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“We’ll go at once.”
Together, the two slipped into the darkness.
13
Another restless night,sleep only coming to him finally when he drank the tea that Terra had made for him, and still Rian woke at the first brush of morning light. Nurturer, he thought, with a small smile. There was something about Terra that eased some of the perpetual tension that had plagued him for years now. He thought of her now, as he stood at his doorway and watched the sun kiss the sky. Would she sleep easily after the pleasure he’d given her last night? Or had he given her the same mixture of confused emotions as he now carried?
Sheshouldhate him for stealing the amulet.
Instead, she had healed his wounds, brewed him tea, and allowed him the gift of touching her miraculous body. How could a person be so endlessly patient and forgiving? It almost didn’t seem real to him. Forgiveness was not a notion that Rian had made friends with.
She’d fought for him.
There was no possibility that she was lying to him about her actions after he’d been exiled. The sadness in her eyes when she spoke of the estrangement with her family mirrored his own. Like recognized like, Rian realized. And here was a woman who endured grief because she stood for what she believed to be the truth. She’d never even met him, and yet a single look from him had been enough for her to try and reverse his judgment. Even if her actions had been too late, the fact was — she’d tried. Nobody else had cared. His mother’s pleas for help had fallen on deaf ears. His friends from that life had abandoned him, siding with the High Council instead. But Terra? A woman he’d never met had stood for him.
And now he’d stolen her amulet.
It was a very concerning thing, feeling his emotions again, Rian realized as he rubbed at an ache that bloomed in his chest. Life had been much easier when he could ice everything out and drown his grief in anger and egregious amounts of whiskey. He never should have agreed with Goddess Domnu’s plan—not that he’d had all that much say in it. She’d more or less ordered him to set out on this path, but it wasn’t like he’d put up much of a fight. Not when she dangled the promise of discovering the identity of the man responsible for his fate at his fingertips. Rian’s hands clenched around his mug, and he worked to steady his breathing before he accidently let his magick loose and destroyed the very cliffs their cottages were perched upon. He was too keyed up to stay inside, and though the wind that raced across the meadow carried with it the promise of rain, Rian grabbed his jacket and left his cottage. He needed to put space between him and Terra because the image of her waking up, her skin soft in the misty morning light, was enough to make him almost rabid for her touch. Veering sharply away from the cottages, he stumbled down a narrow path that wound him toward a tiny beach, fervently praying for an answer to his conundrum.
He reached the water just as a light rain began to fall, and, tilting his face up to the sky, he welcomed the cold stab of raindrops on his face. Maybe the rain would numb him once more, and he wouldn’t be worried about hurting someone else. Had any of the Earth Fae cared about hurting him? Or how his mother felt — dying alone with nobody around her?
“Foolish.”
At the hiss beside him, Rian whirled, his dagger already in his hand. A group of Domnua surrounded him, a faint silver glow hovering around their bodies, their eyes all but dead inside. Rian caught a flash of light just below the surface of the water that now roiled tumultuously to the sand.
“I’m foolish? Why’s that, friends?” Rian said, rocking back and forth lightly on his heels, ready for a fight. Make no mistake about it, the Domnua were nobody’s friends.
“Friend? Or foe? Which is it, outcast?” What seemed to be the lead Domnua stepped forward, his ugly visage twisted in disgust.
“I’m no foe to you. However, I can’t promise your safety if you threaten me.” Rian shrugged, acting nonchalant. His heart rate picked up as he realized that if the Domnua had found him here, they likely had found Terra as well. The camp had been well asleep when he’d left, which meant an ambush from the Domnua could kill them all. Fear clouded his vision, and he had to force himself not to turn his back on the threat in front of him and race back to where Terra slept.
“We come to find where your loyalties lie.” The words came out almost like a hiss, reminding Rian of Goddess Domnu’s mane of serpent hair.
“My loyalties have nothing to do with my agreement with the Goddess. I never pledged allegiance to your people, I’ll remind you of that,” Rian said.
“You’d make a promise and betray it in the same breath?”
“You’re hardly one to speak of broken promises. I well know your people’s history of trying to win by any costs necessary. Don’t come crying to me about betrayals and holding onto vows when you’ve built your kingdom on broken promises. You’ll kill a man as he’s promising fealty as easily as you’ll lie and tell me the Goddess has my back. For the record — you’re as expendable to her as I am. Make no mistake that her highness considers you disposable.” Rian didn’t care if he angered the Dark Fae. He’d rather provoke them into a reaction that warranted him killing them all so he could return quickly to the camp than sit here and trade threats and half-truths all morning.
“It’s an honor to die for our Goddess.” The leader bowed his head but raised his sword. Rian’s words had worked. As one, the group descended upon him, and he leaped into the fray, his blood humming with the anticipation of battle, his magick at the ready. Here was an outlet for his fury, here he could let loose the violence that simmered beneath the surface. He took great joy in sending his dagger through the eye of the leader, his ugly face freezing in pain and disbelief, before disintegrating in an explosion of silvery blood. Rocketing forward, Rian scooped up his knife, and whirled to kick the legs of another Fae out beneath him. As the Fae tumbled, Rian caught the blade across his throat, ending his life instantly. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t fulfilling to see the Dark Fae explode at his hands, but he had no time to linger in his accomplishments as pain sliced his shoulder.
“Wrong choice, boyo.” Rian reached up and ripped the blade from his shoulder, wincing as the knife tore at his flesh. Likely poisoned, the blade was, and he’d need Callahan’s help to heal that wound. If his friend still lived. The thought of the camp being under a similar siege sent a fresh wave of rage through him, and Rian made quick work of the remaining Domnua, through magick and simple force of will. When the last had exploded, leaving the small beach covered in silvery traces of blood, Rian turned to race back.
“Brother.”
Whirling, Rian gaped at a Water Fae that had surfaced.
“Do you need our assistance?”
“I’m an outcast. Exiled. You’d still help me?” Right, so he definitely still had a chip on his shoulder. Speaking of shoulders, dark magick worked its way through his muscles, and he knew he needed to act soon.
“Yes. We’d help you. You fight on the side of good,” the Water Fae explained, as though it was as simple as that. And maybe it was. As much as he wanted to resist the offer of help, he had other people to think about.
“The Domnua will likely attack here. I’ll accept any offer of help you can bring.”
“It is done.”
Rian didn’t wait for more. Instead, he raced up the narrow path toward the cottages, the dark magick of the Domnua making his gait awkward and stilted. Still, fear drove him forward, and, as he crested the last hill, he almost stumbled at what he saw.
