Orelia put a hand up. “Oh, I could never take something so important from you, Mr. Devlin. I’m honored, but I could never.”
His thin lips curved into a smile. “Soon, I will have no use for it. I would love to give it to someone who is a friend to nature.” He flicked the feather, and Orelia conceded, accepting the gift.
She smoothed the brown feather between her fingers, thinking of how many miles and places the bird had seen.
“I called him Marlo. I would braid the feather into your hair, but my fingers don’t work so good anymore.”
Only druids wore feathers in their hair, and knowing the Head Druid wanted her to wear it left her overflowing with gratitude. Orelia kissed him on the forehead, his skin clammy and cold. “Thank you. And thank you for steering us in the right direction. Though you seem content on passing, I will pray to Lili for more days for you.”
He gave a small nod. “Bless you, my dear.”
Orelia had made it to the door when the druid called out to her. “Tell that fae not to subdue any more of my guards on his way out. I need someone to make me some more of your excellent tea.”
She smiled at the old druid who gave her a polite wave, hoping she would get to see him again one day.
Orelia caught up to Vade in the stairwell, and they managed to slip out of the temple, narrowly avoiding the other guards. After a slow going of making it through the city without drawing attention, they stopped behind the last building that offered cover. They were about to move when an arrow whizzed past their heads and broke apart against the wall.
The arrowhead fell to the ground, glowing white.
“Fuck!” Vade scanned the area and crouched, pulling Orelia along the wall with him.
“Told you the guards would find us. But why would batalins have seidr weapons?” she asked as they ducked under an overhang jutting out from the building.
“It isn’t batalins. I have that same unsettling feeling I got in Ricaboro. The same person, or thing, is following us.”
She listened for anything that sounded out of the ordinary, jumping when a bird flew by.
“We need to get out of here, now,” Vade said.
They skirted along the wall, and another arrow nearly nicked Vade’s ear.
“Go!” Vade ordered. The two of them ran, not knowing where the archer was, but knowing they had to get out of the city as fast as possible.
They made it into the forest, and arrows stopped firing. When her heartbeat stopped thrumming in her ears, she noticed the bells tolling.
In the distance, at the top of the Druidic Temple, two bronze bells swung back and forth. Their rhythm cracked a piece of her heart with each toll.
She hoped Devlin got his wish and that one day she’d look to the skies and see a white raven soaring alongside a firetail, both on their way to discovering a new meaning to their afterlife—together.
twenty-two
Once they were onthe outskirts of Dorsey and Vade had made sure they weren’t still being followed, he erupted. “I can’t fucking believe this! We came all this way for fucking nothing.”
“We can still get the spell reversed. It’s not like it’s permanent.” Orelia pushed thick fronds back as they tromped through the brush.
“It feels fucking permanent.”
“Is being bound to me for a few more days really the worst thing that could happen to you?”
“Yes. It is.”
Orelia stopped and planted her hands on her hips. “You know what, Vade. I am so sick of your negative attitude.”
He spun. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t even get me started on how rude you were to Devlin. I know you don’t know how to be kind to anyone, but couldn’t you have at least faked niceties when you were talking to him? The man was literally about to die, for the gods’ sake.”
“It’s not my job to comfort a dying man, and it’s not yours either. We wasted even more time with you doting on him like he was one of your wounded whores.”
