Page 31 of Keldori By Daybreak

“Shouldn’t he be at the Rift?”

“The Ferrin at the Rift is probably a Nightmare. He’ll keep his real body safe at home.”

I sighed and took her arm in mine. “You won’t see Ferrin. He’s probably asleep.”

“I don’t know what he’s told everyone about me.” Her long neck bobbed as she swallowed hard. “They might all think I’m dead. Or a traitor.”

“By ‘everyone’, you mean Iseult?”

She blushed and turned away. Orla had commented on Iseult’s looks once upon a time and had expressed a casual desire to kiss her, but I wasn’t sure how deep that affection actually ran.

“Well, sure. And my brother.” She chewed on her lip.

“Cade?” I remembered. I’d only met him once.

“I guess I should call him my half brother. I don’t know if Ferrin told them about that either.” Purple sparks danced in her hand, and she watched the amethyst hues twist against the malformed rock walls. “But Cade was all I had left. Our father—well, his father—died when we were both very little, and our mother—”

She cut off rather than complete the thought.

“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but you probably won’t have time to see him up there.” I wished I had better words to offer Orla, but I was the least qualified person to speak on brothers, seeing as I had none.

“Right.” Orla nodded. “In and out. I wish you were going up with me. It would be better with a friend.”

“I wish I was going too. Staying down here with—”

I froze, and Orla’s arm slipped out of my grip.

“What is it?” Orla asked.

“Ciarán!”

At my cry, Ciarán procured a flame that lengthened into an orange bo staff. He wielded it ahead of him and scanned the pyroduct for danger. I scowled at the weapon and shook my head.

“What’s happening?” he demanded.

“Nothing! Calm down.”

“Then why are you yelling?” His brow turned stormy over his cowl.

“I should go up the mountain too.”

His bo staff fizzled into nothingness, and he spun on his heel to continue stalking down the tunnel.

“You barely made it to the mountain,” he snapped with his back to me, “and it remains to be seen if you can make it through. Why would we take you up?”

“Because I’m stronger than all of you.”

He slowed to a stop and lowered his cowl as he turned back around. “You’re injured.”

“This body is injured.”

His eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch as he realized what I was suggesting.

In my real body, yes, I was injured, and even at full health, I didn’t have the athleticism to keep up with a fight.

But I had fought Ciarán enough times as a Nightmare for him to know what I was capable of when I was limited only by a nocturmancer’s Skal supply and my own imagination.

“Absolutely not.” Ciarán took Jonquil from Fana and continued down the tunnel at a faster pace than before. “It’s not proper.”