“Good. Faolan, I gave the duke the list of provisions we needed. Can you oversee that?” He handed me a copy of the list. “I know the stuff on there is for his daughters’ comfort and well-being, but I don’t trust that tight arse not to cut corners and skimp on them. Plus, there is the prince to consider.”
I nodded in agreement with his assessment. “I’ll find the steward so I can breathe fire down his neck if he tries to screw us.”
“Excellent,” Nyx said. “Now get some rest.”
Not needing another reason to be by myself, I quickly slipped out of the room.
My skin crawled with the need to get out of the kingdom. I knew I’d be happier back on the water. Being trapped in one place always seemed to do this to me, ever since I’d gotten free of the Wild Mountains. I was used to the feeling. I went to start my list of tasks, but before I got more than a few steps, Calytrix appeared in front of me.
FIFTEEN
CALYTRIX
“Iguess we won’t be taking all of the things we’ve prepared all these weeks,” Nova sighed after Zaria left us, having informed us of the plan to get out of the kingdom.
“Father can have it all shipped once we are there. The important thing is we are safe traveling,” I reassured her.
“And you think we will be? This all sounds risky to me.”
“Yes, I trust Nyx,” I said confidently.
“You hardly know him!” she scoffed.
“I trust his reputation. Plus, Zaria seems like a very trustworthy fae to me. She didn’t have to meet with us like that. In these matters, our opinion would normally not even factor. It was decent of them to care enough to consult us. Father would never.”
“True,” she mused. “I like her. They all seem very nice, really.”
I side-eyed her. “Including Prince Alaric?”
Nova actually blushed.
“Goddess, I was teasing, but you like him, don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t say that, but he seems a decent male.”
“Mmhmm.”
“It could be worse is all I’m saying.”
“You mean you could be betrothed to a known rake with tendencies towards irrational anger, like me?”
“Come now, Caly, we thought those things of both the twins, but it is clear Prince Alaric is nothing of the sort. Perhaps Prince Arkyn is different from our expectations as well.”
“All we knew of Alaric is that he is loyal to his brother. That didn’t suggest they were the same, just that he lived in his brother’s shadow and probably stayed on his good side for peace.”
“You don’t know until you meet him, is all I’m saying.”
“I can’t wait,” I said through gritted teeth.
“The others seem nice, too—Kol and the other guard, I mean,” she said after a long moment.
“Faolan,” I corrected before I could catch myself.
Her eyes met mine, and she studied me.
“I heard Zaria speaking of him to Nyx,” I justified.
“Have you talked to him?” she asked.
