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“That seems to be the million-dollar question. My hope is that we’ve stumbled on a magickal ritual that could rid the world of her. I’m still researching though. Maybe, if we can’t destroy her, we can effectively banish her or dissolve her powers. It’s a tall order though.”
“Does the sister help at all? You know, the good witch?” Raven gestured with her cup of water.
“Goddess Danu? She helps where she can. I think there’s some pretty ancient rules that prohibit her from taking this on. I don’t know though. Maybe we could request an audience and get some more answers. I’ll ask King Callum about that.” Bianca tapped a finger at her lips. “She might be our greatest resource if she’s allowed to help us.”
“Yeah, that. Why are you made to do the dirty work for her? It’s her sister that’s being a bitch,” Raven pointed out.
“A major one at that.” A knock sounded at the door. “Right. I think it’s time to meet the others. Are you ready to go or do you need more time?”
“Go where?”
“Well, I think you’ll probably want to look around a bit, no? And Kellen wants to have a talk with his people so we can devise a plan to protect the Air Fae. I think he wants everyone to be there, so we know what to expect. It’s a touch trickier up here, what with not being on land and all that, and I know he’s worried about you and me in particular.”
“Because we’ll fall off the edge and plummet to our deaths?” Raven scowled.
“Yes. The Air Fae have enough magick to fly short distances without their Alicorns. If they tumble off an edge they just pop back up. You and I do not have such luxuries, and as such, we’re liabilities.”
“Oh. Right. We’re the weak ones.” The thought didn’t sit well with Raven.
“Never.” Bianca gave a fierce smile. “We just let the men think that.”
9
Kellen
Kellen spentover an hour in the stables, grooming the Alicorns, refusing to speak with anyone who approached him. His thoughts tangled around each other, and he needed silence to try and unravel the threads. He dearly wished he could take to the skies to clear his head, but then he’d be violating his own “No Fly” order that he’d issued. Though his people had grumbled about it, Kellen had promised them an update at some point today. Now he just needed to figure out what, precisely, that update would be.
The way he saw it—he had two choices.
Batten down the hatches and protect his people from an attack or take the offensive and ride into battle.
Neither felt particularly great, but he supposed that was the nature of difficult times. He’d come into leadership just as Domnu was stirring up trouble with the Elementals, and now he’d have to deal with what came of the decisions he made.
Heavy is the crown, and all that.
It didn’t help that he couldn’t stop thinking about Raven. She was as skittish as a stray cat, inching away from him anytime he got too close, her moody eyes full of distrust. He wondered who’d hurt her.
And how he could fix it.
Kellen sighed and pinched his nose, frustrated with the direction of his thoughts. The last thing he needed to do was try and be a knight in shining armor for some human female. For all he knew, she could be a distraction sent to him by the Domnua. His thoughts skidded to Alistair, and his stomach twisted in knots.
At dawn, he’d held a small ceremony with Alistair’s family. Nobody else had attended, though Kellen wasn’t certain that anyone had been invited either. Alistair’s family had taken the brunt of Devlin’s accusations, with people shunning them and hurling insults as they just tried to grieve their only son. Kellen couldn’t quite bring himself to accept that Alistair had been a traitor, and though the facts were there, he still didn’t want his family to suffer. So he’d attended the ceremony, scattering flower petals in the wind as the soft rays of light bounced across the tops of the clouds, tinging them a soft pink. The petals had fluttered down, caught on the wind, as Alistair’s mother had wept in Kellen’s arms.
He feared there would be more dawn funerals if he chose poorly for his people.
“So this is where you’re hiding out? Can’t say I blame you. The Alicorns are badass.”
Kellen jolted at the interruption, ready to unleash on whomever dared to interrupt him, when he realized it was Raven who’d come to stand outside the stall. Turning, he took in her appearance. Though he’d much preferred the naked and disheveled Raven he’d seen this morning when she’d called to him, he also appreciated this version of her. The leather pants hugged her legs, and the deep purple of the tunic brought out flecks of green in her stormy grey eyes. Her hair had been braided back on two sides, and she looked ready to take on the world.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m hiding out,” Kellen said, rolling his eyes at her. “I’m attending to their needs.” Riker shifted at his side, letting out a soft sound that almost sounded like a laugh.
“Right, like none of the other gazillion stable boys you have running around here can’t do that? You’rehiding.” Raven glanced around the stables, curiosity in her eyes. “Can’t say I blame you either. Everywhere I go, people are talking about you.”
“Where did you go? You were supposed to call for me to guide you.” Kellen resisted asking what people were saying about him. He did not need or want to know. There was no reason to let their opinions weigh on his decision-making process.
“Bianca showed me around. Don’t worry. Seamus was with us. As you can see, I didn’t fall off the edge of the world or anything.” Raven shrugged, her eyes still scanning. She was always watching, Kellen realized, always on alert. What kind of life had she led that had made her that way? “Cool place. Loads of tunnels and stuff, which would probably take ages to learn. But I like the architecture. And the people seem somewhat friendly even if they aren’t sure what to do with me.”
“Were people rude to you?” Kellen asked, surprised. He moved to lean on the stall door, and Raven automatically shifted away from him. If he didn’t work as closely as he did with the Alicorns, Kellen probably wouldn’t have even caught the movement, but he did, and instead wanted to soothe her.
