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“I won’t have a child for him to take. So I guess my days are numbered…”
“Why do I feel like you’re giving up?” Gavin stepped towards her, his wild eyes searching her face. “No, you’re a fighter, Violet. You won’t be leaving me here without trying to get out of this. We will find a way.”
“The first emissary came to me that day in the Hulten lake, Gavin. For three years I’ve been searching for a way out. I was hopeful when Mios mentioned the god stones—but now we know the mine is destroyed.”
“The cave isn’t gone.” Mios’ deep tone had them both turning toward him. “The wolves could not get inside—and I’m not saying we should. We are close to it, though.”
“Where is the entrance? Do you have a map?”
“Julius took almost everything I had. I always have some gold sewn into hidden pockets for safekeeping, so I have that left… But unfortunately, the map wasn’t in there when they ambushed me. So it’s gone.”
“But you were betting in the tavern like you had a castle of gold at your disposal.” She knew she was sidetracking the conversation, but it was a welcome reprieve from her current dilemma.
“I don’t bet unless I’m positive I will win.” He shrugged. “Either way, Ellie did say she would take us there.”
She’d promised a lot of things to get back her gold, admittedly.
“We can head there after the storm settles,” Gavin said with a reassuring nod. Was he trying to calm her—or himself? He reached for the curve of her hip. “And if we don’t find any stones there, we can head south with Mios. If the Crows were so worried about that mining operation, there must be a few of them out there. I’m sure we’ll find one for each of you.”
“There must be others circulating around the rest of the kingdom as well,” Mios agreed. “I refuse to give up so easily.”
Hope bloomed in her chest, and the air seemed to flow more easily through her lungs, filling her body with renewed energy. They were right. There was no reason for her to lose hope before even trying. She had a lead, and if that made Dargan squirm, then all the better. Let him watch as she got close to a way to escape him.
“I was told one more emissary has to come before the god collects me…” She exhaled, feeling her resolve strengthen.
Gavin’s smile mirrored her own, a tentative tilt of lips that was tainted with fear.
“We will leave here soon. Try to get some actual rest.” Mios nodded, before he walked away down the corridor to his room.
“Mios…” Violet called from where she stood. The lion paused and turned slowly.
“Yes?”
“How were you able to see him?” As far as she knew, no one but her had ever seen the bastards every time they had appeared. Not even Cullen, who stuck around for a while.
“All of us with true royal blood can see the emissaries,” he muttered, scrapping his hair back from his forehead with one wide hand. “I wasn’t sure they would grant me the honor to see, let alone speak to one. Not after the Lionborn fell out of favor…”
“Oh.”
“That was a scary bastard in there. I’m sorry it happened to you, Violet.” He tilted his head toward Gavin with a softening expression. “And you.”
26
VIOLET
It took three days for the storm to pass. They left Tulahn on a clear morning, as soon as the starry night had faded to golden hues with the first appearance of the sun’s rays. Ellie awaited them by the stables, tightening a worn saddle over her white mare, a large beauty whose name Violet had forgotten. Mios had bought his own horse from a farmer in town. The man was only too happy to get rid of his eighteen-year-old beast and welcomed the ten pieces of gold that would feed his family for at least a week.
She’d almost choked on her breakfast when she’d heard about the ridiculous price he’d paid. No person in their right mind should spend that much on a walking, half-mummified animal that might not wake up in the morning.
Twenty-one, her mare, seemed ecstatic to be reunited with her. She trotted along the messy paths of weeds and over fallen branches with ease as they traveled deeper into the forest.
Violet had grown up in this part of the world. With each passing day, the area became more familiar. But as they descended from the Obsidian mountains, something else gnawed at her thoughts.
Without a map, she wasn’t sure where they were headed. Was this cave close to her family’s home? What if the humans that died in the mine were from her village? The further down they went, the more unease settled in the pit of her stomach.
Maybe her father had been desperate enough for gold and had become a miner? Even if he’d been a fisherman his entire life, it wasn’t entirely out of the question.
Surely not. While not in as good a shape as Mios, Gavin—or even herself—both of her parents could provide for their family. She remembered that much.
