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Telean dried her eyes with the heel of her hand, reaching for Demos.
He pulled our aunt into his arms, towering above her smaller frame. Leaning up, she patted him on the cheek. “You’re a good boy.”
He grinned. “Let me guess, you were supposed to arrive last night?”
“Yes.” She nodded at me. “Your prince ordered a carriage for me, but we lost a wheel at midnight last night. I took one of the horses.”
I reached for Lorian’s hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”
He pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “Since your aunt has made it, we can depart.”
Rythos shook his head at him. “You didn’t think to tell us?”
“She was supposed to be here last night.”
Lorian nodded at the stable hand, who jumped into motion, and we led our horses out to the small courtyard.
Vynthar had already said his goodbyes before dawn, slinking out of the inn and into the forest so he wouldn’t cause any alarm this morning.
I hugged Demos and Asinia. They were still barely looking at each other, but they would work together when it counted. And if I was hoping for them to work something else out…well, that was none of my business.
“We’re going to bring Tibris back, Pris,” Asinia promised.
I nodded, suddenly unable to speak. Demos slung his arm around my shoulders and led me to my horse. “Remember what we talked about.”
I nodded again. He’d given me strict instructions about our plans for the city. “I will.”
We mounted, and I watched Demos and Asinia travel in the opposite direction.
The soft rustle of feathers sounded overhead. A plump gray pigeon circled, then fluttered down, landing on my outstretched hand. Its tiny claws flexed against my skin, and I unrolled the parchment.
It was written in our code, and I recognized the handwriting. Vicer.
Barrier to come down with full moon—five days and counting. Regner currently out of the city. Whereabouts unknown.
-V
My breaths stilled. “How far are we from the city?”
Lorian shifted his horse closer to mine. “Two and a half days if we travel from dawn to dusk.”
“We need to move faster. Regner is taking Jamic out of the city before the next full moon. We’ve got five days.” And we would need at least two of those days to put our plans into motion.
“In that case, we’ll need to travel through the night.” Lorian glanced at the others. “Rests will be few, and sleep will be short.”
Everyone nodded. I nudged my mare, pulling my cloak over my head as we headed through the tiny village and back toward the main trail.
Five days. Regner knew if he could swallow down all of the power from both Jamic and the barrier, his chances of wiping all of us out were much, much higher. And if we were all dead, there would be little stopping him from conquering this continent and killing anyone who opposed him. He’d already made it clear exactly how much he enjoyed slaughtering my people, and with nothing standing in his way…
Bile burned up my throat, and I lost myself in a fantasy in which Regner had never been born. What would all of our lives have been like without his evil infecting them at every turn?
Perhaps it all would have been different if his son had lived. But I didn’t think so. Regner had already ordered the fae from his kingdom by the time his son died.
I could make myself crazy, attempting to analyze him. Attempting to understand the impossible. I couldn’t apply logic where there was none.
Telean angled her horse next to mine, and my chest lightened as she gave me a faint smile.
I attempted a smile back. It felt strange, and I let it fall. “Where are we with the Gromalian prince?”
