My exhausted heart fluttered when Riyan reached up and held my leg again. I leaned my body against the side of his head as he gently stepped through the flowers. The gentle swaying of his shoulders started to rock me to sleep. My eyelids were heavy as lead, but I kept my focus on the white flowers below us that danced in theevening breeze.
“You can make flower crowns?” I asked. Both my hands wrapped around his braid—my lifeline in case I lost the battleto unconsciousness.
“Rosaline taught me how,” Riyan replied. “Her family lived in a village by the fortress and sold flowers during hard times. I felt bad for poor little Rosaline, so young Riyan was their best customer. I would walk down to the village and buy flowers from her every day to give tomy mother.”
I smiled, picturing an unnaturally tall blonde boy skipping into the fortress with a handfulof blossoms.
“Was Rosaline your friend?”I asked.
“The only friend I had before I was sent away,” Riyan replied. “I’m glad she’s working for Fraleigh. She looks like she’s finally beingfed well.”
Fraleigh definitely was not wanting for food, or anything else for that matter, from the looks of hergolden palace.
“Your friendship with her paid off,” I said. Friendship. Just friendship. “She helped me when Fraleighwould not.”
“She always was sweet,” Riyan said. “So what was yournew lead?”
I looked down at the white flowers. My mind danced along with the thin green stems as I tried to tactfully tell Riyan we needed to hunt down the magical creature that cut his mother in half and gavehim life.
“Oh, we just have to find Daigen,” I said, like the subject was as inconsequential as choosing what to eatfor breakfast.
“What is this Daigen and where is he?” Riyan was as blunt asa cudgel.
“He, well,” I struggled to make the news more palatable, “he can use magic, and we will not take ‘no’ foran answer—”
“Sera, you don’t have to coddle me.” Riyan interjected. He stopped in the middle of the field and turned his head a little toward me so I had the full attention of his left eye. “I’m asoldier.Tell me where we need to go and what I haveto do.”
I took in a long, slow breath. “Daigen is the red monster who freed you from yourmother’s womb.”
Riyan’s blonde eyebrow raised and his eyes softened. “And where is he?” he asked, but his eyes glistened like he already knewthe answer.
“West of the Moon and East ofthe Sun.”
Riyan’s neck muscles froze. His fingers trembled around my leg for a heartbeat. His shining eyes hardened into cold steel and he looked forward. All that lay in front of us was a massive upward slope of rockand snow.
“Then so be it,” Riyan said. His sword rattled against his leg as he took the first step forward. He gripped the hilt of Endre’s Revenge with his right hand as he bravely walked toward the battleground of his nightmares. “Let’s just hope those ravens weren’t abad omen.”
I swallowed. Ravens held a special place in my heart as my family emblem, but the rest of Lycaster sawthem differently.
Ravens were bringersof Death.
The sun had died and the sky darkened into a rich blue, turning the snow on Nordingaard’s peak a soft periwinkle. The moon was nowhere in sight, but the snow wasstill bright.
Riyan’s soft padding footsteps in the grass field outside of Fraleigh’s palace had turned into mighty crunches in the snow as he marched up the slope. I glanced down at his bare feet, which had turned scarlet as he stomped throughthe powder.
“Are you cold?” My breath left my lips in a swirl of mist. I let go of Riyan’s braid and tugged the crimson wool tighter aroundmy body.
“I’m fine,” Riyan replied. His shoulders shivered. “I slept outside in the dead of winter for nearly seven years with nothing but a handle of grog to keepme warm.”
I pressed myself against his head and neck, hoping I could give him just a little of mybody heat.
“I u-used to love winter.” My teeth chattered. “Snowball fights, ice-skating, sledding…but the best part was coming in from the cold and snuggling up by the fire. I would sprawl out in front of the hearth like a cat, letting the heat envelop me. It was likea hug.”
“Sounds nice,” Riyan grunted. “Please,keep bragging.”
“Being grumpy will not make you any warmer!” I nudged his cheek with my head. “Talking keeps my throatfrom freezing.”
“And as we all know, it’s mytoppriority to keep that throat ofyours pristine.”
