Harmon waves him off. “My lord, you’re welcome here anytime. Your rooms remain well kept for your arrival. Always.” Harmon looks at the rest of us again. “Does this have something to do with the Watch’s heavier presence at the gates?”
Alexus frowns and shakes his head. “What do you mean?”
“The gates, my lord. As of late, anyone who enters is taken to the Watch. There were rumors that a large band of foreigners snuck into the city from the docks and through Palgard Gate one night many weeks back, but little was said about it. Now the gates are being watched so closely. No one knows why, for sure.”
“I think I have a good idea,” Alexus says, peering up at the ramparts. “No heavier surveillance here though?”
Unease flashes across Harmon’s face. “Even here, my lord. I sent the guards from the Watch home for the night a couple of hours ago, to give them a rest. The cap’n doesn’t like ‘em around. Luckily, they don’t want to be here either.”
“Luck,” Rhonin murmurs behind me.
“I see,” Alexus says. “That could be a problem during our stay, but I’ll speak with the captain. For now, please keep word of our arrival silent.”
Harmon bows. “Of course, my lord. As always, no one will know you’re here. You and yours are safe with us.”
Two tall young men with blond hair and golden, sun-kissed skin walk through the gate carrying torches. They appear to be twins. Alexus swings down from Mannus’s back and nods at them in greeting.
“Dru. Drae. If some of my friends help, can you two join your father in seeing our horses to the stables while I take everyone else to the main house?”
The young men hurry forward. One of them takes Mannus by the bridle. “Absolutely, my lord,” he says. “I’ll help. Drae should notify the cap’n that you’re here.”
“Very well,” Alexus says, motioning for Drae to come closer. He says something privately to the boy, eliciting a small smile. When Drae turns and bolts through the gate, Alexus removes his pack from Mannus’s back and slings the strapping across his chest, facing us. “Good ride, all. Let’s go get some food and rest.”
With groans and sighs, we dismount our stiff bodies and follow Alexus and Harmon, guiding our horses into the shallow tunnel that leads to the main property. As Callan and I pass the gate, they take me by my elbow and pause.
“See this?” They tap a finger on the wood and drag it along a glimmering line, from rune to rune, and back up a second line. “This portion of the ward’s construct allows the gate to be opened from the inside,” they say. “Just not from the outside. It’s all in the design. Do you see how?”
I look closer. The runes for protected passage are there. Twice. The mirrored versions are reversed.
Callan taps their temple. “Something to remember, should you ever need to seal yourself away.”
Any magick can be undone. I can’t help but remember those words from my father. But magickal knowledge is magickal knowledge, so I lock that tidbit in the back of my mind for safekeeping.
When we step from the tunnel into the open night, Alexus’s starlights rush forth and multiply, swelling like light-filled bubbles, illuminating the rear of the sprawling white stone estate and lighthouse. The structures sit perched on a rocky cliffside dotted with tufts of seagrass, a ledge at what feels like the end of the world.
We all pause, staring wide-eyed at the sight, taking in this home and Alexus’s magick moons, the salty wind soft around us, laced with a floral scent. Jasmine, I think. The beauty in the moment takes my breath.
“That’s new,” Harmon says, motioning toward Alexus’s magick. “But I like it!”
Dru, Finn, Callan, Keth, and Jaega, gather the reins of our horses and lead the animals down a worn path toward the stables. Before Harmon follows, he smiles and claps Alexus on the shoulder. “It’s so good to have you back on the tor, my lord. I wish you a peaceful and uneventful stay.”
Alexus smiles too and returns the gesture, resting his hand on Harmon’s stooped shoulder. Though I can tell he’s happy to be here, I also feel his worry seeping through the rune.
Uneventful is unlikely.
“It’s good to be back, my friend,” he says.
Then he turns and leads us to meet the captain.
All I can think as we climb the wide steps toward the main house is that Starworth Tor is unlike anything my mind could’ve conjured. Even with Alexus’s magick extinguished, the white stone facade glows beneath the soft moonlight. Candlelight warms the massive windows that cover the front and side of the house, and ornate wooden shutters—chained to the stone—flank each glazed opening that overlooks the sea, sentinels awaiting an incoming storm.
The world seems so quiet and peaceful as we reach the vestibule near the main entrance. There are six torchlit stone pillars flanking the pathway between us and the main door, an arched, wooden affair with intricate carvings. When the door opens, we pause between the vestibule’s first two columns.
Except for Alexus. Pack slung across his broad chest, he keeps walking toward the tall, umber-skinned woman stepping across the threshold. She waits at the doorway, inside a triangle of candlelight radiating from an outdoor chandelier. Wearing sand-colored trousers and a black linen tunic, she shoves at one of her rolled sleeves, pushing it to her elbow.
Despite the woman’s loose-fitting clothes, it’s obvious that her long form is lean and strong. Her black hair is close-cropped and beginning to gray, and her shoulders are squared and her chin set. She’s a little intimidating with such stature and those piercing, dark eyes.
The captain.
