Kicking his heels, they broke into a gallop off the road. Who knew where he was taking her. She was only grateful it was in the opposite direction of the estate. Blinking back her misted eyes, she gazed at the idyllic country of Sellav. Beyond opened the beautiful valley with a crystalline river running through, fluttering with dynalya flowers in the breeze. In another field, a herd of Elvish horses in all colors galloped together.
They reached the town and rode through the streets. Raiden rode faster, as though she weren’t the only one running away. Dyna peeked behind her and spotted Sowmya flying among the clouds, following but keeping her distance.
No other winged form followed.
They rode up a foothill of the Anduir Mountains until Raiden brought her to a ridge that overlooked the province. It was a secluded little nookwithin a cluster of rowan bushes, and a smooth log was set a few feet away from the edge of the cliff, proving he had been here before.
“Here we are.” Dismounting, Raiden took hold of her waist and lifted her off the saddle.
“Oh, thank you,” Dyna said in surprise at how swiftly he did it. She smiled at the scenery with a sigh. “It’s lovely up here.”
He looked out at the horizon as the wind tousled his long hair. “We all need our own corner of the world to escape to. This one is mine.”
Dyna heard a weight in his tone, and she looked up at the pensiveness in his eyes. “I am sorry for placing you in further bad standing today.”
Their presence called into question his reputation. Those suitors were awful to him.
If Lucenna had not reacted, she certainly would have.
A bitter smile touched Raiden’s lips. “Your being here has made no difference. Varden would have found another creative way to slight me. This is not the first nor the last time he will grace us with his company.”
“Who is he?”
“Varden is heir of House Karheim and the Province of Erendor. An esteemed noble family. My mother was meant to marry him. Can you imagine?” Raiden scoffed wryly. “Perhaps I would have been better suited to have an arrogant father from a respected House, rather than an absent father from a soldier’s House where I have to prove myself every blessed day.”
Dyna knew Raiden didn’t mean to say that by the way he stiffened. Red flushed through his cheeks. He grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Pardon me, my lady. Folly words from a folly son.”
“No … I understand.” She looked out at the land, feeling her throat tighten. “I was once in a similar position where I felt the need to prove myself against others who had no regard for the title I once held. It’s enough to make you feel…” Her brow furrowed. “As though perhaps they are right. You don’t belong. No matter how much you wish for it.”
Raiden’s gaze slid to hers a moment, and they both looked away to the estate in the distance. The brittle bond in her chest faintly pulsed, letting her know where the other half of her was. Dyna shut the feeling away.
When would the stupid thing understand there was nothing left between them?
“And that caused the end of your marriage?” Raiden asked.
It was Dyna’s turn to weakly laugh. “Cassiel made that choice.”
“Which he seems to regret.”
She thought of his teary face as he knelt in the rain at her feet, begging for forgiveness. Dyna shut her eyes. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“I agree,” Raiden said. “Because you don’t belong together.”
The unexpected statement made something in her chest tighten, and it drew her attention back to him.
“A Celestial and a human…” Raiden’s expression shifted as he gazed at the fog rolling over the mountains. “It is no better than a princess and a soldier of modest means. My parents didn’t belong together either, yet they fought for their love and look at where it brought them. The king cast my mother away from the castle with her name besmirched. My father abandoned us in the name of glory simply to escape the judgment of his country. And it destroyed them.” Anger painted each word, marked heavily by his resentment. “My mother was leftalonein a place she didn’t know, and I … I was left to live in his shadow, born with the face of a man both admired and reviled for his deeds. Now he awaits death, and I ask myself what was it for? Why was this the future they chose? Had he done the right thing and let her go before it ruined their lives, perhaps they could have found some sliver of happiness.”
Dyna was taken aback by his words because she wouldn’t have expected him to have anything but respect for Rawn, as she did. But that respect came from the time she spent with him; time Raiden didn’t have. “What makes you believe they were unhappy? Your father didn’t leave to escape judgment, but to fulfill an oath he made to King Leif. That is the only thing he regrets. All Lord Norrlen has ever wanted was to come home.”
Raiden’s long fingers drifted to the wooden pendant he wore around his neck a moment before his brow tightened again and he stood. “Then it should not have taken him twenty years to return.”
“Wait.” She caught the end of his gray tunic, the fabric soft against her fingers.
His gaze drifted down to her hold. “You care for him, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. We have been through a lot together, and it has bonded us as family.” Dyna realized it was the wrong thing to say by the look on his face.
