We eat in silence for a few minutes, and it’s the best meal I’ve had in ages. The food is seasoned to perfection, and the fae-berry cobbler is perhaps the most scrumptious dessert I’ve ever tasted.
Tristan leans back in his chair and waves his hand. I’m about to ask what he’s doing when two wine glasses float toward the table. Moments later, a bottle of wine floats over too, and the items land gently near our plates. Fae magic. I’d witnessed some magic in the banquet hall, though I never really got used to it. Each time I would witness some fantastical act in the Sorsston castle, particularly a violent one, I would be left reeling with disbelief.
“Are you all right, sweet human?” He uncorks the bottle and pours us each a generous serving of wine.
I accept my glass and nod. “Yes, I’m fine. I-I was just thinking about all the magic I witnessed in the Sorsston castle. Like the time a fae soldier caused a servant to choke on his own spit, and the time another soldier made it rain in the banquet hall.”
His eyebrows lift ever so slightly, and he raises his wine glass and swirls the contents. “If humans suddenly possessed magic, don’t you think a great many of them would use it to commit acts of violence and mischief?”
I take a quick sip of wine. “If I possessed magic, I would only use my powers for good. Like the fae who can make things grow. I would help gardens and crops grow faster. And if I could make it rain like that soldier in the Sorsston castle, I would make it rain when there’s a drought.” My mind races with all the other possibilities. What a pity the gods have wasted magic on such cruel-hearted creatures as the fae.
A smile tugs at Tristan’s lips. “I wish I could see you wield fae powers, sweet human. If only I could transfer some of mine to you, I would do so in a heartbeat. Just to see the delight in your eyes when you made crops grow fast and tall, or when you called rain from the skies.”
I take another sip of wine. It’s good. Too good. I need to pace myself and make sure I don’t become tipsy in the general’s presence. I’ve been known to become rather chatty when I’veconsumed too much alcohol. “Can you make crops grow faster, and can you make it rain?”
“I’m able to influence plant growth, yes, but I’ve never succeeded in making it rain. The powers an individual highborn fae possesses are largely dependent upon which courts the fae’s ancestors hail from. My father and all his ancestors came from the Summer Court, while my mother’s side was mostly from the Spring Court. It’s thanks to my mother’s side that I’m able to influence plant growth.” He sets his wine glass down and makes a sweeping gesture with both hands, and suddenly the tent becomes a beautiful, ussha-blessed forest at nighttime.
Or maybe we’re no longer in the tent. Maybe he actually transported us into the forest. The table and chairs remain, however, and I look around and try to glimpse the walls of the tent, but I can’t make the barrier out. It truly appears that we’re in the middle of the forest.
He leans forward and the glow of the fruit-bearing trees bathes his face in purple and blue. His eyes sparkle in the darkness, and my heart skips a beat at how ethereally handsome he looks. His hair is swept back over his shoulders, his pointed ears on display.
“I’m able to create a summer atmosphere, nighttime or daytime, though I usually prefer the night.” He snaps his fingers and fireflies glitter all around the space. He snaps his fingers again and the song of locusts, crickets, and trilling frogs echoes in the forest. Or the tent. Wherever we are.
“What else can you do?” I’m so curious about his powers that I can’t help but ask. Even though I don’t want to get to know him in return. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
He waves his hand, and the nighttime forest disappears, and we’re seated in the regular tent as though nothing just happened. The abrupt silence is startling. “As you already know, I can summon an invisibility shield and flash from one locationto another, short distances, mind you. I’m also able to create strong wards, and I can break through most wards created by other highborn fae. Prince Lucas never found out that I passed through his wards and kept watch over you in his room that night.”
“It sounds like you’re more powerful than most highborn fae.” Not that there was ever any doubt. Any fae who holds the rank of general must be among the most powerful of his kind.
He grins. “Well, I don’t mean to brag, but yes, I am among the most powerful.” He reaches for his wine and takes a leisurely sip, then sets the glass aside and regards me with a look that’s far too inquisitive for my liking. Before he next speaks, I already know what he’s about to say. “I’m supposed to be learning about you, sweet human, not the other way around. Please, tell me more about yourself.”
CHAPTER 12
TRISTAN
I walkat the head of the army as we march south. A third of my commanders are up front with me, another third are taking up the rear, and the remaining third are patrolling the skies. We’ve been on the road for twelve days, and we’ve made such good time that it’s possible we’ll reach Sorsston by tomorrow evening, a day earlier than planned.
Not for the first time, I lament that we no longer possess horses large enough to carry our substantial frames, which would make travel faster for the non-highborn fae soldiers who can’t summon wings. Long ago, when my people were split into two kingdoms—the original fae courts, Seelie and Unseelie—our soldiers rode giant horses called namulas. But the creatures died out thousands of years ago during a plague that affected fae as well as animals living in the two fallen courts.
Though we’re maintaining a rapid pace on foot, I still itch to summon my wings and soar toward Sorsston at full speed. As the general of the army, however, I’m expected to remain with my soldiers.
I glance at the floating carriage that holds my war prize. Amelia. The carriage glides a few feet above the ground, and it’s spelled to travel within five hundred feet of me. If I were to move to the rear of the marching army, the conveyance would follow, and if we came under attack and I suddenly took to the skies, the carriage would remain on land but float to an area away from the fighting.
Amelia’s profile in the large window brings me comfort. I like that she’s always within viewing distance, though I keep trying to refrain from constantly staring at her. The soldiers are already whispering about my taking of a war prize for the first time ever. I don’t want to add to the whispers, though if the gossip continues, I might have to make an example out of one of the blathering soldiers.
What if Amelia really is my fated mate?
The thought is as enticing as it is unsettling.
I yearn for her, that much is true, and I would be devastated if something happened to her, but does that mean she’s my mate?
I think about the evening meal we shared about a week and a half ago, when she told me more about herself. Though she was initially reluctant to tell me about her upbringing, as well as her years spent toiling in the Sorsston castle, after some persistence on my part, she’d finally opened up.
As our conversation comes back to me now, I attempt not to glance at her profile in the carriage window.
“Well, as you already know, I have four older sisters,” Amelia says. “Agatha, Addison, Aria, and Anne. Yes, all A-names. My mother’s name is Aurora, and she has two sisters, Audrey and Adeline. A-names for girls is sort of a family tradition, I guess you could say, because it goes back even further than that in our family tree. Anyway, I grew up withmy parents and sisters in a small house on the edge of Sorsston, though still within the tall stone walls of the city proper.”
“I see. How old were you when you went to work in the castle?” I brace myself for the answer, knowing she was probably far too young to be torn away from her parents. I’ve heard it’s common practice among humans to send a child into service at a young age while the parents collect the money.
