We were going alone. I wasn’t told we were going alone.
“I assure you I know the way. The journey is predictable and tame,” Fyn said.
“I’m so assured.” I didn’t want to be alone with him for that long.
“Ashlyn!” Cora’s voice carried down the hall. She clutched a leather satchel at her side.
“I was worried you weren’t coming,” I whispered as she hugged me tightly.
“Do you think I would miss seeing you off?” Her voice was a soft hum meant just for me. “What you asked for is inside—as much as the infirmary could spare. Rowena doesn’t know if it’ll work on humans. Drink it afterwards. Each one lasts for a week.”
I nodded as she slipped the leather strap over my shoulder. I would carry it and hope that it could do something if I needed it. It felt far too heavy for it to do nothing. “I really wish we could convince you to come with us. It would spare me from being alone with Fyn for days.”
“Heard that,” Fyn said. “You could just thank me for taking you there. I promise I won’t let it go to my head.”
Only he would. There was no saying nice things to Fyn and not having him twist them. “I am eternally grateful.” I offered a coy smile. He wouldn’t mistake it for authentic.
“I’ll await your stories and hope that my visions bring me a glimpse of it all,” Cora said.
I wished her visions had shown her my future—or that I knew when I would see her next.
Aelira took the baby back from Lioran. Together, we walked in silence down the path, until we came to two horses—Fyn’s brown mare and a white one beside it.
Fyn grabbed the sword from me and tied it into my pack. “Do you wish for me to secure your satchel?”
I clutched it closer to my chest. “No, thank you. I’ll wear it.” It was too precious to part with.
“You have my love, always. You both do.” I wrapped my hands around Aelira’s as I kissed my nephew’s head one last time.
She choked back her tears. “You always have ours.”
“Send the royal family our regards,” Lioran said.
Fyn held out his hand for me in front of the mare.
I took it until I could grab hold of the saddle. “I will. Thank you again for everything.”
When we left, I barely looked back.
CHAPTER FIVE
ASHLYN
The road thickened just beyond the castle. Trees that had once formed bridges with horizontal limbs were no longer sturdy. They were etched with scorch marks.
For months the fae endured, slowly piecing back their world after my kingdom’s knights destroyed it. I had never ventured far from the castle grounds, but the further out our horses led us, the more I saw the destruction.
Abandoned homes on the outskirts.
Roads lined with blackened tree roots and limbs.
“How could my brother do this?” No one deserved to have their land destroyed.
When Fyn looked back at me, I realized I had said it and it wasn’t just a thought in my head.
“There’s nothing I could say that will help you make sense of it,” he said.
I was the reminder of it.
