Page 97 of Destiny of a King

“I asked one.”

“And I heard it.”

“Then answer it,” Dravic demanded.

“Your da wanted to understand Driochmor,” Ernach finally said. “Not conquer it. Not control it. Understand it. He believed there was much here Scotara could learn from if people stopped fearing everything they could not explain.”

“Why did my father want to understand it? He ruled over it.”

She heard it again… father.

And again, she wondered how the word could sound familiar to her.

When it became obvious the older man intended to say nothing more, his patience thinned.

“You have developed an annoying habit of deciding what I should and should not know.”

“I have developed an old man’s habit of knowing when one answer will lead to twenty more.”

“I have time for twenty.”

Ernach laughed softly. “I suspected you would.”

Adira felt the rumble of Dravic’s response beneath her hand where it rested against his chest. She wished desperately that more words would break through. She listened until the effort itself began to frustrate her, but nothing came.

Ernach was quiet for several moments before he looked toward Dravic again. “You ask much about your grandda and da, but nothing of your mum.”

Dravic’s expression hardened slightly. “I know all I need to about my mum.”

Ernach nodded. “Do you?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Magic of Thorskaill

Drawn to Her

The first sign of Thorskaill Village was not a cottage or a curl of smoke rising above the trees, but light.

Small flickers of it dotted the forest ahead, glowing softly against the deepening gray of the afternoon. They appeared to float among the trees, some high in the branches, others hovering only a few feet above the snow-covered ground.

Dravic slowed his horse. “What are those?”

Ernach glanced toward the lights as if there was nothing unusual about them. “They mark the way to Thorskaill.”

“Torches would do the same.”

“They would.”

Dravic waited for more, but none came.

He frowned at the older man. “What are they?”

Ernach smiled. “Lights.”

“I can see that.”

“Then why did you ask?” Ernach chuckled, shaking his head.