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"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ryze said. He nodded and turned to Cavan. "You know Havenmoor better than I do. Will you make the portal?"
Cavan nodded. "I thought you'd never ask."
"I didn't want to," Ryze admitted, eyes twinkling. "But here we are." He spread his hands out to either side.
Cavan shook his head but half closed his eyes and placed his palms outward in the air. Where Ryze's portals looked like ice, his looked like fire.
I expected heat to radiate from it, but it was the same temperature as the air in the courtyard. Still, stepping through it was tentative at best. I half-expected to be roasted alive.
Ryze took my hand and walked through with me.
"Disconcerting, isn't it?" He looked up at the—was it a ceiling?—above us. "Walking through ice and snow makes more sense than walking through fire."
"I find them both disconcerting," I admitted. "Is that why mine won't stay open? Because walking through portals freaks me the fuck out?"
He laughed and pulled me closer, to tuck me to his side. "Possibly but probably not. The first time I went through one I made, I felt the same way, and it stayed open."
"It's just me then," I said with a sigh.
"I don't think it's just you," he said. "No more than it's Hycanthe's fault her magic isn't strong except at certain times. And Tavian seeing visions? Probably not a coincidence either. I don't know what any of it means yet. Hopefully we can get some answers."
"Hopefully," I agreed.
We stepped out into a stand of trees. Was it the same forest we'd spent the night when we ran from Dalyth and Cavan's Fae? That seemed like years ago now. Being here in their company was more than a little strange. Not until my feet were on the leafy ground did I realise I'd expected armed Fae to still be here waiting to attack.
In spite of everything Cavan said, trust was thinner than the layer of leaves under my boots.
Cavan closed the portal behind us and glanced around. "I see no sign anyone knows we're here, but us."
"Keep your eyes open for portals in the sky," Ryze instructed. "Or stray griffins."
"Or dragons," Tavian said teasingly.
"At this point, if a dragon appeared, I'm not sure how surprised I'd be," Ryze said wryly.
"Things certainly couldn't get stranger," Cavan said. "Who could have guessed you and I might be civil to each other for more than a minute or two?" Before Ryze could respond, he added, "Don't get too used to it."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Ryze told him. "Are we going to stand here talking, or are we going to Havenmoor?"
Cavan responded with a curt nod and started away to the north.
Tavian slipped over next to me. "Can you feel Zared?"
I'd been putting off feeling down the bond until now, scared of what I might find. While Tavian held my hand, I reached out.
"He's close," I whispered. "He can't be more than a kilometre or two away."
He seemed tired and angry. What was it that had him so upset? He felt like he was ready to punch someone. Could he feel me too? Should I send nice thoughts, or stay out of the bond?
I didn’t know how he'd react to feeling anything from me. He might have felt me all along, and he might not. Better to wait until I saw him face to face.
Tavian squeezed my hand. "I still haven't ruled out stabbing Dalyth for messing with his memories." He looked ahead to where she walked a few steps behind Cavan.
"Me either," I said. She looked like she enjoyed it at the time. She seemed to take pleasure in the suffering of others. Pleasure that went way beyond doing what she was ordered to do.
I still hadn't resolved the fact Cavan was the one who told her to do it. Regardless of his reasons, it was difficult to forgive and impossible to forget.
Unless Dalyth made me forget.
