“It might have dragged you much farther,” Nali said pointedly. “And deeper had my father gotten wind of your presence. Instead, I remembered my partnership with Talthis. One where I deliver messages regarding various news of the realm.” Her mouth curved faintly. “Consider yourself one of those messages.”
I studied Talthis with more wariness. “And what are you doing on this side of the realm?”
“Certain developments of late have required me to maintain a post closer to our allies.”
I eyed him, remembering the adamant claims Autumn’s emissaries had returned with from every trip. “I thought you had no allies.”
His smile sharpened. “We have no allies in Autumn,” he corrected.
I shook my head. “You were always a smug bastard.”
“In this case, it’s earned. Lightshore has more eyes in Menryth than most assume. Some of them have legs.”
“And some of them have fins,” Naliadne added with a wink.
“You’ve been using the naiad as spies. Patamoi agreed to this?”
“This has nothing to do with my father,” Nali said quietly. “But I won’t sit by while my friends are at war.”
I shook my head. Patamoi would lose his mind if he found out. The river god did not enjoy being circumvented.
“Talthis has been meeting with us for years,” she said. “He brings us word from Spring. We bring him news from the rivers. Between us, we’ve been trying to slow the bleeding while your kings bicker and your queens plan weddings.”
My jaw clenched.
“And now?” I asked, glaring at the Spring fae male. “Do you plan to remain on the sidelines, observing like this is all some sort of game for your entertainment? Or do you plan to fight?”
“That depends on your savior,” Talthis said.
“Do not mock Aurelia, or you might find yourself at the pointed end of her wrath. And mine.”
His gaze sharpened on my face. “You’re sure she’s the one, then.”
“She’s the Chosen One,” I said.
“That’s prophecy.” He waved it aside. “I’m asking if she’s the leader you thought she’d be. Before you drove yourself half to death, trying to keep her alive.”
Images slammed through me: Aurelia in the garden with Duron, scorching him to ash with a flick of her hand. The way she’d sent me to deliver the Aine to safety—like all that mattered was the one life against her own. The hillside below Nygard, burning with her furyfire, her control gone. Her power unstoppable.
“She is,” I said quietly. “And she’s more dangerous than any of us realized.”
Talthis studied me for a long moment, then nodded once. “Good. That’s what I told my queen.”
“You spoke to her of what happened at the war camp?” I asked.
“I told her what Nali’s scouts reported.”
“Which is?”
“Half the army in that camp—scorched to ash.”
I blinked. Half? Aurelia had destroyed more than two thousand Obsidians. It was…too vast a number to go unnoticed. And when Heliconia found out, she would rain fury down on us all.
“And what does your queen intend to do about it?” I asked. “To keep dithering while the rest of us bleed?”
He didn’t bristle. I’d give him that.
“My queen said that, if the Chosen One could strike Heliconia’s army and live, Lightshore would consider offering aid.”
