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Gaven and Alastair stayed behind to clean up the mess while I took the rest of the Mist Guard, including Tessa, into the meeting room to discuss our next steps. Val and Nellie hurried along behind us, and none of us did a damn thing to stop them. I couldn’t bear to tell them to go back to their rooms alone after what they’d witnessed this night. I’d brought the mortals here for peace, to provide them with a safe haven from the danger they would have faced back in Teine. But I’d been wrong to assume two very different groups of people could knit together seamlessly.
We pushed inside a room adjacent to the Great Hall. Inside, a fire blazed in the hearth, and several bottles of wine had been set out by the maidservants in anticipation of the night ahead. If the ball had continued the way I’d hoped, my friends and I would have retired to these chambers to continue our celebrations after the party began to die down.
As it was, I didn’t have the stomach for any more drink tonight.
Niamh rustled around in a cabinet along the far wall. After she found a bundle of cloths, she crossed the room to Tessa’s side. “Here. Let’s put this on your wound until it stops bleeding.”
“I’m so sorry,” Tessa whispered as Niamh wrapped the bandage around her throat.
“Listen here.” Niamh clasped her shoulder. “You’re one of us now. That means no one can attack you, do you hear me? We take care of our own.”
Tessa smiled. She reached up to her shoulder and clutched Niamh’s hand. “Thank you.”
Warmth flooded me as both Toryn and Fenella moved over to Tessa’s side and patted her back. It seemed Fenella had finally given up stalking Tessa’s every move, a fact that brought me a measure of relief. I couldn’t have them all fighting.
Val and Nellie sank into the armchairs beside the fire while the Mist Guard and I gathered around a smaller version of my war table back in Dubnos. Oberon’s glittering crown no longer sat atop Albyria’s etched city, but that did not mean this was all over yet.
“Someone please tell me Oberon has been spotted somewhere inside this moon-forsaken kingdom.” I turned to Fenella, who merely shrugged.
“I’ve sent out more scouts. No word. None of the patrols stationed around the cities saw anything, either. If it didn’t sound completely impossible, I’d say he swam across the sea to the human kingdoms.”
My frown deepened. “Have you heard from the city guard in Sunport?”
Toryn nodded. “This morning. They said Oberon hasn’t shown himself, and no ships have sailed for weeks. So even if he escaped unnoticed, he can’t have made it across the seas.”
“He has to be somewhere.”
Niamh rubbed her scar. “Speaking of ships, I heard some rumblings from the Teine humans during the ball. Several of them don’t seem to like the idea of leaving Endir. They feel safe inside these walls, but…then there’s another faction. A smaller one.”
“Basically, they don’t much like you, Kal,” Toryn added. “There are whispers they plan to leave on their own. I don’t think they trust us to get them safely to Sunport. And tonight’s little incident surely didn’t help things.”
Tessa pushed up from the chair, muscles tightening around her eyes. “They want to leave on their own?”
Sighing, I ran my hand along my jaw. “Don’t they realize that if they leave without guards protecting them, they’ll die out there?”
Fenella frowned. “Well, they don’t seem to care much. To them, you’re, well, you know.”
“The fucking Mist King,” I said through clenched teeth. “We rescued them from Teine and brought them to this city surrounded by impenetrable walls. We’ve fed them, entertained them. We’ve done nothing to cause them harm. How can we convince them to trust us?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Niamh said with a sad smile. “They’ve made up their minds. Sometimes, hatred runs so deep that you can never overcome it, no matter how hard you try to wash it away with kindness.”
Tessa shifted on her feet. “Who are they? Maybe I can talk some sense into them.”
“Your mother, for one,” Toryn told her. “She doesn’t trust any of us.”
Tessa’s face paled.
Her sister jumped to her feet. “Mother? But…”
“You saw how she was when the fae showed up in Teine,” Tessa said with quiet resignation. “She threatened Kalen with an axe. I should have known she wouldn’t just accept things after that. And she’s been avoiding me.”
“Well, we need to talk to her. She can’t run out into the mists by herself.”
Tessa met my gaze, her mouth tight with worry. I hated to see her like this. For a few moments tonight, there’d been so much light in her eyes. So much hope. When I’d seen her gaze at the falls this morning, cheeks flushed, lips parted, I’d known. I’d felt it in my bones. She needed something like this. She needed to see the world for what it could be, for what she’d never had.
I wanted to show her hope.
And all she’d gotten was more of the black sea that dragged her down into the depths of despair.
