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Scowling, Tenah surveyed the snowy field around them, trying to decipher where the welkin had dumped them from her study of maps. “Where are we?”
“At the southern tip of Inner Sanctum.”
She muttered a curse that made him chuckle. That put her at least a day’s ride from the Burning Plains and miles south of the High Court, where she could have bartered for a mount. Envisioning strolling into her mother’s native city had her tensing in Renton’s arms. She hadn’t sorted through those feelings tied to abandonment, and now didn’t seem like a good time to reflect upon them.
Tenah trained her eyes on the pine branches forming a sparse ceiling above their heads. “Why didn’t you leave me there?”
Renton halted, his annoyingly handsome face tipping down to look at her. His eyes narrowed. “Your home burned down. There was nothing left.”
More sickening thoughts to file away for later processing. Ames had made a habit of calling out her unhealthy suppression tactics, to which she’d always flipped him off.
“Okay.” She drew out the word. “I’ll ask again. Why not leave me there?”
Why haul her body halfway across the floating isles?
His features shifted between indecipherable emotions as he crafted his answer. “I lost track of Kherathi. While he’s alive, your kingdom isn’t safe.”
Elementals, was he too daft to identify a dead body? She sank her teeth into her bottom lip to hold back a wicked laugh. Then again, she had planned on hauling Ames’s body out of the manor too. What if Renton had been taking her somewhere to bury her?
But Ames was family. This hunter…he barely knew her.
“Vozar should be warned,” Tenah said.
He picked up his pace. “I already sent word to the High Court.”
She glared at him, wishing she could burn through his stupid, collected demeanor. “Who exactly are you?”
“Should I expect a hundred more questions?”
“At least that,” she retorted.Like how did you know my name when I never gave it?
His raspy laugh vibrated through her, awakening heat low in her core.
“Well?” she pressed.
“I’m a hunter employed by the High Court.”
Her mouth turned down. All right, so her initial instincts had been wrong. He wasn’t Sardoth’s executioner or an enemy from the Boglands. He held a position with the esteemed leaders of the Kandar Isles.
“Why would the High Court send a hunter to Vozar? We’re not allied.”
Renton’s fingers tightened against her. “No, but your father popped up on their radar.”
Her stomach twisted. The High Courthadknown about her father. Did that mean they had records on her too? Elementals, that would make this new life a hell of a lot more complicated.
Tenah lost all desire to ask more questions, a sour taste filling her mouth as Renton cut south, the opposite direction of where he claimed to work.
Chapter8
Tenah
By the time they reached an inn nestled between thick, snow-dusted trees and dirt crossroads, Tenah was woozy from blood loss.
Her head lolled against Renton’s arm as he hauled her into the golden light of The Indigo’s rustic lanterns. Inside the lobby, she shuddered in delight at the warmth radiating from a crackling stone fireplace. The airy hall smelled of pine and cinnamon. There were a few long, wooden tables occupied by lone, hardened shadows, mostly in armor.
Somehow, still clutching her as if she weighed nothing, Renton withdrew a bag of krotens and tossed it across the counter at a pretty young woman. Her skin held a slight green tint, contrasted by ringlets of dark brown hair.
High Court shadows were envied for the unique, decadent features, much like their sacred landscapes. Hathrowyn—their capital—was rumored to look and feel like a dream. Shadows born here had deep ties to history and strong connections with restorative magic. Tenah might share their blood, but their talent for healing had thus far evaded her.
