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“You’ll be leaving soon then, I suppose,” Crescent said, breaking the silence.
I whipped my head around to look at him. “How did you—?”
“Oh, it’s written all over your faces,” Lancelet said, waving a hand and wrinkling her nose. “Of course you wouldn’t invite any of us either. Typical.”
“Invite you? But I—”
“On the greatest quest that may have ever been?” Hawl’s voice boomed. “And you would not take a friend?”
“It will be very dangerous. We aren’t even sure—” But I was interrupted once again.
“We won’t be left behind,” Lancelet snapped. “We aren’t children.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know that. But I need you here. Did you ever think of that?”
My friend—for she was and always would be—narrowed her beautiful blue eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I was going to ask you to act as regent on Kaye’s behalf, of course. And to look after him and Medra for me.”
Her cheeks pinkened slightly. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh.” I sighed and sat back down by the table. “You know what we must do then?”
“Destroy the grail and the sword,” Guinevere said softly from her place.
I nodded. And the spear, too, if we could locate it. The weapons of gods. With luck, we would also find Rychel and bring her back with us. “But we’ve lost anyone who truly knew anything about the past. Who could tell us more about the objects of power.”
“Not everyone,” Guinevere said, raising a hand to touch the owl resting on her shoulder. “Not everyone.”
In the waning hoursof the night, the tavern had emptied. Only a few stragglers remained, nursing their mugs and talking quietly.
The dwindling candlelight cast long shadows over the worn floorboards as the notes of a soft melody drifted from the lone musician left playing a harp in the corner.
I thought of Orcades and her harp and how she would never play again.
Draven's hand rested gently at the small of my back as we danced, my anchor in the night.
My mate had been quiet for a while, lost in his own thoughts. But his gaze never strayed from me. His protectiveness was a force that wrapped around me, shielding me from the outside world.
My silken gown brushed against the rough fabric of his tunic as he drew me closer against him, his touch possessive. As the song drew to a close, my mate guided my steps with a practiced ease, then finally pulled me into an embrace with a sigh.
“Tired?” I asked with sympathy. “It’s been a long day.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Tired and not tired, silver one.”
“Are you going to keep calling me that?” I asked curiously.
“That depends. Do you like it?”
I nodded and pressed up more closely against him. “I like everything about you and how you talk to me.”
I felt him smile.
“Should we go back to the castle?” I suggested. We had hardly slept since the night before last. I had closed my eyes for a few restless hours of sleep on the chaise in Orcades’s chamber. Draven had sat on the floor, leaning against the couch, watching Medra and Kaye. I didn’t think he had slept at all.
He hesitated. “Do you feel as if you need to return to them?”
He meant to Kaye and Medra.
