She throws her hands up, making a gesture at the tiara. “Absolutely not. But I can tell them I tried.”
I spin away from her, but she says, “I thought you should know: Baelen never comes back to the house. He doesn’t eat or sleep here.”
“But… he does sleep, doesn’t he?”
“I honestly don’t know. That male hasn’t stopped since you were taken.”
I frown, remembering the dark rings under his eyes. “Where would he usually be at this time of day?”
“Right before sunrise? He’d be at the south-western outpost. I can take you there if you like.”
I shake my head at her. My power flares a warning if she tries to insist. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay, okay. Be careful out there.”
I stride away from her. As I exit the house, I dare the elves guarding the door to stop me. I plot a path south, take off the jacket, and jog the half-mile to the southern outpost that is nearest to the border with Erador. The outpost consists of a sprawling wooden building with a wide verandah and multiple high turrets on its roof where elves stand guard.
When I reach it, I approach the elf standing guard at the door to the building.
He salutes me. “Storm Princess?”
“Where is Baelen Rath?”
“I’m sorry, Storm Princess, you just missed him. He went to the north-western outpost.”
I spin. That’s miles in the opposite direction. Surely I would have passed Baelen on the way?Oh, where is Hideaway’s Heartstone to give me flight when I need it?I wonder if I can try that hot-air-cold-air thing I did a while back but that seemed to be more of a floating thing than a flying-somewhere-fast thing.
Fine.I jog the distance, keeping an eye on the sky and my surroundings. When I finally reach the north-western outpost, I get the same answer, except this time they tell me to go south again, back to the very outpost I came from. I pin the soldier in a glare before he dares to turn away. “Did Commander Rath tell you to say that?”
The guard shifts uncomfortably. “I’m afraid so, Storm Princess.”
“Which means he doesn’t want me to go east.” I shake my head. They want to keep me as far away from the eastern side of Rath land as possible—that’s the side most vulnerable to the Elven Commanders. “Well, tell him if he wants to protect me, he’d better come find me at the far eastern outpost.”
I spin on my heel, but I haven’t made it two steps from the building before my brother stops me. Macsen steps out of the shadows at the side. “He’s not there either.”
“Well, then,whereMacsen? Because I am not going to let him fight without me.”
My brother’s usually good-humored expression is nowhere to be seen. “I don’t think that’s what he’s trying to do.”
“Then what? Annoy the hell out of me? Cut me out of his life? What?”
Macsen is deadly serious. “He said he needs to show you his worth.”
Shock slams through me. I stumble backward, trying to brace myself. The females who were forced into Howl’s harem could only return to their husbands by starting fresh. Part of that process involved asking their husbands to prove they knew their wives’ hearts. Baelen saw me step into Grayson’s arms and he knows I would never do that willingly. He’s trying to follow the gargoyle way by showing me he knows my heart.
Macsen continues. “I don’t know what that means, but judging by the look on your face, you do.”
I think back to the day before, the way Baelen had flown me straight to my family, stepped back to give me time with them and then gave me space to reconnect with my Storm Command. And now he’s trying to show me that he will work all day and night if it means taking care of me and my people.
But he’s got it all wrong. He is part of my world. I need him in my life. And I have to tell him that.
“Please, Macsen. I need to know where he is.”
He scrubs at his forehead, easing the frown that had formed there. He inclines his head toward the Rath mountains. “He said you’d know where to find him.”
Where to find him? I spin and consider the distant mountain range. Does he mean the place where it all started?
“Thank you, Macsen.”
