Page 21 of Heart of Night
A shiver as the wrongness of everything the Crows stand for crawls through my system.
Astorian gives me a glance that tells in all detail what horrors he would have in store for me had I been the one to harm or abduct his mate. “For once, you’re not to blame for the disappearance of a fairy female.”
Beside me, Silas gives a humorless chuckle, his curtain of black hair swishing over his shoulders as he slowly shakes his head. “You say you don’t hold us responsible, yet you’re ready to rip our throats out.” He speaks out of turn, and we all know it, yet nobody reprimands him since he’s addressing an obvious truth.
“Oh, I’d be happy to rip your throat out,” Astorian hisses, the sound reminding me of the half-human forms we used to be trapped in so much I can’t suppress a shudder.
Vala lifted her curse from us and allowed us to return to our normal forms. She even gave us back our ability to shift into our bird forms.
“Silas, don’t.” I lock a band of invisible steel around his arms as he twitches for an attack once more. The grunt of anger is nothing compared to the horror in Royad’s eyes as they meet mine.
It takes me a moment to understand why he shakes his head at me. Drops of crimson fall from Silas’s fingers as if I’ve sliced open his skin with my magic. I reel it in so fast it lashes back at me like a whip.
“Seems like your abilities have improved since that last battle,” Astorian notes with the cool assessing tone of a general. I can’t place the expression in his eyes, but it’s something more than hatred. It’s something more than the centuries we’ve been fighting each other. “Perhaps you could be useful to the Fairy King, Myron.”
“I want nothing to do with the Fairy King.” The words are out too fast again. I need to learn to control myself better, or they’ll one day be the end of me.
I know Royad and Silas agree, even when Silas is currently sneering at me despite my lifting the magic binding him in place. The hidden wounds stop bleeding immediately
“All I want is to find Wolayna.” Another truth, one that I am not ashamed to speak when Astorian feels the same about his mate.
Astorian takes a step closer, leaning in as if sharing a secret. Beside me, Silas and Royad tense for battle. “Get your fucking people out of Askarea. Recienne has had enough of you.” A breeze stirs loose strands of auburn hair framing his face. “Get them out today if you can. And then, for fuck’s sake, we’ll need each other’s help to find our females.”
Much as I loathe to admit it, he’s right. The Crows shouldn’t remain in the Seeing Forest where Flames are hunting for them. They should flee to the coast and take the next best ship they can find to sail East. Homeward to Neredyn where the gods no longer despise us.
If the heaviness of my heart is any indication, this would be a bad decision. Yes, the Crows are in danger from the Flames if they remain in the Seeing Forest much longer, but they can also take out those bastards little by little with every hunting party they eviscerate. However, if they’re gone, I won’t have a people to support me in a fight against the Flames if we ever come to face them again in battle.
Apparently, Royad knows exactly where my mind has wandered because he plants himself closer to me and grabs his sword like a guard rather than the next in line for the Crow throne. “I’m not leaving you.” His own guilt resonates in every word as does his determination.
Part of me battles to tell the fairy general I’m not taking orders from him while the other part wants to tell him the aid of one of the most skilled fairy warriors I’ve ever seen is exactly the help I need.
So, I heave a breath of unease at the decision I have to make.
The air smells of remorse and defiance, and a fair lot of clematis, as I pin Royad with a gaze only he could understand then turn to Silas, who seems as ready to march into battle with me as my cousin. They both nod, and I know I have their support, no matter what I decide.
“How about a bargain, Astorian.”
The male cocks his head, his predatory focus turning lethal. “What do you propose?”
Swallowing my pride, I pour my own magic into a shield around Royad and Silas just in case Astorian is unhappy with my suggestion. “Odds are that, if Clio didn’t come back to you after the battle, she was taken captive by the Flames.” The general cringes at the thought of his mate in the Flames’ hands, and right he is, but I continue. “She certainly hasn’t crossed behind Eroth’s Veil, or you’d feel it in your bones that she’s no longer breathing.”
A quick dip of his head is all the confirmation I need.
“So, here’s what I believe.”
He goes so still I could swear he is nothing more than a handsome pillar carved, colorful stone as he listens.
“Wherever they took my queen, they must have taken your princess. Find one, find both.” It’s a wild theory but the one making the most sense. If Ephegos wanted Clio dead, he’d long have killed her and, as her mate, Astorian would have known. The traitor must have plans for both of them, and I’m not eager to find out what they are. I’d very much prefer to see both of them alive and safe instead.
“Those are mere suspicions, Crow.” Astorian’s hands have wandered to his hips, fingers grazing the hilts of two daggers I truly don’t have the patience to knock out of his hands. We have more important matters to deal with. “No bargain.”
“If you work with me to find them both, I’ll take my people and leave Eherea.”
The fairy general tilts his head as if measuring each of us for the worth of his own mission as he contemplates my offer. His brows slant, eyes narrowing, and I think he’s going to turn on his heels and disappear into thin air as he sets out to find his mate on his own. But his expression smooths over, and all three of us startle with surprise when Astorian claps his hands, spinning toward the edge of the forest. “Let’s go, Crow King. And you better be right. I’d hate for Recienne to tear my head off for agreeing to a foolish bargain that won’t guarantee to get you off his lands in case you’re wrong.”
Twelve
Ayna