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Tor finally finished his journey around the parameter and set up the fire. At the same time, Rainn adjusted a roll of animal fur across the shelter floor.
Tor found a flame quickly using a device with a glass lens and a glowing stone. “Day Court.” He told me, pressing the device into my cold hands as he tended to the fire.
I brushed my thumb over the silver device and the engraved sun on the side. “I’ve never been to the Day Court.”
“Truly?” Tor turned to face me. “Not even as a youngling?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t allowed out of my rooms much and never allowed to leave the castle. I used to be so jealous when Moira and Liam returned with whatever they’d found at the Guppie Market. Beads, spelled fabrics, and body paints made of algae. Sometimes, they’d find treasures like Hawthorne branches or slivers of silvers from faraway lands.” I tried to return the firelighter to Tor, but he waved my hand away.
“Keep it,” Tor said, his dark eyes fixed on mine.
“Have you ever been away from the lake?” I asked. “Oh. I suppose you must have if you’ve been to the Day Court.” My cheeks warmed against my volition.
Tor bit back a smile. “I have been to the Day Court.” He murmured, putting me out of his misery with his gentle expression. “My father took me as a youngling. Elsbeth stayed home with our mother at the time. Though my father had business with the King of Day, I walked the gardens for hours, marveling at the hundreds of flowers. It was my first time above land.”
“That sounds wonderful.” I sighed, looking down at the firelighter with wistful longing.
“Landfolk fear the water horses.” Tor nodded resolutely.
“Because you can eat emotions?” Rainn finished setting up the shelter and dropped down by the fire on my other side. He gestured to the flask of Sú Amadán. “Drink.” He urged.
I lifted the flask of my lips, wrinkling my nose at the potent smell. Dandelions and Burdock. I took a hearty swig, my tongue curling in my mouth and recoiling against the sharp tang of the alcohol. My nostrils stung, and after I held the alcohol in my mouth for a moment, I chose to swallow it. My eyes watered, and I gasped as I pushed the flask back into Rainn’s hands. My head swam already, and I coughed. “You’re trying to poison me!” I gasped.
“Trying to ease your mind.” Rainn’s words were muffled as he lifted the flask to his lips and took a swig.
Tor cleared his throat. “Kelpies don’t tend to attack water fae, but the land fae are fair game. It’s said to be the most delicious meal, to grab someone and drag them to the deep. I have never done it.” He assured me. “But my father has. It’s a horrible death. There is no soul left afterward. Nothing to haunt the afterlife. Land fae don’t turn to foam like us. They don’t return to Belisama, the god of the waves.”
I shuddered.
“Does that frighten you?” Tor’s head cocked to the side.
“No,” I told him honestly. “Death doesn’t frighten me.”
Tor and Rainn stared at the fire, not saying a word. The silence felt heavy. The subject of my death hovered over us, waiting to be mentioned.
“It was dark,” I told them. “But I found you both in the darkness. I don’t think I was dead. Not really. But I think that I was lost in the water. Whenever I have cast myself across the lake in the past, I have sat on the throne. I have given blood to the High Throne. It was a bargain between us.”
“You’ve sat on the High Throne?” Tor appeared to choke on something.
Rainn gave him a stare and a slashing hand movement, telling him to stop talking as if the mention of the High Throne would pull me from the memories I’d fallen into.
“Yes. I’ve sat on the High Throne.” I laughed, waving toward Rainn. “He knows. I’ve told him. Irvine couldn’t sit on the throne.” I reached for the flask and took another sip. “My uncle sat on the throne once.” I held up a single finger, swaying. “He was unconscious for weeks.”
Tor took the flask from my hands. “I think the Sú Amadán is getting to your head.”
“It’s getting somewhere.” I squirmed, fanning my face. “I’m warm now.”
“King Irvine didn’t sit on the High Throne.” Tor stared down at the flask. His brow furrowed. “But you did.”
“I already told you that.” I hiccuped, licking my lips. “The throne is bloodthirsty. When I was little, they used to push me onto the throne and hold me down. It has teeth; they come out the side. See?” I held up my arms, turning them over. Without my scales to hide the silvery lines on my forearms, the faint scars from the High Throne were visible in the firelight.
A dark look crossed Tor’s face, though his expression didn’t move.
Rainn cursed. “You were a child.”
“I had my mother’s blood.” I shrugged. “The High Throne wanted her, and when it couldn’t have her. It had me. It never stopped hurting.” My eyes drooped, and I swayed. “I don’t want to go back to Cruinn. Trapped in the castle, like Charybdis under the lake.”
Tor reached out and placed his hand over mine. “We don’t have to go to Cruinn.” He assured me. “You won’t need to go anywhere you don’t want to again.”
