“Perhaps him, but he didn’t say anything to you about Silas?”
I bit my bottom lip, looking to the ground. He hadn’t…but Igon knew what Silas was to me. I knew there was only one way I could convince them.
“What I’m about to tell you can’t be told to anyone else, not even your children,” I whispered, walking closer to them.
They stood straighter, exchanging looks with one another before nodding.
I exhaled through my nose. “Silas…he is my Soul-Tie.”
Ayla gasped, covering her mouth. Immeron’s eyes went wide. I looked over to my group, Silas looking over with a raised brow, Merrick’s dark eyes swirling.
“You’re sure of it?” Immeron asked in a low voice.
I nodded. “I used to live in Otacia. He and I were together before the Queen died,” I said as quietly as possible. “Igon told my friend Torrin, the one who offered my mother and me safe passage to Ames, about Silas and me before we had ever met each other. He confirmed it when I met him myself.”
Immeron’s eyes went past me, looking to Silas, whose arm was wrapped around Erabella.
“But the Prince…he is married.”
“He believed me to be dead all this time.” I sighed. “It’s…complicated. But if you are willing, I would be thankful if Edmund could have new limbs, if you think it possible.”
His gaze stayed on Silas for a while. “I will do it,” he said after a moment. “But it will take some time. My family does trades in the local kingdoms, nothing of the enchantment sort, obviously, but I will have to see what I have.” He eyed my attire, then looked to his wife, who nodded before smiling at me.
“I make clothing—that’s my specialty,” she winked. “My boys can help with the armor and with some weapons for you. In the morning, I can measure you for some new gear.”
“You would do all that?” I tried to contain my surprise.
“You will need more than limbs for your friend,” Immeron noted. “Igon was an excellent seer. If he wishes for you to take this journey, I will help in any way I can. Let me know your group’s preferred weapons, and I will make them for you. As Ayla mentioned, our sons can get you better armor and clothing as well. Not the best out there,” he eyeballed my plain brown dress, then my friends’ prisoner attire. “But better than that.”
I laughed softly. “Thank you, both. We will pay, of course.” I then frowned as more of Igon’s words came to me. “Have you heard of Oquerene?”
Immeron nodded with a confused look. “Of course, I have. It is said to be the realm where we all came from. ”
“Some of Igon’s last words to me were ‘Find Oquerene.’” I sighed. “As fantastical as it seems, something tells me that place is really out there. But I have no idea where to start.”
He and Ayla looked at one another. “Well. Nereida seems like the place to go.”
My eyes broadened. “Nereida? I’ve never heard of the place.”
“It’s an ancient land, once ruled by the Sea Nymphs. It rests alongside the Southern Sea. A powerful ward blocks it from the view of those they wish not to see it.”
My Gods…could that be where more of my people are?
“Once ruled by Sea Nymphs?”
He nodded. “After the War of Three Pirates,the Sea Nymphs vanished, though legend claims they and other extinct species live in Oquerene,” he shrugged. “Now, anyway, Nereida is said to be ruled by the Mages.”
I was baffled. I had read no literature on this war. “Why wouldn’t I know of this place? Why would we stay in Ames when there was a place with better protection?”
Immeron shrugged again. “Igon was a seer. Perhaps for destiny to align the way it should, certain people need not be in Nereida.” He wrapped his arm around Ayla’s waist. “Plus, the journey is long and gruesome. It will be hard to survive the various obstacles, especially considering a necromancer is on the loose, let alone the trial that awaits at The Valley of Awakening.”
To that, I raised my eyebrow.
He continued, “I don’t know much of it, but there is a border between regular land and Nereida. It is said to show those who cross through it the truths of themselves. Not only that…” he sighed. “There have also been sightings of bloodsuckers. Bodies found drained of blood.”
My stomach dropped. In all my time on the run, moving from place to place, I had never once had an encounter with a Vampire.
“There are Vampires down south, too?”
