A Court of Broken Worlds (Book 3)

Seventeen

Males.

Such fools.

Astrid had spent her entire life as a living secret. They all had. Scarcely revealing much of herself even to those she was closest to, those she loved and cherished.

Even Danika, whom she was the nearest to in the entire world, did not know all that Astrid had spent years hiding away. Burying within a deep and lonely grave.

He would not find much by staring at the way she walked. Aside from the fact she had her back to him and would not give him the time of day. In that, he could be certain.

    Though, maybe he might gauge how truly exhausted she was.

    Her, Eira, and Lucien and used the last of their winnowing magics only minutes ago. Danika's power had been gone by the time they'd left the clearing, disappeared and hadn't returned.

    None of their magic would until the Faebane had left their systems. Or obsidian in her friend's case.

    They were all panting from the strain, apparently life was much harder without magic. She had forgotten that fact from her humanity.

   She missed it.

    Astrid's white-haired friend stopped, and as did all those behind her as she led the group. She tipped her head back, peering at the sun from where it sat now a hand's width above the horizon, shadows already thick and heavy between the hills.

    Danika took a step northward, and before her foot could even hit the ground in another, Lucien's voice stopped her. "You're taking a door?"

    She slid her calculating eyes toward him, "Yes." The caves—doors, Danika had called them within the many planning sessions in the passages—in those hollows led to other pockets of Prythian. They would take one to get to the Night Court. Or as close as they could get. There was no door to the Court. Not here or anywhere. Danika's new home was quite the...spectacle.

    She wouldn't lie and say she hadn't heard the rumors and what went on within that court, and she also wouldn't lie and say she didn't think her friend fit in there. The Night Court was the most feared and respected of all Prythian's land, and that nearly summed up the white-haired female to a T.

    It was odd for Astrid. Danika was so...different from the last time she had seen her more than a year ago now. She had an air about her. An air of commanding power even Astrid, hot tempered as she was, could not help but follow.

    Danika had always been the most impulsive of the four of them within the Flame. The one willing to jump into danger without so much as a second thought. And now...every decision she made seemed to be weighed and calculated.

    If Astrid didn't know any better she'd say her friend acted like Queen. Or—well, a High Lord granted Prythian didn't have Queens and Kings.

    "The Autumn Court portal is that way." Lucien said, warning and reproach dripping from his tone.

    Danika said monotonously, "I can't go into Summer. They'll kill me on sight."

    Silence.

    And then there was a low whistle, and everyone turned to Flynn. "Well, you've been busy." Danika merely rolled her eyes in response.

    Lucien countered again, "The only other door here leads Under the Mountain. We sealed off all the other entrances. If we go, we could wind up trapped—or have to return."

    "That's why we're going through Autumn." Danika said with no room for argument. Yes, a Queen seemed to sum Astrid's friend up right about now. "And from there..." everyone assembled knew what came at the end of her sentence.