I rolled my eyes as he joined me to look over the courtyard. The wind ruffled his hair around his shoulders and he gave me a pointed look.
Sure would be nice if I could ask for his advice, but I would just have to see if I came to the right conclusion on my own.
I swallowed. “I am returning to Hyton at first light tomorrow.”
He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Now why would anyone want to go to that clifftop cesspit voluntarily?”
“I need to uncover the truth of Duchess Ilsa.” I straightened my spine. “She was no sorceress. I may not know exactly where the truth may lead, but it has to be enough to damn Duke Hyton if he spent all these years hiding his own mother.”
Erik let out a concerned croak. Endre let out an exuberant one. Daigen’s smile grew and my body thrummed with energy—I was going in the right direction.
I glanced down at the soldiers patrolling the fortress walls. “If Duke Hyton gave Nikkolas enough money to raise his own army so long as he stayed quiet about Riyan’s parentage, he might offer me something even better once I find the truth.”
Daigen leaned on the side of the battlement and lifted an eyebrow. “The sorceress is going to the Duke for Fraleigh’s freedom? Of course you would immediately resort to extortion,Litlnadr.”
“Then you suggest what I should do.”
“You know I can’t.”
I turned away and stared south, where red sunlight clashed with the dark blue sky. Damn the nonsensical magical rules! Although, could I really expect magic based on the tears of an ancient man to be straightforward?
My eyes fell to the crumbled remnants of the wall where Riyan had fallen through it days ago—where the curse in his blood had forced him to grow fifteen feet tall and he accidentally killed his grandparents.
Magic was not logic and it was not always good. Riyan certainly had never understood it, in fact, he seemed like he hated it.
All the more reason to figure out what exactly Fraleigh’s damn blood bond had done to us.
I turned back to Daigen. “Fine, then I have to go to Hyton because I need to find my heart’s desire. Ineedto control my magic.”
His violet eyes flicked down to the letter in my hand. “And you’re so sure your heart’s desire is there?”
I frowned. “You said love requires a choice, and I cannot choose Riyan until I know who he is.” A dark pit grew in my chest, marking the absence of the warmth I had shared with him. “The person who knows him better than anyone else alive is in Hyton Palace—his father.”
Daigen hummed. “A logical conclusion.”
“And once I learn more about him…” I swallowed, gathering my strength to face the dreaded unknown. “I will know if my heart ever desired him at all.”
My palms started to sweat, but I grounded my feet on the bricks below. Daigen smirked, weighing me with his gaze as the evening breeze traced my ears.
For the first time, I did not even care if he was rifling through my head again. I just needed to know I had gotten something right.
“Ilsa is the right place to start,” he said softly. “The truth shall always set you free.”
I smiled, but Daigen held up a finger to stop my excitement. “But before you embark on your righteous quest to the den of vices, I have one more thing I need to tell you about your magic.”
He stepped closer and poked me in the center of my chest. “Remember when I said you are changing? The Man of the Mountain’s gift flows through your blood, connecting you with him even though he resides in the place West of the Moon and East of the Sun. He not only sees all the truth of the world, he demands it.”
A flare of my white flame singed the base of my throat as my stomach knotted. I did not like where he was going…
“Litlnadr,” Daigen said with mock concern and a smile, “you can’t lie.”
Daigen withdrew his hand and my heart skipped a beat. When the Man of the Mountain told me my silver tongue would no longer do me any good, I thought he just meant in front of him. Lying was the language of survival in Hyton! How could I navigate the palace as an illegal sorceress, wielding an illegal crystal, and trying to uncover the truth of an illegal woman without the ability to lie?
A dozen solutions flashed through my mind in an instant…but each one ended with an axe through my neck.
I held my breath and counted my heartbeats, trying to calm down. Riyan would have known what to say. He would have wrapped his massive hand around my back and made a light quip to make me smile. Or combed my hair and sang a ridiculous song. Or shoved a delightful treat in my face.
Darkness has always surrounded me, but he was my one light. He was my moon, waxing and waning with his moods, but always there.
