Chapter Forty-Five
Aurelia
The road out of Grey Oak felt colder once Slade and Thorne vanished north.
A simple nod, a promise of, “See you soon,” and then Slade took Thorne’s arm, shadows curled around them, and they were gone. Headed north to intercept Eirnan and Leif and whatever Autumn army they’d managed to recruit. If they succeeded, the entire contingent would regroup in the caves to the north to await orders for our next move. If they were caught?—
I didn’t let myself think about it.
And now, without Slade or Thorne as a buffer, the three of us stood together in the moonlight far east of Grey Oak’s city limits.
Rydian.
Callan.
And me.
Our long journey stretched before us, and I swallowed a groan at how awkward this was going to be.
“Let’s get moving,” I said, determined to get this over with as fast as possible.
Night draped itself across the land as we moved. Shadows pooled in the hollows of the hills, clung to the trees, and stretched long behind us like restless things. We kept off the main road, weaving through wooded paths and overgrown animal trails.
Callan led for a while, mostly because he didn’t trust Rydian not to “accidentally” trip him into a ravine. Rydian walked close behind me, silent, shadows coiling at his heels out of habit. He hadn’t said much since we’d left the throne room behind, but I had the distinct impression that something in him had changed. I didn’t know what. Just that the air felt different around him. Charged. Alive in a way it hadn’t been before.
Every time my gaze flicked back to him, he was already looking at me.
The first few times I caught him, I looked away. By the fifth, I didn’t bother.
“Anything behind us?” I murmured.
“No,” he said softly. “Not yet.”
The way he saidyethad a weight to it. Like he already knew, the moment danger appeared, he’d feel it first. Maybe he would. His body moved the same as always, precise and lethal, but his magic… it hummed under his skin as if something old had been awakened.
And then there were his eyes.
Every time light hit them, they flashed darker. Not like the void he’d shown as a prince of Midnight. This was deeper. Wilder. The kind of magic the Fates used to hide behind stories and warnings.
Callan noticed it too.
He kept glancing back at Rydian like he wasn’t entirely convinced we hadn’t brought a monster along with us.
I wasn’t convinced either.
But mine was the opposite problem—I felt safer with him there.
We walked until the moon slid low between the branches. The forest thickened around us, shadows clustered beneath the trees. The air here smelled like moss and spring water and distant flowers that only bloomed at night.
“Keep moving,” Rydian murmured softly behind me. “We still need to find shelter before the sun comes up.”
“There’s an estate not far from here,” Callan began, but Rydian shook his head.
“Too risky. We can’t afford anyone reporting back to Heliconia with our location.”
“Well, it’s not like we have supplies for tents,” Callan said, clearly pouting at the idea of sleeping on the ground.
“We’ll make do,” Rydian said simply.
