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Without another word, Oberon dropped onto the rock where I’d been sitting, just beside the fire. He rummaged through my pack and pulled out the shadowfiend meat. As he chewed through it, his eyes brightened another shade. The colors deepened. He started to look less like old paint and more like the flames of Albyria.

I sagged against the ground and curled into myself. The cold seeped into my skin once more, even as my life burned down all around me. I would never get away from him.

He would control every moment of my life, even until my last breath.

Twenty-One

Kalen

Tessa was a fierce little thing. As it turned out, so was her mother. They both liked to point sharp things at people. I picked up my sword, just in case she tried to swing the axe at me. Sometimes, a sword could be a shield too.

I’d expected this. Tessa was, after all, a mortal of Teine. And the mortals of Teine believed the worst about me. They blamed me for their fate. They feared what would happen to them if they escaped Oberon’s cruelty. Their hatred for me ran deep. It would be difficult to convince some of them that they could trust me.

“Mother,” Tessa hissed at the willowy woman who had so much of Tessa in her eyes. The deep brown was the same, as was the sharp slope of her nose. “He came here to help. Drop the axe.”

“He’s the Mist King,” her mother said stubbornly.

Another woman sighed and pushed past her. Freckles dotted her nose, and her blue eyes were half-hidden behind a mop of flowing ginger hair. She held out her hand. “I’m Val. Thanks for looking after Tessa while I was stuck in a dungeon.”

I smiled and took her hand. “Val. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“This is insane,” Tessa’s mother cut in. “Get back here. Get away from him.”

“He’s not going to hurt any of us.” Val eyed me before her gaze drifted to my friends who stood just behind me. “He’s come to help.”

“He can help us by going back to where he’s come from and taking his mists with him. None of us want to be burned or eaten or—”

“Mother, stop,” Tessa said gently as she pried her mother’s white-knuckled fingers away from the axe handle. She managed to pull the weapon away from her, then handed it to Val. “If he wanted to hurt us, he already would have. He’s a good man. I know it’s hard for you to trust him after everything we’ve been told for so long, so just trustme. All right?”

Her mother’s lips pressed into a thin, white line. She didn’t say another word in argument, but I could tell by the flash of hate in her eyes that she wasn’t convinced.

Tessa gazed at me. Something in her expression stirred a well of emotions that I rarely allowed to the surface. Unspoken words hung between us in the orange-tinted mists. My thoughts had been consumed by her this past week, as we’d charged toward the Kingdom of Light. I hadn’t stopped picturing her face in my mind. Her flushed lips. The curve of her hips. The beauty and strength of her arms.

I’d imagined what this moment might feel like, if I ever got to gaze upon her again. She looked even better than I remembered. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about her then, but I couldn’t help but notice a difference in the way she held herself now. Her chin was a little higher, and she stood tall. When I’d met her before, she’d almost seemed bowed over in grief, in uncertainty. Tessa Baran radiated confidence now.

I would kiss her if not for the awkward tension in the air. Several other humans had wandered out of the pub, and some doors on the opposite side of the square had cracked open. Dozens of eyes stared at me in distrust, but only one pair of eyes mattered to me.

Deep brown ones, ringed in burnt orange.

“Kal.” Niamh cleared her throat. “We have an audience.”

“I can see that.”

Tessa took my hand. “There’s a lot I want to say to you, but right now, we need to get the mortals out of here. It’s not safe for them in Teine anymore. Can you get them to one of the places without mist, like you said before?”

I gazed around at the wide-eyed humans. Many wore old rags. Dirt clung to their hands and bare feet. Some were far too thin, even if Oberon had provided them with everything they needed to survive. But what struck me the most was the haunted look in their eyes. The resignation. They didn’t run or scream or try to fight. Instead, they looked as though they were ready to face their deaths.

“They’ll never come with me,” I said, turning back to her. “They’d rather stay here and die.”

Val sauntered up to me with a frown. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’ll round them up and convince them to follow us across the bridge if you make sure no shadowfiends attack while I’m doing it.”

Out of the corner of my eye, Niamh smiled.

Without waiting for my answer, Val walked across the square to the nearest house. Another mortal, a younger, smaller version of Tessa, darted after her, but her mother continued to stand there on the steps scowling at me as if I’d started the fires myself. After a moment, she sighed and shoved past us to follow Val.

“Looks like that’s your answer,” Tessa said.

“I know what they all think of me. What makes you believe they’ll listen to your friend and leave with the Mist King?”