Leap's gaze fell to manacles biting into his wrist. “I let myself be dragged back to Angtun in chains, cut off from my magic, and left at the mercy of my asshole cousin, because I believe in Adara. I left my life with the harpies, risked my hide by returning to Wynth not once, but twice, and helped carry out an assault on the capital, because none of my problems matter as much as the shadow magic threat. There's no point in giving my uncle what he wants by taking the blood oath and joining the academy. The moment I turn my back on my friends, the shadow creatures will win. And no amount of training will be enough to save the kingdom.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Gale huffed. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, looking both insulted and conflicted. “We lightning riders have been defending the border from the shadow creatures for nearly two decades now, and have done a mighty good job of it. Plus, we haven’t had a single sighting of a shadow creature in close to a week since Adara killed King Aolis. Your uncle has already started pulling riders from the border—”
Leap’s hand shot out, closing around the rider’s arm. Gale stared down at the boy’s small hand wrapped around his sinewy forearm, shocked speechless. “Please don’t let my uncle do that,” he said. “I know it seems like things are safe right now, but I saw that shadow demon with my own eyes. It’s still at Kaipei Castle, still pulling strings, and if the shadow creatures have disappeared, that’s somehow part of its master plan. Until Adara vanquishes it, we’re still in danger.”
A myriad of conflicting emotions—doubt, fear, skepticism—crossed Gale’s face, but if Leap expected the lightning rider to change his mind, he was sorely disappointed. “I think you’re just trying to convince me to help you escape.”
Leap dropped Gale’s arm with a sigh. “I’m trying to convince you to help me save the world,” he said, turning away so he didn’t have to see the look on the older male’s face. “But I should have known better than to think I could convince you. Adults never take kids seriously, not until it’s too late, and even then—”
He cut himself off, then turned and walked away. What was the point? This was an argument he would never win.
28
Adara
By the time I returned from yesterday’s adventures, I was so exhausted I thought I would sleep until noon the next day. But my growling stomach woke me shortly after sunrise, and no matter how much water I drank, I could not quiet it enough to go back to sleep.
“Giant's teeth,” I grumbled, tying the knot around my dressing gown as I stepped into the hallway. My footsteps were the only sound as I walked through the halls of the palace—aside from a few stealthy servants flitting around, everyone else was still asleep. Water fae didn’t seem to be early risers as a general rule, which I was thankful for. I was in an irritable enough mood that I feared I would bite someone’s head off if they tried to speak to me now.
Maybe I should just spend the entire fasting period submerged in water,I thought to myself as I made my way around the pond. When I’d been under the ocean, able to draw energy from the water, I’d felt significantly less hungry. It was a similar feeling to when I’d dipped my hand in the river water when Prentis’s guards had loaded me onto the rowboat. But I had felt a hundred times stronger when I was completely submerged, the ocean’s current flowing around me.
Wanting to test the theory, I toed off my shoes and approached the pond. My breath came out in frosted puffs as I slipped one foot in, then the other, feeling the cold ripple up my legs in waves. Another fae would have started shivering instantly, but I embraced the invigorating feeling, wading in until the water was up to my waist. The hunger pangs slowly faded, replaced by a tickling sensation in my feet. Frowning, I looked down, then let out a startled laugh at the sight of a golden koi nibbling at my toes.
“Well hello there, little guy.” I crouched down, reaching through the water so I could pet it. It was the size of a small dog, and it wriggled happily as I stroked a hand along its golden scales, which were shot through with lines of lapis lazuli. “You’re far more friendly than Lady Mossi’s koi.”
The sound of boots crunching on gravel alerted me to a visitor, and I turned my head to see Einar standing a few feet away from the pond. The morning sunlight backlit his tall, powerful form, and a now-familiar throb of desire surged from the bite mark.
His eyes flared, and my mouth went dry as I realized he could probably sense my need for him through the bond. But rather than comment on it, his gaze went to the koi fish rubbing on my legs.
“Are you talking to that fish?” he asked, his tone dry yet amused.
My lips twitched. “We were having a spirited discussion about aquatic politics before you interrupted.” I stroked the koi’s smooth scales one last time, then straightened up to face Einar. “Do you want to join us? It’s quite refreshing.”
Einar shuddered, shaking his head. “No thank you. I’m quite comfortable watching you freeze your ass off while I stay nice and dry out here.”
I grinned. “I’m not cold at all,” I said, spinning around. Droplets of water arced from the sleeves of my dressing gown, catching rays of early morning sunlight as they hurtled away from me like tiny shooting stars. Einar yelped as a few drops hit him, and I laughed as he leaped back from the shore, well out of range. I wondered if it was my affinity for ice that made me impervious to the freezing temperatures, or if all water fae were built this way. Maybe that was something I could ask Prentis about.
“What are you doing out here, anyway?” I asked, sinking back into the water so I could float on my back. Serenity rippled through me as the water caressed my limbs—it wasn’t the same heady rush I’d felt from the ocean, but a quiet bliss. It was almost as if each body of water had different emotional wavelengths, and I wondered what I would feel if I tried swimming in different ones. Would a babbling brook make me happy and bubbly? A rushing river fill me with a sense of urgency and direction? Why had I never stopped to think about this before?
“I followed you out here,” Einar said, as if that were obvious. At my sardonic stare, he added, “The bond tells me how close or far away you are, so when you left your rooms, I felt it.”
“Oh.” A twinge of guilt pinched into me as I pictured Einar leaving his warm bed… followed by a rush of warmth as my mind’s eye conjured a shirtless vision of him, naked skin and swirling tattoos and rippling muscles gleaming in the early morning light. I shoved the image from my head, trying to focus on the discussion at hand. “You should have stayed in bed, Einar. I’m perfectly safe out here.”
“I know you are, but I was already awake,” he said. A smile touched his lips as he added, “Besides, it’s not a hardship to be out here with you. Not when I’m enjoying the view so much.”
A blush rose to my cheeks as I conjured an image of what I must have looked like when he approached—dressing gown plastered to my curves, stiff nipples jutting through the fabric. “That settles it. I’m never coming out of the water.”
Einar grinned, white teeth flashing in his darkly handsome face. “You’re going to stay in there forever? Become a lady of the lake?”
“A princess of the pond,” I corrected, sticking my tongue out at him. “They’ll tell tales about me for ages--the temptress who lured males into the frigid depths of the water with the promise of wicked delights, only to give them a case of blue balls as their testicles freeze off.”
Einar’s laughter was cut short by the wailing cry of a child. The anguished howl wrenched at my heart, and I was out of the pond in an instant, shoes forgotten as I raced along the garden path. Einar’s heavier footsteps pounded behind me as we followed the sound to its source, a servant boy of about ten years old kneeling in the grass.
“Ripples!” he wailed, and my heart sank at the sight of the calico cat sprawled on the ground in front of him. His small hands were buried in the cat’s fur as he tried to shake it awake, but the animal was gone, its limbs stiff, eyes unseeing, bits of froth and vomit clinging to its mouth and whiskers. “Ripples is dead!”
A fae dressed in a maid’s uniform rushed outside, duster waving in her hand as she ran to the boy’s side. “Hush now, Elys. You’re going to wake the entire castle!”
“B-b-but wh-why is he’s d-dead!” the boy blubbered as she gathered him into her bosom. “I was p-playing with him-m in the k-kitchen this m-morning, and he was f-f-fine!”
