I glance up at the sentries manning the wall once more. The males are all staring down at the village splayed out before them with an unerring intensity as they monitor the work being done and wait for calls of attack. The village forms in a perfect image in my mind, as if the wall were made of glass, the people waiting in the streets for their rations and the builders moving from house to house as the final repairs are made.
If only those concerns were all I had to deal with.
Turning back to my task, I push my hands into the cold depths of the dirt and let my magic flow into the ground in offering to the plants there as I keep my tone even and calm. “I suppose of all the assumptions you could have made, it wasn't misguided. If the Seer didn't give you any indication of her situation, how could you know any different?”
He lets out a sound that’s something akin to a chuckle, much like the one I bit back, drenched with despair and hopelessness. “There you go again, offering kindness and mercy where none of us deserve it. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my treatment of you. It felt like a betrayal when Soren brought you back here, and no matter what evidence was presented before me, I couldn’t accept you. It didn't matter to me that the Fates had bound the two of you together—it felt as though my cousin was spitting on the torture of my mate, and for me to show even the slightest civility to you seemed the same.”
He shakes his head and finally meets my eyes. “I thought about telling Soren about my fate, doing something to make him understand why we couldn’t trust you. A thousand times I was tempted, but the words could never pass my lips. It was my greatest shame, to be told by the Fates I’m so unworthy of their mercies, and that my mate would suffer because of it?—”
He breaks off abruptly, his fists clenched where they rest on his knees, his body trembling with unspent rage. Even now, I don't feel threatened by him.
I let the silence stretch a little longer, turning his words over in my mind until finally the sense that I’ve had of this mess becomes clear enough to share. “Your fate says you couldn’t save Thea from the abuse happening to her… not that she can’t be healed from its effects or protected from anything else happening to her in the future.”
I glance up to find his eyes sharp and his gaze narrowed on me, but he doesn’t speak a word. Gradually, I step away from the garden beds to sit on the bench beside him but leave a considerable amount of space between us.
“She likes to be busy. I think it’s a consequence of her trauma, and perhaps it’s easier to make peace with the damage of her mind if it’s occupied elsewhere. The stronger the trust between the two of us grows, the more she shares with me. She has a very keen mind, quick thinking, and picks up new skills with great precision and only a single instruction. I'm sure she’s been overlooked because she’s deaf, but there hasn’t been a task assigned to her that’s been too complex for her to complete.”
Tauron stops breathing next to me, his body turning to stone as he hangs on my every word. These tiny scraps of information are still far more than the sedate and clinical assessments I’ve passed on to Soren. For such a man to swallow his pride and explain himself to me to ensure her safety and well-being… it's revealing.
“Soren said she’s working with you… she enjoys it? She never comes out to the garden. We’ve kept watch to be sure to move the guards out of her sight if she does come out.”
A lump forms in my throat, the tone of his voice tugging at something inside me. “She’s found peace here, so far. I’m not sure I can call it enjoyment yet, but we’re working on it. She’s very happy around Tyra, though, I think they’re becoming friends. She doesn’t wish to come out to the gardens yet, though now that I can assure her she’ll be alone, maybe that will tempt her.”
He nods, blowing out a breath as he stares at his hands. With his shoulders slumped like this, I’m tempted to look for signs of bleeding, but I know the wound he carries is internal.
I clear my throat. “She doesn't enjoy high-fae finery. Airlie has tried to send down dresses for Thea but stopped when we found they only distressed her. She also prefers plain foods, though she can be coaxed into trying new things. She has a sense of humor, though we’ve only found it in the last few days. If you hear nothing else, I say to you today, Tauron, let it be this—with the right encouragement, she’s been able to form bonds of trust. I’m sticking to the assessment I gave Prince Soren. There's a long road ahead of her, but with every passing day, I become surer the path she walks is not a circle. She’ll find a way through the darkness she’s been cast into. With patience and time, I believe you’ll be able to gain her trust. I know that you’ll find a way to meet her on her path and walk alongside her as the Fates command. We can’t save her from what was done—she alone must do that—but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost.”
In the silence that greets my words, the sounds of the soldiers walking along the inner wall and the murmurs of the barracks only a few dozen feet away are quiet to my hearing, but I suppose Tauron can hear them all perfectly. I look at the high-fae prince for just a moment to be sure I haven’t stumbled over sometrauma of his, only to see him swallow roughly and duck his head. His gaze is trained on the cobblestones beneath our feet, the path kept meticulously clean.
When it’s clear he has nothing else to ask me, I get back to my work and focus on the structures until I’m sure they’ll hold even through a night of snowfall. As I stand and move on to the next garden bed, I glance over my shoulder once more to find Tauron gone, no sign left that he ever came down to speak to me of his darkest pains.
Two daysafter Tyra moves into the healer’s quarters, I’m woken by a sharp rapping of knuckles against the door hours before dawn. I’ve been expecting this day to come, not knowing the finer details as Soren kept them to himself to ensure the journey couldn’t be discovered by his uncle’s spies, but the moment my eyes open, a steadying peace settles over me.
Dressing quickly and collecting my small satchel, I bid Tyra and Thea a quick farewell and then slip out to find Tauron and Reed waiting for me in the hall, Alwyn and Kyton standing watch instead of the usual guards. I nod to them both respectfully, confident in their protection of my charge, and I gesture at Tauron to lead the way.
Reed falls into step at my side with a bowed head, looking up only once we round the corner and find the stairwell empty, none of the usual guards present as though this has all been carefully orchestrated, because it has. To keep Yregar safe for these long centuries with such finite resources, there’s no doubt Soren has been meticulous in his planning.
The courtyard is as empty as the castle halls were, and when my brows pull in a little, surprised there’s no sign of Soren or our horses, Reed leans closer to me to murmur, “There's a tunnel that leads out of Yregar, similar to the one out of Yrell. Prince Soren waits for us there.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “So youcanstill speak to me? I thought perhaps you’d been struck by some terrible curse but, alas, you’ve just been avoiding me for your own reasons. It's almost impossible to keep up with the ways of the high fae. You’re all as fickle as the Fates themselves.”
He has the decency to look embarrassed, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck as his gaze drifts to Tauron’s rigid form in front of us. The prince doesn’t seem to take any notice of our conversation, and I enjoy the tenuous stalemate we’ve somehow come to after his visit to my gardens.
Reed says, haltingly, “There have been many rumors since the witch armies arrived to Yregar and I… assisted your escape to come to our aid. I thought it best to find some distance. Prince Roan agreed.”
I frown at him, ignoring the arm he holds out to assist me through the barren and rocky gardens at the back of the castle, despite my feet slipping dangerously. “How exactly was guarding me at Yrell keeping your distance? Or is it simply through your eyes and your respects that you must treat me like a diseased thing?”
His cringe grows, embarrassment turning into shame as he glances around us once more. If I was still a Witch of the Woods and nothing more, maybe I would show him mercy and let this drop, but I learned a long time ago not to let these sorts of quarrels fester.
“I’ve never cared about the opinions of the spoiled high fae who spend their time gossiping in the courts, but considering you’re Prince Soren’s Fates-blessed mate, I thought it best forthe whole kingdom if I showed a little more discretion around you.”
Discretion.
I certainly wouldn’t call his frosty treatment that, and frustration bubbles up inside me until I want to scream at him. “We’re friends, Reed, not lovers in some secret tryst!”
The color leaches from his face, and when I glance at Tauron, I find his shoulders rigid with tension. When he glances back at us, I raise my eyebrows at him, daring the male to question me, but Soren has taught him well the consequences of provoking a lit temper.
Reed’s murmurs turn desperate, almost hissing out of his mouth. “The prince himself had a lot of questions about what convinced me to side with you, and so I won’t act so… familiar with you until things settle down.”
