The mist thickened, curling around his shoulders.
Vaeris’s smile faltered. “If you care about her so much, don’t make this uglier than it needs to be. Walk her to the border.”
Kairos smiled. “I’ll send you a dozen headsfirst.”
“You’re welcome to try. But every day you keep her from me, I’ll raze another village. When the bodies start piling up, remember—this wasyourchoice.”
Lead dropped in my gut.
“Come to me,” Vaeris barked. “Or stay with him and watch innocent people die while the deal kills you.”
The water rippled, and the pool returned to black glass.
Something nagged at me as the pain in my side dulled, but I couldn’t figure it out. There was no version of this where I didn’t lose.
“War council,” Kairos growled. “One hour.”
42
GODS IN CHAINS
White walls. A courtyard with pear trees.
I sat on the edge of my bed, turning that over. That could be anywhere. Some of the manors in Skalgard had white walls, but pear trees? Pear trees needed mild winters. Southern climates. Somewhere the frost didn’t kill the blossoms.
I massaged my temples.
Vaeris had properties scattered across the realm. Estates inherited from his mother’s line, safehouses no one knew about. Rheya could be in any of them. Or none of them.
The rune beneath my ribs pulsed.
White walls. Pear trees.
The door opened, and Kairos stepped inside. He leaned against the doorframe, watching me.
“I’m okay,” I said.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were going to.”
He crossed the room and slid on the bed beside me, his hand sliding up my back.
“We’re meeting in ten minutes,” he murmured.
I nodded, but I couldn’t make myself stand. My legs felt filled with sand. “Pear trees. If I could just?—”
My breath hitched before I swallowed it down. I would not fall apart.
“Pear trees don’t survive Skaldir winters.”
“They do,” he said. “If a fae with enough money orders the runes for it. Half the nobles in Skaldir keep summer gardens in the dead of winter. Frost runes, sun runes, soil-harmony runes. You can have citrus fruit in a blizzard if you’re willing to pay for it.”
The tiny spark of hope flickered.
“She’s somewhere comfortable, but that’s all I can tell you.”
I looked down at my hands. They were clenched so tightly my knuckles ached. “She wouldn’t have brought it up if it wasn’t important.”
