“I guess this is why you’re Meallán’s heir,” said Raife after clearing his throat. He wiped the horror from his face. Perhaps he could understand her motivations, perhaps he forgave her a little. Raife gestured to the road, and glanced at his sullied hand. He quickly wiped the blood on his pants with a pained cringe.
Nosficio’s head snapped to Marai. “You’re Meallán’s heir?”
“Supposedly.” Marai shot Raife a look, but he was too busy hovering over his brother, who still hadn’t moved from his crouch. Raife held out his hand, whispering words of encouragement. Leif swatted him away.
“No wonder your blood smells so familiar,” Nosficio said, coming closer. He sniffed around Marai like a dog, pupils dilating. “I . . . I didn’t know her line survived.”
The vampire’s face changed. The usual devilish grin replaced by a hunger Marai didn’t understand.
“You said you knew her,” she stated. “Were you her lover?”
Nosficio’s red eyes blazed, then softened. “No. Meallán was my friend. My first friend. Never my lover. Aras was—”
He stopped and shut his mouth. His hands clenched at his sides. Marai had never seen Nosficio hold himself back before, at a loss for words.
“King Aras,” Keshel said. He still hadn’t moved, but no matter the trauma, he couldn’t pass up a history lesson. “Meallán’s husband?”
Nosficio stared further up the road, to where the riderless horses whinnied and pranced. He said nothing for a moment.
“You remind me of her sometimes . . . Meallán. And you have Aras’ eyes.”
Marai’s heart clenched at the grief in Nosficio’s voice when he said the fairy king’s name. Her father’s eyes, passed down through the generations, from King Aras.
Nosficio turned, gazing at Marai with sharp intensity. “It’s fate that brought us together. Or strings set in motion by Meallán from the Underworld. But I think deep down I knew, the day I met you, that you were theirs. Perhaps that, more than anything else, is why I’m helping you. To repay Meallán for her kindness. To protect the last piece of Aras that still survives.”
Nosficio’s throat bobbed. Marai had no response for him, but she saw the pain in his eyes. Pain that had lingered for centuries. Pain that he’d tried to shove aside by allowing those dark, shameful parts of himself to take over. Marai wished she could tell him she understood, but her mouth was dry and wouldn’t form the words.
“We should return to Kellesar now,” Keshel said.
Marai raised her arms, beginning to tug on the remaining embers of magic inside.
Keshel placed a hand on her bicep. “No portals. You’ve used a lot of magic the past few days. I can see that you’re exhausted.”
“I can get us back to Nevandia.”
Keshel shook his head, countenance still haunted as he studied at her, as if he was looking at a stranger again. “You must conserve your magic. We all must from this point on, until the battle. We’ll need every ounce of our strength.”
Had Keshel seen something? Something Marai needed to be ready for?
“Then how do you suggest we get back to Kellesar? It’ll take us a couple days to walk there,” Aresti said, crossing her arms.
“We’ll take the horses,” Raife said, as he walked towards them, so light on his feet Marai barely heard the scrape of his boots across dirt and pebbles, so as not to startle the horses.
“We should take them all back to Kellesar,” Leif said, finally finding his voice. He got to his feet with a wobble, and spit on the grass. “I’m sure Avilyard will appreciate the unexpected Tacornian gift.”
Marai felt no satisfaction in seeing her kin’s reaction to death. Leif’s anger was a front. She was beginning to understand that he’d always been more affected by the events of his past than the others. Perhaps he felt too much.
Raife calmed the traumatized horses, easing closer, clicking his tongue. Marai counted ten that hadn’t entirely run off. He grabbed hold of the reins, still issuing hushed commands and gentle encouragement as he stroked the long nose of a sleek, muscular brown one.
“I’ll meet you there,” Nosficio said quietly to Marai. “I’ve no need for horses.” He stalked off into the woods.
The fae awkwardly climbed into their saddles. None of them but Marai had ever ridden a horse, but after some brief instruction, the other riderless horses were tied off, and the fae galloped back towards Kellesar. The journey took the rest of the day, and well into the night. Marai blandly thought that it was far easier to portal.
They came across a city of tents and bonfires lighting up the night, flags waving in the breeze. A Nevandian encampment of men Ruenen had mustered. Marai trotted up, the others behind, and raised her arms in submission as the sentries blocked their entry with long spears.
“State your name and purpose.”
“Councilman Keshel of Nevandia. We’re friends of His Highness Prince Ruenen.” Keshel used his most authoritative voice. “We’re returning from our mission to dispatch the unit of Tacornian soldiers who sacked the town of Gloaw Crana.”
“We’ve brought their mounts,” Raife said. “We hope you can make use of them.”
The sentries’ eyes raked over their pointed ears, bloody clothes, Tacorn emblems on the horses’ coats. They didn’t lower their weapons; hesitation drawing their faces.
Several golden-clad commanders exited a nearby tent, and Marai recognized two of them from the Witenagemot meetings.
“Stand down,” one of the commanders said to the guards. The soldiers lowered their spears, but didn’t step aside to let Marai through. “They are who they say they are. The girl in black has the Nevandian pin.”
Marai glanced down. Sure enough, a gold and green brooch was pinned to her black cloak. She hadn’t noticed it before.
Always trying to protect me, Ruen.
“He said they’d come from dispatching Tacorn soldiers,” one of the guards said, leering at Keshel.
“You defeated the entire unit yourselves?” asked a commander Marai didn’t recognize.
Leif, back to his haughty self, replied, “Two units, actually. You should be thanking us. You’d be engaged in battle tomorrow if we hadn’t intercepted them.”
The commander’s eyes narrowed. “People have heard that Nevandia is harboring magical folk. A few weres came here searching for you.”
