“He’s running an errand,” Leon says, but he doesn’t offer any more details. When I raise my eyebrows at him, the prince shrugs. “He’ll catch up with us further down the road.”
As the hours slip by, I start to miss the riverboat. I forgot how tedious this endless riding was. Even having Tira to talk to doesn’t make me feel much better. I try to catch her up on some of the things that have happened since we last saw each other, but I’m too exhausted to get into it all just now. She seems flat too, and I guess that her decision to leave her family and Otscold might only just be starting to sink in.
The day gets worse from there. We get caught in a shower Leon refuses to let us shelter from, shouting about needing to press forward to the border. Then, shivering and miserable, we have to hide for an hour in a small copse when we think we hear a patrol nearby. It just turns out to be a group of rowdy farmers’ kids.
Plus, the longer the day draws on without Alastor joining us, the more nervous I get. Leon seems certain he’s alright, but I have a weird nervousness in my gut.
By the time the sun is starting to sink in the sky, I’m telling myself it’s just the impending separation that’s getting to me. I’ve spent so long with the fae, under their protection, that the idea of leaving them behind is filling me with dread.
I’ll be glad when this is all over, and Tira and I can move on.
“We’re here,” Leon says. There’s a tightness in his voice, a pain I’m surprised to hear. I look around, but it looks like the rest of the road to me. There’s a small stretch of woodland to our right and a milestone indicating that the border is just an hour’s ride away.
I look around as Leon and the other fae dismount.
“Is this where we’re meeting Alastor?” I ask.
“Yes,” Leon says. He walks over to me, offering me his hand. I frown, a little confused, but take it.
Once I’ve dismounted, I can see his expression better, and I’m shocked to realize he looks sad. And then I understand what’s happening. This is it. It’s time to say goodbye.
“Ana,” he says. Even though we’re surrounded by his soldiers, he cups my face in his hand and presses his lips to mine.
The kiss is both tender and hungry at the same time, sending a familiar heat through me, but there’s something new in it too. The ache is different this time, making my chest tight. When we part, I can still feel the touch of his mouth on my skin, like a firebrand.
“Ana,” he says again, his brow furrowing. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” I breathe. “What for?”
But he doesn’t answer. Instead, I watch as his expression changes, his face dropping into a cold mask, his deep gray eyes shuttering. He takes a step back.
“What are you sorry for?” I repeat. The knot in my gut twists as I look around at the other soldiers. None of them will meet my eye.
Then I notice movement in the trees.
Two figures emerge from the woodland. One of them is Alastor, but the other is much shorter, her green hair shifting slightly in the wind.
Etusca.
Her face crumples when she sees me. “There you are, dear. I’ve been so worried.”
I’m too shocked to answer her, my brain trying to understand how she could possibly have found us.
“Why is she here?” I ask Leon. When he doesn’t answer, my voice gets louder and higher. “What’s going on?”
“Ana…” Tira says, her voice loaded with warning. She looks as confused as I do, but frightened too.
“I’m so sorry, Morgana, for making you take the potion all those years and not telling you what it really was,” Etusca says. She steps toward me, her hands outstretched. I retreat from her, glaring at Leon. Is this some kind of weird attempt at reconciliation? Does he think he’s giving me a gift? He knows how conflicted I feel about Etusca.
“You lied to me,” I point out to her, the rage burning in my voice.
“I was doing it to keep you safe,” Etusca says. A tear trickles down her cheek, but I don’t want to hear it.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I say. “I don’t want to speak to you.”
But the dryad keeps talking. “I had to do it, otherwise they would’ve killed you, Morgana. Your parents didn’t want you to die, and neither did I, so I took an oath to keep you safe. I still have to keep you safe,” Etusca says. “I owe it to them.”
“That’s why you need to come to Filusia with us,” Leon says.
