“You have no right to speak to me that way.” Serentha’s tone was strong, but cold. No hint of motherly emotion.
“And you have no right to dictate what I do.” Crispin’s words were so soft, I wasn’t sure if he was speaking them to his mother, or to himself.
Then his footfalls lightly crunched behind me and I could pretend no longer that I wasn’t listening. I looked back at him.
“We are going,” he said. “We’ll find somewhere else to sleep.”
“No you don’t.” Serentha marched right past us, but didn't spare either of us so much as a glance. “If Allistair learns I lost our first celestial since they all disappeared, I’ll never hear the end of it.” She stopped a few paces down the path leading toward her gate, but still didn't look back. “We will speak further of your mission in the morning.”
“And of only our mission,” Crispin clarified.
“Very well.” Serentha walked off into the darkness.
Crispin offered me his hand, but he wasn’t looking at me either. “We should get some rest. In the morning we’ll question the other elves about the darkness. If they haven’t seen anything strange, we’ll see about returning to the others to heal the pathway.”
Bothered that he wasn’t looking at me, I stood without his help. “I saw a shadow. It was a little one, but it sniffed around my boot for a while before darting off.”
His eyes, wide now instead of narrowed in irritation, finally lowered to my face. “Why didn’t you come to me immediately?”
“Because it darted off,” I repeated. “What would you have done?”
He shook his head, still clearly distracted. “Never mind. Let’s just get some rest.” His eyes were now peering out into the darkness. And there was only one word for his expression.
Haunted.
But not by anything we could fight.
15
Ifollowed Crispin into the house where he started rummaging through the cupboards, presumably for something else to eat. We’d lit a few lanterns, though after the shadow sighting, I would have preferred much more light.
“I take it that conversation didn’t go well?”
Crispin slammed a cupboard with a little more force than was necessary. “Of course not. She stands by the notion that because things turned out alright for me, she made the right choice. Because of her I went to court, then ultimately carved a path to the earth realm to become an advisor to the king. This was all because of her, obviously.” He knelt in front of another cupboard to peer inside.
I approached him cautiously, not used to seeing him so angry. When he only tilted his head to look up at me, I gripped his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you to talk to her.”
I felt the tension leaving his shoulders with his resigned sigh. “No. You were right. I would have regretted leaving again without at least trying. Even once we heal the pathway, this could be the last time I might see her.”
“Once there’s a pathway, you could always come back and try again.” I doubted it would do much good, but, well, my mother had redeemed herself, so there was always a chance.
“I don’t want to come back here again.” He stood, dropping my hand from his shoulder. “Meanwhile, my mother believes that now that I’m back, I shouldn’t leave.”
I inhaled sharply, caught off guard by his words. I had considered the possibility of losing Mistral to his home realm, but hadn’t considered losing Crispin instead. He liked earth, and within Emerald Heights, his magic could still flourish.
Not seeming to notice my reaction, Crispin continued, “She believes my duty is to my people. Not all elves have magic, and few have magic as strong as mine. I could do good here, growing new homes, encouraging the crops to flourish.”
My throat was tight as I asked, “Is that what you want?”
He turned around, suddenly looking devilish, which was even more unexpected than the idea of losing him. “Oh dear Eva, your tone suggests that you might miss me.”
I frowned. “Don’t tease me.”
His expression softened as he closed the space between us. “Not even a little?”
“Not even a little teasing or not even a little missing you?”
Gripping my hands, he lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Both?”
