He chuckled, his eyes sparkling as he pulled me toward the door. “I would say I detected a hint of mockery in that bow.”
“Really?” I asked innocently.
His grin grew. “You know, I think I’m going to like you, Ilara.”
I snorted a laugh. Strangely, I was coming to the same realization, even though I’d just met him, and his archon was my sworn enemy.
Outside, the wind bit into my skin and was even more of a shock after an hour’s rest in the warm lodge. Ahead, the prince and his guards were following Mealow down a path to High Liss.
“Are you worried about encountering a fairy with an ice bear affinity?” I asked Haxil. While animal affinities were common, the larger predator affinities were less so.
“Nah,” he replied as he extended a wing, stopping the harsh wind from hitting me directly. “We all have warrior affinities and have yet to encounter a fight we can’t handle, but the prince will likely deal with this fairy himself. We’ll just stand watch and guard his back.”
“You don’t help him?”
“He doesn’t need our help.”
Of course. Considering the prince had no qualms about using his affinity and did so freely, he wouldn’t need anyone’s assistance, but only a true monster would use an affinity such as the prince’s unchecked.
“So why are you guarding him at all if he’s so capable?”
Haxil pulled back a tree branch as we entered the forest. “The crown prince doesn’t need us to protect him if he’s aware of a threat. It’s just when a threat sneaks up on him or tries to catch him unaware, then we come in.”
I nodded, realizing it only made sense that Nish, Sandus, Ryder, and Haxil would all have warrior affinities. What better guards to surround oneself with than fae who were naturally blessed fighters?
“Was your affinity a job requirement when you became one of the crown prince’s guards?”
“No,” Haxil replied as dim lights appeared ahead through the thick foliage. It appeared that High Liss was only a short walk down the mountain. “If you have the skills to guard the prince without a warrior affinity, you could be chosen, but very few fae are able to match our skill without it.”
I could only imagine. I’d never encountered another fairy with a warrior affinity as far as I knew, but it wasn’t as though fae wore their affinities on their sleeves. Unless one chose to reveal it, or you witnessed firsthand a fairy using their affinity magic, it was easy to keep it hidden. For all I knew, I’d been living beside a warrior fae in my village my entire life and had never known it.
Haxil kept his wing curled around me as we followed the others, but it didn’t give me the creeps like when Vorl had done so. With Haxil, the movement felt natural, as though he used his wing to protect me and didn’t give it much thought. Versus when Vorl had used his wings, it was to trap me and hold me hostage.
A yell reached my ears a moment later, then the mountain village of High Liss appeared. Rows upon rows of small homes, shops, and winding roads teetered on the mountainside. The village was perched on such a steep slope that I knew the founder of the village had either a constructo affinity or some ingenious engineering had been invested into its creation.
Ahead, Mealow was running toward a home on the valley side. Lights blazed from the windows as another yell came from within, this one filled with pain.
I stopped midstride. Those screams were probably coming from her son.
“We’ll stay outside their home,” Haxil said calmly and propelled me forward. “The prince won’t want you in harm’s way.”
“Staying at the lodge would have been safest,” I replied as uneasiness crept through me. “You could have left me there while you stayed with the prince.”
“Not necessarily. What if someone tried to harm you?”
“Why would they do that? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You’re traveling with the Bringer of Darkness now. He has many enemies.”
My stomach turned. “Meaning, harm may now come to me as a way to get to him?”
“Exactly.” He quickened our pace as the prince and Mealow ducked inside her home while Nish, Sandus, and Ryder guarded the perimeter.
The three guards positioned themselves around the small home, watching the village’s citizens. Ryder even took flight, going to the opposite side of the house that overlooked the valley. His wings flapped as he hovered just outside of the home’s back door that had a pad, almost like a balcony, attached to it for landings. In their current positions, they had all exit and entry points covered.
Haxil and I reached them just as ferocious roars came from within. I wrapped my arms around myself as the prince yelled, “Morph back to your fae form, and no harm will come to you!”
I dared a peek through the window. The prince faced something in the corner of the room as Mealow twisted her hands. She stood just to the prince’s side, her attention fixated on whatever lay in front of them.
“Please, let him go,” Mealow pleaded to who I assumed was her husband. “He didn’t mean any harm by what he said.”
I angled myself to get a better view, and my eyes widened when I beheld her husband drunk on leminai. He was fully transformed within his affinity—a huge monstrosity of fur, claws, and fangs. His ragged head touched the ceiling, brushing against the wooden planks. White fur covered his entire body, and hands that had become paws sported six-inch claws.
Naturally born ice bears were known for being deadly. Thankfully, they stuck to the mountain ranges, so we’d never had to deal with them in my village, but stories would circulate throughout the continent now and then, speaking of the treacherous creatures that lived on our frozen lands and roamed the forests and mountains.
The only mountainous creature more lethal than an ice bear was a snowgum—a huge feline with razor-sharp teeth and barbed claws. When it flared its magical essence, it grew invisible for brief periods of time, making an attack impossible to foresee and tracking them even more difficult. It was said if you were unlucky enough to encounter a snowgum, you didn’t live to tell about it.
The drunk husband roared again as a young male lay on the floor beneath him. Blood trickled from multiple slashes across the youth’s body.
My heart beat harder as I took in his pale complexion and closed eyes. He was unconscious, so his screams had stopped. Frantically, I searched for signs of life, and a relieved exhale escaped me when his chest rose in a shallow breath.
“He’s still alive,” I whispered just as a subtle throbbing sensation pulsed in my gut. I brought a hand automatically to my belly, but the throbbing stopped as soon as it’d begun.
Haxil’s eyebrows knitted together as his full cheeks hollowed. “He won’t be for much longer if he’s not taken to a healer.”
I studied the young male again, and for the briefest moment, that throb returned before it vanished.
“Last warning,” the prince called. “This can end peacefully now, but you have to transform back.”
The drunk husband only snarled and advanced.