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“I’m all right,” Darla groaned weakly, her eyelids fluttering open. “But damn, if I couldn’t use a good steak, a massive glass of water, and a full bottle of wine.”
“I’ll get on that as soon as you’re up,” Oren said quickly, which was most certainly cute, but I was still reeling too much from the prior conversation to gently tease them about it.
So, not only was I cursed by the older living creature and malevolent force in all of the world, but that magic user was blessed with power unlike any other soul alive. That was insane. How could I overcome that? It was nice to wonder if I was somehow descended from some mysterious, blessed, and magnanimous witch, but that made so little sense it was laughable. If I was, why did my parents give me away? Wouldn’t they have wanted me to know about my heritage so I had a chance of defending myself?
No, no, it would all be too convenient. Assuming Tomas was telling the truth, I needed to start working off the presumption that I was just one unlucky girl going up against impossible odds.
Well… at least I wasn’t going into it alone.
Chapter 17
Kai
As was the pattern of things, time kept moving incredibly quickly, threatening to leave me behind despite the more leisurely cadence of Blath. I got the feeling all of us were still coming to terms with what Tomas had revealed, especially since I wasn’t really all that sure how much we could trust the vampire.
Because what he’d said had been shocking, yet that didn’t automatically make it true. For all we knew, he could be making everything up just to mess with us. Perhaps my father offered to buy him off for an even higher price.
But in a strange way, there was a certain sense to his message. It filled gaps in our knowledge about the mysterious figure that’d been wreaking havoc across the continent for generations. It made me wonder how many other identities he’d held, and for how long he’d used them. Did he pretend to be some all-powerful, malevolent creature for three or four centuries, then disappeared again for one hundred years, only to return under a new name?
“Are you ready?” Aodin asked, and I stared at him a moment as my mind returned back to my body and the present moment.
Right, we were sitting in a more secluded tavern than the one I’d met the Arbiters in—one on the complete opposite side of Blath. Aodin and I were in a back room wearing clothes that weren’t anything like what we’d been in since arriving on the island.
It was strange to think there could be spies anywhere on the island as everyone I’d met seemed staunchly anti-Camdarian, but it was better to be needlessly cautious rather than surprised.
“Yeah, I’m as ready as I can be.” I took a centering, steady breath as I had seen Ayla do so many times. It worked well enough for her, so I figured it could only help. “How about you?”
My mate nodded, but her gaze was far away. She had been quite introspective since our psychic conversation with Tomas. We talked about it occasionally, but mostly, she stayed much within her own head. I understood, though. That had been quite an unexpected revelation for all of us.
“All right, I’ll go meet up with my contact and escort them here,” Aodin said, heaving a sigh of his own. I really would be forever grateful for everything he’d done for us. I knew he was just as vested in helping Camdaria, so it wasn’t like he was being completely selfless, but I still appreciated it, nonetheless. He proved to be an invaluable ally several times over.
“Be safe.”
“That’s the plan.”
He hurried off, leaving Ayla and me to sit next to each other in silence. I didn’t mind, however, reaching over to offer my hand to her.
She took it just as I hoped, and our fingers interlaced. I never thought hand holding was all that exciting, but with Ayla, it felt like so much. It was a celebration of everything we’d gone through to be together and a promise of so much more that was possible for us. Even if all of those possibilities still hinged on defeating the Shrouded Shriek, and also my father, so we could finally stop the forces of Vekas.
So, no big deal really.
At least it didn’t take long for Aodin to return with six people in tow. They looked about as nondescript as they came, ranging in different species, ages, and genders, while their clothing looked vaguely Camdarian, but also not entirely out of place on the Isles, either.
But that lasted about a moment or two before the air in front of them seemed to ripple and dissolve, revealing six significantly older fae who were dressed in what I recognized as the council robes I’d seen at the party days before.
“Greetings,” I said, standing, and Ayla followed suit. I was grateful she’d been willing to come with me considering that diplomacy wasn’t something she enjoyed at all. But as my mate, I wanted her with me at all times. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me and hear me out. I do not take that lightly.”
“Prince Nikolai,” one of them said, stepping forward. His hair was incredibly long and stretched down his entire back, with streaks of silver running through the dark gray. They stood in contrast to his deeply tanned skin, his dark eyes matching my own. I didn’t get any immediate warning notes from him, but there was still something that kept me on edge. “I am council member Oliver Holdryn. Our cousin Aodin and his constituents have told us quite a lot about you and the incidents that have happened since you’ve come to our humble islands, but we are quite interested to hear your version of the story.”
“Of course,” I said, guessing that was the only introduction I was going to get.
There were five other council members, so that was disconcerting, but they weren’t interested in sharing their identities with me. Fair enough.
“Look, I understand your people are fiercely proud of your culture and history, and that your islands have always remained independent of any colonization. I have nothing but the deepest respect for your people and nation.”
“It sounds like there’s a ‘but’ in there,” another remarked. A tiny woman who was paler than Ayla, with bone-white hair and even cloudy white eyes. But even though she looked frail, her back was ramrod straight, and there was a proud tilt to her chin.
“No ‘but’; just consideration. I completely understand why it was advantageous of you to ally with my father after generations of reluctance. With Vekas’ forces and their endless advances, it was the best way to assure protection for all of your islands.”
