Silence greets my question, fizzling in the warm sun as birds and insects flit between the trees.
One of them looks back at the smoking black mound in the distance, the house of Laavi. She swallows and says, “Sister Mrath killed her father, the old king.”
I blink, frozen. It makes sense, I suppose, why she wouldn’t tell me.
From the left, I hear one call out, “I’ve never bedded a human. Is it worth all this trouble?”
That’s all it takes for Ra'Salore to growl at them.
They laugh, and the introductions continue. When the last name has been spoken, I give them a deeper bow.
“We are grateful for your help.” The words aren’t lies, per se, but they burn my throat. Gratitude might exist, but the trust between our people is non-existent.
They watch me.
“We are ready to leave when you are,” Ayla declares.
My eyes fall on an empty pack that held dried supplies. “Have you eaten a hearty breakfast?”
Ayla smiles, showing the fangs that mark our two peoples as distant cousins.
“Yes.” She walks over to her alce and leaps atop it with impossible grace. She shouts a few words to her women that I don’t quite catch, and they all move to their mounts.
I go to theglacialmaras, which Ulla is watering as she sings a ballad. When I approach, she smiles, but her expression is tinged with sadness.
“Are you well?” I ask her.
She nods.
“Last night was awful. I just thought that he…” she trails off, glancing at the elves. There is one particularly bloodlusty elf who won’t be joining us.
“Be careful with him,” I say under my breath in our language to avoid someone overhearing. “Mrath called Thorne her pet.”
She nods, then looks up at me with glassy eyes. “I don’t think he’s as awful as Mrath. Thorne hated what that woman did, you know. And you… gods, did you have to deal with that before you came home? I thought you had told me everything—I thought?—“
I shake my head, wondering how she knows what Thorne does or doesn’t hate.
“The past is dead. Let it stay buried.”
Rahda continues to nudge my side, and I look down at her. “Yes, yes, you have been so impatient all night. What was I to do?”
Another ram to my hip makes me laugh as I stumble. Ulla joins me in laughter, and some part of me feels wrong. My mate is still missing.
It’s going to be all right.We have the allies, and today we ride.
Soon, we will rescue my wife. The Fuegorra sings to life in my chest, and I let it fill me up as we clear this vicious place. It sings to Rahda as she pushes above the trees for the first time in days. The other Enduares follow me, but the elves remain confined to the ground with their beasts.
I stick my hands out wide as the air brushes past them like threads of silk against my skin. It slips through my fingers, and my hair blows back. I suck in breath after breath of pure sunshine.
I’m coming, Estela.
I push through my silent bond, hoping she can feel me, even if she can’t hear the words. Together, she and I can chase away the ugly shadows littering our world.
I will always come for you, my love. No matter the distance.
Chapter 15
Nephrite
