Presumptuous.
Kat didn’t so much as glance at me as she stopped in the doorway, pale, her attention fixed on Elthea. She’d largely avoided me since giving back the note. It was probably the universe paying me back.
Once we were all settled, the door shut and thus silenced, Elthea took a deep breath and interlaced her fingers in her lap. “I’m calling in the favour you promised me in payment for saving your human.”
Kat’s eyes flicked to me for an instant, but otherwise she kept her surprise hidden. I could’ve kissed her for not revealing to Elthea that she didn’t know.
Yet, inside, I winced. I never intended for her to find out all I’d done in desperation to save her life. Not this, but especially not the deal with her husband—I didn’t want to humiliate her.
“I see. Well, I hope it’s something good.” I spread my hands, inviting Elthea to explain.
“I need you to retrieve an item for me. A box.”
I waited, but she said nothing more. That couldn’t be it.
“Is that all?” Kat crossed her arms, seeming to shrink under Elthea’s gaze. “Why don’t you get it yourself? Why waste a favour on something so petty?”
Elthea pursed her lips. “I can’t leave the city. As our most powerful healer, I must stay close to my king.” She glanced at me. “And the Night Queen, of course.”
“Of course.” I smiled like she hadn’t added Braea as an afterthought.
“And why do I need to be aware of this errand?” The look Kat shot me could’ve melted steel.
“It’s a few days’ travel, so you’ll need to accompany the Serpent.” Elthea fingered her pocket. “Think of it as a chance to see more of Elfhame.”
Kat had been pale when she’d arrived, but now all colour leached from her face. She had to be thrilled by the prospect of a few days alone with me.
My headache kicked up a notch. Still, I pushed my attention to Elthea. “What’s the catch?”
She lifted one shoulder, only half a shrug. “It’s in Horror territory.”
Ah.
Quite a big catch.
Horrors were difficult to kill, almost always claiming fae lives in the process. We were too few to make the kind of sacrifice required to exterminate them. Instead, in the days after the Wars of Succession, they’d managed to lure them into one area and use wardstones to keep them there.
What could be so important that she’d want it retrieved from there? Unless… it wasn’t for her, but for her king.
My pulse sped, throbbing in my head and ears. If she was invoking our bargain, I had no choice but to at least attempt to retrieve and bring it back to her. There was nothing that said I couldn’t then retrieve it from her and deliver it to the queen.
“That’s quite a big favour you ask.”
“It’s quite a big favour you’re repaying.” She gave Kat a sidelong look.
Without Elthea, she would be dead. Truth be told, a quick jaunt into Horror territory was a small price to pay.
Still, I didn’t want her to know that. So I huffed a sigh and stopped just short of rolling my eyes. “Do you know where, exactly?”
From that pocket she’d been fidgeting with, she produced a map and spread it across my desk.
From the other side of the desk, Kat studied the map. This was probably her first time seeing the full extent of Elfhame. We tended to suppress information south of the wall, and guests into our realm were by invitation only, their visits accompanied. Even the performing troupe who came every year from Albion were met at the wall and escorted to Tenebris-Luminis. That was the only location most human maps pinpointed, and we allowed no signposts near the border.
Elthea pointed to a small town on the western reaches, barely inside Horror territory. That wasn’t so bad. I craned to read the name.
“Innesol,” she added.
The name curdled in my stomach like gone-off cream, yet I couldn’t say why.
She watched me.
Stars willing, I kept that feeling of dread off my face. “Hmm.” I shrugged. “I can do that.”
She scoffed in her humourless way. “You say that as if you have a choice.”
I gave her a sharp smile. “Allow me that illusion.”
“Very well. When do you go?”
Sooner would be better. We’d need to camp, since towns were few and far between out that way—no one wanted to live near Horrors. I gauged the distance. “We can get there and back before the new moon.” I shrugged, like the thought of returning to the city just ahead of the Wild Hunt’s ride didn’t bother me.
We’d be back in plenty of time, and it was worth it if this proved to be a lead on the artefact Dawn wanted. And if not, it was still worth it to pay back my debt with Elthea.
She gave us details of the box’s exact location and as part of our bargain included that I couldn’t open or tamper with the box. With a pleased smirk, she left.
Kat lingered, picking at the trim on her chair. “Bastian, I think we need to talk about—”
“Ahem.” From the door, which Elthea had left open. I knew it was Faolán before I looked up.
I wasn’t sure if I should be frustrated or grateful. I owed Kat an apology, not just for the other night, but for so much more. But there was so, so much I needed to explain, and every time I thought about what to say, my mind became stupid, squeezed between Hydra Ascendant, unCavendish’s plot, and this object that could end the Sleep.
There was no space left for something as personal and huge as this.
Aside from my father, I’d never given anyone an apology for anything so important, and that one hadn’t exactly gone well.
I forced my gaze to hers, brow tight from my headache. “This isn’t the time.”
Her nostrils flared as she exhaled, and it killed me to watch her reel herself in to something small and contained, hands folding as she left.
“I could’ve come back tomorrow.” Faolán glanced after her, eyebrows crashing together.
“I won’t be here tomorrow.” From my drawer, I fished out a willowbark tablet. I’d already taken one, but this headache was only getting worse. I swallowed it whole and washed it down with the coffee that had been sitting on my desk for the past hour. “I leave at first light.”
20
Kat
We rode away from the rising sun, leaving the city behind. Although I still wore gloves because of the chilly air and the rub of the reins, I felt freer—like I could breathe now I was away from so many people and the risk of poisoning someone unintentionally.
And away from Elthea.
Nightmares had come for me in the night, and I’d woken bathed in sweat, breaths rasping through me.
Thank the gods I wouldn’t see her or anyone else from Dawn for a few days.
At least riding had always calmed me—perhaps it was the repetitive motion. Though my stag’s gait was different and his back wasn’t as flexible as a sabrecat’s, this didn’t feel so alien, and I found myself watching the rolling hills of Elfhame pass by.
It wasn’t as though I had conversation to occupy me.