I turned toward her just in time for Asha to crush me in a hug that felt like it ground my whole world to a halt.
“Oh, thank the gods! I was hoping you would be here,” she murmured into my shoulder.
She had not meant to twist a knife in me, but I was all too conscious of the fact that I had stayed far away from Sage’s family. That decision had been weighing on my mind more and more every day until the regret had set in, but by then it had seemed much too late.
I clenched her back as grief and guilt fused together in a horrible maelstrom inside me. I tried to breathe through it and buried my head in her shoulder to inhale the scents of herbs and campfire smoke that lingered on her cloak. The familiar smellsthat reminded me of Sage.
She leaned away after a moment, her hands reaching up to cup my face, and she looked at me hard with eyes so familiar that it immediately made me feel untethered.
“Oh, child,” she breathed, seeing through me the way that I had feared she would be able to.
“I am alright,” I tried to insist, but my voice trembled and betrayed me utterly.
“No. You are not. Neither am I,” she assured me with a sympathetic smile that did not reach those purple eyes.
Tears were suddenly spilling over my lashes without any warning, but I quickly wiped them. I had not gone a single damned day without crying, but this would be the first time I cried in front of people since the first day.
Carrick appeared behind Asha looking much too gaunt and sleep deprived. He did not say anything, merely drew me into his arms and held me until my trembling stopped. With a kiss on the top of my head, he released me and put an arm around Asha before they turned toward the males beside me. Ciaran bowed deeply to Asha as usual.
“Do we know anything more?” she asked hopefully.
“No. But Rian does have a plan to force the griffins to tell us how to get to where he is,” Ciaran told her.
“How long?” Carrick wanted to know.
“We leave tomorrow,” Ciaran answered with a glance down at me.
“You are going too?” Asha asked me nervously.
“I would be even if I were not the only one who can get close enough to our mark,” I said, and Carrick reached out to squeeze my hand as he breathed in deeply.
“Come back to us, Ornella. You are family to us too. No matter what, we cannot lose you as well.”
His words were some of the most beautiful that were ever uttered to me. I just did not have the heart to tell him that if we could not bring Sage back, then I knew I would lose allsense of purpose. After five hundred years of such heartache and solitude, I had finally found what I hadn’t even realized I was looking for my whole life.
And now I would not live without him.
I felt a prickle of worry coming down the bond from Pyrope and quickly muted our connection to hide my dark thoughts from her. The link to her was getting stronger, and it felt natural to leave it open once I allowed it to take form in my mind. More and more frequently, I found myself reaching for her unconsciously when heartache threatened to overwhelm me in the quiet moments.
“How is Rian?” Carrick asked as he blinked away the emotion that was threatening to overwhelm him.
I winced and glanced at Ciaran and Darragh who both looked equally uncertain. “Well…” I hedged.
Thankfully, a hush fell upon the yurt so suddenly that we all turned toward the front. The aes sídhe moved out of the way as Rian strode into the tent with clipped steps toward the war table and the other Sua. I saw Asha and Carrick share a concerned look, which meant his mood was as obvious to them as it was to us.
Ciaran tugged on my arm to get my attention and then jerked his head for me to follow as he and Darragh made their way to our leader.
“Thank you for coming,” Rian called out, silencing the whispers that had been rising in volume since his arrival. He met each of our eyes as we reached the front ranks and gave us a nod of acknowledgment.
“It did not sound as if we would be allowed to refuse,” commented Imogen Firebane, Sua of the Aes Rurrinn.
“No, you are right,” Rian assured her without an ounce of apology or trace of humility when he met her eyes.
“What is wrong?” whispered Carrick who had come up behind me along with Asha. I could tell that the other aes sídhe also shared his shock at Rian’s uncharacteristic lack of deference.Even Imogen blinked at him before her lip curled with indignation, but Rian ignored her.
“You were told to stop using theteine ceangalto speak with one another, and I can confirm now that the reason is that the fifth stone was compromised. The Fuath had it in their possession after they destroyed Aes Navu—”
“That is impossible! The Fuath would not even know what it was and certainly would not be able to use it!” interrupted Imogen. She gave a sneer that suggested she found Rian’s intellect lacking for thinking otherwise.
