“And who was the ‘Protector’?”I’ve heard that term before...Queen Merecot’s letter, she remembered, the ransom note. She’d called Bayn the “Protector of Queens.” No one had known what that meant, and Naelin hadn’t thought about it much at the time. She’d been too caught up absorbing the implications of Queen Merecot’s letter to think about the wolf.Odd that the word is associated both with Bayn and this tale of the untamed lands.“What do you know about the ‘Protector’? Who was he or she?”
Sira thought, tapping her lips with her forefinger. “A few songs mention him—always a him—at the side of the First. Other singers have told me he was the first champion, and that the title simply changed over the years. Except there was only ever one Protector in the songs, and there are many champions. There are those who believe he was a kind of enlightened spirit—or an uncorrupted one, a spirit the way the spirits were supposed to be if the Great Mother had completed her work, devoted to humans instead of despising them, at one with Nature.”
That didn’t make sense, Naelin thought, at least when it came to Bayn. She’d never heard of an “enlightened spirit.” And the wolf was obviously not a champion.
“There are also songs that hint the Protector is some kind of immortal, or that he bears an immortal destiny, but those singers were known for being caught up in the beauty of their own poetry, so that could be exaggeration. Do you want to know what I think?” She leaned closer as if she wanted to impart a secret. Her eyes were sparkling and her lips were smiling.
“Yes, I do. Tell me.”
“I think the Protector was the First’s lover.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I think he wasn’t protecting Aratay; I think he was protecting the queen. I think he was more than the first champion. And do you know what else I think?” She lowered her voice even further. “I think Ven isyourProtector. He loves you. I can see it. Feel it. He would set aside his fear of death for you. He would follow you into death.”
Naelin felt herself blush.
Laughing, Sira wiggled down the branch, descending fast from the canopy. The peal of her laughter lingering behind. Naelin hung on as the thin branches shook. The crisp autumn leaves clicked and crackled as they smacked together from the movement. Only when it steadied enough did Naelin feel safe enough to climb down too.
As she descended, the branches closed above her, blocking off the starlight and moonlight until she was climbing into shadows. Naelin thought about reaching out to a spirit to help her—but no, she wouldnotdepend on them. She reached with her foot down for the next branch. Soon, she’d switch to ropes, but she couldn’t remember exactly how far until the ropes began—
She felt hands on her waist, steadying her. “Rope ladder is to your left. Reach out and you’ll have it,” a familiar voice said in her ear. Ven.
He held her as she reached, stretching her fingers and pawing at the empty air, until the tips of her fingers touched the rough dryness of a rope. Her hand closed around it.
With Ven, she climbed the ladder onto a platform. Below was the warm light of his mother’s house. She heard voices rising up from it—the cascading light laugh of his sister, Sira, and the knife-sharp voice of his mother, Zenda.
Ven’s arms were still around her waist.
The shadows felt like a blanket around her, and she leaned her head back against Ven’s chest and listened to him breathe. She supposed this meant he’d survived his “talk” with his mother. She thought about asking how he was, but instead just let the silence wrap around both of them.
The First went into the untamed lands and came out.
It was just a bit of a nearly forgotten legend.
But that title “Protector”... Merecot had used that title to refer to Bayn. Why? What did it mean? It was a tenuous thing, a single word in common between a song and a letter. Yet it felt like there was a connection between the two, and she was determined to find out what it was.After we save Erian and Llor, maybe there’s a chance we can also save Bayn!All this hope was a heady thing—it made her feel like anything was possible. “Tomorrow we’ll reach Queen Merecot,” Naelin said.
“Yes.”
Then maybe we’ll have answers, including why she targeted Bayn. And what she wants from me.“Good. I’m ready.”
“Naelin... I need to know...”
She waited, thinking about what Sira had told her, about how he loved her.I love him.But she couldn’t remember if she’d ever told him.If he says the words, I will. I won’t even hesitate.
“Are you still planning to kill her?”
She startled and then nearly laughed at herself for thinking that Ven was thinking about romance when he was busy plotting how to keep his queen from committing murder. “I don’t know. Rescue first, then I’ll think about revenge.”
“Just don’t... I don’t want to lose you to revenge. If you lose control again...”
Naelindidlaugh then, though it wasn’t anything to laugh about. He was afraid of her, of what she’d do, of the harm she could bring to the people of Semo and the people of Aratay... people like his sister, Sira, who didn’t deserve to suffer because of Naelin’s rage and despair.
“I’m going to see this through, as I promised,” Naelin said. “I’m not going to harm Queen Merecot unless she tries to hurt us first.”I am, though, going to ask her a few questions,aftershe returns my children.Naelin turned then, within the circle of Ven’s arms. Reaching up, she touched his face, felt the stiffness of his beard and the weathered softness of his cheek, and before she could remind herself that she had no feelings anymore, she kissed him.
He kissed her back, tentatively at first but then more desperately, as if he were a drowning man and she could save him.
She wasn’t certain she could save anyone.
