“She could be a threat to our clan,” said councilman Vedgar, bringing my attention back to the present. “She refuses to tell us, even after she admitted she can do violence upon others with thismagickof hers.”
“If she’d wanted to harm us, she could’ve killed our own lord out there in the woods all alone,” reasoned Wyzel.
“I would not harm anyone in your clan. I can promise you that. Lord Gael wanted me to use my gift on his enemies. I cannot—I will not use my magick to harm others.” She paused, swallowing hard. “I simply need a place to hide from Lord Gael’s men. They are the ones who are hunting me. I was living and working in the Borderlands, but they found me and chased me into the woods.” She gestured toward Wolf who sat loyally at her side, like her own personal guard. “This Meer-wolf found mewhen I’d nearly died from the cold. Then,” she gestured toward me, “Lord Redvyr sheltered me from the cold and brought me safely here.”
Wyzel nodded with approval. “It is our way, Jessamine. We have learned this from the Meer-wolves who we revere. Meer-wolves are a fierce pack creature. They will protect their own with their lives. Once, long ago, one of our ancestors was injured in the wild, his leg broken. He would have died if it weren’t for the Meer-wolf who took him into his pack, brought him meat to cook on the fire, and nursed him to health.”
Jessamine listened attentively, her expressive eyes wide with wonder and curiosity.
“Because of this, it has been our tradition and our sacred promise to be fiercely loyal like the wolves, to protect like the wolves, and to show compassion to strangers as they once did for us. We revere the wolf, because we see ourselves in them. Lord Redvyr honored our sacred oath in helping you and bringing you here, as he should.”
“Oh,” she said, lowering her gaze, seeming disappointed for some reason.
“She is still in danger,” I stated firmly. “To honor our law, we must continue to protect her from the Mevian guards. And this LordGael.” My voice rumbled dark and deep; its timbre rough. My inner beast wanted to lash out and strike something dead. Bite something hard.
Wyzel turned her gaze to Lorelyn. “Can you see the way forward for us regarding Jessamine? Is it safe for her, and for us, to keep her among our clan?”
Lorelyn stood, hands clasped before her. “I can read the runes, but only with a drop of her blood.”
Jessamine turned to me in confusion.
“Lorelyn is a world seer,” I explained. “For our clan and the beast fae.”
She nodded and took a step forward, holding out her hand without fear. “You may use my blood.”
I wasn’t sure if she had experience with seers. There were three kinds. Soul seers who foretold the destinies of an individual. Kings typically had a soul seer on hand, but I never did. There were god seers who were quite rare. They channeled the will of the gods. Then there were world seers, the most common kind. They prophesied the fates of fae kind. Lorelyn was born with this gift to guide the beast fae. Her premonitions had helped us numerous times.
Lorelyn removed a small blade from her belt, but suddenly I was on my feet. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Lorelyn, but something inside me rebelled at the thought of her cutting Jessamine.
“She is my responsibility,” I told Lorelyn as I unsheathed my dagger.
The young seer dipped her dark head, while I gently gripped Jessamine’s wrist. I flicked my gaze to hers. “It won’t hurt.”
“I’m not afraid,” she replied instantly.
I couldn’t help but smile at her courage. While it was true that I would cause as little pain as possible, she’d been all but dragged to our clan’s home where my people weren’t exactly greeting her with open arms. She couldn’t know for certain that we didn’t intend her harm, and for some reason, she trusted me.
With the tip of my blade, I pressed gently into the fleshy part of her palm until a pinprick of blood pooled there. I then returned to my chair.
Lorelyn walked to stand in front of Jessamine. “It is best that we sit.”
Lorelyn lowered to the wooden stage and crossed her legs. Jessamine joined her, still holding out her palm. Lorelyn held the light fae’s upturned hand in her own, and with her forefinger she swiped the tiny spot of blood in five different directions.
Everyone remained silent while a ripple of magick hummed in the air, radiating from Lorelyn. She was the only one in our clan who held gods-given magick. And that was assuredly because she wasn’t pure beast fae. Her grandmother had been a wraith fae. Though she showed no outward ancestry other than her four smooth, elegant horns—not patterned with the thick ridged spirals like ours—she appeared only as a beast fae female.
“Hmm,” said Lorelyn, her eyes closed and her head bent over their hands, “the winter holds danger.” Her voice echoed with the vibration of magick. “But not because of the light fae female. On the contrary, her presence will bring about…a salvation.”
Lorelyn opened her eyes, glowing bright with the ethereal energy flowing through her. She curled Jessamine’s fingers into her own palm and looked up at the council. At Wyzel.
“I do not simply recommend that we offer Jessamine protection for her own sake. But for ours as well.”
“Can you see any more?” asked Bowden. “Any details?”
“Is it from these Mevian guards that she saves us?” interjected Wyzel.
“No.” Lorelyn shook her head. “She is not the cause of the trouble I foresee. Her blood will not show me more. Only that we need her as much as she needs us. Perhaps more so.”
I frowned at this premonition. Lorelyn was never wrong, but how could this light fae save us from an unseen danger? Me and my warriors could outfight any monsters, feral or otherwise, in the foothills of the Solgavia Mountains.
