Page 24

“Are you going after Lady Fulthain?” A minotaur stops me to ask.

“Yes.”

“Can you tell her our scouts have located some vehicles, but they’ll need magic to get them repaired?” he growls. I glance down at his chest and notice he wears the colors of the Olveroth.

I nod even as I wonder what Eilish needs the vehicles for. The stables are a short walk from the gate, so I fetch a horse to track Eilish through the desert. After hours of searching the dunes, I see a figure shoot up from the ground only to plummet back to the sands.

I race over to see Eilish on her back with her wings spread across the hot ground.

“What in the bloody hell are you doing?” I ask.

She smiles up at me. “What’s the point in having wings if I can’t use them? I just wanted to learn how to fly. Dragan has been too busy and, last I checked, the rest of you don’t have any wings, unless you count Flumph.”

“Have you been successful?”

“See for yourself.” She jumps up to her feet, closes her eyes and a pair of huge, white and feathered wings appear from her back. I haven’t seen them in a very long time. Her wings begin to flap and within seconds, she’s airborne. She comes back down a few seconds later and the wings disappear into her back.

“Impressive,” I say with a big smile. Then I clear my throat because I have news to relay and I don’t want her to feel I’m wasting her time.

“Flumph and Noni have returned and apparently Baron, Dragan and Pyre freed Theren from Oronrel, but I don’t know much besides that.”

“Are they all unharmed?”

“From what I could understand, yes. Though Theren sounds to be in bad shape, which is to be expected, given the fact that he was a prisoner to the Unseelie.” I take a deep breath. “I can’t necessarily rely on the sprite for reliable information.”

“That’s great news,” Eilish says as she takes the steps separating us and wraps her arms around me. I’m surprised at her exuberance and it takes me a second before I return the hug. Then I hold her tight, feeling the excitement inside her as though it’s my own.

“Yes, I’m relieved,” I admit as she pulls away from me but neither of us drop our arms. I swallow hard as I look down at her full lips and the way her eyes stare into mine.

“I don’t want to further disturb you,” I say and I don’t understand why I feel so uncomfortable all of a sudden. “I know you were busy practicing.”

“Cambion?”

“Yes?”

“Stop talking.”

She leans up on her toes and presses her lips against mine. I feel the familiar roar of ecstasy in her kiss, but there’s more. Before I’m able to understand it, she steps away. I can’t help the feelings of disappointment that pass through me but I don’t say anything. Instead, I just stand there.

She walks over to her water canteen to hydrate herself. “I’m so happy Theren’s alive, Cambion,” she says and she sounds just as uncomfortable as I feel.

“Yes, I am too.”

She nods. “I can’t imagine what he’s been through. When he reached out to me on the battlefield, I was pulled into his mind and he seemed so afraid.”

“You and I have been toyed with by Morrigan in the past. It most likely won’t be the last time it happens before all of this is over,” I say calmly as I glance back the way I came and think about returning. I can’t stand being so close to her and yet so far away. Moreover, I can’t stand this awkwardness between us. It feels so unnatural. I almost prefer the way we used to bicker or ignore one another.

“We need to make sure Theren is well and then we need to keep moving forward,” I say, not even truly paying attention to my words. “Whether he joins us or not. I was blind before, but never again will I allow harm to come to this resistance because of my actions or Theren’s.”

“Speaking of moving forward, I have a few things in place.” Eilish walks over to the horse and climbs into the saddle. I reach for the saddle horn and mount the horse behind her. The heat of her body seeps through my tunic and I have to fight against brushing my lips on her neck.

“And what do you have planned?” I ask.

“Rovers?”

“Pardon?”

Eilish chuckles and clucks her tongue to get the steed moving. “I’ve established outposts through the realms with a few of the clan leaders, and there are people feeding us information on Variant’s movements…”