“Thorne and Slade rode ahead to scout the way,” Amanti told me. “The rest are?—”
“Here.” Rydian rounded the corner, leading a saddled horse in each hand. Daegel followed with two of his own, and Keres brought up the rear, already mounted astride a beast of her own.
I noted the double blades strapped to her back and the bow stowed with her saddlebags. She caught my eye and dipped her chin in greeting, then halted at the edge of the path, waiting.
“This one’s yours.” Rydian handed me the reins of a black mare that I was fairly sure had participated in my kidnapping from Grey Oak.
“What’s her name?” I asked, noting the way her coat gleamed like midnight itself. Her coloring reminded me of Shadow, the horse I’d ridden to the Autumn Court alongside Callan.
“Mouse,” Rydian said.
I snorted, but when he didn’t react, I stared at him. “You’re serious.”
Daegel grinned as he passed and handed Amanti the reins to a spotted grey. “Dove is all yours, Aunt,” he told her.
“Thank you, Daegel.” Amanti swung up into the saddle with all the ease of someone who’d done it a thousand times before, though I couldn’t remember ever seeing her on horseback in my life.
I glanced at her damaged wings, my heart panging for what she’d lost. What had been taken from her.
A Brindalorn.
Was the South still somehow full of all the things we once thought were mere myths?
Everything except the Verdant.
Rydian took my packs and strapped them to Mouse for me.
I stared up at the cabin, noting the last trace of hearth smoke curling from the chimney. Frithhold was already half-swallowed by fog, its memory dissolving into the cold.
Directly ahead, the Trolech Forest spread out of sight where I knew it would eventually give way to the vast, barren wastes of the Broadlands. From there, our journey stretched all the way to the Osphanis, the winding river that cut through the land like a silver scar. It would take at least four days to reach it, and that was if we made it unscathed through whatever lurked in these lands.
To my right, the Concordian Mountains stood tall and snow-capped in the lightening dawn. I looked out over it all, watching the horizon swallow the last stars, and wondered if Lesha could see those same stars now. The thought made my chest tighten, made the furyfire beneath my skin pulse with a heat that was both comfort and threat.
Control it. Always control it.
“Ready?” Rydian’s voice came from beside me, low and careful.
I turned to face him. He was dressed for travel in dark leather and worn cloth that seemed to drink the shadows, his sword strapped across his back with the ease of long practice. The morning light caught the sharp angles of his face, and I noticed—not for the first time but with fresh awareness—how he looked at me. Like I was something precious and dangerous in equal measure.
The Chosen One, I reminded myself. The savior of the realm. That look had nothing to do with his own personal feelings.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.
Amanti approached, her scarred wings tucked tightagainst her back, a posture I’d learned signaled determination. “We all know the Broadlands are no gentle crossing,” she said, her warrior’s pragmatism cutting through any false comfort. “Stay close. Stay alert. These borderlands belong to no one, which means anything can claim what’s inside them.”
“They’re welcome to try,” Daegel said cheerily.
“We go slow and keep alert,” Rydian said quietly.
The others nodded.
I shook off my own dark mood and let him help me into the saddle. Touching him was completely normal, I told myself. A friend helping a friend mount a horse. Nothing more. But my hand tingled with awareness even after I’d let him go.
Daegel and Rydian both mounted, and we fell into line; Daegel at the front with Rydian following. Then Amanti and I, with Keres bringing up the rear.
Our processional remained silent for the first few hours. Slade and Thorne didn’t appear, nor did they signal danger ahead, so we plodded onward, down the mountainside to the Trolech Forest’s floor.
Every now and then, I caught the glint of Rydian’s eyes when he looked my way. I pretended not to notice.
