“Uh-huh.” There’s no way he had enough strength to protect anyone, not even himself.
I narrowed my gaze across the pointy rocks to a band of five hooded figures on the other side. Five against one . . . and a quarter, maybe a quarter. Not ideal. Should I change into my Drae form? I straightened, and relief washed through me when the group pushed off their hoods. “Dyter.”
“Ryn!” he yelled.
Just seeing him made me feel better. My gaze shifted, and I met Kamoi’s intense gaze as he removed his hood. He stood beside Dyter, silver hair lit from the sun, glowing like a halo. He waved.
“It’s friends,” I said over my shoulder to Tyrrik, still studying the rest of the party. I didn’t recognize the other Phaetyn with the rest of our traveling party, but my heart leaped as I took in their violet eyes and silver hair across the lethal rocks between us. I lifted a hand and waved back at Kamoi. His mouth moved, and I tried to focus my hearing to catch what he said, but Tyrrik was right; I’d clearly need to practice engaging my senses more.
However, I didn’t have long to wonder what he’d said. With a grand wave of his arm, a three-meter section of the rocks in front of Kamoi sunk into the soil as easily as a cat’s retracting claws.
13
The party began to cross, and I was mesmerized by the four Phaetyn. They didn’t walk; they glided. Dressed in shining aketons with braided leather belts hanging low on their hips, two carried bows, and another a spear. Kamoi’s hands were empty, and where the other Phaetyn glided, he appeared to be floating. Dyter lumbered toward us with thudding steps that made me smile.
“You found us,” I said, stating the obvious as I threw my arms around him.
Dyter patted me on the back and said gruffly, “We expected you a day ago. We were waiting farther east, but the scouts here rode to Kamoi when they saw two Drae plummeting from the sky.”
“That was us,” I said with a nod.
He rolled his eyes. “I gathered. We rode through the night to reach you here. What happened?”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I redirected the conversation. “Thank the moons you got here so fast. We wouldn’t have been able to move until Tyrrik healed.” I glanced at the Drae. “Oh, he’s lost consciousness again.” My heart flipped. Again. I was diseased; that had to be the reason.
I turned to check him, but Prince Kamoi caught my hand and pulled me back. “What happened?”
His skin was warm on mine, and a pleasant current passed between us. I flashed him a small smile, which faded as I came back to my senses. I withdrew my hand and gave the group a quick recount, noticing the other Phaetyn’s deference to Kamoi.
Kamoi spotted my divided attention and swept an arm toward the other Phaetyn. As I looked closer, I could distinguish there were two females and a male. All three were beautiful, but the men were masculine and muscular with broad shoulders, and the female had definite feminine curves. “Tamah, Makoa, and Akani are part of the guard on the southern side of the forest.” He faced the other Phaetyn, drawing me forward. “This is Ryn,” he announced. “She is one of us.”
The violet eyes of the tallest female Phaetyn widened. “Where have you been? How is such a thing possible?”
Kamoi looked down at me, his eyes searching my face, shaking his head slightly. “I plan to discuss this with our elders, but her existence is surely a miracle.”
A weary groan sounded behind us, and I extracted myself from the prince’s intense attention and crouched by Tyrrik’s side. “He needs rest and food. He’s been in and out of it this morning.”
Kamoi frowned and walked to the pointed rock tip with the Drae’s black blood still staining the rocks around us. “He landed on this?”
Mistress Moons. That rock tip was ghastly. The last several hours flashed through my mind, and my stomach turned. I rested my hand on Tyrrik’s chest, assuring myself he was alive. “Yes. It took everything I had to heal him.”
Kamoi froze, and the other Phaetyn turned toward me with their mouths agape. After a beat of silence, Kamoi asked, “You healed the Drae of a Phaetyn wound?” When I nodded, he asked, “How?”
I cleared my throat, tucking my silver hair behind my ear. I wasn’t admitting I’d kiss the Drae. “Oh, bit of this, bit of that.”
Dyter quirked his brow, and I knew he’d try to pry the information from me later. Too bad, old man. I took one of Tyrrik’s arms and bent my knees before pulling him up so he was draped over my shoulders. I grinned at the look on my old mentor’s face. “I’m stronger now.”
“Clearly,” he said after a pause. “I can’t wait until we can catch up.”
I wasn’t sure if he was saying he had something to tell me or he just wanted me to tell him, so I shrugged, adjusting Tyrrik’s weight.
Kamoi neared, his handsome face marred by an apologetic frown. “I’m afraid the Drae will not be able to enter the forest. Zivost is protected against our natural enemy.”
Dyter’s face turned stony, and he said, “You never made mention of that before.”
“The Drae knew it,” the prince replied with a shrug. “There is nothing of light within him, so he’ll not be able to pass through the barrier. You and Ryn will only be able to cross because you possess something of life within you. Though I’d still like to test Ryn before she enters the forest. I don’t know what problems her Drae nature may create.”
Tyrrik groaned again, his head dangling over my left shoulder, and I just stood dumbstruck. He’d known Drae couldn’t enter the forest? That he’d have to stay outside when we got here? Why did he bring me?
“We can’t leave him while he’s injured,” Dyter said, interrupting my thoughts. “We’ll have to stay out here until he’s able to protect himself.”
“I won’t leave him out here,” I said. “The emperor has been patrolling the skies.”
Kamoi’s brow wrinkled. “I see. Then I propose this. Dyter, if you and two of my guards wish to remain here with Tyrrik, Akani and I can escort Ryn into the heart of Zivost. Your party can join us in a few days.”
Dyter began to nod, but I interrupted. “Nope. I’ll be staying with Tyrrik until he’s healed. He needs another Drae here to help make this nectar stuff.” I shook my head at their inquiring glances. “I can’t leave him. Either Dyter, Tyrrik, and I all come in, or we all stay out.”
There was no way I’d enter that forest without Dyter and Tyrrik around. As much as Kamoi was hotness incarnate, Mum would’ve skinned me alive to hear I’d gone off with some boy alone.
After a few more attempts to convince me, the prince sighed. “I’m warning you, an attempt to take him in will likely hurt him further, but if you insist.”
We crossed through the thick rocky barrier that had nearly killed Tyrrik, and I wondered how easily the rock pikes could slide back up through the soil to impale us. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t be hurt, but I’d already witnessed the damage the pikes could do to Tyrrik. I never wanted to see anything like that ever again.