41
HOMECOMING
The sky was wrong.
The sun burned an angry orange, its rays bleeding across the horizon, and a warm wind blew from the sea. The wrongness had tainted the wilds, too. Shadows stretched at odd angles and everything was darker, and silence filled the forest instead of bird calls.
When the castle came into view, the courtyard churned with activity. Blacksmiths bent over whetstones, sharpening weapons in the strange red light. Servants hurried past with sealed scrolls and healers carried bolts of white linen.
I lifted my head from Kairos's shoulder, groggy. I didn't remember falling asleep, but the journey was a blur of dreams and the steady beat of his heart against my cheek.
Kairos helped me dismount. Other mairen were snorting, ears flicking, refusing to settle. Morvaen jerked at the reins, forcing Kairos to clench them tighter.
I stroked the mairen’s neck. “Do they scare easily?”
Kairos frowned. “Not usually.”
“Kai, we need to meet with the clans.” Uther handedthe reins of his mairen to a younger male, who fought to control the skittish beast. “Was destroying the palace intentional? Who aren’t we at war with?”
“One crisis at a time.”
A door to the keep burst open and Elwen rushed out. Her hair was wild, eyes frantic.
“Thank the gods.” She grabbed Kairos’s arms, checking him over. “You’re alive. We couldn’t reach you, none of the warriors responded. I-I thought?—”
“I’m fine,” Kairos said. “What’s happened?”
She let out a hysterical laugh. “Everything. Soren’s sent seven messages demanding reparations. He’s mobilizing the fleet. Three ships already patrol our waters. The guild masters are panicking because Thalir is blocking our ports. Our merchants can’t get goods out.”
She thrust a handful of scrolls at him, words tumbling out faster.
“Taressa issued an ultimatum. She’s threatening to break the alliance unless you answer for the destruction. Caelir’s backing Thalir’s claim. Vaeris is calling you an oathbreaker. Two tsunamis hit our shores yesterday, and both hit the southern coast. They’re saying it’s an omen, that we’ve brought this on ourselves.”
She looked at me, then away.
“Coastal villages are evacuating and people are flooding inland. Our grain stores can’t handle it. We need to activate the seaside runes before Soren’s fleet moves against us—” She sucked in a breath. “What happened at that summit?”
My mother’s hollowed face flashed in my mind—the thin, cracked lips and her eyes, glazed over with pain in those last few weeks. After she died, Rheya and I lost everything, and now I’d made more families like ours.
Kairos’s jaw tightened. “Vaeris set a trap. I walked into it.”
“A trap that destroyed the entire palace?” Elwen’s voice rose. “Kairos, what did youdo?”
“Nothing,” I blurted. “It was my fault.”
Elwen’s gaze flicked to me, then her brother. I lifted my chin, bracing for her judgment. She had every right to hate me for what I’d unleashed on her realm.
“Heal her first. Then ask your questions,” Kairos growled.
Elwen’s glare softened as she hooked an arm through mine, tugging me toward the keep. Kairos waved off a group of warriors pressing in around him, striding after us.
The stone in my gut grew larger. I felt like a goldfish in an ocean, tugged along by a merciless current I couldn’t fight. Once we reached my chambers, Elwen pushed me into the chair by the fireplace. Uther raced in, closing the door behind him.
“Where are you injured?” Elwen asked.
I sighed. “I’m okay.”
“She’s not,” Kairos muttered, hovering over me. “She drowned.”
