I blinked twice, afraid I was staring at a mirage. My lips stretched into a natural smile and my heart fluttered. Cailen was here. He was real. He was standing right in front of me, although the wings I’d remembered seeing weren’t visible. And he felt like home, though I’d never realized I knew what that felt like. He smiled back at me, his white teeth gleaming against his pale skin. And then a sudden, irrational anger surged through me. “Why did you leave?” His face hardened. “It wasn’t my plan to leave you there, but something happened and we were called back to my ship.” “What happened?” Cailen frowned and spoke slowly. “Our King died.” “Oh,” I murmured. “I’m sorry.” I blushed. My anger seemed very silly now. I shouldn’t have felt so slighted because he hadn’t taken me with him. It wasn’t fair. Not everything could always be about me. “I didn’t know.” Anger flashed across Cailen’s face for an instant, but he shook it off just as quickly and smiled at me.
