“Gems.” She points to a smaller path that veers off. “The biggest rubies you’ve ever seen grow beneath the surface of this Spires-damned mountain. The masters would send groups up here, usually children who could fit into the narrow vents, to mine them. Many were lost that way. I’ve only been here a short while, but six changeling children have been burned to death in that interval.”
I grit my teeth. “I’m glad you threw the slavers’ bodies into the peat pit. I hope some of them were still alive to feel the flames.”
“From your lips to the Ancestors’ ears.” Clotty nods.
“How much farther to the wyvern caverns?” Gareth asks.
The stone man, Boland, clomps up the slope beside us. “You’ll know it when you see the bones.”
“Great.” I swallow hard. Maybe this wasn’t my best idea, but I’ve been trying to think of any other way. There isn’t one. Cenet must be stopped.
We travel for hours. Up and up we go, the unicorns struggling to keep to the barely-there path. They aren’t made for this sort of journey, but Iridiel’s steps verge on jaunty.
“Have you really been with a wyvern before?” I ask him as we rest on a narrow ledge when the sun is at its peak.
“If you mean have I fucked one ragged, then yes, yes I have.” He peers up the slope. “Best I’ve ever had, and I’ve had plenty.”
“But you aren’t even the same … you know.” I eat a hunk of relatively fresh bread. The slavers didn’t spare any expense on their food or finery.
“You and I aren’t the same, but I’d be more than happy to mount you if—”
Gareth growls.
“I was going to say ‘if you weren’t already mated.’” He nickers at Gareth, then turns back to me.
“So you’ll just hump anything, is that it?”
“Ah, now she gets it.” He nudges the mare next to him. “How about you, darling? If you saw a troll who’d been turned to stone, but he had a giant hard-on at the time, would you canter on past him or try having a seat?”
She shakes her mane. “I’d wiggle myself right down onto that bone and have a grand time. Why not? He’s not using it anymore.”
Iridiel nods, as if she gave the right answer on a quiz. “See?”
“All I see are some horny unicorns.”
“Don’t knock it till you ride it.”
“Iridiel.” Gareth finishes his apple with an angry bite. “Don’t speak to my mate like that.”
“She wanted to know why. I told her why.” He chuffs and turns to drink from the water bucket.
“Wanton beasts.” Gareth scoots closer to me, his boots sending a trickle of rock bouncing down the side of the mountain.
“At least they’re honest about what they want.” I shrug. “Most aren’t.”
Clotty pipes up, “I think if I saw that troll, I’d do the same thing.” She waggles her graying brows.
“There’s my Clotty.” I giggle as Gareth rolls his eyes.
She leans back and stares out at the pockmarked lands beneath us. With a heavy sigh, she says, “Tell me about the winter realm, lass. What will it be like?”
“You’ve decided to come?” My heart warms at the thought of her living with us at High Mountain.
“Sure. I might as well. I’ve never seen snow. Maybe I’ll meet a strapping high fae like yours and settle down.” She winks.
“You’re going to like it. I just know it.”
“If there are no slaves, and I won’t be whipped or sold off to hard labor, I think I’ll love it.”
