“The bridge?” Klyde’s face went red, his fists bunched, his chest heaving as he struggled to speak. “You know how dangerous troll territory is, and you risked it anyway. I told you to stay home, and you deliberately disobeyed me! You could have been killed!”
The boy lowered his head. “I’m sorry, uncle.”
“All right let’s calm down,” Lucenna said, placing a hand on Klyde’s arm.
The mercenary rubbed his face, and his shoulders heaved with a deep breath.
Halder came forward and handed Klyde the reins of two horses. One with a black coat and the other was gray. Coal, Von’s horse. He didn’t think he would ever see it again.
“I found Onyx in Argos,” Tavin said sheepishly. “The other in the White Woods. I brought them with me when hiking over the mountain.”
Klyde shook his head. His next question came out ragged, his voice strained. “What if something had happened to you, Tavin?”
The name rang in Von’s head, and he recalled an old memory, yet he remembered the details clearly. His sister sat in a chair by the open window with the sunlight gleaming over her brown curls. She smiled at him, resting her hands on her round belly.“He will be called Tavin. A name to honor the two men I love the most in this world. His father and you.”
Von had to brace himself against the wall. How could this be?
Klyde took the boy’s shoulders. “Can you imagine what it would have done to your mother if you never came home? She would be devastated.”
Mother?But he had no mother…
Unless she somehow survived as well. Von’s mind flashed with a memory of Aisling laying in a puddle of blood, her empty eyes staring at nothing. No … she was dead. He couldn’t make sense of it.
“I know, uncle. I’m sorry.” Tavin lowered his head. “But I am ready to join the Skellings. I proved it.”
“Gods, Tavin. This is not the right time.”
“When will it be the right time? Sometimes I think you want to keep me hidden away. Why?”
The question stumped Klyde.
Dyna glanced back and met Von’s gaze. Her expression saddened knowingly. The others turned to stare at him one by one. They had all known, hadn’t they?
Von’s feet moved on their own, stepping out slowly onto the terrace. As though getting any closer would somehow solidify this new reality. The movement drew the boy’s attention, and he glanced up, fixing Von with those pale blue eyes.
The exact color of a brutal winter.
A chill washed through his body, and everything was suddenly all clear.
Klyde spotted him on the steps. His expression darkened, sharp and cold as the blades at his hip. It carried a silent but deadly warning to stay away. Tension wove through the silence in the garden as everyone watched.
“Who is that?” Tavin asked.
“No one,” Klyde growled.
Those two words set Von back into place. He turned away and strode back into the estate, letting their voices fade behind him. They may share blood, but Klyde was right.
He was only a stranger.
Von wasn’t quitesure why he was here. Still breathing. Why had he decided to follow Dyna to Greenwood? Tarn was dead. He had served his purpose by enacting his revenge, so why keep going now that he had none? Even if he went after Sai-chuen, that wouldn’t bring Yavi back.
The waves had called to him, yet somehow, some impression beyond comprehension told him to stay.
Perhaps it was due to the boy he hadn’t known existed until now.
Gripping the reins of his horse, Von squinted past the drizzle to the riders ahead of him. The Norrlen Guards flanked a fine carriage making its way on the forest game trail. The large wheels slogged through the mud, leavingtracks of puddles behind. The girls had taken shelter inside with Lady Aerina and her son.
Klyde and Tavin rode at the front with Eldred and the King’s Rangers. The boy refused to go home. Even if his uncle dragged him back, he threatened to follow him again. Klyde had no other recourse than to allow the boy to stay.
