Maybe next time we’ll see whatherpretty mouth can do…
There shouldn’t be a next time. You’ve already blurred too many lines.
But that’s ridiculous, I tell the voice of my brother. The lines were blurred the moment we met in that tavern. Everything that’s come after that has been shaped by that first meeting—by her attempted escape and the way I accidentally foiled it. Fate is the game the gods play with us, and it seems they’d already decided we were never going to be just one royal heir to another, with all the usual boundaries firmly in place.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Eryx grunts as I enter the farmhouse.
I stop short, my eyes going to Hyllus. If any of them knows what went on in that barn, it would be him. His aesteri ability allows him to draw in sounds from far away, meaning he can hear things no fae normally could.
But it’s the kind of ability that can really kill your curiosity. It only takes a few cases of overhearing things youneverwanted to hear to learn to keep yourself to yourself. I’ve never known him to listen in just for the fun of it. When I look to him now, his face is blank, and I’m confident my privacy is intact.
“Yes. The training went well. She used her magic deliberately, and I think she’ll be able to do it again.”
“And he didn’t get burned to a crisp in the process.” Stratton claps Eryx on the back. “So you didn’t need to go worrying your head about our dear old captain.”
Eryx shrugs Stratton off with a withering look, but Stratton just laughs, well used to Eryx’s scowls.
“Nevertheless,” Phaia adds from her position against the far wall, “solari or not, she’s still a princess. And you still kidnapped her. Lest we forget, the king was concerned about Trova’s relationship with Filusia before we even began this mission.”
“Already said it,” Alastor pitches in under his breath as he polishes his sword.
I throw him a look. “And I already explained that my grandfather would want Morgana kept alive, which she wouldn’t have been for long if I’d left her there.”
“Certainly not once they learned she’s a solari,” Damia points out. “Would the Trovians even accept her as their ruler, or would they burn her as a heretic the first chance they got?”
I know it’s just Damia being Damia, but I can’t help but bristle at the callous way she talks about Ana.
“You of all people should understand there’s a difference between what the Temple wants and what Trova’s people will accept,” I say to her. She gives me a hard stare but doesn’t argue. “Let me worry about the princess.”
I turn to address the group. “The more important matter is that I gave you a job to do, and now one of you is going to tell me how wonderfully successful you were while Alastor and I have been busting our asses trying not to get arrested again.”
I’m met by five remorseful faces.
“That bad?” Alastor asks.
“We got a lot of the same answers from the healers in Elmere,” Stratton says unhappily. “They suggested things we’ve already tried, or…”
He trails off, not wanting to say it.
“Or they said there’s no cure at all,” I finish. The words taste like poison in my mouth. Of course it was just another dead end. I don’t know why I ever thought humans would have the answers I need. I suppose a drowning man will cling to anything.
“But there was something,” Damia says. “Two of them mentioned Hallowbane.”
Hallowbane. Trova’s city of sin. It sits to the north of Godom, just beyond the Temple’s reach, and it’s where all the unholy reprobates of the kingdom tend to congregate.
“There’s someone who can help us there?” I ask.
“They said it’s the place to find healers who’d be willing to bend the natural laws.”
“Is that really what we want?” asks Alastor.
“If that’s what it takes,” I answer, steel in my voice. “I don’t give a damn about natural laws. I care about finding someone who can deliver results.”
“If they’re anywhere, they’re in Hallowbane,” Eryx adds. “The dryad healers have their ancient laws, the humans their Temple’s rules. We need someone who’s prepared to look beyond both.”
“Then Hallowbane’s where we’ll go,” I say.
“Should we really be lingering in Trova?” Phaia asks. “You’re a wanted man now, captain. Shouldn’t you head straight to the border? Leave it to us to follow the Hallowbane lead.”
