Finley gave us a tight smile, and then turned back to his queen. “As I said, I found them near the border. They said they’re here to give us a warning about the comet. They seem to think they know what it means.”
“We do know what it means,” Toryn cut in.
“Ah, I see. Four hundred years pass, and it’s stargazing that brings you back to me, not your sense of duty or love for your family.”
“The family who kill each other.”
“You always were too sentimental about your siblings,” she said, tapping a sharp nail against the blunt side of the sword. “But what aboutme? And your father? Your grandmother and—”
“You?” Toryn gazed at her incredulously. “You tried to have me killed when your men rode across the border and attacked me.”
At that, the wicked smile dropped, and her eyes clouded over. “That wasn’t me. It was your brother. I tried to stop him, but he wants the throne, and I told him he can’t have it until the two of you decide which of you will be my heir.”
Toryn stalked toward her, and Finley made a move to block him. But Queen Tatiana held up a hand, letting her son approach. “Ihavedecided, Mother. Owen can have the damn kingdom. The last thing I want is to sit on that throne and have a brood of children who will be expected to murder each other while the entire realm looks on and cheers. This isn’t my fate anymore. And that’s not why I’ve come here. The comet in the sky means the gods are returning to this world, and we need your help to stop them.”
Queen Tatiana fixed her son with a cool stare. There was no sign of surprise in her expression. “I see. And how, exactly, will we do that?”
“We will join our armies—I know you have far more men than those who tried to take Dubnos recently—and we will destroy the gods before they destroy us.”
She arched a brow. “They’re immortal. They cannot be destroyed.”
Toryn glanced my way. I had the uneasy sensation that hundreds of eyes were on me, even though we were alone in the Great Hall, save our party and Finley. “We might have a way.”
“Hmm.” Her attention moved to Kalen. “And I’m to join my army with the one that flattened my son’s men, unprovoked?”
“Owen’s men?” Toryn asked, alarmed.
She frowned. “I told you, he’s the one who keeps attacking you. The last thing I want is to kill you, my son. I want you towin the throne. I thought you knew that.”
“If you want me on your throne, you should have just named me heir instead of throwing me into an arena and trying to force me to murder the siblings I loved more than anything in this world.”
“That is how it is done in the Kingdom of Storms,” she said with no remorse.
Toryn closed his eyes, tension bracketing his mouth.
“I should call for Owen and have you fight it out here and now,” she said with a sly smile. “Fortunately for you, he is in Malroch for the month. Stay until he returns, and I’ll consider joining my army with…his.” She flicked her fingers at Kalen.
A month? We didn’t have a month. Traveling and camping and stopping by Dubnos had eaten away two of the weeks we had. Every day, the comet grew larger in the sky.Andromedagrew closer. And if we did not prepare our armies quickly, she would arrive to a defenseless land ripe for the taking.
Eighteen
Tessa
Queen Tatiana requested several maidservants be brought into the Great Hall before shooing us away with them.Rest and make a decision, she had insisted. So they showed us to our rooms in a corridor several stories up a winding stone stairwell that smelled like dew and honey. They offered us each separate sleeping quarters, but Toryn insisted we remain in groups. Something in his voice kept me from arguing, much as I yearned for quiet calm after our travels. Nellie, Fenella, and I were shown into a room together, though there were only two beds, so Nellie and I had to share. Toryn and Kalen were given another with Caedmon. Their room was directly across the corridor from ours.
Toryn said he needed time to think. I didn’t blame him. In the meantime, we would all get a much-needed night of sleep in comfortable beds. And since we might leave first thing in the morning, I would gladly take the brief respite from bedrolls on the cold, hard ground.
Much like they did in the crooked castle hallways and the Great Hall itself, vines engulfed our quarters. Leaves spiraled across the stone floor and wound up the side of a wooden armoire that was empty save for a few woolen blankets I was certain we wouldn’t need. Teine had always been warm due to the eversun baking the buildings all day and night. But the heat in Gailfean was stifling, the humidity so thick it felt as though a sticky film coated my skin.
Thankful for my braid keeping my hair off my neck, I examined the quarters while Fenella flopped onto her bed, still clad in her boots and leathers, and Nellie rustled around in the armoire. I passed through a doorway that led into a bathing chamber, where rich green moss blanketed the floor. Majestic flowers dotted the space, and their scent of blossoms curled through the air. A claw-footed tub sat beside a window—the only window in the quarters—overlooking the city beyond, and a thick slab of stone stood beside it. It was on small wheels that ran by way of a track—the biggest window shutter I’d ever set eyes on. Clearly, it was meant to keep out the storms.
After padding back into the main room and asking a maidservant for some hot water, I waited as three women filled the tub. They left behind scented soap and towels. I closed the door and peeled off my soiled clothes. Blood and dirt and sweat had soaked into the leathers from long days spent traveling. Releasing my braided hair, I eased into the tub and exhaled as the soothing water engulfed me.
The heat infused my skin and unknotted the muscles in my back. It didn’t take long for my eyes to drift shut and for sleep to take me away into a world full of dreams.
* * *
Kalen stood waiting for me in the middle of Endir’s decorated hall. Music piped through the room, and fae swirled around us as they laughed and danced and clinked their glasses of fion. I raised my brow as I glanced down at my attire. I wore the gorgeous sapphire gown from the night of the ball—the night when things had gone so horribly wrong.
