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Obviously reading my emotions, Nicolette spoke for me. “Of course,” she immediately gushed. “We’ll help you in any way you need. You’re Farrow’s family.”
I sliced her an incredulous glance, because family seemed like a bit of a stretch for Bricklynn, Dewla, and Payne. Or at least, too soon to say. But I didn’t correct her, because she was already adding, “My brother’s currently invading your kingdom, so I just need to stop him real quick. And then you three can come home to Donnelly with us. How does that sound?”
They blinked at her in horror, before Bricklynn burst out, “Bitch, you’re crazier than psycho Kalendria. We can’t go to fucking Donnelly. We’re Far Shore royalty. They’ll murder all three of us the moment we step foot on sand.”
Nicolette fisted a hand against her hip and sent the other princess an arch stare. “Oh no, they won’t if I tell them they won’t.”
Bricklynn eyed her a moment longer, then turned to me, nodding astutely. “It appears you’ve made a wise choice in mates, brother.”
I smiled, agreeing even as I admitted, “I had very little choice in the matter, but yes…” With a pleased purr, I met Nicolette’s gaze. “She’s a fine mate, indeed.”
“Speaking of mates…” Fourteen-year-old Dewla moved closer to Indigo and batted her lashes before sighing demurely. “Are you the High Cliff prince they say was imprisoned with Farrow? The one Kalendria’s sworn to marry? If you two don’t suit, you know, I’ll take you.”
Indy winced and eased a leery step back, uttering a doomed, “Oh boy.”
34
Nicolette
So, the headcount in our expedition more than doubled. Farrow was adamantly against the idea of letting Roloff join us, but the soothsayer defended his case quite handily, if you wanted my opinion.
“They had an axe to my head,” he sobbed. “What was I supposed to do? Besides, destiny was whispering in my ear, telling me you needed to be caught there, sneaking into the castle.”
I glanced toward a glowering Farrow. “You really can’t argue with destiny, you know.”
“If destiny meant Sable had to die and your life was put into jeopardy, then the hell I can’t.”
“It had to happen that way,” Roloff insisted, tears spilling down his cheeks. “I loved Sable, too. She kept me sane while we lived in those dungeon cells together. We watched a tongue-less man starve to death. Rats swarmed in. I would’ve lost my mind without her. But destiny said…” He paused to dab at his wet eyes. “Destiny said it was to happen this way. The results will cause peace among many and—”
“You call this peace?” Farrow roared, flailing his hand around us. “The Donnelly army is invading as we speak, burning down our forests as they go. The fucking queen is trying to kill my entire family, and if we’re caught by any Far Shore guards, we’re all as good as dead. What, in any of this, sounds peaceful to you?”
“Farrow.” I touched his arm gently.
But he jerked away, not in the mood for softness or logic, and he advanced on Roloff menacingly. “No,” he growled. “This pathetic excuse of a mage was supposedly tested for goodness and purity, but he’s steered us wrong at every goddamn turn. I don’t want him anywhere near you or my sisters.”
Roloff calmed suddenly as if seized by another one of his messages from destiny. Then he stepped to Farrow, rather bravely since I was fairly certain Farrow was already gripping a knife to end his life, and he said, “You turned me in to palace guards to be executed merely to send your sister a message, my lord. Yet, here I am now, following you blindly
. I may not know exactly what will happen or how it will come to be, but I know without a doubt that I never steered you wrong.”
Stubbornly refusing to believe him, Farrow shook his head and laughed without humor. “Then why has this whole fucking trip been fraught with problems?”
“Life is rough, my lord. A mountain can’t be climbed if it’s smooth. And you need to climb right now. You need to make it to the very top. To save us all.”
“I think that’s our answer, then,” I said, making the decision for everyone. “Roloff stays.”
Farrow sent me a dark look but didn’t refute my claim. He trusted my choice.
“We’ll need more horses,” Indigo spoke up. “Seven of us can’t ride all the way to Donnelly on only three mounts. And food. Bison set us up with enough staples for three, but we’ll need more. Soon.”
I blew out a lungful and agreed with him. “Brentley’s army is already headed to Blayton. We’ll just wait for them there, purchase the rest of what we need, and go home with our soldiers when they arrive.”
“If we’re not caught by any of Kalendria’s guards first,” Bricklynn muttered helpfully.
I nodded. “Right. And we need to avoid them while we’re at it.”
“We could go to the safe house where we were staying after we fled the castle,” Dewla suggested.
“Wouldn’t that be one of the first places Kalendria would send people to search for you?” Farrow asked on a wary squint.
