“Niamh, wait,” Kalen breathed when her face wavered once more. “You can’t get on those ships. The gods are coming for the mortal lands.”
The gemstone blinked out. For a moment, silence curled through the room like wisps of acrid smoke. Tension thickened around us. And then Kalen hauled back his hand and hurled the gemstone at the wall. It hit the stone with a crash and shattered into a thousand pieces, raining its shards on the floor.
Ruari propped his fisted hands on the war table. “I don’t think she heard what you said, Your Majesty.”
I lifted my eyes at his use of Kalen’s title, but the king himself did not seem to notice. He was too focused on where that gemstone had shattered and the chip in the stone left behind by the impact. And then, after a brutal silence, Kalen turned to his Mist Guard.
“Try contacting Niamh again, and tell her what’s coming,” he told Gaven. “I’ll be in the stables. I have to go kill Bellicent Denare.”
* * *
Istayed behind in the war room to give him a few moments to be alone, watching Gaven try and fail to reach Niamh again. I didn’t want to think about what that might mean. If they continued to board those ships and sail across the sea, what would be waiting for them on those rough waves? Did the gods have ships, too? How many storm fae had they convinced to fight with them? Did they even need an army to destroy the mortal ships? What about their wings?
And Val…oh, Val. She was stuck in the middle of all this.
Fenella and Gaven started bickering over what to do next, and so I left them to it. I found Kalen in the stables in the castle courtyard, gripping a stall door. The wood creaked beneath his hands.
“I’m sorry, Kalen.” It was the only thing I knew to say.
“I knew,” he replied in a rough voice. “Deep down, I knew it had to be her. She’s the one who made me vow, and I wanted to believe this ended some other way, but I knew. I would never kill her unless I was compelled to do it. When she made me vow it, she knew it, too. All those things she’s done and those lives she’s stolen…I know it wasn’t her choice. Not in the beginning, at least. All I want is to help her wring the god’s influence from her mind until she’s back to the woman she was before—the woman I know she must be beneath all of it.”
I stepped up beside him and took his hand in mine. “I don’t think she is that person anymore, Kalen. Andromeda changed her. I don’t think there’s a way to come back from that.”
His hollow eyes met mine. “But you faced off against Oberon, and you saw a flicker of who he used to be. He tried to fight against it in the end.”
“That’s different,” I said softly. “He’s not the one whose body was filled with her power. Andromeda was keeping Bellicent alive, not him.”
“Either way, I have no choice. I know where she is. As we speak, I feel compelled to go after her, and I can’t hold myself back any longer. I have to go. Now.”
“Well, then I’m coming with you.”
“Tessa,” he said in a low groan. “I have to kill her. You don’t want to see me do this.”
I slid my hands up his chest and gazed up at him with a lifted chin. “I told you I would never walk away from you, no matter what. That I would never leave you. And so I am going with you to stand by your side. I’ll be there with you when it’s all said and done. You don’t have to face this alone.”
He shuddered and pulled me to his chest. “I don’t want to do this.”
“I know,” I whispered.
When I pulled back, he turned to the wall and grabbed two of the saddles. “Are you certain you feel up to this right now? You fought hard in that battle. I can feel your weariness.”
It was true. Exhaustion throbbed through my muscles, particularly in my back. But I’d meant what I said to him. I made a promise to be with him always, and I could fight my exhaustion a little while longer. Anything so he would not have to face this alone.
“I’ll be fine,” I told him. “When we return to Dubnos, I’ll rest then.”
Fifty-Three
Tessa
The Mist Guard wanted to join us on the journey back to Gailfean, but Kalen ordered them to stay behind this time. The city was healing from the battle, and fear still stained the streets along with the blood. And even though Ruari insisted the gods had their sights aimed west, we had no way of truly knowing if they would send another army to attack Dubnos.
Once I’d mounted Silver, we set off with Boudica circling over our heads. Whatever unseen force had thinned the mists during the battle abandoned us now. A thick fog curled around us, obscuring the path ahead. We wound down the steep mountain path and briefly camped in a cave, warming our hands and feet by the campfire.
The vow tried to tug Kalen ever forward, preventing him from getting any rest along the way. I had to remind him and the vow over and over again that he would be no use in a fight if he raced to Gailfean without pause. It seemed the vow could listen to logic—at least enough for a brief stop now and then.
When we reached the base of the mountain, we rode our horses through the Gaoth Pass. The bodies of dead shadowfiends had been piled on either side of the beaten path, and the stench was so thick, I almost lost my breakfast. But on we went, past the bodies and down the windy path until we reached the border into the Kingdom of Storms.
This time, it was impossible to tell where one kingdom ended and the other began. With the mist coating all of Aesir now, the lands were nothing but endless shadow, though something told me the storms still lurked in the skies above, unlike the vanishing eversun.
