Our eyes caught and he grinned broadly, then picked his way through the crowd, heading toward us. Eleanor sucked in a sharp breath when she saw who was approaching.
“Is he coming here?” she whisper-shouted, and I felt more than saw Pierce stiffen beside me. When I glanced at our guard, his expression was blank and focused entirely on the ring. Before I could respond to Eleanor, Harkin reached us.
“Well, hello. Lord Antonis Harkin, at your service.” He bent into a bow, one giving far more respect than our station deserved.
“My lord,” I murmured, and we both responded in kind, dropping into a deep curtsy.
He grinned again, highlighting the freckles dusting his nose. “Just Harkin, please.”
“Adelia, and this is my sister, Eleanor.”
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance. The king didn’t mention his most esteemed guests were quite so beautiful.” Eleanor giggled when he sent a wink her way, and I narrowed my eyes. “What brings you fine young ladies to the training ground.”
“A lady must find entertainment somewhere,” my sister said, twirling a strand of her hair and stunning me into silence. I had never heard her speak like that before or witnessed her around her peers with the hours I worked each day at the tavern. I didn’t like it, not at all.
Harkin’s grin widened. “That, she must. Have you been in camp long?”
“A few days, but this is by far the most exciting thing to do.”
Harkin chuckled. “You enjoy the fighting?”
Eleanor leaned close, as if she were about to tell him a secret. “I once dreamt of becoming an Eniferium Priestess, before I realized they were only a myth.”
Pierce’s head snapped in her direction in clear surprise, a sentiment I agreed with since she had never told me that before.
“You would make a fine warrior for the Taker of Death,” Harkin stated, with another wink, eliciting more giggling from my sister. “Have you explored much?”
“We haven’t left camp yet, and I’m itching to see more. Perhaps if I had a guide …”
Pierced released a quiet huff.
I crossed my arms and stared at my sister. What in the Gods did she think she was doing?
“Well, I would be honored. Shall we walk?” Harkin offered his elbow, eyes sparkling. She giggled again and reached to take it, but I snapped my arm out, stopping her in her tracks. I’d let this play out long enough.
“Where exactly would you be taking her?” I demanded. Lord or not, he had another thing coming if he thought I would just stand by and let him flirt with my sister.
“Lia!” she hissed in my ear through clenched teeth. I ignored her, keeping my narrowed eyes on the young lord.
Harkin was unperturbed, smiling broadly. “I only wish to regale your delightful sister with stories of Ferveem Forest. There are many places worth visiting within the trees. You can, of course, accompany us, Miss Adelia.”
“Ferveem Forest?” Was that where we were? All my mother’s stories about the forest were filled with magical history. Off the coast of the Arderm Isles, it’s said the forest was a living, breathing thing and to enter the trees was to risk waking terrible spirits and cursing your family for generations.
It’s theorized that when magic died all those years ago, it happened deep within the trees. Given the story Terym had told me, it made sense. There was a serious history here, a deep magic thrumming beneath the surface.
“Not everything you’ve heard is true. It’s quite safe.” Harkin offered his elbow to Eleanor again, and she took it before I couldstop her, so I had no choice but to follow as the young lord led her away. Pierce stayed close to my side, his lips pressed tight.
“There is one place in particular I am eager to see. Would you like to join me?” Harkin asked my sister.
“Into the forest?” she asked, eyes alight.
“Of course. My father told me a story as a boy, about a ruined castle within the trees.”
“I don’t think it’s safe,” I interrupted, my mother’s stories spinning in my mind. She’d always told me our fairy tales were based in fact, it was just difficult to determine which parts. “Don’t they say the trees send people mad?”
Perhaps that was why those women were sent into insanity, something about the forest had sent them that way.
Harkin chuckled. “Not at all, my men have been in many times with no problem. It’s quite safe, I assure you.”
