My words tumbled, one after another. Basileus. Long hair, mostly dark brown with strands of auburn. Gray beginning to show. Muscular body, shorter than me. Green eyes that faded to black when he was angry. Most powerful of our family. A broken soul from being manipulated. Favored some children over others. Put his family in danger because of his foolishness.
“That’s enough,” Elle said. I looked up, not realizing I’d looked down at any point. “He did a number on you, didn’t he?” Her words were the first that showed any sort of understanding, her eyes soft with a shared pain.
I chose not to respond. “Can you find him then?”
Her eyes swirled, the three colors blending faster and faster. “Yes, I’ve got a bead on him. Northeast from here.”
My eyebrows climbed. “That’s it?”
“Well, shit, I don’t know the exact location, but we’ll travel with you. Make sure you find him so you can deal with your daddy issues.” My jaw dropped and she walked away from me. Bram’s lips tightened, and he shook his head.
“I’d apologize, but then that would be all I do. You’ll get used to her.”
Cactus shook his head. “I’d worry more she’ll push one too many sore spots on Lark.”
Bram nodded. “Yeah, that too.”
They mounted up on Ophelia and I paused. The Bastard had brought us here, but that had been the only deal. I walked to his side and put my hand on his shoulder. Before I could ask for another ride, he spoke.
“I will take you. I have not had an adventure for some time.”
I pulled myself onto his back. “Thanks. But calling you The Bastard is getting old. If I can’t know your real name, I’m giving you one.”
He grunted as Cactus climbed up behind me. “Do as you wish, Elemental. Your kind always have.”
I wanted to swat him for sassing me, but I settled for winding my fingers through his mane. “There is a legend in our family about a horse that carried our first king into battle. How the horse had become the first familiar after saving the king’s life by taking a blow for him. His name was Shazer.”
He bucked as we lifted off into the air. “Bah.”
A cold nose pressed against my cheek. “It’s a good name.”
My mind, though, was already moving forward. Northeast . . . the direction was not lost on me. The Wretched Peaks lay in that direction, what the humans called the Himalayans.
The home of the Sylphs was nestled in those mountains.
“Cactus, we sent emissaries to the Eyrie.”
“Yes.”
“And they swore oaths that my father was not in their home.” I tightened my grip on Shazer’s mane until the coarse strands cut into my fingers.
“Just because we are headed in that direction now does not mean he is there. A whole wide world is northeast of us.” He rubbed my shoulders, but instead of soothing me, it only served to cause more friction.
“Don’t, Cactus. Please don’t.” I didn’t care that he was right.
We flew for hours, neither the dragon nor Shazer losing speed. Which gave me time to think.
Something was shifting in our world, and my mind wouldn’t leave alone the pieces I could see. I’d been in the Deep and seen and helped a coup for the throne happen. I’d ousted Cassava from the Rim. In the Pit we’d set Fiametta straight. My heart rate began to climb as the pattern emerged in front of me.
I was being used to set people on the thrones of power. People the mother goddess wanted. Chills swept through me that had nothing to do with the cold air around us.
Peta spun in my lap and put her front feet on my chest so we were nose to nose. “What is this fear I feel? What have you thought of?”
I reached back and pulled Cactus closer to me. “The mother goddess is using me, Peta. I have been instrumental in the Deep, Pit, and Rim in changing the structure of who rules, or how they rule. I have no doubt we are being funneled to the Eyrie for the same reason.”
Cactus sucked in a sharp breath. “Holy—”
“Do not use her name,” I snapped, anger filling me. Anger and disappointment. “She has been using me from the beginning.”
Peta’s green eyes softened. “You are her chosen one, Lark. There must be a reason.”
“Why would she let me go in blind? How much easier would it have been if I’d known what she would ask of me?”
Shazer flipped his head. “Perhaps because she knew you would fight her if she laid the harness on too tightly.”
His words struck a chord. “Damn, you’re right.”
“Of course I am.” He blew out a breath that sent a spattering of spit back at us.
I wiped my face and Peta fluffed up her back. “Stupid horse.”
He rolled to the left, making her scramble to cling to me. “Shazer, enough!”
A horsey laugh rippled out of him. “For now.”
If I’d known what the mother goddess was going to ask of me, I would have fought her. I’d have thought I couldn’t do it, especially facing down Cassava. Or going into the Deep. Or the Pit, for that matter. Damn, I didn’t want to be okay with this.
Especially now that I knew what was coming in the Eyrie. Another coup? Some sort of trial by fire like the Pit?