Page 31

I groaned and tried to hide the morning sunlight with a blanket over my head. It had taken me so long to fall asleep that I wanted to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Aedan and his stupid sense of honor. If I was capable of cursing people—

I blew out a massive breath and uncovered my head. If I was capable of cursing people, I’d probably be as repulsed by the idea as I was by the thought of beating someone. And Aedan had been right about Alastor. Nothing short of me leaving Hemlit would convince him that I was not being forced to stay.

Part of me wanted to be truly angry at Aedan—because I wanted to stay, to bask in his attention, to listen to him sing, to translate his grandmother’s book, to discover life with someone who loved me—but I was also sympathetic. Somehow, through a twist of magic I did not understand, I’d felt his misery and conflicting emotions as he had spoken last night.

I rubbed my face. Bright sunbeams filled the room, so Aedan was probably outside as a drekkan already. I regretted running away from him. I could have spent one more night in his arms—

A male voice cleared a throat across the room. Panic and anxiety took over my thoughts until Koan spoke softly. “The king asked me to make sure you made it outside safely today.”

I sat up, making sure my nightdress and blankets covered me thoroughly, and found Koan leaning on the hall door. “Actually,” he said, “the king was very explicit in his instructions. I’m to stay attached to this door unless you’re in mortal danger.” His light-hearted voice shifted to a more serious tone. “He said you would be leaving us today.”

I sunk backward against the headboard. “Yes.”

It didn’t take me long to prepare for the day. I picked a blue dress with bell sleeves that stretched over my head and didn’t require someone to fasten a thousand buttons. When I opened the door to the hall, Koan stumbled.

I raised a brow. He wasn’t a clumsy elf.

He grinned and patted the door. “I told you—attached to the door.”

I rolled my eyes, accepted his elbow, and headed outside with him.

Spring had descended on the fortress with astounding vigor, and the gardens had sprung to life. I slowed our walk down so I could savor the scents of roses and irises. Koan matched my pace. “One last stroll, huh? ”

I breathed in a sweet mixture of fresh flowers. “The gardeners must use magic here. I’ve never seen blossoms emerge so quickly after the snow melts.”

Koan laughed. “Of course they do. All the gardeners have a strong affinity for plant magic—it’s both the reason they love their work and the reason they get employed.”

We rounded another corner and Guyan’s tall form stepped away from a bush. He bowed to me and extended a flower. “Would the lovely Callista like a rose this morning?”

It was a sweet gesture, but all I could think about was Aedan’s rose tree underground. Were these bushes connected to it? Did picking flowers hurt them?

I dipped my head politely. “Thank you, but I’m meeting the king in a moment, and I won’t have a free hand to carry a rose.” I tugged on Koan to walk around him.

Guyan fell into step beside me and asked with mock drama, “Are you shunning me?”

I forced a chuckle and replied with equal flair. “I wouldn’t dare. The illustrious cousin of the great king? I’d rather make an enemy of a dragon.”

He laughed. “I’m sure that could be arranged. But accepting a flower politely and then discarding it when I’m not looking seems like a safer approach than refusing a small gift.”

I tipped my head at him. “Why are you so adamant about a flower? It makes your small gift seem very suspicious.”

His laughter flowed so easily that I thought of Alastor again, trying to fool me by looking innocent. He kept pace next to me as Koan turned into the deepest part of the garden. “Maybe,” he said with a conspiratorial tone, “I’m hoping that you’ll prick your finger on a thorn, and I can dab up the blood. Maybe I’m hoping I can use your blood to break the curse on Aedan.”

My jaw fell. “Is that possible?”

He grinned. “Are you volunteering to find out?”

“She’s doing nothing of the sort.” Aedan’s gravelly drekkan voice tumbled out from behind the tallest fountain. “And if you trick her into donating any blood or body parts for any experiments, you will not live to see the results.”

Guyan tossed the flower to the side of the path and shrugged. “Such threats, Cousin. And here I thought you’d started to tamp down on that violent nature.”

“I will do anything necessary to protect the people I care about.”

His easy statement of something so enormous as caring made my heart lunge for him. I left Koan and let my body follow my heart’s nudging. I reached a hand out to Aedan, and he extended a clawed fingertip to meet it. Neither of us had any words, but I felt his emotions swell with love and longing.

Or at least, I imagined I felt it. Maybe it was the careful way he raised his finger to me or the way he lowered his head when I ran to him.

Guyan chuckled. “I’ll go make myself useful somewhere else before you two do anything that makes me sick.”

Koan folded his arms and did not move. Once Guyan was out of sight, he scowled at the path. “That was strange on more levels than I’d like to list.”

“Agreed,” Aedan rumbled. He met my eyes. “But the morning is late. Are you ready?”

I nodded, but Koan answered out loud. “Not yet. I don’t know where they are but— ”

“We’re here!” Jolter ran down the path with a long row of people behind him. Molanna, Jemma, Hemmer, Fagan, Mylo, Forten, Ruby, Baryl, and Mena. “I had to let your friends in Bridgetown know too.”

I turned away from Aedan and met Jolter and Koan in a group hug. “We’re going to miss you,” Koan whispered, “but I can’t say it doesn’t make sense.” Tears stung my eyes as memories of these two flashed through my mind. They’d brought me friends, food, and laughter in a time when I did not ever expect it.

“I’ll miss you too.”

Koan wiped his eyes as they stepped back. “You better say goodbye to someone else before you turn us into embarrassing puddles of—”

Jolter elbowed him. “Come see us again someday. Even if it’s in a thousand years.”

I sniffed back another set of tears. “Of course.”

Jemma and Hemmer gave me quick hugs and promised to work on convincing others that fae and humans were not so dangerous.

Then Forten wrapped me up in a hug so big he lifted me two feet off the floor. As he set me down, Ruby, Baryl, and Mena all wrapped an arm around me or patted my back. “You are the only person who has an open invitation into my kitchen,” Forten said. “I don’t care if it takes a few thousand years to work your way back.” His voice cracked. “I’ll keep a pitcher of lemonade waiting for you every day.”

I hugged him again before stepping back to look at Mylo and Fagan. Mylo, the muscle-bound soldier who had first chained me in the dungeon, handed me a small book. Songbirds of Sirun . “I know all your favorites burned,” he said, “but Corva’s had this for years, and we thought you might like it, even if… well, even if you don’t see them.”

I hid my face as I hugged him and tried to sniff back more tears. “Thank you. And thank you for everything else you’ve done for me.” Fagan joined us and patted my back.

Finally, I stepped back to look at the group of them—the friends I thought I’d never have. I wanted them to remember me with a bit of happiness, even if I hated leaving them. “Drink some lemonade for me.” Speaking loud enough for them to hear let fresh tears work their way past my eyes.

Koan grinned and saluted me. “And make some chaos for us.”

I laughed between the tears and dipped my head in agreement. I would think of Koan and Jolter every time I saw Alastor, and that thought alone strengthened me in leaving. I wouldn’t want any of them spending their life trying to rescue me and feeling guilty about it all at the same time.

I stepped closer to Aedan and nodded at him.

He wrapped his warm, cedar-scented fingers around my waist and launched us into the sky. I hugged his reptilian skin as we flew, letting the heat from his hands ward off the chill of the wind. The fortress on a stone pillar disappeared from my view quickly, and I scanned the hills ahead for the edge of the barrier.

Last time I’d had this view, snow had covered the ground with evergreens and bare, empty trees poking out of the white like little sticks. Today, the landscape was rich and colorful, with hills of green interspersed by vibrant pockets of flower patches.

And then I saw it: the magic barrier.

Last time I’d seen the barrier, I’d been too stressed to analyze it, but this time I focused on the magic it held. Most of the barrier glowed with a golden color. I recognized yellows, oranges, and reds from Aedan’s magic interwoven with blues and greens from an elf I didn’t know. Surrounding and securing all of the other strands of magic were the more shimmery pinks and purples from my mother.

Why hadn’t I recognized and understood her magic before? Probably because I had been distracted by Alastor fighting a drekkan. I squeezed the edge of Aedan’s finger as he shifted his flight to follow the barrier’s edge. I was excited to see Alastor, but I did not want to lose Aedan. There had to be a way to keep them both.

Aedan landed behind a row of trees and set me on the ground. “I see your brother just ahead. It will take you about fifteen minutes to walk to him.”

I spun to face him. “You aren’t coming with me?”

“I do not think he will want to see me.”

Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away. “I’m not ready to say good-bye.”

He groaned and lowered his body so that his eyes were just a little higher than mine. “I brought you something.” A sheathed dagger hung from a belt buckled around one of his fingers.

I huffed. “If you think a knife is some kind of substitute for the—” My voice caught, and I swallowed before continuing. “For the best protector I ever had—”

“Callista.” His low tone cut me off. “I will be shocked if you ever use this to fight. But I want you to have it anyway.”

I unlatched it from his finger and withdrew the blade. I recognized the five rubies on the crossguard as soon as I saw them. The unique, powerful, silver magic emanating from the blade took me back to the doorway between our rooms when I’d first seen it.

It represented so much—Aedan’s power and justice, but also his new determination to see people and treat them better. It reminded me of his strength, but also just of him. His gentle touch and tender heart. Tears clogged my throat as I clutched the blade to my chest.

“I thought it burned in my room,” I finally choked out.

“Apparently it is stronger than flames.” He’d always been deliberate when he spoke, but his drekkan voice slowed everything and made it feel more dramatic. “It is the only thing that Mylo’s team was able to recover from your room.”

His voice deepened even more. “Will you keep it? Please? So that you know you helped me choose a better life. I will not go back, Callista. I will not be the same monster you first met, even if I never see you again. Even if I keep this form until I die.”

A tear leaked out of his great, green eye. It rolled down his cheek and tore at my heart. I raised a hand to his face, and he laid his chin on the ground so I could reach him. His head was far too big to hug, but I rested my hand against his hot temple and brushed a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Of course,” I whispered. “I will cherish it.”

He straightened up and cradled my back with one warm claw. “I will watch you as you leave. You will reach your brother safely, but I do not want to upset him with my presence.”

I nodded. This good-bye had to end because I was on the cusp of refusing to leave. “You’re not a monster, Aedan. Remember that, no matter what you look like or how angry you get. I’ve seen your heart, and it is beautiful. And I would love to see you again, as soon as I can.”

“You are a firehawk, Callista. Embrace your boldness, and do not fear your weakness. If the curse ever breaks, I will find you.” His words bolstered my heart, as if he poured power into it deliberately. And maybe he did—except I hadn’t seen any magic leave him.

It didn’t matter. I buckled the dagger around my waist, touched his hand one last time, and ran through the line of trees.

I kept running, afraid that if I looked back I would lose that burst of confidence that had filled me with hope and strength as Aedan spoke. If his curse never broke, I would find a way back someday. Even if—like Jolter said—it took a thousand years. I was half-fae. Motab told me fae lived 10,000 years, so I should have at least half that many.

I saw Alastor before he saw me. He leaned against a large stone and focused on the pages of a book. Scattered around him were signs of a camp—a bedroll, food, an expired fire, and several more books.

The magic boundary kept me thirty feet away from him, so I just watched silently. He’d grown a beard and his hair was several months longer than last time I’d seen him. Dark rings marked the skin under his eyes—signs of far too little sleep. All the evidence in front of me said that Guyan had been right—my brother had been trying to free me ever since I’d seen him last.

My heart squeezed for my brother. It must have been awful to feel responsible for what he probably considered my complete misery. But I hadn’t been miserable, no matter what Aedan had said last night. My hand drifted to the dagger hilt. Aedan had known that Alastor needed me when I had refused to acknowledge it.

I turned around, thinking I should tell him now, but… he had vanished. “You were right,” I whispered, in case he’d hidden himself with magic and was still close en ough to hear. “He does need me.”

I imagined I felt a warm, grateful sensation at my words, but Alastor distracted me. He ran a hand through his hair and growled at the book. “Come on, Fotab, surely you wrote something helpful—”

He flipped through pages, muttering under his breath. How long would it take him to actually look up?

A large branch snapped behind me, and I bit back a laugh. It seemed Aedan thought my brother needed a hint too.

Alastor’s head jerked up at the cracking branch. He stared at me, as if not really seeing me, rubbed his eyes, and then stared again. He set the book down and stood up slowly. “Callista? Are you real?”

I nodded as my throat tightened around emotion.

He extended a hand, resting it on the magic wall between us. “What’s my favorite treat?”

“Trick question,” I whispered. “You like bread more than any dessert.”

A smile slowly crawled across his face as his voice turned hoarse. “Guyan did it, then? It’s faster than I expected. Is he here with you?”

I shook my head. “Guyan only told us that you were here. Aedan, the drekkan you argued with, brought me back.”

Disbelief shadowed Alastor’s eyes. “The drekkan brought you back? Did you know he is the king? That there’s a curse on him? That he killed Motab? Callista, I’ve been so worried for you.”

My heart pinched as I knew Aedan heard everything Alastor said. “I know. Alastor, I know all of that. Aedan, the drekkan, the king… there’s so much more to the story than you could have possibly heard, but yes, he was the one who brought me ba ck. Guyan only ever made me nervous.”

A blue magic flowed out of Alastor’s hand and dissolved the barrier it touched, creating a hole that slowly grew. “Guyan was a creep, no doubt about that. But… I just don’t know how to believe that the drekkan that nearly killed both of us brought you back. What made him change his mind?”

I pressed my palm up against Alastor’s while the hole grew bigger. “Guyan told us that you were here. Aedan would have brought me months ago if he’d known you could break the barrier enough to get me out.”

And I never would have known how much I’d grow to love him. Perhaps it was better that I had so much time with him. But Alastor wasn’t ready to hear that. “What were you reading?”

He rolled his eyes. “Everything I could find from Fotab related to elf bonds. Guyan told me he’d get you, but I doubted he’d succeed. I’ve been trying to find out if there was a way to break the mistek bond.” He tipped his head. “How did you handle that?”

“I told you, he brought me here. It would have been pointless if we were still bound together.”

Alastor’s eyes widened. “So he broke the mistek bond? And brought you here?”

I nodded.

“Why?”

A smiled, but I couldn’t keep the taste of sadness out of it. “Because he thought it was the right thing to do.”

Alastor shrugged and shook his head. “I won’t pretend to understand it, but I’m glad you’re here.” He stepped back and rubbed his hands together. “That should be big enough—can you see it?”

“Yes.” I turned around one last time and whispered, “Goodbye.” I couldn’t see him, but I was sure Aedan had stayed close to me. A warm gust filled the air around me. It could have been mistaken for a sudden breeze, but I knew it was a soft huff from a drekkan. One final goodbye.

It took us nearly two hours to hike to Tolva, the nearest elf community that Alastor had worked in several times during the last few months. He explained how he’d taken jobs to earn enough to buy food and supplies for a few weeks at a time, then he’d go out to the barrier until he ran out of supplies, and then he’d return here or go to another little community. Whether he was in town or in the forest, he tried to convince everyone he met to help him help me, but nobody had been sympathetic until Guyan.

He opened the door for me at a small tavern. “I don’t want a drink, Alastor.”

“This isn’t just a tavern. It’s an inn too. I’m sure they have some lunch left, and then you can rest in a real room.”

I walked in with him. “I’ve had a real room. I’ve slept on the most luxurious beds every night since I saw you last.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about a drekkan breathing down your throat then,” he muttered.

I ignored the comment. It might take me years to convince him that Aedan wasn’t horrible. I looked around the dining room of the tavern. It was cozier than I expected, definitely more like an inn. Sleeping here might be nice—nobody was trying to kill me outside of the fortress .

Then again, would I even be able to sleep without a magical seal on my door? Or someone guarding it?

Alastor led me to an empty table. Moments later, a tall elf with black hair, a green dress, and a white apron set two steaming drinks in front of us. “Tea?” she asked.

Alastor picked up his mug. “Thank you, Arena.”

She turned and studied me. “Is this your long-lost sister?”

“Yes.”

Arena smirked. “So. Not captive to our Drekkan King after all. You just had too many drinks?” She winked at me. “Do you like how I brought him tea with no spirits?”

I smiled. I liked Arena, even if she was teasing my brother.

“No!” Alastor slammed a fist against the table. Arena raised a brow, and he ducked his head. “I’m sorry. That was not acceptable. But Callista was a captive. Guyan freed her for me.”

“Ah,” Arena said in a mocking knowledgeable tone. “So the king’s cousin defeated him and rescued the fair damsel. Strange that he did not want to keep her for himself. And does that mean the barrier is gone now that the cursed king is dead?”

“No.” Alastor rolled his eyes. “Guyan couldn’t keep her because he’d made a deal with me. And the king isn’t dead, so he’s still cursed, and his curse-formed barrier is still there.”

Wait. What? I met Arena’s eyes. “What actually happened is that Guyan informed us that Alastor has been worried. The king brought me to the border himself so I could help my brother.”

Arena chuckled. “You two have better stories than Old Ganchin. Can I get you some soup? ”

“Yes, please,” Alastor said.

As soon as she left, I faced my brother. “What kind of deal did you make with Guyan?”

He sipped his tea before he answered slowly. “He couldn’t get through the barrier, so I agreed to open it for him if he brought you back to me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he want to get in just to rescue me?”

“Well, it wasn’t just to rescue you. He had other reasons too. Reasons that coincided well enough with what I wanted that he was willing to help me to get in.”

I gripped my mug. Something about this deal felt wrong, but I couldn’t guess what it was. “Alastor. Tell me everything. Please.”

He gave me a wary look. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re too caught up in how helpful the drekkan is. I don’t like it.”

I didn’t like how that sounded. “Is Guyan going to hurt the drekkan? Steal the throne? What?!”

“See, Callista, you’re already getting carried away. I made a deal to help you. No different than you making a deal to help me, except that mine didn’t get me bound to any monsters. It doesn’t really matter anyway because it looks like it played out different than I planned.”

Arena came back with bowls of soup and a plate of bread. Alastor relaxed as he lifted a piece of bread closer to smell it. “Now this is perfection. Thank you, Arena.”

She dipped her head and patted his arm. “Let me know if you two need anything else.”

I watched him savor a few bites of bread before trying again. “ Alastor, I really need to know exactly what your deal was. I actually have friends in the castle now, and I’m worried that you’ve done something that will hurt them.”

He closed his eyes and chewed his bread, relaxing at my explanation. “Oh, that’s nothing to worry about. They’ll be fine.”

“Why?”

He finished the first slice and lowered his voice. “Guyan thinks that if he kills the drekkan, it will break the curse. It makes sense, since the curse was on him. I had to check a few things in Fotab’s books, but I think he’s right. Guyan also said that killing the drekkan would free you from the mistek bond, unless the drekkan passed it on to someone else first.”

He raised a brow. “He didn’t give it to someone else, did he?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “No. I told you, he broke it himself.”

His brows wrinkled. “Yeah, I still think that’s weird.”

“So, Guyan’s plan was to kill the king, bring me back, and take over Hemlit?” My heart pounded. Aedan loved his cousin. This… this was worse than Mylo’s suspicions. Even just knowing this would wreck Aedan.

“Yeah.” Alastor took a bite of soup. “It seemed fair to me. The king had almost killed both of us and, according to Guyan, killed Motab too. And Guyan was willing to get you.”

I couldn’t eat the soup. Knowing Guyan was at the fortress, planning to kill Aedan, turned my stomach.

“I shouldn’t have told you.” Alastor looked up at me over his bowl of soup. “You’re all worried now.”

A fierce fire burned from my stomach, straight through my chest and into my throat. Alastor only knew me as the sister who struggled to raise him. The one who burnt food, tripped on her own toes, and worried too much. But I was more than that.

I was a firehawk.

And nobody besides us knew Guyan’s plans. “I am worried, Alastor. Aedan trusts Guyan. Guyan will use that trust to destroy him. I have to warn him.” I stood up.

He filled a spoon with soup and swallowed it before slowly placing the spoon on a napkin. “Why?”

“Because…” There were a thousand different ways I could answer this question. I could list Aedan’s attributes, the ways he’d changed, and the good he tried to do. I could list his own struggles and challenges, the pains he’d faced and the values he’d clung to.

But none of that really hit the heart of the reason. The real reason was more simple. “Because I love him.”

Alastor groaned. “Oh, Callista. There’s a word for that, when a prisoner falls in love with her captor. It isn’t love when he offers you the basest of dignities or essentials that keep you alive.”

I sat back down and reached across the table to take Alastor’s hand. “I know it will be hard to believe, but that isn’t what happened. He brought me to you because he loves me. He tried to free me months ago, but we didn’t think there was a way for me to cross the barrier. I would really, really love your help, but if you can’t come with me, I’m still going to go.”

“And do what? You can’t cross the barrier.”

“I can if you help me.”

He filled his spoon again. “Not happening.”

I clenched a fist under the table. “If you won’t help me, I’ll pace along the barrier, hoping someone on the other side comes close enough for me to pass on the warning.”

He blew out a breath and pulled his hands away. “I could lock you in a room. Restrain you with magic. Make sure you stay away from danger.”

My jaw fell. “If you did that, you would be worse than the drekkan king.”

“Really?” He narrowed his eyes. “Worse than a monster who nearly killed me?”

“He stopped when I asked.”

“He stopped when you made him a better deal.”

I glared back at him. “He got nothing out of that deal. I was the most inconvenient thing he had to deal with for months.”

“And yet, here you are, ready to rush back to save him.”

“I rushed here to save you.”

He set the spoon down. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I took a slow breath. I came here out of love. I needed to remember that. He needed to realize it. I reached across the table again and took his hand. “I know the last few months have been hard.”

“I’ve spent the whole time trying to save you.”

“I know. And I’m so sorry I didn’t realize it.” I let a smirk steal across my face. “I told you to leave. I should have realized you’d ignore me.”

He chuckled. “I’m nothing if not predictable.”

My smirk faded. “I might not be the most helpful sister, but I’ve never lied to you.”

“I know.”

“When Guyan told us that you would be at the border, ready to open it for me, Aedan wanted to bring me back. It was that simple. He does not deserve to die at Guyan’s hand. It would be the cruelest betrayal.”

He stared at me, held my hand, and stared longer. After a minute, he sighed and let go of my hand. “What do you think he’ll do to you if I go with you?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

He raised his brows in a skeptical expression.

“Really. I’m so sure of it.”

He sighed again. “Fine. But I’m going to eat my soup first.”

Really? After all that arguing he was just going to agree? “Does that mean you’ll help me?”

“Yes. You should eat too. It’s been a long day.”

I picked up my spoon. I would not complain about that. “Thank you.”

He rolled his eyes. “I suppose I asked for it by going into Hemlit in the first place… and leaving a trail of magic I knew you’d follow.”

I chuckled and swallowed a bite of soup. “I never would have guessed that following you would have led me on the journey of a lifetime.”

“Really. The journey of a lifetime? See, I spent most of my time doing odd chores for elves and pacing along an invisible wall of magic.”

I grinned, my own anticipation mounting fast. “I cannot wait to take you back to Sirun and introduce you to people properly.”