He smiled into his ale.
“What are you thinking about?” Leonard smirked, digging a fork into his meat pie and taking a large bite, crumbs flaking into his white beard. “Making good use of my cottage, are you?”
Cael huffed out a laugh, but didn’t take the bait. He lowered his voice, though the restaurant was so loud it wouldn’t have mattered. He could barely even hear Leonard across the table. And no one was paying them a lick of attention. Spectacular anonymity, indeed.
“How is the dragon doing? I still haven’t heard from Tristan, but it could be any minute now. I’ll send word as soon as I have it.”
“She’s ready,” Leonard confirmed. “Been keeping her well fed. Making sure her fire is all fueled up.”
Cael dipped his head in gratitude. “I can’t thank you enough, Leonard. When this is all over?—”
Leonard waved him off. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be gone as soon as I see her flying toward Diachre. My niece lives over in Cernodas with her mate and children. They’ve been begging me to move closer. And I hear that territory is a pretty safe place for misfit rebels.”
“Good,” was all Cael said before polishing off his own meat pie and downing the rest of his ale. He tossed adrachaon the table, but Leonard chucked it back at him.
“Your money’s no good here. Not after everything you’ve done for her. I’d never be able to repay you. Not even in three lifetimes.”
You might not say that after what Xenia and I did to your table, Cael thought, chuckling. Aching to return to the cottage and drown himself in her again. Though he did have one more stop to make.
He waved goodbye to Leonard as he pushed through the crowded foyer and into the sun-drenched street. He turned down the main avenue toward the hardware store on the corner.
Cael was two blocks away from the small shop when the cuff began to glow and Tristan’s voice floated into his mind.
—ame is Si—ear me? Ca—ound it’s n?—
“What?” Cael said, stopping in his tracks. “Tristan? I can’t hear you. Say it again.”
—nys. Her name is Sig?—
“Fuck,” Cael mumbled, holding the cuff up to his ear. Like that would make a lick of difference. “What did you say? Her name is Nys?”
—o. Sign—on’s name is Sign?—
“Signys?”
—es! That’s?—
The cuff went dead.
But Cael’s insides were glowing. He’d heard the excitement in Tristan’s voice when Cael had guessed correctly.
He turned away from the hardware store, sending a mental apology to Leonard for the now permanently broken table, his mind swirling with plans. As soon as he got back to the cottage to tell Xenia the good news and get the flute, he’d?—
Arran’s windwhisper stopped him cold and froze the blood in his veins.
I’ve got your pretty pet, boy. And if you do not come back to Stoneridge this instant to fulfill your duty to this family, Iwillend her. Time’s ticking.
The village dissolved as fury blinded him, fiercer than anything Cael had felt in his nearly two centuries-long life.
Villagers flowed around him, throwing concerned, sidelong glances as his fists clenched and his chest heaved.
Cael didn’t give a flying fuck who was watching as he lifted the silver cuff and tapped the opal.
And portaled straight to Stoneridge.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
The victorious smirk on Arran’s face whipped Cael’s rage into a maelstrom as he exploded into his father’s office. Cael scanned the space for a weapon,anyweapon, he didn’t care what.
