Avoca didn’t regret her decision.

She ground her teeth together and wove through the pressing crowd of strangers in the Eleysian ballroom. The smell of so many bodies together in one enclosed space was almost suffocating. She was sure, to normal humans, it didn’t smell bad at all. They wouldn’t be able to sense what she did, but it was perfectly clear to her. And it was giving her a splitting headache. Not to mention, the two glasses of icy liquid she’d had earlier and Cyrene’s behavior.

Ugh, Cyrene!

Avoca owed her a blood debt. Cyrene had saved her life during battle, and for that, Avoca would always be eternally grateful…and eternally trying to make up for the shame of it. But Cyrene did not make it easy on her to do any of those things. Cyrene’s unconventional ways had gotten them this far, but it always felt like she was diving into the unknown. And then she had just blown her off when Avoca was only doing her duty.

She marched out of a pocket of overly perfumed women in deep purple dyed Eleysian dresses and continued toward the open air.

She needed air. She needed earth. She needed to feel her magic and connection to the ground.

This island with so many inhabitants was almost worse than Aurum had been. Every inch of land outside the palace was either water or a building. It drove her earth powers mad.

An unmeasurable feeling of homesickness took her over. She missed the trees and canopies of Eldora along with her mother.

Avoca swallowed back her emotions and forced the mask of indifference back on her face. Her greatest weapon was keeping herself in check and dousing her emotions. She was a trained Leif fighter, a powerful magical user, and the heir to the throne of Eldora. She damn well had to act like it.

“Ava,” Ceis’f said.

He appeared like a wraith out of nowhere. If she hadn’t had the two glasses of whatever that liquor was, she would have seen him coming. She should have felt him coming.

“What is it, Roran?” she said, using the fake name Ceis’f had taken since being on the road.

“You didn’t even see me coming,” he accused.

“I don’t want or need your company tonight. Leave me be.”

“I don’t trust you on your own in your…condition.”

“My condition?” she spat at him. “I’ve had two drinks. Do you know how many you used to imbibe when you first came to Eldora?”

Ceis’f froze and glared at her. She was being purposely hurtful, but she didn’t care. The way Ceis’f had been acting since they reached Eleysia had pushed her over the edge. She could hardly even look at him, and he was her only string tethering her to home.

“I had reason,” he snapped.

“Of course you did.”

She turned her back to him and pushed down another corridor. This time, she could tell he was following her.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway and whirled on him. “Stop following me!”

“I will not let you go wandering off onto the palace grounds on a holy night with a temper while you’re full of drink,” Ceis’f said calmly.

There was fire under his words, and she could practically see the flames licking at his fingertips. She had upset him enough to draw out his magic.

“On a holy night in Eldora, I would have my hands in the earth, and my body would be full of energy. I wouldn’t need a drink because there would be enough power within me to satiate my thirst. But we’re not in Eldora, and right now, I’m not a princess for you to look after. So, leave me alone tonight,” she commanded. She tilted her chin up, like the princess she was.

“Like it or not, Ava, you’re stuck with me.”

“Ugh!”

That was the last thing she’d wanted to hear.

Avoca took off down the hallway. She could hear voices coming from an adjacent lot and saw the Queen and her daughter, Brigette, facing off with each other.

“But I love him, Mother!” the Princess yelled. “You cannot do this!”

“I am still Queen, Brigette. And so long as you are heir to the throne and live in my palace, you will do as I say until I draw my last breath, so help me Creator!” the Queen said.

Avoca shook her head and kept running. That felt all too familiar. And though she had never loved another man while in Eldora, she could feel the weight of the one who had been forced upon her, chasing after her down the hallway.

Avoca nearly ran headfirst into a large man blocking the hallway.

“Ooph,” she said, stopping short. He looked like a guard, but he was in party attire. “Excuse me.”

Ceis’f caught up to her then, and the man looked them both over and then stepped aside.

Avoca took another turn, opening herself up to her magic and finding the source of the earth. It led her out a back exit of the palace. She was facing a large lake and could see the beautiful palace grounds stretch before her. She took a healing breath and held on to it. Her magic listened to her call, and she dropped to the ground to soak up the energy from the earth, as if satiating the hunger of a starving man.

“Creator,” she breathed. “Thank you.”

“Ava,” Ceis’f called. “You’re practically blinding with power. Cut it loose.”

She shook her head and drank more in. “It’s amazing, Ceis’f.”

“You need to stop,” he demanded. “There’s water everywhere. You don’t need so much earth.”

She rounded on him. “That’s easy for you to say. Your main element is everywhere,” she said, gesturing toward the sky.

“And it all smells wrong, Ava! I’m used to the forest air…the mountain air,” he said softer. “This is city air. It hardly calls to me the same. Now, get up, and let it go. If you want to feel in your element, then we should get off this island with hundreds of filthy humans and go home!”

“Leave her alone,” a voice sounded behind them.

Avoca lifted her head at the sound and smiled. Ahlvie. “You’re here.”

“Stay out of this,” Ceis’f growled. His voice was low and dangerous.

He had unconsciously shifted into a fighting stance. Avoca could see his flames licking at the palms of his hands.

Orden grabbed onto Ahlvie and tried to haul him back. “Come on, Ahlvie. This isn’t your fight.”

“Yeah, listen to the old man,” Ceis’f taunted.

Orden glared at him. “I’ve stuck up for you through all of this. Tried to stay out of your business. Tried to keep all of you together. But you’re all determined to kill each other, aren’t you?”

“If that’s what it takes,” Ceis’f growled low. The flames traveled up his arms, igniting with his rage.

“Then so be it,” Orden said, releasing Ahlvie and crossing his arms.

Ahlvie cocked a smile and took light, easy steps, as if he didn’t’ see Ceis’f’s flames. “Nice trick,” he teased.

“There’s more where this came from.”

“Ceis’f, stop it,” Avoca said. She glared at him. “You’re acting like a child.”

“This is a long time coming, Ava,” Ceis’f spat. “We’re going to have to settle this here and now.”

“There is nothing to settle!” Avoca cried.

“She’s right. When are you going to get it through your head?” Ahlvie said. He actually smiled.

That was the thing about Ahlvie. Everything was a joke and carefree. But she knew, underneath that facade, he was very serious about his friends and extremely loyal, not to mention a skilled fighter.

“She doesn’t want to go home. She doesn’t want you to try to control her. She just doesn’t want you.”

Ceis’f glared, and without a second thought, he shot a fireball toward Ahlvie. Ahlvie’s eyes grew, but he threw himself out of the way. He rolled into a ball and then landed back on his feet.

“Can’t take the truth?” Ahlvie taunted.

“That’s not the truth.”

Ceis’f pushed a burst of air right at Ahlvie. He couldn’t dodge that blast quickly enough and ended up getting knocked backward ten feet, landing on his ass.

“If it’s not the truth,” Ahlvie said, staggering back to his feet, “then why are you fighting me?”

“Because you’re a lying, manipulative, wretched human, just like the rest of them!” Ceis’f yelled, losing it.

He pushed another blast of air toward Ahlvie, but Avoca had had enough.

She drank in the magic that the fresh earth had given her and rocked the ground at Ceis’f’s feet. He tried to stand against the onslaught, but even he couldn’t avoid the effects of her magic. She was stronger than him. Only barely.

“No more, Ceis’f,” she commanded. “It’s over.”

She reached for more and more. She took water from the lake, swirled it around his body, and then threw him backward. He landed several feet away from her. She could see the anger clearly written on his face, but he would never come after her.

“Ava…”

“Ahlvie is not like the people who killed your family!” she yelled. “Not Ahlvie. Not Cyrene. Not Orden. Not Maelia. They are good and kind and flawed. Flawed like everyone is! If you cannot see that and accept that, then you are worse than the people who took your village from you. The loss of Aonia was horrible. So many Leifs were lost at one time due to savagery and the unknown, but holding on to the hatred and letting it be the fuel for your every action has poisoned you! And I could never be with someone who hates so fiercely.” Avoca turned from Ceis’f and looked at Ahlvie. He was staring at her, wide-eyed but unafraid. “I want someone who loves.”

Their eyes met, and her heart leaped at the possibilities in that one gaze. She had no idea what she was doing. Getting involved with a human was…a terrible idea. She would live for hundreds, likely even thousands, of years, and he would have such a short life in comparison. The notion of loving someone she would lose was terrifying and horrifying, but she couldn’t let that fear rule her life the way hatred ruled Ceis’f’s.

Avoca could feel the wrath coming off of Ceis’f, but she just didn’t care. She was tired of the control and the tiptoeing around Ceis’f. She wanted this. What else matters?

She cleared the distance between she and Ahlvie, put her hand on the back of his neck, and pulled his lips down on top of hers. Her magic fled her body so suddenly at his touch that it left her body numb. In that moment, all she could feel was Ahlvie’s lips on her mouth, the hungry way he seemed to devour her, and the need rolling off of him. It had been growing for months. She had been an idiot for ignoring it.

She would rather live, truly live, with him for even a short life than live without him for eternity.

And then she heard a scream, as if it were ricocheting throughout her skull, and the bond that tethered her to Cyrene exploded. Avoca broke from Ahlvie’s lips and nearly fell over as she gasped for breath.

“What? What’s wrong?” Ahlvie asked, reaching for her.

“Cyrene,” she whispered.