“I’m looking for something specific, and I believe only the two of you will have the ability to acquire it. I’ve heard a tale of an ancient flower. It’s called the adda. Have you heard of it?” His voice was calmer as he turned to me.
The relief of a task and not death at his hands was so powerful I could hardly speak. I pinched the bridge of my nose, giving myself a second to recompose. “I know the legend of the flower and its description, but I did not know it still existed.”
“I’m told by a prophetess the flower can be found in the Ruins of Durante.” He turned to Gaea. “You’re to take Temir to the ruins and help him locate the flower. Be hasty but thorough.”
“Yes, my king,” Gaea said, bowing.
Without another word, not even a dismissal, we walked out of that room, each step a reminder that we were the fortunate ones, even though death incarnate had his eyes upon us as we left.
“Something’s up,” Gaea whispered to me in the halls.
“Not here, not now. Gather whatever you need and meet me in my rooms as soon as you can.”
“Twenty minutes?” She stepped closer and placed her hand on my arm.
I met her eyes for a brief second and pulled away, nodding. I rounded the corner toward my rooms, and my whole heart dropped into the pit of my stomach as the breath was yanked from my lungs. She was there. In the hallway. Her red hair was losing its shine. She looked to me, her face gaunt with deep violet circles below her eyes. Nadra was living in some kind of hell with the king. I moved close to her without control of my own body. Moving slowly, I pushed a sweet curl from her face, and as my finger touched her cool skin, she released a soft moan. Then, as if the moment hadn’t happened at all, she looked away and hurried down the hall in the opposite direction while I stood, frozen.
The king had been trying, to no avail, to persuade her mother to join the wielders in his collection. Clearly it wasn’t going well. Did she have no regard for how he took it out on her daughter? I’d have to find a way to save her when we returned.
Later, Gaea stood in my room while I gathered books from the study and put them in a pack I had put together. I dressed in several winter layers and a cloak made of fur. I tied an extra blanket to the bag and threw it over my shoulder. I had no idea what we were going to face, so I strapped a sword to my back and hoped Gaea had a better plan.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Damn, Tem. I thought we were picking flowers, not going to war.”
“What was the last thing you heard about the ruins?”
“I haven’t heard about them at all in recent years. I’ve never even been. We will have to travel for about half a day.”
“Exactly.”
She huffed. “If there is trouble, we’ll just spirit away. You probably aren’t going to need that thing.” She pointed to the weapon.
“I hope not, but I won’t get caught without it again,” I said, remembering the sound of the lavrog’s claws ripping the flesh from my bones. I held out my hand formally and saw the discomfort cross her face at my actions, but we were in a weird place now, and if nothing else, this was going to be a relationship-defining journey.
“Temir.” She pushed my hand down and stepped close enough that her feline eyes stilled me. “It doesn’t have to be like this. This is our chance. We could get River and go. They wouldn’t even come looking for us for days, and by then we could be anywhere. Anywhere we dreamed.”
I hadn’t seen this coming, but I should have. I’d denied her this morning already. Had she asked me this months ago, I would have said yes in a heartbeat. I would have begged her for it. But now? Everything was different.
“I’ve said I would help the rebels, and I meant it. I have to see this through.”
“But this is what you’ve wanted for so long. This is our chance.”
I shook my head and watched her heart break in front of me while I felt mine crack in my own chest. “This is not the right time.”
“This is exactly the right time.” She shoved me. “The rebels will only get you killed. They are careless and dangerous, and they have giant targets on their backs.”
“Exactly.” I threw my hands in the air. “I have to help save them, and then I have to help them beat him. It’s the only way, Gaea. If we don’t take him down now, while he is weak, he will rule the world, and no one will be able to touch him.”
“Fuck, Temir. Do you seriously think a bunch of untrained, rogue fae are going to be able to get to him? We need to go south. That’s what we need to do. The south breeds warriors. They kill for sport. Northern fae fight to live while southern fae live to fight. That’s where we need to be. You can start your own rebellion. Build a damn army and then kill him for all I care. But you can’t do that here. You’ll never win, Tem.”
“Listen to what you’re saying. If the south is full of warriors no one has seen in ages, do you honestly think some random fae, a lesser, is going to go down there and do anything?” I tilted my head down to show her my horns. “Don’t forget what I am just because you’ve forgotten what you are.”
She crossed her arms. “I am not lesser, Temir. I am different, but I’m not less than them. I never will be.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I hold you above everyone else in the whole damned world. You’re the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night, Gaea. The king himself is less than you. But everything is broken now. There’s a mountain between us, and don’t tell me you don’t feel it too.”
She dropped her head. “I feel it. I’m the one who put it there.”
