Page 31 of A Song of Air (Fae Elementals #4)

“W e are not welcome here.”

Valerio turned and regarded the merciless, marble-black eyes of his oldest friend. The words he’d whispered hung like a morose, steady-swinging noose between them. Any other time, at any other place, Valerio would have twisted the tight line of his mouth into a sardonic smile. Now, however, he felt the loom of threat in the very air they breathed and couldn’t muster the energy to do so.

The hairs on the back of his neck had stood on end since arriving at this camp. A dreadful sense of foreboding clung to his gut and refused to loosen its hold. He liked to think he had enough experience now to know that something was going to go to absolute shit, and both his body and his friend were warning him of that fact.

Uric regarded Valerio with a familiar severity, the words he wanted to say echoing loud in the silence between them.

“I know.” Valerio turned back to the camp. He had grown accustomed to humans and the disdain they wore so tightly on their souls, but it was an odd thing indeed when Fae were wary of him. He tried to understand their reasoning, but found it difficult to do so.

Finally, Uric gave voice to his thoughts with choking force, like they were forbidden Unseelie fruit plagued with rot and death. “We should leave this place.”

Valerio closed his eyes, but that didn’t drown out the sound of those words. They were a request, a plea, but they felt like a command. He avoided grinding his back teeth together in frustration. How easy it was for Uric to voice what he thought they should do, how easy he thought that Valerio should just succumb to those whims.

He could not.

His role was much more complicated than that now that his father, the king, was back to full health.

“I cannot help but wonder if every Elemental we find will bring us complications,” Valerio mused quietly, though he felt no mirth in the words.

“My prince, please,” Uric pleaded.

Valerio sighed. “Please what , Uric?” The glare he slashed Uric’s way only made the Fae straighten, even more rigid than he’d been before.

“They’ll not hesitate to put knives into our backs. We must leave .”

Valerio’s back tingled as if a phantom blade had lodged itself there to somehow put more emphasis on Uric’s warning.

The weight of everything that was required of him was pressing down on his shoulders, and his entire soul was ready to crack into a thousand fragments of emotions he could not bring himself to face. He steeled himself against unwanted feelings and blew out a breath, scoffing at his own pathetic resolve.

“Look around you, Uric,” he said quietly. “What do you see?”

His friend was silent a long moment, though Valerio felt his dark gaze heavy on the side of his face. “I see a camp.”

“Want to know what I see?” He paused. “I see soldiers. People that can make a difference in our war.”

A soft growl rumbled from the recesses of Uric’s chest. “They want nothing to do with us.”

“What if we convinced them?” He was sure his own doubts did not bleed into those words, even if the sinking feeling twisted somewhere deep inside him.

“We cannot.”

“What if we can ?”

There was no other choice, and Valerio refused to accept any other outcome. The fact was, they needed soldiers. Conquering Dana had been nothing more than luck, a small gift from Mana. But it was only the beginning. There was still so much more left to do. A single battle was all they’d won in years. They’d freed so many Fae from the confines of iron chains, yet they were not soldiers, fighters. They could be trained, yes, but the Fae lacked the numbers to wage war on the emperor. Something that was seeming more likely to occur.

The Emperor of Illyk would not stand idly by in silence as the Fae conquered his kingdoms. He would send soldiers by the horde.

And the Fae had to be prepared.

“Your task was to find the Elemental,” Uric reminded him. “We have found her. We should take her with us.”

He fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Instead, he stepped closer to his friend, leaning forward. His hair slipped from the confines of their knot, kissing his cheeks. Uric inhaled sharply at Valerio’s proximity, his eyes widening, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.

Maybe it was due to the burning anger fierce in Valerio’s gaze. Maybe it was the threat of his magic, pulsing a terrible beat around them. Or maybe it was simply because he could taste Valerio’s breath on his lips.

It was a cruel thing to tease Uric with this nearness, knowing what lived within the Fae’s heart. But in his anger, Valerio did not care how cruel he had to be or to whom.

“I know very well what orders the king has given me,” he snarled, lip curling. “But I know my father. He wants us to find the Elementals quickly, because he’s relying on them, but he would reprimand me for not procuring soldiers for his cause.”

In any case, whatever he did was bound to be a sword with a double edge. If he merely took the Elemental and left, and the king discovered there was a whole camp of fighting Fae, he would rage against Valerio, punish him for his stupidity and not seizing an opportunity. If Valerio stayed and brought more Fae into their fold, the king would sneer down at him and lash out for not obeying orders.

There was no winning.

There was never any winning.

Sometimes Valerio felt things were much easier when he thought his father was dead. The guilt that swarmed his entire body as soon as he thought it was a consuming force. He should not think those treasonous things. Not when his father was the king of his people.

He’d not be bitter about how things turned out.

Instead, he would prove his own capability. He would prove he could do what his father thought him incapable of, even when he knew it would never be enough.

Uric’s jaw twitched as his teeth clamped tightly closed. He heaved a harsh breath through the nostrils and then took a steady step backwards, away from Valerio and his anger.

He ignored that guilt, too.

“But you are right.” Valerio straightened and smoothed his hands down his dark shirt. “The sooner we can convince them and leave, the better. I would not want the emperor’s soldiers finding us here.”

It seemed that no matter where they went, the soldiers discovered their whereabouts. At least, that had been the case before. Things were quiet, and the Seelie Prince did not trust they’d remain that way for long.

They needed to move. That much was for certain.

“I think it’s high time we spoke with Arlo Blackwood,” Valerio decided, staring at the largest tent in the center of the camp. The one that belonged to the half-Fae leader. He smiled then, feeling his magic whisper through the confines he kept it behind like a threat, a promise. “Let us hope, for his sake, he sees things our way.”

“Is my hospitality not up to your standards?”

The impetuous voice that greeted them as they walked through the flaps of the tent grated down Uric’s spine. An even greater irritation and offense was the absolute malice in those eyes paired with the curling, sarcastic smile as he stared upon the Seelie Prince.

Uric’s fingers itched to reach for his blade and cut out the halfling’s tongue for that disrespect. As it was, he was forced to control not only his temper, but his expressions as per his prince’s command. It took everything within him not to sneer at this peasant.

“Your hospitality is adequate,” Prince Valerio replied, his eyebrows raised and his smile in place.

Arlo let out a low chuckle. The man was looming over his thick, oak table, leaning against the map-covered surface with his knuckles. His posture was relaxed, the beating of his heart a steady thing. He didn’t even tremble in the prince’s presence like others would.

He was arrogant.

Uric hated him.

“If that is the case, then what is the reason you’re in my tent?” His tone was suddenly laced with boredom.

“I wanted to speak with you once again regarding the war.”

Arlo stared for a long moment, his gaze still and assessing. Finally, he sat himself down on his high-backed chair, leaning against the plush cushions while placing his elbow against the armrest. “By all means.” He flicked his fingers. “Speak.”

Uric kept his growl contained when he felt Valerio bristle at the command.

“A war has started,” Valerio said calmly.

“From where I’m seated, the war has ended, and it was your family and all Fae who were caught on the losing end.”

Uric heard the grinding of Valerio’s teeth. “I’ll not argue with you about what has passed. The present is what’s important, and I promise you a war is coming.”

“A war is coming for you ,” Arlo drawled. “Because of what you did in Dana and The West Isles. The emperor will retaliate, and you will fight a losing battle. Again.”

“I see.” Valerio leaned back on his heels. “You think because you hide in the trees, you are safe.”

“I know I’m safe,” Arlo argued, his eyes flashing. “We are safe because we do not involve ourselves in the affairs of others.”

“Stealing prisoners from the emperor’s wagons seems like you’re pretty involved to me,” Uric interrupted. He knew he shouldn’t speak, but he couldn’t bring himself to hold back the words.

This man, Arlo, was a hypocrite. Anyone with eyes could see it. He was involved. He was thieving directly from the emperor. That in and of itself was a challenge; it was courting trouble, yet he was using his dislike for the Resistance and the Seelie Prince to deny them what they wanted.

His reasons for hating them were still unclear.

Arlo’s eyes flashed at Uric’s words, mouth twisting a single fragment of a second before his expression cleared. Stoic, he leveled that stare at Uric. “I rescue those who have been enslaved.” That glare slashed in Valerio’s direction. “Because of the war your family started. The Fae I bring here are broken, traumatized. They are not fighters. Would you really be so selfish as to ask them to risk their lives again, when they’ve already given so much?”

There was a pregnant pause. By Mana, Uric wanted to curse. Arlo was manipulating Valerio. He knew just what to say to make the guilt consume the prince, to make him think twice. As if the prince did not suffer enough already.

“I would never force anyone to fight a war they did not want to,” Valerio finally said, his voice quiet and reasonable. “But do not pretend you are far from the reach of soldiers, that you are immune to what is to come.”

Arlo leaned back. “Immune? No, not immune. But we are far safer here than we would be among your ranks.” He slapped his palm against the table before he pushed himself to his feet once more. “I think you’ve taken up too much of my time already. I have a great many things to do. Please, see yourselves out.”

Uric’s spine straightened, and a growl entered his words. “So that’s it, then? You refuse to help us?”

Arlo’s eyes flicked up. “Was I so unclear before that you need me to repeat myself?”

Valerio stepped closer to the halfling. “The Resistance—”

“Is no problem of ours,” Arlo interrupted, his thick brows pulling together in irritation. “You have made your war once and brought it back again. The first time, you nearly eradicated us. This time, we will not help you wipe us from the face of the world. You created this problem, then by all means... you fucking fix it yourselves. Now get out of my tent.”

Uric barely contained the snarl that wanted to rumble past his lips. He choked it down with such a force that it scraped through his throat. He looked to his prince, his palms itching, his body vibrating with the vicious need to pounce. All he needed was the order to do so. His fingers twitched near the handle of his obsidian blade, grazing the smoothness of it.

Valerio didn’t give the order, though.

The prince let out a small, soft breath. “Forgive us,” he said tightly. “For having wasted so much of your time.”

Uric could tell he did not really mean the words, as they were said with much disdain.

They didn’t wait for Arlo to say anything else. They merely turned and exited the tent. It wasn’t until they were several feet away that Valerio finally spoke. “You are right, Uric.”

Uric blinked and the prince turned to him, his mouth twisted with disapproval.

“It is unclear why Arlo hates us so much, and it only took an exchange of those few words to realize there is no convincing him. You saw it too, right?”

He nodded. “I did, my prince.”

“We will find no help with these rebels.” His dark gaze flashed across the camp. Across the many bodies that had treated them with outright hostility since they arrived. “It is time we made our proposition to the air Elemental and leave this place.”

Finally , Uric wanted to exhale. Instead, he nodded once again.

“Come,” Valerio ordered. “We must hurry. For a war is coming, and we still have two more Elementals to find.”