Page 19
Story: A Kingdom Ruthless and Radiant (Age of Fae Romantasy #2)
Chapter 19
Taken
P haris
All three of the Hennessey women ran up to Cimmerian as we returned to the meadow.
“You’re back.” Raewyn released an audible sigh of relief.
“Pharis, Pharis,” the girls cried as if I was their favorite person and had been gone for days.
“How is he?” I asked, dismounting.
Raewyn gave me a significant look that made words unnecessary, and then Wyll’s tortured cry filled the air and removed any qualms I still had about taking him up the mountain.
“Did you find any medicine?”
Raewyn’s tone was tight, her hands squeezing the skirts at her sides. She was trying to hold it together for the girls, but clearly she was feeling desperate.
“Something better,” I told her. “I found an Elven healer.”
She sent a fearful glance up the mountainside. “It was an Elven village?”
“No, a human one. I’ll explain on the way. Let’s pack up quickly. We’re all going.”
Though I sensed Raewyn trusted me, she still had obvious fear. “Are you sure it’s a good idea for us to be seen?”
I shared a bit of what Solfrid had told me about the village, and then I added the clincher.
“She says she might be able to heal him, not just ease his pain.”
Raewyn froze in the middle of collecting the girls’ meager belongings.
“Heal him?” she asked. “As in, stop him from dying?”
“That’s what she said, depending on his condition.”
Which was deteriorating by the minute based on the sound of things.
“The sooner we get him there, the better,” I said, and Raewyn nodded rapidly.
I’ll be honest, the trip up the mountain was horrific. I put Wyll on the horse in front of me, and he begged me to leave him, prayed for death the whole way.
Riding in front of Raewyn, the girls wept at their father’s suffering. I was choked up myself and beginning to wonder if I’d made the right decision.
And then we arrived at Havendor.
As soon as we rounded the bend, and the girls saw the idyllic gingerbread cottages and majestic waterfall, they started oohing and ahhing.
“It’s beautiful,” Tindra said. “Like a fairytale land in a book.”
“Is it real?” Turi asked.
And then the villagers began pouring out into the street. Solfrid must have warned them we were coming.
“Children,” Turi squealed in delight. “There are children here.”
The weeks we’d been on the road must have seemed like an eternity to the four-year-old.
“Stay here and introduce yourselves,” I said to Raewyn. “I’ll take your father to Solfrid’s cottage. She’s a bit shy.”
She nodded, and I stayed on the horse with Wyll until we reached the healer’s door.
Solfrid opened it, urging us to come inside. Dismounting, I caught Wyll as he fell into my arms, wailing in pain.
“Poor soul,” the healer said. “Lay him there.”
She gestured to a raised cot against the wall, and I did as she instructed.
She placed her hands on Wyll, and almost instantly he went quiet.
Having been healed myself a few times, I knew it wasn’t an instantaneous process, but Solfrid must have done something to dull his pain.
I was beyond grateful for even that much.
For the first time in days, Wyll’s body released its rigid tension, and his facial muscles relaxed.
“What do you think?” I asked. “Can he be healed?”
She turned to face me, and her expression didn’t leave much room for optimism.
“He is in a very bad way, very weak. I’m worried the process may kill him instead of healing him.”
Wyll’s voice rose from behind her back. “Either way, I’ll be better off than I am now. I can’t go on like this.”
I was surprised he was conscious, as it was the first time in a while he’d been lucid.
“Very well then, I’ll do my best,” Solfrid said.
She turned back to her patient, but Wyll raised a hand. “I need to speak to Pharis first… if you don’t mind.”
“Of course. Call me when you’re ready to proceed,” the healer said, and stepped into the next room, leaving me alone with Raewyn’s father.
I moved to his bedside.
“The girls?” he asked.
“They’re well. They’re nearby.”
The old man groped for my hand, finding it and squeezing it.
“We don’t know each other well,” he began, “but there’s something I need to ask of you. You’re the only one I have to ask, and you’ve proven yourself an honorable man.”
The point was debatable, but I allowed him to continue uninterrupted.
“Take care of my girls. If I don’t make it, please take care of them.”
“Of course I will,” I assured him. “I don’t want you to worry about them. I’ll keep them safe.”
“Thank you,” he whispered. “And if the healing does work… I want you to leave us behind.”
My head jerked back, and I blinked. “What?”
Now Wyll’s wrinkled hand patted mine.
“If the healer’s magic works and I recover, I want you and Raewyn to leave me and the little ones here,” he said. “In spite of your patience about it, you can’t argue that we’re slowing you down. And it’s not good for these small children to be dragged all over the continent. They are tired. So am I.”
He stopped to take a labored breath. “We’re in a safe place here—far from the King’s eye. Without us, you’ll be able to take Raewyn even farther, all the way to the Sapphire Sea if necessary. And it breaks my heart to say it, but since she is a target, the girls are safer without her nearby.”
He was right, but Raewyn was going to be beyond heartbroken. Whether he lived or died today, she would lose her father soon.
“You’ll have to tell her that yourself,” I said. “I’m not taking her away from her family—not unless you tell her that’s what you want, and she agrees .”
He coughed, his wince a reminder of the lingering pain. “She’s going to be angry with me, but Raewyn is nothing if not sensible. She’ll agree.”
“If she does, then I’ll do what you ask,” I said.
I stepped back, preparing to call the healer back in to do her work, but Wyll lifted a hand again, motioning for me to approach.
“I have one more request,” he said.
When I got close, he opened his eyes and held my gaze more steadily than he had since before we even made camp.
“I know you know she’s half-Elven,” he whispered. “I also know you love her.”
My mouth went dry. Though I gripped the side of the cot hard enough for my knuckles to turn white, I didn’t contradict him.
Honestly, I didn’t have the breath necessary for speech.
Was it that obvious?
“Raewyn can never know about her heritage,” he said. “It puts her in even more danger. My wife broke all the rules to be with me, and she was determined her child would never pay the price. In your world, she would be viewed as the daughter of a ‘traitor,’ a half breed, even lower in their view than we humans are.”
Again, I couldn’t disagree.
“Raewyn believes her mother was killed in battle. Was it true?” I asked him.
Though I already knew the answer, I wanted to find out if he did.
Wyll shook his head. “My wife fought on the side of the humans in the Rebellion—her second act of treason. Her first was loving and marrying a human. When I was blinded during the battle of Castleton and took an arrow to the spine, I was carted home on a meat wagon. Jeneve was enraged and went to the battlefield to take my place. She believed in human equality and actually thought we had a chance to win.”
He gave a humorless laugh and winced again.
“Raewyn nursed my wounds while her mother went off to war,” he said. “Jeneve never came home. Witnesses told me they saw her being dragged away by royal soldiers to the palace. I could do nothing to help her in my condition—I couldn’t even help myself or my child at that point. I never heard from my wife again, so I know she’s dead.”
“I’m certain you’re right,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
I would not tell him how I knew for certain—or that my brother was involved. There was no point. It would only increase the pain.
“I know you can protect her from predators and adversaries, Fae and human alike,” Wyll said. “Can you promise me to protect her from this knowledge as well?”
It felt wrong to make such a vow, to withhold information from Raewyn that I knew she’d want to know. She’d been angry with me for not telling her earlier what I knew about the witch’s escape.
But how could I deny this man his deathbed wish?
Unlike my own father, Wyll Hennessey loved his children fiercely and unconditionally. I had to trust that he knew what was best for them better than I did.
He’d known and loved Raewyn far longer than I had.
And he was right—I did love her.
I’d known it since the night I’d stood in front of her cottage doorway, saying goodbye after taking her home. It had required all my strength to make my feet turn and walk away while my heart was being torn from my chest.
The fact I loved her did neither of us any good, but it was what it was. Completely beyond my control.
Solfrid came back into the main room and asked me to give her space while she used her healing glamour, trying to save Wyll’s life.
I stepped outside to find Raewyn and Turi and Tindra waiting, anxious expressions on their faces.
“She’s working on him now,” I said, and we all waited together.
After about an hour, Solfrid opened the door and asked me to step back inside.
“Can I come? Can I see him?” Raewyn asked, grabbing my hand.
Dropping her gaze to where my hand contacted the human woman’s, Solfrid gave a terse head shake. She didn’t want Raewyn in her house, I guessed.
“Best not,” I said. “We have to stick to her rules if we want her help. I’ll be right back.”
And then I entered the cottage and closed the door.
“Well?”
“I’m still not sure,” she said. “He’s a fighter, but the pain had weakened his body nearly to the point of failure. He will sleep for a long while. We should know by morning.”
I nodded. “I’ll find a place to make camp overnight. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
“There’s no need for you to sleep outdoors,” Solfrid said. “You’re welcome to stay here.”
Shaking my head, I said, “I couldn’t impose. Plus, I’m not alone. The others in my party—”
“It would be no imposition,” she said. “But this place is a bit small for that many extra people. There’s an empty cottage in the village. One of the elderly villagers passed away peacefully in her sleep a few months ago. There’s been no one to take her place. Your friends can stay there while this man recovers.”
“He’s the human woman’s… husband?” she asked, a note of hope in her voice.
“Father,” I corrected. “How large is the vacant cottage?”
“Plenty of space for the three of them. The villagers will be glad to see it get some use.”
An empty cottage sounded almost too good to be true. I knew Raewyn and the children would relish the opportunity to sleep in real beds, and the idea appealed to me as well after weeks of sleeping on the ground under the open sky.
“When he wakes in the morning—if he wakes—you could move the human man there tomorrow,” Solfrid said. “You’ll need to stay in the village for at least several days. He’ll need to sleep a lot and should be moved as little as possible for the next few days. It’s a nice, comfortable home.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “The girls will be excited to hear it.”
Solfrid smiled and cocked her head to the side, playing with one of her braids.
“As I said, Havendor is a safe refuge. In fact, after he’s recovered, and your human friends are ready to move on, you might consider moving into the cottage and staying a while. It would be nice to have the company of another Elf.”
“Are you… unbonded?” she asked, darting a quick look at my hand.
I followed her gaze to my bare ring finger and then looked at her hand.
Oh. Solfrid’s ring finger was also bare. And apparently she was a bit lonely for her own kind.
“I’m unbonded,” I confirmed.
Glancing through the window to where Raewyn waited outside with the girls, I said, “I am taken, though.”
“I see.”
Solfrid’s cheerful expression fell, and she looked through the window as well.
Raewyn and the girls sat beneath some shade trees. The girls appeared to be singing as they clapped their hands together in a varied pattern.
“I suppose you’ll be staying in the cottage with them?” the healer asked.
“If it’s large enough for us all. I’m their protector,” I explained, “while their father is incapacitated.”
Solfrid’s brows lifted again along with her tone.
“Well, let us hope he makes it through the night and has a speedy recovery then,” she said.