Nikoli, who had just ducked off into the bushes, pushed his way back into the clearing. He wasn’t able to hold his illusion anymore tonight, he was completely drained of magic, so instead he wore his hood up and had rubbed some mud on his face and eyebrows as a disguise. He sat down on a log by the fire, which I just gotten going with a flint and a little accelerant. Thankfully Kade had thought to bring a fire starter kit, and even though it had been difficult finding dry timber to use – everything here had a dampness to it – the fire only took a little coaxing to really kick in.
I dropped down beside Nikoli, closer than was normally appropriate, but it was so damn cold, even with the fire. We needed pack warmth. Both of us were silent, watching the fire sparkle in the rapidly dimming light. It was never particularly bright in the Winter Court, and the nighttime here seemed to be darker than any I’d seen before.
As though he had to finally speak his thoughts, Nikoli shifted around to see me better, and said: “I hate to bring this up after we have just had a big setback but…” Cautious with his words, he paused. As an heir and queen, I was used to this. Despite my recent dethroning, most shifters still sensed the mecca within me, and even though I was not his queen, he’d still be hesitant to bring me news that would anger me.
“Speak freely,” I said, offering him a small smile.
He nodded. “I respect that you have boldly taken this trip to save your friend, but it was hastily put together.”
Okay … that was fair. I nodded.
“I just want you to prepare for the fact that we may have to do some drastic things to get home once we reach Violet. As of now, we have no way of opening a portal home. I don’t know how, and I’m pretty sure Violet doesn’t either. Unless we find a mecca crystal for you to use, then … well, drastic is pretty much where I’m at.”
I stared back into the fire, letting out a sigh. He was right … about all of it. I had hastily thrown this together, and we didn’t have a way home right now. I had been so focused on getting Violet that I really had no plan A or B for getting us out of here.
“Tell me about this drastic,” I finally said.
He nodded. “On the Island, there were two magic born who opened the portal on the hill the night they attacked. They didn’t use their normal water portal, probably because we had many of our waterways spelled. I would guess it’s much harder without a reflective surface to step between our worlds. Possibly, if we can find two magic born to help us … or we might have to capture two of them and force their help…”
“Force them how?” I raised an eyebrow. Something told me beating the crap out of them wouldn’t work. There was a reason the winter queen, Isalinda, had not managed to break Violet yet. Magic born were very strong of mind and will, otherwise they could never handle the power of the mecca.
Nikoli shrugged. “You leave that to Violet and me. Once we get inside the Winter Court I have a spell that will help me detect other magic born. Assuming this winter queen is as powerful as I think, she’ll have a few magic born in the vicinity. We get Violet and then capture the winter magic born and flee through a portal they make for us.”
“Easy as that, hey?”
He met my stare, and I knew both of us were pretty much expressionless. There wasn’t much else we could do or say at this point. We were here now, and once we had Violet we would just have to hope that a path opened for us to make it back home.
Here’s hoping that a little luck went our way at some point.
A warm body dropped down on my free and chilly side. Kade’s scent swirled in the icy air and instantly I was warmer. He draped his arm over my shoulder and I was reminded of our last battle.
“How’s Nix?” I asked.
“She’s snuggled in the tent with Finn; he’s sharing energy with her. Thankfully she’s doing well, but tired.” Kade sounded exhausted himself. Not only had he recently shifted to his bear form, but his familiar was injured. He needed food. Lots of food. Nix would be drawing energy from their bond, and without food both would be weakened.
The treeling had warned us to be very careful about what we ate here. Many things were poisonous or spelled. With the mecca imbalance, he believed anything edible would have to be scavenged. Which is why our rations were so important.
“Be right back,” I said, jumping out from under of the warmth of Kade’s arm. I made my way over to where Monica was still dividing up the food, her face pinched.
I dropped in beside her and lowered my voice. “How’s it looking?”
She let out a long exhalation, teaming that with her pinched brow and rigid jaw. I knew it wasn’t looking good. “This is each person’s daily ration.” She gestured to a small scrap of leather. I felt my face pinch up in a similar stressed look as I stared at the two tiny piles. Two meals per day – each pile had about ten cashews, three or four dried apricots, and one meat jerky piece. For a normal human that might be okay, but as a shifter we would be weak and worthless if this went on for too long.
I grabbed the leather piece and mixed the two piles. “Kade can have my share tonight. Don’t tell him though.”
She nodded. I grabbed up Kade’s leather and quickly popped a cashew in my mouth before walking over to slide in beside him.
“Mmm, dinner is served,” I said, handing him the leather. He took it and I chewed on my cashew. Kade would be able to see and smell that I was eating; he would never eat before knowing I was fed, and he would never knowingly take my share and leave me without. Never. But he needed it more than me.
Even with all my fake eating, the leather remained untouched in his huge, outstretched hand. “Where is yours?”
I patted my belly. “Wolfed it down while talking to Monica.”
Wasn’t even a total lie, I had definitely wolfed that cashew down. I was thankful that at the moment we were still being pretty mindful of each other’s thoughts. I was doing all I could to keep our shields in place.
“I can feel your hunger,” he said finally, holding out the leather. “Take my rations, I am fine.”
Love swelled up within me until my chest felt like it would burst. I gently pushed his food toward him. “I’m not hungry, mate. You need it much more than me. Think about Nix.”
Kade’s gaze flicked to the tent where our familiars were recovering and I knew I had won this round. His meal disappeared in about twenty seconds then. He placed the leather on the ground beside him, and even though he didn’t complain or act like he was hungry, I knew he was still starving.
As the others moved around the fire with their meager rations, Kade lifted his head and eyed our people. He wrapped his arm around me again so that I was pretty much in his lap when he said, “When we get out of here, I’m having a big fancy dinner at my house to celebrate. There will be mounds of food. Roasted lamb, duck and quail, scalloped cheese potatoes, and all the sides.”
“And chocolate fondue!” Monica piped in and I smiled.
“Pretzel bread and cheesecake,” I added.