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"So you are Luna's scion. You are powerful yet. It is untapped."
I had no idea what that meant.
"Come with us and we can teach you how to use your magic. We can show you the power that you hold within yourself. We can make you a queen should you so desire it."
That was all well and good, but I didn't want to be a queen. And I didn't want to be a scion, whatever that meant.
"You may not want these things yet, but you will. You will want power so you can protect yourself and those you care about." The fae's gaze flicked behind me, no doubt landing on Wyn. I didn't need to look to see that she was right there.
I reached for a branch that had been set to the side of the campfire, ready to use it to defend us if needed. As I raised it in front of myself, though, a sword appeared through the feral fae's chest, right where its heart should be.
Black blood oozed out of the wound, along with its mouth and eyes almost instantly. It dropped to the ground revealing Thorn behind it, his sunkissed eye glowing like crazy, reminding me of when he had pushed me in the veil, and I saw it for the first time.
He stretched his non sword wielding hand out, aiming it toward the body on the ground. Light erupted from his palm and a fireball shot forth, landing on the body and incinerating it almost immediately.
Thorn didn't stop there, though, and aimed his hand over my shoulder. For a second my heart stopped and I thought he was actually aiming at me, but the fireball went flying past my head and hit the fae that had been approaching us from behind. When he turned and did it a third time, I knew that he had taken out all three of the possessed fae, leaving our camp a bloody charred mess in the process.
"What in the sweet goddess's name was that?" he demanded as he looked at me, as though I had caused all of this on purpose.
Chapter
Fourteen
Senara
The capital was even more impressive than I'd expected based on what Thorn and Ronan had told me. When they'd described their cities as being built into nature I hadn't expected them to be quite as well camouflaged as they were. If the buildings hadn't had windows for the sus to glint off of then I wouldn't have noticed them at all as the tall peaks of the buildings blended with the mountain tops.
The spires reached in the sky as though they were trying to pierce the clouds themselves and the gray shale that made up the tiles almost matched the ssstoney backdrop the snowy peaks provided. The moss and grass covered ground only helped everything meld together as I realized ivy climbed the corners of the different structures, blunting all the sharp angular edges.
"Welcome to Caslean," Ronan said from the horse next to my own.
"There are wards around the city proper, but with your magic being so, uh, attractive we should get you straight to the council," Dehlion said.
Dread pooled in my stomach and my chest tightened with unease. I still wasn't convinced I could trust this council, I mean I barely trusted the guards as it was and they had saved my life.
I glared at Thorn's back. My current trust issues stemmed from him, so really it was all his fault.
The horses' hooves clattered against the stone streets as they took us closer to the central building which was also the tallest. We had slowed to what some might call a trot or a lazy canter but with how big they were the pace of the horses still ate up the distance faster than I expected. Fortunately, the townsfolk knew to stay out of their way.
As we wound through the city I realized that we were avoiding the area that seemed to be the main thoroughfare, which was fine by me. The less curious gazes that landed on me the calmer I would be when I met this council.
"Here we are," Dehlion said as he tugged on the reins of our horse. I still wasn't happy about the fact that I hadn't been able to ride by myself but at least he'd kept his distance unlike Thorn when I'd had to ride with him.
The sound of Wyn's voice had me turning as I caught the end of a conversation that she was having with Ronan. "Not the building in the center?" She asked as they slowed to a stop next to us.
"The center is the palace, where the king and queen live," Ronan replied, with a respectful hush to his voice.
Wyn nodded solemnly as Ronan and Dehlion both got off the horses and then offered their hands to their respective partners. Dehlion’s hand was cold in my own, showing just how high we'd climbed in a short time. I hopped off the horse and released his grip as soon as possible, the prickling on the back of my neck let me know that someone—probably Thorn—was watching with interest. It made me want to flirt with Dehlion just to see what reaction I would get.
"These are the council halls, basically the second most important building in Caslean. I'm sure the council is busy, but they should be willing to meet with us, given that they are expecting us." Dehlion strode ahead of us and I followed like the dutiful little captive I was.
If I said anything like that aloud they would quickly disagree and tell me that I was free to do as I pleased, and yet, when it boiled down to it, I didn't have much of a choice, not if I wanted to live without a cloud over my head. I tried to spin it positively in my head that I would be able to use the council to ground myself and maybe even find a way to use my magic or make a living.
Dehlion pushed the door open and held it for Ronan who I followed inside. The building itself had high ceilings and gold touches here and there with creamy white walls that were covered with art. Plants lined the windows and were dotted around the entryway. When the greenery was combined with how much light was coming it it barely felt as though we'd entered a building. If it wasn't for the warmth I might have thought we were in a courtyard or something similar.
A tall, willowy man with long golden hair approached us, his golden gaze narrowed when he realized that we weren't anyone he recognized. "May I help you?" His tone was more than a little dismissive.
"Master Leonheart?" Dehlion asked. When the older man just raised an eyebrow in response Dehlion continued, "We have brought the moon marked as the council requested."
