He didn’t respond for at least a minute, so I turned back to face him. “I’m sorry, Callista,” he said softly. “That must have been a horrible thing to learn after you volunteered to come here.”
I nodded. Yes, it was. It still made me fight back tears when I thought about it.
Fagan stood up abruptly and offered me his arm again. “Walk with me?”
We left the fountain, passed the bushes where several tanagers now skimmed for food, walked past snow-covered gardens and through a few rows of barren trees. On the other side of the trees, the stone pillar the fortress sat on disappeared. It gave way to sheer cliffs that dropped for hundreds of feet into the lake with giant crabs.
I shivered at the memory and took a step away from the edge. Fagan stepped back with me, but patted my hand. Did he hate me now that he knew my mother’s curse had trapped him here? Did he blame me for getting him stuck in Hemlit, away from his family? Did he intend to push me over the edge?
The distance to the lake suddenly took a dizzying tilt, and I tightened my hold on Fagan’s arm. I hoped that did not doom me to an early death, but I didn’t have anything else to hold. A wave of nausea nearly took me down, but Fagan kept me on my feet.
And then the drekkan’s shadow landed on us again. He flew slowly overhead, and I focused on him. He’d felt my worry again… and I was not even mad about it.
“Here, step back,” Fagan said. “I thought you would enjoy the view, but I’m afraid you nearly passed out.” I risked a glance at his face as he pulled me away from the edge. “We’ll just put stunning vistas on a list of things that do not help you relax.”
“I’m sorry,” I panted. “I seem to have developed a selective fearof heights.” It was a horrible thing. One painful example of how disasters followed me everywhere.
He huffed. “A troublesome condition when you live on top of a stone pillar.”
I shivered. “You have no idea.”
“Let’s get you back inside before Jolter starts to worry.”
I snorted, but said the first thing I would have told Alastor if he’d been in this position. “You’re just worried I’ll pass out and you’ll have to carry me back up.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth as soon as I’d said the words. It was far too irreverent a tone for such a high noble.
He laughed out loud. “You must think I’m quite pathetic.”
“No…” My mind raced for something to say that would make up for teasing someone who outranked me by about ten thousand steps.
“Well, let me assure you,” he said, “I would have no trouble carrying you. I am much more concerned about my suspicion that if you panicked about the edge of the pillar, the king would be aware of that stress and decide that you need protecting from me. And I’d prefer not to be the target of his protective nature, especially when he is in his drekkan form.”
We’d reached the great stone staircase that led into the castle. “So you’re taking me back to my room?”
“Yes. Will that help you relax?”
I chuckled now, and glanced at him. “You were right. You are a terrible interrogator.”
A soft round laugh drifted down from him. “But Iaman excellent observer. And I’ve decided you do not pose a danger to Aedan.”
Chapter 20: Aedan
Ilost Callista. She was not in her room. I knocked again to be sure, but I didn’t even hear rustling or walking. And it was dinner time. Usually the twins at least visited with her while she ate, even if they saved their meal for the dining hall.
But I heard nothing.
I felt nothing either. Maybe the faintest background anxiety, but no more than when she tried to play that wretched lute. I really should do something about that.
I had to find her first.
I should have relaxed knowing that she was not stressed. That should have indicated she was safe. But I did not like not knowing where she was. There were too many people in the fortress who I did not trust to be near her. Perhaps I should have stayed in the room again today…
No. It had been good for me to be outside when Fagan had taken her to the gardens. I did not know how someone asgentle as Fagan could have made her nervous, but I felt her calm down when I flew by.
And now she was missing.
I stormed onto the dais in the dining hall. Fagan, Mylo, and Acantha stood as I approached our table. “Where is she?”
