Tauria that left her with no other response than to straddle the queen. She gripped her wrists, forcing Tauria's hands around her throat. Then something solid and cold slipped under her robe, wedged under the flexible corset she wore beneath it.

When they stilled, Tauria was too sunned to move. Then Keira screamed, calling out for them to find her. Everything happened so fast she didn't register the door kicking open or the hasty shuffle of bodies. All she could do was stare and stare at the queen, wondering… 

"Make them pay, Tauria Stagknight. Make them all pay."

Por essa aqui eu realmente não esperava pt. 2

"I love my daughter, Tauria. Despite what you may think of me, I would never allow harm to come to her. I watched you two many times — how she adored you, looked up to you." A slither of coldness, perhaps jealousy, as ludicrous as that seemed, folded in her knitted brow. "She has never looked at me that way. But regardless, I would never allow Varlas to have her. Not to do what he plans to with you. I tried to get you to leave, but you were so ignorant in your defiance. You saw opposition as a challenge, not a warning to flee. I tried to tell you about Nik in the hope you would go back to him before he wed another. I tried to convince you that Tarly would never be faithful. Still, you stayed here like a trapped deer, and prey is exactly what you have become. You are very smart, Tauria Stagknight, and I hoped you of all people would see that sometimes cruelty can be kind."

Tauria's heart thumped as Keira released her. She was stunned into silence as she relayed her words. Over and over. "You didn't care about me," she breathed in denial. You only cared that I was a risk to your throne."

"Do you think I wanted this life? Bound to a male who didn't have a heart left to give? Not even on our wedding day did he show affection. Opal was a conception of duty, nothing more, but she is the greatest gift life could have given me. To his cruel dismay. A daughter was not what he wanted, and I tried to conceive again, but the Gods had other plans. So instead, he crafted his own cunning plan to cut us out completely. I look at you and see what Opal could become. A leader of heart. But I wouldn't wish it upon her at the price Varlas seeks from you."

. That look shivered down Tauria's spine. "Yes. It is so heinous and evil I wouldn't wish it upon anyone."

Por essa aqui eu realmente não esperava pt. 1

The voice that greeted Tauria locked her still. She couldn't believe her string of sheer, damning bad luck. She didn't have the energy to muster much else, but she let her head fall to glimpse the one she expected.

Keira approached her slowly, dropping to a crouch that fanned her gown. "What a terrible fate you've met with."

It had all been for nothing, yet she couldn't even be angry with herself. Tauria had enough dignity left to get to her knees, her teeth bashing together with the ice that began to coat her. Keira spared a glance behind her, and Tauria's gaze followed to land on a guard by the door. To her surprise, whatever he read in the queen had him unfastening his cloak, and Tauria didn't know how to react when he gave it to Keira. The queen fxed it around Tauria's shoulders, and in her desperation for warmth, she didn't even flinch as she clutched it tightly around herself.

"I think you should be asking yourself that." Her slender fingers touched Tauria's temple, dragging back some of the wet hair that clung to her face, and she hissed at the sting. Keira examined the blood on her fingers. "You poor thing." The sympathy in her gaze was crushing. As though Tauria were already a corpse. "I tried to warn you, Tauria Stagknight. He's never felt love for me either. I too am someone to prize and conquer. A means to bear him a new son when he could barely stand the presence of the one he already had for the semblance he bore to his lost mate."

Tauria felt the first skip of her heart, which she'd long tuned out of in the presence of her desolation. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we are all just beautiful pawns in a mighty king's game."

THREE THINGS PUT Tauria's skills to the greatest test and laid her life on the most perilous line. The first, and what she considered the tamest, challenge was scaling the rooftops with her hands bound in front of her. With the bite of the magestone numbed in the cold, this felt like the time she convinced Lycus to tie her wrists in a mock trial as she ran through Fenstead's castle, a day of childish arrogance. The second challenge was the weather, which was a merciless bitch that made her bare feet slip dangerously too many times. Her final test threw all regard for modesty out the window. Literally. With the black robe her only cover-up, Tauria Stagknight had officially lost her damn mind.

She could be glad for the pouring rain, only because it made the material cling to her skin, shielding her from exposure to the harsh wind. With gritted teeth, she eyed the next steep slant she had to climb. Urgency didn't leave enough time for calculation, and as she leaped, Tauria could already feel the tumble her error would result in. Her fingers were just shy of hooking over the edge when her feet slipped against the wet stone, and with bound wrists, unable to react on instinct, her face hit hard.

For a second there was bliss in the movement as her element was the only thing that encased her.

Then her body slammed into something unforgiving. Agony was a pulse that surged through her until the world drifted away all at once.

Just then, commotion ensued by the back entrance. Tauria's mouth parted with what she witnessed. She shook her head in denial while reality slowed. This wasn't real. This wasn't real.

She blinked hard, her balance swaying, as the sight was one that would haunt her until the end.

Tauria wasn't present anymore. Not when a body crashed to his knees before her — not by force, but with the fading life he seemed to grapple to.

Guilt. So much guilt. It consumed her entirely, and she wished right then that it could kill her. She would deserve it.

His head bowed to the ground, so still she believed herself to be staring at a corpse. But time slowed to a Crawl when his head began to lift. Their eyes connected, and his were so filled with agony that a new dagger pierced her chest with each second she couldn't tear away from that broken gaze. Her throat was so tight she could barely utter the whisper.

 she whispered to halt his soothing story. In case it was the last time, she had to tell him. In case they succeeded in making her a monster enough that she wouldn't remember him... It was a fate so torturous she wished for death in place of it.

"No matter what happens, I love you. Everything can be taken from me, but not that. It was never because of the bond. It was you. Only you."

 She swallowed, wincing at the growing lump that tightened her throat.

Silence settled, and she wondered if she'd spilled too much and given away her terror. That there could come a day when she would face him as someone else entirely. Dark, unforgiving. Loveless.

"You are my life, Tauria. There won't be a realm or time that exists where I won't love you. As eternal as the moon, remember?"

Even tho I didn't liked at first the book being from a different perspective and wanted so bad to continue with Faith's story, slowly I fall in love with this book too . I liked that the other characters also have a big role in this story and not just contributes a little bit and also that they're also so strong on their own.

A Clash of Three Courts

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