“What did you think they were for?”
“Well, uh …” Cassiel scratched at his chin.
“You assumed we would chain you up and bleed you dry.” Zev crossed his arms. “You truly do assume the worst of people.”
“There is always the threat of poachers hunting my kind.”
“Does she look like a poacher?” Zev nodded in Dyna’s direction. She tapped her graphite pencil on her notebook, lost in thought as she studied another plant.
“Well, no,” Cassiel said indignantly. “But most would not resist the chance to capture a Celestial.”
Zev clapped the Prince’s shoulder, almost knocking him over under its weight. “I don’t need chains if I wanted to restrain you. It wouldn’t take much to break one of your wings to keep you from flying away.”
Cassiel narrowed his eyes.
Zev laughed and strolled ahead, listening to him grumble under his breath.
“Don’t pay him any mind, Cassiel. He’s only teasing,” Dyna said.
“I preferred it when he growled at me.”
She giggled. “You lie.”
“How dare you accuse a prince of lying,” Cassiel replied good-naturedly, making her laugh again.
Zev paused and turned around, a bit surprised by it. Dyna and the Prince walked casually together, much closer than he had allowed before.
“About last night, I wish to thank you for what you did,” she said.
“You have nothing to thank me for.”
“We both know that is not true.” Dyna stopped and took Cassiel’s hands in hers. They both flinched and looked down at their intertwined fingers, neither letting go. “This feeling … this is what you call Soul Searching? It feels different from before.”
Cassiel stilled. He swallowed, looking away from her questioning gaze. When he noticed Zev watching, panic briefly crossed his features. He snatched his hands back. “We best hurry if we are to make any ground. Corron still lies forty miles ahead.”
The Prince rushed onward and left them behind. Zev frowned, not sure what to make of the odd reaction. Dyna gave him a confused smile.
As they walked, Zev couldn’t shake the odd sense his cousin was not the same. Besides her scent, there was something else about her. Something new he couldn’t quite describe. Last night she had changed.
And he suspected it wasn’t all his doing.
Chapter 30
Von
Von listened to the evening wind whistle outside of Tarn’s tent. It shook the ceiling, tinkling the charms hanging from the supporting beams. There were several in variety: wooden ornaments, dried herbs, lustrous beads, strips of paper written with calligraphic symbols, and crystals. Von had gathered them all during their travels across the world, each made to guard his master or some other purpose.
A large blood-red crystal hung in the center from a clasp in the shape of talons. The Crystal Core. It’s what subdued every reluctant slave made to wear the brass bangles. The crystal’s magic kept them trapped within a certain distance of the camp and away from the crystal itself. It also inflicted unpleasant punishment should they try to harm their ward.
The charred outlines of runes marked the oiled canvas of the tent where a Druid had embedded them. The spells were over a decade old, but the charge of their power moved within the space, prickling against his skin.
Von’s footsteps sank into the furs spread on the ground as he walked around the room to light the candles set upon iron stands. Chests full of glinting gold rested beside a tall four-poster bed made of a luxurious dark wood. Silk black sheets and fluffed pillows layered the plush down mattress.
It was an extravagant bed for someone who never slept in it.
His master took six drops of Witch’s Brew in his wine each night so he wouldn’t need rest. Tarn had too many enemies to risk such things. Von could count on one hand how many times he’d seen him sleep. The first time was the night they survived the Horde and the second …
Von glanced at Tarn where he sat at the dining table with Yavi. His master watched her intently as she studied the Sacred Scroll he had acquired in Landcaster. The jagged scar running across his face appeared more prominent and unsightlier in the candlelight.
