“All right,” Cai said testily. He hurled Frazer a particularly reproachful look as he added, “Enough cutting ourselves with rocks. We still need to decide where the rest of us will go.”
Adrianna cradled her wounded hand on her lap and drew a tissue from her jacket pocket. Dabbing at the welling blood, she said, “A lot of the lower-grade sprites have migrated north to the mountains for the spring hunts. You won’t be able to travel that distance in six days.”
Cai muttered under his breath, “How helpful.”
Frazer said quietly, “I’ve heard of kelpies inhabiting sea caves on the coast. That’s within walking distance.”
“Where did you hear that?” Adrianna’s brows nudged together.
Frazer answered, “Fae hearing. Plus, for weeks people didn’t bother to lower their voices around me. It’s like they assumed because I didn’t speak, I must be deaf, too.”
A small smile hit his mouth, a veil to cover the sadness that the bond sang to me. I could feel him trying to smother it, but that didn’t really work. He might have been able to keep certain thoughts from me, but this bond between us, forged out of loneliness and strengthened by blood, was a direct line to his soul.
I burned for him. I wasn’t so na?ve as to think I could heal the wounds of his past. I certainly had no desire to pick over scars and reopen old wounds, but I couldn’t help wishing he’d let me in more.
Cai disturbed my reverie. “You think we’d be able to catch one?”
Frazer replied with a little shrug. “I know the theory.”
That’s not very reassuring, I told him.
Silence.
“Well, I can use magic,” Cai said, a little too breezily. “So maybe we’ll actually survive the encounter.”
No one laughed.
A quick look around our circle revealed worry and doubt written on each face. To me, it wasn’t just battling a monster or meeting Hazel that twisted my heart. It was that we’d be going our separate ways. I itched to lean into Frazer, to take comfort and give it in return. But physical contact was something he only tolerated. That much I did know about him.
“We’ve talked enough.” Adrianna’s voice broke through the gloom that had descended. “We need to head to the armory and the food hall. They’re likely already swamped with recruits. And I don’t want all the decent weapons signed out before we get there.”
“Holy shit!” Cai exclaimed, jumping up. “Never mind that—all the good food’s being plundered.” He sprinted for the hall. In a blink, I was up and running like the Dark Lord Archon himself, was after me.
Chapter 21
Hazel
“Come on, you lazy slugs! Up!”
My eyes flew open; I was instantly awake.
“Adi, for gods’ sakes,” Cai groaned into his pillow. “We don’t have to leave this early. Go back to bed.”
It made no difference to me. I’d barely caught a wink. Too many nerves, too many chaotic thoughts sending me spinning into what ifs, hows, and whys.
Hazel Greysand. Priestess.
What answers would she have for me? If any …
No more brooding. I couldn’t stand it.
I pulled my bedsheets around my shoulders and rocked up onto my feet. The bare floorboards sent a shiver barreling up my spine.
No one else was moving, though.
Adrianna spoke loudly. “I’m not going back to bed, Caiden, and you shouldn’t either.”
“Don’t call me that,” he grumbled.
Oh, he definitely wasn’t a morning person.
Adrianna kept on. “While you were wasting time sleeping, I completed the fourth trial and stole from Goldwyn.”
A pause. Followed by Cai chuckling, tossing his covers aside, rolling out of bed, and standing in nothing but his underpants.
Mother have mercy. I still hadn’t gotten used to my pack’s complete disregard for modesty. It made me feel like a fool for dressing under a sheet every morning.
“Already?” Liora said, sitting up, slack-jawed.
“I only went to scope out the staff quarters—I hadn’t planned on actually taking anything yet.” Adrianna watched as I struggled under my sheet to force two pairs of black leggings on. That had been her suggestion; we’d be flying across mountains. It would get cold, even in Aldar springtime.
Frazer was pulling clothes on fast. He snapped out, “What can you tell us?”
“Getting in is easy. They don’t even lock the outside door,” Adrianna answered. “The only issue is that once you get inside, they’ve got a dampener—”
“Dampener? As in magic?” Liora asked as she dressed in a whirl.
A short nod in reply. “It was like being smothered. I couldn’t scent which room was which, so I chanced it and knocked on a random door.” Adrianna braced a fist on her hip and watched me again, waiting.
“Risky,” Cai commented, flashing her a toothy grin. “You could’ve come nose to nose with Dimitri and been speared for trespassing.”
That elicited a tiny smile from Adrianna. “I was lucky. Wilder answered. His is the first door on the right, by the way. For anyone interested in that information.”
I straightened up from cramming my feet into boots, and said, “Subtle,” adding a sarcastic smile.
Adrianna puckered her lips, blowing me a kiss.
I snorted in mock disgust and threw on the layers: jacket, cloak, and gloves. But the temptation quickly proved too great. I had to ask. “What did you tell him about why you were there?”
“I lied,” she admitted baldly. “I said I needed to see Goldwyn. He pointed me opposite and warned me that she might bite me for waking her.”
Now fully clothed, Cai swept his hands through his hair—his version of brushing—and asked, “And did she?”
Adrianna rolled her shoulders carelessly and huffed. “She was a bit blurry-eyed, but this is Goldwyn we’re talking about. She invited me in, and even offered me a glass of braka. I lied and said I’d come to ask whether she’d heard of kelpies at the coast. Then, when her back was turned, I took this.”
She unveiled a teaspoon from her cloak pocket.
My pack’s soft laughter answered back. I was still smiling when I buckled my Utem? to my waist and slipped my bag over my shoulders.
Cai’s mouth formed a devilish smile. “Congrats. Fourth trial down.”
Adrianna’s brow knotted, causing the tattoos lining her forehead to contort. “I still want to try to steal from Mikael or Cecile.”
“You’re insatiable,” Cai said, mirth sparkling in his eyes.
I could almost hear him crying out, Go on—flirt back.
All he got for his efforts was a scowl. “One of you should take it.”
She held the spoon out, waiting. No one took her up on her offer.
“Come on.” Adrianna thrust it toward us again. “Someone should have it.”
Liora stepped into her boots and said, “Keep it for now. If we get to the last trial and one of us needs it, we can use it then.”
Adrianna wavered, then moved to grab her quiver, bow, and bag from the foot of her bed. Strapping everything tight, she closed the distance between us and offered me the spoon. “Put it in my bag, will you?”
She spun. I tucked it in and in the next heartbeat, Adrianna was facing me. “Time to go.”
I gave her a tiny nod. A flutter—no, more like a rutting storm—of anxiety roiled, knotting my guts up.
“We’ll walk you out,” Liora offered.
My stomach dropped an inch. Adrianna led the way, and Frazer, Cai, and Liora went with us. Outside, a springtime chill, and the sun’s first light greeted us, brightening the sapphire sky.
Adrianna tilted her chin up and spread her wings, basking them in the warmth.
I felt a tiny ping of jealousy.
Be careful. Frazer’s mental voice was hushed.
A lump rose in my throat as I faced the people we were leaving behind. Frazer refused to hug or even touch me. He left that to Liora. “We’ll see you soon,” she said, pulling me into a tight embrace.
I squeezed back, hard.
She released me and moved away. There was no window into each other’s souls—no kin bond—but we didn’t need it. Liora had everything she wanted to say written on her face. I’ll miss you. Come back safe.
I hoped she saw how much it meant to me. How much she meant to me.
She gave me a knowing smile.
Cai tackled me into a one-armed hug. “Don’t die.”