“There has to be a way to break the connection,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around myself to stave off the cold.
“If there is, it might be a matter of bargaining with the Three.”
“We can’t go to the Great Oak,” said Sorsha quietly. “Kaden knew of our plan to return. If he knows, then there’s a chance Semphrys knows as well.”
A low growl rumbled up Adriel’s chest, and he dragged his hand through his hair. I took that to mean he agreed.
“Then we’ll have to change the plan,” I said. “Do what he least expects.”
“We still don’t know how to restore Morta’s hands,” Sorsha added. “It seems like the sort of thing only a god could do.”
I frowned, turning her comment over in my mind. Something Kaden had said to me when we’d left Klodäsch drifted to the surface, and I turned to Adriel. “Kaden once told me that when his mother created you, she beseeched the old gods to give you life.”
The royal guard nodded, his expression wary, and I hoped I hadn’t offended him. Adriel was aMorkahlf— a child made, not born. According to Kaden, Queen Elowynn had formed Adriel from an ancient gold and green clay found along the banks of the Adraeis River to be a companion for her son.
“Kaden said she used an old, forgotten magic. H-how did she do it?”
“I don’t know,” Adriel murmured, looking pensive anda little sad. “Elowynn never told me the details of how I came to be.”
“She was Drathen nobility before she became queen, wasn’t she?” I asked Sorsha.
The princess nodded.
“Where would she have learned that kind of magic?”
“From someone old enough to remember it,” said Adriel.
“It would have been someone she trusted,” Sorsha murmured. “Worshipping the old gods is . . . Well, it’s considered sacrilege. They are not fae deities, and they do not usually concern themselves with the affairs of faeries or mortals. They are the gods of the forest and the earth, the four winds and the sea. If people learned the queen of Anvalyn — the Drathen queen, no less — was worshipping the old gods . . .” Sorsha shook her head. “In any case, it wasn’t something she would have told just anyone.”
“What about Fione?” I asked, remembering the nymph who had served the royal family at the Forest House. “Kaden told me he’s known her since he was a youngling.”
Adriel’s eyes widened. “She would have been around when Elowynn decided to call me into existence.”
A strange feeling skittered down my spine. Though Kaden had told me how his best friend had come to be, this was the first time I’d truly considered the implications. Adriel had never been born — had never been an infant. Because he’d been formed as a youngling when Kaden was one, the royal guard had no memories of early childhood.
The thought made my chest ache.
“Then it’s settled,” I said. “The Forest House is the last place Kaden or his father would expect us to go. We’llmake our way there and talk to Fione. Maybe she will have the answers we need.”
Despite the flickerof hope in my chest that Fione would be able to help us, my heart felt heavy as we departed the safe house.
Kaden hadn’t touched me since I’d tended to his wings, and he’d carefully kept his distance from the others so he wouldn’t overhear any information that might prove dangerous in his father’s hands. His shoulders were tense as we embarked, and I caught a flicker of darkness in his gaze as Adriel scooped me into his arms.
It had been Kaden’s idea for the others to fly me, since he didn’t trust himself not to hurt me. Although I knew it was for my safety, it felt wrong being in another male’s arms while my mate flew a short distance behind.
The only silver lining was that Sorsha seemed to have recovered from her vikkarni bite, and I didn’t dare broach the topic again. The princess was also regaining control of her magic, albeit slowly. She had successfully summoned her wings on the first try, and her joy was palpable as she flitted ahead, periodically darting in and out of the clouds and swooping down below.
The air grew colder as we ascended, and flakes of snow began to pepper our faces as we entered a swath of clouds. The safe house had provided thick, fur-lined leathers, boots, and weapons, though our clothes did little to shield us from the chill.
With the silvery-gray clouds pressing in from all directions, I had no idea how Adriel could tell where he wasgoing, or how Kaden managed to follow. Sorsha’s graceful form had disappeared, and the only clue that we were approaching the peak was the fuzzy outline of the mountains that stood out whenever an errant thread of sunlight broke through the clouds.
The wind howled as we crested the peak, and Adriel canted his wings, his muscles clenching as he braced against the gale and angled his body to land. My stomach pitched as we descended into the snow.
The second my feet sank into the deep powder, I caught a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye, and Adriel hit the ground.
I whirled around in alarm to find the royal guard in a tangled heap of wings and leather-clad limbs — Kaden wrestling him into the snow.
“What the fuck?” I screeched, fear gripping me. Had Semphrys invaded Kaden’s mind? Was he being compelled?
