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“You’re wrong,” he repeated. “You’ll see.”
At the sound of approaching hoofbeats, we looked up to see a figure on horseback galloping toward us from the settlement. I recognized the paint horse as Callon’s, but the rider was someone else entirely—someone I hadn’t seen in over a decade. The very same man I needed to find. Jake.
“He’s back,” Fin whispered. He nudged his horse ahead at a trot.
Fin met Jake a hundred yards ahead, both stopping and reaching out from atop their horses to grasp hands in greeting. They exchanged a few words, and Fin glanced back at us. Jake’s stare weighed a thousand pounds as it settled on me. Fin wheeled his mount around and trotted back toward me, Jake following alongside him.
My mare slowed, then stopped as the pair approached, either by choice or at Fin’s telepathic request.
“Princess,” Jake said, nodding his head in my direction. His borrowed mount came to a stop beside Fin’s horse, and his focus shifted to Liam. He scanned my son’s face, almost certainly looking for physical similarities to Fin, then bowed his head to Liam as well, and his attention returned to me. “A lot has changed since I last saw you.”
I laughed under my breath. “Like the fact that I’m no longer a princess?”
“Leadership has little to do with bloodlines. Just look at Fin here.” Jake glanced at Fin, pride shining in his eyes. “I was sorry to hear about the unrest in Corvo City, but I’m glad to see you escaped.”
“When did you hear?” Fin asked. “I’m surprised the news has already reached all the way out here.”
“I heard when I was in the mountains and brought the news here myself.” Jake flashed Fin a halfhearted grin. “I figured you would want to rescue Del and came to offer help, but I see you’ve already done it. Next thing I know, you’ll be putting me out to pasture.”
Fin smirked, but the shadows in Jake’s eyes made me wonder if there was something more behind the statement. Something darker.
“Let’s keep moving,” Fin said. “I want to get Del and the others settled in. And I promised Joya we’d send her provisions. There’ll be plenty of time for catching up this evening.” Fin guided his horse to turn around again, and Jake’s mount fell in step beside Fin’s as they led us into their settlement.
It was even more impressive up close. The fields of crops were lush, if compact, the tents were large, sturdy canvas and leather structures, and I mentally upgraded the huts to cabins. A cluster of larger adobe structures with obvious purposes—blacksmith, tanner, butcher, bakery, trading post—formed something of a town center at the heart of the settlement.
Callon and a few others joined us in the pseudo town square, and Fin dismounted to greet them. His quiet confidence shone brighter when he was around the people who looked to him for guidance. I had seen sparks of his knack for leadership back at the outpost, but watching him delegate so deftly, I couldn’t help but admire him. He was a natural. Born to lead.
I glanced at Jake, understanding what he had meant about bloodlines.
“Sorry about that,” Fin said after dispatching the last of his people to help our group settle in. “I know you’re exhausted.” He approached my horse and gathered up Liam’s and my reins, guiding us on our mounts away from the others toward a break in the buildings. “We’re just through here.”
It took me a moment to make sense of what I was seeing behind the adobe structures. Sturdy wooden doors set about ten feet apart, rested against the face of a low cliff that curved around the backside of the buildings.
I squinted, studying the doors. They weren’t restingagainstthe cliff face. They were setintothe cliff. Doors to something dug into the cliff.
The words of the first prophecy whispered through my mind. The same prophecy being used as propaganda all over the Sierra Kingdom to unite the people and bulk up their army. To rile them up.
Uncover and destroy the destructive force hidden under the earth in Death Valley.
“Patrons preserve me,” I breathed. “Fin, I think I know what the first prophecy is about.”
He glanced back at me as we approached the centermost door. “Oh, yeah?”
“It’s you,” I said, my voice barely audible. “Your people. Your settlement. The destructive force Eduart is so desperate to get his hands onis you.”
39
Fin
“It’s you,” Del said breathily. “Your people. Your settlement. The destructive force King Eduart is so desperate to get his hands onis you.”
I stared at Del, my stomach churning at the implications of that. “If you’re right, then they were here digging up the land, searching for something they would never find.”
Del blinked at me. “They don’t know,” she added. “They’re searching blind. They have no idea what they’re looking for.”
“Eventually, they’ll figure it out, and when they do, they’ll want to annihilate us,” I thought aloud. Prophecies were poison, and though I knew King Eduart having his sights set on us would be bad, if Del was right, we wouldn’t be fighting over land and whatever lay buried beneath our home, we would be fighting for our right to live.
My pulse quickened. My palms began to sweat. I looked up at Liam in the saddle, his tired gaze glancing worriedly between us.
