Dragging my gaze away, I looked toward the mountainous region we’d be passing over again. A single thought brought me back with a sickening jolt; my life had irrevocably changed, my entire world turned on its axis in a single afternoon. Soon, I’d be facing my friends—my pack. Reliving everything, asking for their help, planning a trip to Ewa.
The scale of the task ahead settled on my shoulders, a great weight pushing and dragging me down. Failing to form another coherent thought, I blanked and watched the white-capped peaks grow ever closer.
Chapter 23
The Thief
A largely silent and wholly uneventful journey back to Kasi took two and a half days. We arrived in the afternoon and reported to Bert, who took one look at the korgan’s eyeballs and threw them in his fire. He waved us out, and the burning desire to see them—to be with my kin—consumed me. I bolted, sprinting for our barracks. The bond was pulling me, tugging me all the while. Adrianna followed and shouted something about fresh scents.
Faster. Faster.
I wrenched the door back and rushed through with Adrianna just behind me. Cai and Liora sat on one bed, facing each other. Clearly, they’d been talking; now they beamed up at us.
I didn’t return the smile. Because my eyes were scanning for Frazer.
He rose from his bed. Slowly. Pillow creases in his hair, he stood perfectly still. An eerie fae statue.
His visage paralyzed me and simultaneously woke me up. The deadening stupor—the void my mind had collapsed under—suddenly vanished. With our gazes still locked, something cracked inside me. A fissure in some mental barrier I hadn’t known existed until that moment. It let the world back in, and with it came my brother.
Serena … Palpable relief shuddered through me.
I didn’t answer as inertia continued to hold me.
A frown, concern flickering. It’s okay. Whatever’s happened.
He took a careful step in my direction. Adrianna moved to my shoulder. Frazer saw, and something unreadable crossed his face. He fidgeted, and in a guttural voice just said, “Siska.”
That made me fly into his arms. A restorative balm. No hug back, but he didn’t fidget or push me away. Progress then.
“What are you doing?” Adrianna’s voice made me pull away from Frazer. I tried not to be hurt by the obvious relief in his expression.
I turned to see Cai’s arms outstretched toward Adrianna, but her deep-set frown had them going limp at his sides. He huffed a little too loudly and ran a hand through his hair. “Just thought you might want a welcoming hug too.”
“I don’t do hugs,” she answered flatly.
Cai cleared his throat. “Oh.” His gaze caught mine, and a smile erupted. “Are you going to reject me too?”
He held out his arms again. My heart twanged at the sight and we met midway in an embrace. Liora’s unique scent of roses and grass tickled my nose as she joined us.
I pulled back, asking them both, “So, how was the trial for you?”
“Oh, we passed,” Liora replied mildly.
“No need to be humble, sis,” Cai said, clapping her on the back.
Liora shot her brother an impish grin. “That’s not something anyone could excuse you of.”
“What happened?” I asked.
Cai cut in. “We captured a kelpie. Liora sang to it and acted as tasty bait while Frazer and I trapped it.”
“Really?” Frazer sounded in mock surprise. “I don’t remember you doing much except throwing a net over it.”
Cai clicked his tongue. “A vital role it was, too.”
Liora reflected my own smile back at me.
“It was close to being boring,” Frazer drawled. “So … Are you going to leave us in suspense? What happened with Hazel? Did you find her?”
My brief elation crashed and burned. I sighed through my nose. There was no hiding from this. The air grew leaden with unspoken words, and our bond strained. Silence, waiting and expectant, was on the other end.
“You smell strange.” A prompt.
“Five days without a bath will do that.” A vain attempt to make a joke.
Frazer folded his arms and settled into an immortal stillness that carried a warning. He wouldn’t move until I’d said what was needed. I cast a sideways glance to Adrianna. I didn’t even have time to open my mouth before she showed me her palms. “This is your tale to tell, Minun Katun.”
Whatever she said made Frazer’s face slacken. As if stunned.
I nodded bleakly. “I know.”
“In your own time,” Liora’s gentle voice sounded.
I gave her a feeble smile and looked to Cai. “No one can hear this.”
“Spell’s already up,” Cai said, moving to his bed. “I think I’ll sit. This feels like one of those conversations.”
“It is.”
I perched on the bed opposite his. Liora joined my side in a show of solidarity. Adrianna and Frazer stayed standing but moved in closer. My eyes went down to my clasped hands. I started in barely more than a whisper. “Hazel was the Priestess.”
From there I recited everything Hazel had told us as best as memory allowed. Liora gasped a few times, and Cai swore a lot. Frazer, however, remained silent. I was worried about his reaction the most. A glassy, vacant expression and bloodless cheeks rarely amounted to anything good.
I finished by telling them about the korgan. There was only one thing I’d kept quiet about—Adrianna’s identity. But our pack had a right to know. So once my explanation was done, my eyes lifted to hers.
“D’you want to tell them … your bit?” I asked.
Her blue eyes turned glacial. “Not really.”
“I didn’t look at you any differently,” I reassured quietly.
“That’s because you didn’t grow up here,” she muttered.
Liora made an “Oh,” sound beside me. “Is this when you tell us what you’ve been hiding?”
Adrianna gave her a barbed look. “What is it you think you know?”
“You go quiet or deflect when any of us mention our pasts or our families. So, what’s the big secret? Are you Sati’s daughter too?” Liora quipped.
Adrianna snorted. “I wish. No, my kin aren’t nearly so worthy.” A tense pause was followed by, “Diana Lakeshie is my mother.”
Liora blinked. Cai burst out, “Are you serious?”
“I’m not likely to joke about it, am I?” Adrianna used a sharp tongue.
Cai went somewhere else, his expression freezing over. Adrianna seemed more interested in Frazer’s reaction though. I followed her line of sight and saw why. My brother was baring his teeth in disgust. “Then your makena’s a coward and a traitor.”
A nasty silence followed; I gulped down the nerves sparking in my belly.
Adrianna looked to me and angled her head toward my brother. “Now you see why I’ve kept it a secret.”
Frazer’s vicious growl rattled my bones.
Adrianna faced him and jerked her chin upward in defiance. “I don’t blame you for hating her, but given your history—”
I felt the tether on his temper snap, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop it. Frazer pounced. Adrianna moved half a second later. They flew at each other, snapping and biting.
Several things happened at once.
Cai threw out his inked hand, and a wind battered into the two fae but failed to break them apart. Liora started dragging me from the room while I struggled against her, yelling, “We have to stop them!”
She didn’t stop pulling me toward the exit. “No, we don’t. They’re fae.”
Hardly an explanation, but Liora was rarely so obstinate. My resistance weakened, and I let her lead me from the barracks. She didn’t release me until we’d stepped outside. I turned on her, frowning. “Why did you do that? We could’ve helped.”
Liora took a brief scan around in the afternoon glow and stepped in closer, whispering, “Trust me, you can’t stop two fae fighting when their blood is raging like that. They need to get whatever that was,” she gestured behind her, “out of their systems.”
We stayed silent for a moment, locked in eye contact. I broke the tension first by freeing a held breath and dropping my gaze.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Liora suggested with a sigh. “You seem like you could use the space.”
I nodded distantly and remarked, “I don’t even know why he got so angry.”