“Runs?” I repeated, and he nodded. I looked to Santorina. “And you…”
“He carried me.”
“He carried you?”
“That parroting trick is amusing, Alabath,” Tolek said, wrapping an arm around my waist and squeezing me to his side. “Want to try something original now? Or I can think of some very colorful phrases for you to repeat. How about?—”
“Not necessary!” I burst out, but I couldn’t help my laugh. “I was just surprised.”
Last I saw Santorina and Lancaster, they’d been snapping at each other incessantly, the Bounty and the Hunter. But something seemed to have changed. Even the way Rina stood beside him, her posture entirely at ease, was different. Like they weren’t ancient enemies but…equals.
“As was I,” Rina said. “But how are you?” She looked beyond me warily, eyeing my wings.
“I’m g—” The word stalled on my tongue. Was I good? I was better. I was healing from what Echnid had done, but good? “I’m happy to be back.”
Rina nodded, her lips pressing into a line. “I’m happy you’re back, too.”
Her words were nearly as quiet as mine had been, but there was a supportive understanding in them that I’d missed. Everyone had been so accommodating since I’d escaped Damenal, their love the true thing keeping me sane, but there was an underscore to Rina’s presence that I’d needed, too. One that provided her own brand of gentle anger and forged strength. I needed all of them to be whole myself.
“The wings are wonderful,” Tolek said, throwing an arm over my shoulders. “I love them.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less when it came to Ophelia,” Santorina said, and Tol nodded proudly. “When will they be?—”
Lancaster held up a hand. He tilted his head softly to the left, and Rina knowingly followed. The male whispered, “They’re here.”
Straining my ears, I heard it, too. Warrior senses had increased when Echnid returned, our eyesight sharpening and hearing perking up at more distant sounds. We were all still learning to trust it, but therewasa distant crunching, and when I spun toward the opposite wall, a small group was crossing the icy yard toward us.
Four Mindshapers led by Ricordan, the older warrior who had aided us in the underground labyrinth when I hunted Thorn’s emblem. They were coming from the edge of the property where smoke spiraled into the sky. There must have been a smaller home out there, one they were occupying while repairing the manor we’d wrecked.
“Here we go,” Tolek said as they marched closer. He dropped his arm from my shoulders and removed the extra cloak, flanking me on the left with his hand casually on his sword. Rina stood on my right, and Lancaster was on her other side. I shook my wings, letting the feathers fan out, and gold ether tumbled over them.
As Ricordan crossed through that gaping hole in the wall, his jaw tightened, eyes assessing the damage once more. His council—if that’s what they were—spread out on either side of him, and the man nodded. I recognized the woman to his left, her red-gold hair braided back and eyes much more alert than when I’d last seen her under Kakias’s enchantments of the broken crown.
“Revered,” Ricordan said. “Welcome back to Mindshaper Territory.” His words weren’t unkind, but they were wary. Last we’d seen each other, I was sending his newly reunited family away from the Mystique Mountains after confirming that his son, Trevaneth, had written to Kakias to reveal our plan to catch her in this very manor, causing her and her troops to move on our armies earlier than planned.
It had almost cost us the war, but the boy was young, and he’d been tricked by the queen just as warriors ten times his age had. He’d only wanted his mother back, his family whole again.
“Thank you,” I said, infusing my voice with as much genuine gratitude as possible. “I didn’t think we’d return so soon. I am happy to see your family reunited.” I nodded at his wife, and she returned it, but her eyes traced the wings at my back uncertainly.
“Thank you,” he said, slipping his hand into hers, stance relaxing. The casualness with which he stood was less a ruler receiving a potential political adversary and more a man trying to represent his people. “Tolek, Santorina, Lancaster. It is great to see you all again, though I will admit we are surprised to see you…together.”
His stare flashed to the fae, who said, “We are as surprised as you, but it appears we have a common enemy.”
“Ah, not many things bond quicker than that.”
“Very true, Ric. Thank you for meeting with us,” Tolek said. “And we’re sorry about the redecorating we did the last time we were here.”
Ricordan shook his head, frowning. “We didn’t want to return to this place after she’d used it.”
If they still held grudges against Kakias, even in death, that was a good sign for us. The muscles holding my wings so high eased slightly.
“I’d like to introduce my companions, here. First, my wife.” Ricordan held out a hand, and she stepped forward. “Sandretta. And our friends, Oudry and Zaina.” He said each of their names with warm affection.
“You were in the labyrinth,” I said to the latter, the warrior with her dark hair shaved close to her head.
She nodded. “I was stationed near the pit.”
“You showed us to the prisoner we interrogated,” Rina said, the memory dawning as her eyes widened. Spirits, that had been a brutal moment. The warrior from Kakias’s army had been crazed by the queen manipulating half of Thorn’s broken crown. He’d been shouting at me, things about my father and magic being alive.
