Asta’s hips bucked forward in response and Kaid smiled before returning his mouth to hers. He rolled his hips into hercenter and her thin cotton pants did nothing to hide how much this brief kissing had affected him.
A knock on the door had them both pausing.
“Asta?” Tova’s voice was muffled through the heavy wooden door. “There’s something you will want to see.”
Kaid sighed. “To be continued.”
“Well? What was so important that I couldn’t rest for a bit?” Asta scanned the faces of Tova, Soren, and Revna.
Tova muffled a laugh with her hands. “I don’t think you were going to get much rest.”
Soren turned away so he was no longer making eye contact with the princess and Revna stared at Asta and Kaid in disgust. Having a group of friends with preternatural hearing made it difficult to have any privacy.
Asta’s face heated, but she brushed off the comment. “Well?”
The door to the hallway opened and a familiar fae waltzed in, his arms spread wide for his usual greeting.
Asta immediately ran for Gyrial, springing into his arms. He caught her and spun her around. Once she was back on the ground, she pulled back and beamed at him.
“How are you here?”
Gyrial made his way to the sofa and took a seat. He explained that once his crew was about a day’s ride home, a familiar gray mare approached them and insisted that Gyrial go with her, nudging him and tugging his shirt sleeves until he mounted her. Thurs ran faster than Gyrial had ever seen a horse ride before. The world around him had turned to a blur, as though they were traveling faster than the speed of sound,returning Gyrial to the castle in a few hours rather than a full day.
Gyrial pulled the mirror from his pack for everyone to observe and Asta could not deny the uncanny resemblance of the hand mirror to her mother’s comb on her vanity. That was when Gyrial explained that all these years, Asta had been using a lost siren artifact as her everyday hair comb.
Asta got up and brought the comb out, holding it next to the mirror in Gyrial’s hand. The two items hummed, turning warm in their hands and Asta dropped the comb onto the plush chair next to her.
She paced the room, the tension in her chest coiling tighter with each step. How was her mother so involved in the fate of this war and no one knew? It likely hadn’t helped that her father’s memory had been manipulated by the finfolk queen.
“So, what now?” Tova asked.
“Now, we find the Trident,” Kaid stated.
Chapter 40
As everyone prepared to leave Orntali for the Spellid Mountains, Kaid couldn’t help but watch the ocean waves from his window.
Was it right for him to leave the shoreline? Shouldn’t he stay and help protect Naltania?
Kaid had gone from never having responsibilities to being the heir of a siren nation and the Northern Seas.
He turned to the desk and sealed the envelope he had written to his father explaining that he must come to Orntali immediately. Kaid was still processing the news about his familyand upbringing, and honestly, talking with his father would help him interpret the gray areas, he hoped.
Kaid brought the letter down to the foyer where an attendant took it to be transported. Everyone else came down shortly after, all with packs in tow.
Asta was in black, wraithlike leathers and Kaid’s heart sputtered. She was magnificent. He only hoped that after this was done, they would have their happily ever after.
Soren came trotting over with a kick in his step, grinning. “Ready to leave?”
It was still odd seeing him and Revna with legs instead of fins. Soren could not stop raving about how wonderful it was to be on land for the time being. He had not returned to land since he was turned as a young boy and it was apparent. The male siren had gone around sniffing every flower, every candle, every food dish he could find.
Gyrial grabbed his bag as well as Asta’s and stepped out the front door.
“Show off,” Kaid grumbled, following the crowd out the door.
Asta rode on Thurs, but the dapple mare was the only kelpie who joined them on the journey. The others would not tolerate a saddle of any sort, which was why they only allowed the sirens to ride them underwater where they could grasp onto their manes for support.
The blonde princess rode at the front with Gyrial which did nothing but grate on Kaid’s nerves. Kaid rode next to Soren who had taken to humming cheerful melodies while pointing out every bird and woodland creature he saw. Revna and Tova rodein the back in silence, which Kaid was sure was killing Tova since she was typically quite chatty.
