For a moment her heart leaped with the hope that Rawn was safe, and Fair had survived. But she took in the shade of his indigo eyes and the youth to his features, and she knew it wasn’t him.
“No,” Dyna said faintly beside her, astonishment lining her expression. “That must be Raiden … his son.”
“Who are you?” he demanded. It was his voice that finally made it real for Lucenna. It was curt and sharp, nothing like Rawn’s. “What is the meaning of this, Eldred? Who have you brought to us?”
“My lord.” The Magi Master bowed his head. “Forgive me for the unexpected intrusion. They are acquaintances of your father.”
“Acquaintances?” Raiden’s eyes widened at that, and he dismounted. Eldred took the reins from him while he removed his riding gloves. “How do you know my father?”
Before they could answer, the guards at the gate opened the doors as a female elf in a pale green dress came running out of the estate’s front doors.
“Mother,” Raiden rushed to her, putting himself between her and them. “Stay back. I don’t know who they are.” He motioned at an elf with long copper hair wearing green leather armor. His chest bore the sigil of House Norrlen. “Halder, take her inside.”
Halder stepped forward with a bow of his head. “Your Grace, allow me to escort you to the estate.”
“No, I know them…” she said, her face falling to amazement as she took them in.
Aerina was beyond what Lucenna would describe as beautiful. She had waves of pale blonde hair the color of the dawn gracing the surface of the horizon, and her eyes matched the aquamarine stone on the circlet resting on her brow.
Inhaling a shaky breath, her gaze fell on Dyna. “Lady Dynalya…”
“You know my name?” Dyna asked in surprise.
“Of course.” Aerina smiled brightly. “Oh, how wonderful! In my husband’s last letter, he wrote about all of you. Of the tale of how he met the Maiden and her Guardians.”
Raiden turned to them with a mix of astonishment and recognition as he took them in again.
“Now you are all here … but …” Aerina searched among them, and her smile wavered. “Where is my Rawn?”
Lucenna tried to answer, but the words wouldn’t come. Zev lowered his head, and Dyna couldn’t keep the sorrow from her face. Lady Aerina looked at Eldred. He bowed his head. Her smile slowly faded as realization landed.
She covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “I knew it … I felt something the other day. I knew something was wrong.” Voice shaking, she said, “Tell me…”
Dyna took a step forward. “I am so sorry to have to convey such difficult news … Red Highland captured him three days ago.”
The sound Aerina made came from deep within her chest. A tortured cry that was part whimper and part gasp. Turning away, she held her stomach as if she had been struck with a blow that took all her air away. She stumbled, and Raiden caught her as she fell to the ground.
Aerina broke down there in the dirt, falling into the arms of her son. The sounds of her cries brought instant tears to Lucenna’s eyes. She took Dyna’s hand as they silently cried with her.
“God of Urn, please take him with,” Aerina begged as she wept.
That confused Lucenna, not sure if she heard her right.
Holding his mother, Raiden looked past them to the land, his expression caught between disbelief and shock. “If you knew what Red Highland does to their prisoners, you would wish for the same,” he murmured. “He will be locked in the bowels of the Blood Keep in the dark, without food or water, enduring the unimaginable. Death would be a mercy.”
Lucenna didn’t have the nerve to say, “stay strong” or “don’t worry”. She wanted to say something comforting but couldn’t find the words. Because she could see herself there on the ground as well, utterly distraught when her mother had been taken.
Because she knew they would never see each other again.
Aerina’s tear-filled eyes looked up at the Magi Master. “Tell me he is dead.”
“They have taken him alive, Your Grace,” Eldred said softly as he knelt beside her. “For only one purpose. To break him until his mind gives up the secrets it holds.”
Aerina’s cries echoed over the valley.
And like the vanishing sunlight, that peace that had once laid in the wonder of Sellav was gone.
CHAPTER 41
