Page 19 of Wings of Snow
“Coating this letter with my scent. Norivun has a scent-sensory affinity. He’ll be able to detect this if he ever comes to this island.” Once I was certain that my essence thoroughly covered the page, I took a deep breath. “I need to mistphase down there. It’s the only way I can make it there and then back without Drachu suspecting that we don’t trust him.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to?”
“I must.”
CHAPTER 7 – NORIVUN
Ifound all four of my guards in the training rooms. Each was hard at work using the weights in the corner or sparring on the mats. My guards exercised daily. It was a rare occasion when they weren’t honing their skills or strengthening their muscles. The last time I remembered any of them taking a day off from strength training was when Sandus’s niece, Harpelin, had been born. Prior to that, it’d been months. They even trained on their days off.
“Nori, good day,” Nish called out when I strode into the room.
I gave him a curt nod as Haxil and Sandus lifted weights, their reps swift and blurred at times they moved so fast. Ryder, the cheeky bastard, used Nish’s momentary greeting to me as an opening to clock the surly guard right on the chin.
Nish went down with a groan, but when Ryder waved a greeting to me too, Nish swung his leg out, knocking the long-haired fairy to the floor with him.
“Are you two done with the cheap shots?” My lips twitched in amusement. I crossed my arms as my wings settled between my shoulder blades when I snapped them in tight.
“Depends. Are we leaving for a job?” Ryder asked as his long braid whipped around his shoulder when he dodged another blow from Nish.
“We are. Ilara needs to be found.”
All four of them stopped, their movements freezing so completely that it was as though Verasellee, the Goddess of Time, had descended from the universe and exacted her monumental power.
“Truly?” Haxil asked in a hopeful tone.
My power rumbled at his growing smile. I knew he and Ilara were nothing more than friends, but I still had to quell the possessive aspect of the mate bond every time I saw him smile at her, or worse, when she smiled at him in return. It was a juvenile response. I knew that, but fuck if I could stop it.
Raking a hand through my hair, I gave a curt nod even though I wanted to punch him in the jaw. “As I told you last night, my father gave me a month to present Ilara to him before he does something truly unspeakable to my mother.”
Sandus’s eyes flickered. “He’s a despicable tyrant. So what do you suggest we do?”
“We find Ilara, discover how to unlock her affinities, and then discover if the dyingoremtruly is of the gods’ doing or someone else’s.”
All four of them frowned.
“You’re saying that the gods and goddesses aren’t behind the dyingorem?” Ryder’s expression turned shrewd.
“Possibly.”
“What in all the realms are you talking about, Nori?” Haxil asked.
I cast a silencing Shield, then told them what Michas had revealed to me this morning, how the Crimsonales suspected that somehow my father was ultimately behind the dyingorem.
“Truly?” Nish’s eyebrows shot up.
I gave a curt nod. “The more I think about it, the more inclined I am to believe it. Ilara felt something in that Isalee field, buried deep within it. She was convinced that it wasn’t natural, which means it wasn’t of the gods doing and could very well be because of something my father’s done.”
“But why would he do that?” Haxil asked.
My lip curled. “Because it’s created support for a war. It’s created support for our continent to march on the Nolus fae and try to steal their land, and we all know someone who craves power more than anyone else on this continent.”
All of their eyes widened when understanding hit them.
“The king,” they replied in unison.
“The one and only.”
“But he’s been so adamant that the crops will return to life if we just give it enough time,” Sandus countered.