“Anything?” My voice roared over the rage of the storm, aimed at a copse of evergreens.
“Not yet,” Raum shouted back. He urged his horse forward, deeper into the wood of Jagged Grove.
Skadi, where the hells are you? I kicked my heels against my own gelding and tugged the woolen hood over my eyes to keep the rain off.
It was rather pointless.
Gusts of wind and rain lashed against our faces, slowing our pace, and dimming our vision. A dozen riders joined me into the trees, my father and his guild included. Raum’s uncanny sight gave us a chance at spotting her, but my father’s mesmer to sense individual fear would hopefully catch hold soon.
“Skadi!” Von shouted against the wind.
More joined. Back and forth we called for her, but only angry skies responded.
Black spilled into my gaze, my skin felt too flushed for the chill of the air. Not here. Gods, when fear grew too swiftly, my mesmer turned inward, feasting on my own despair until fevers took hold again.
“Jonas.” My father rode to my side. “You need to fight it.”
“I’m trying,” I gritted out through my teeth.
He used his chin to point toward the wetlands. “This way.”
“You feel something?”
“It’s faint.”
I didn’t bleeding care and forced my horse deeper into the wood.
“Ahead!” Raum shouted.
Ten breaths, fifteen, and a frightened snort came from shadows. One of the palace mares paced between trees, terrified of the wind and rain, and without a rider.
Ash was the first to reach the creature, clicking his tongue, and taking hold of the bridle until the mare settled.
“Jonas.” Sander brought his horse beside mine. “This area is filled with burrows. Troll folk enjoy the ponds.”
True enough. Mira’s kingdom had a great many faeish creatures and troll folk were some. They traveled between the kingdoms in underground burrows that were deep and damn near impossible to escape alone.
Most did not find our lands appealing with the chill and the mists, but King Ari would send missives through the burrows with the troll folk when he wanted to irritate my father by tilling up our land.
I kicked my horse, urging him forward, until the pond came into view. Mud and tall reeds shrouded the sides, but there were mounds from old burrows all around the banks. If someone—a foreign elven princess, perhaps—did not know what to look for, the burrows would be easy enough to fall into.
I slid off the back of my horse and sprinted for one of the mounds, looking for an opening. “Skadi!”
Please be here.
The storm wasn’t letting up, and the thought of her being lost in the grove through the night brought bile to my throat.
“There is more fear than ours here.”
I hadn’t realized my father was on foot. He looked side to side, no doubt trying to find the source of his mesmer.Our fear. It was Kase Eriksson’s subtle way of admitting the household of the Black Palace cared for Skadi.
When my father gestured to one of the mounds on the other side of the pond, I didn’t wait before running across the slick, mossy soil. A sunken bit of earth revealed an opening. Water cascaded along the edges, clods of thick mud falling inside.
Careful not to sink into the tunnel, I moved gently to the edge and peered in. “Skadi?”
Nothing.
Damn the hells. “Skadi, are you there? Answer me.”
