Page 20 of Sun, Moon & Shadow (Fate of Aemoria #1)

Crisp air greeted Nova as she stepped out into the stone courtyard.

The bonfire from the night before had burned down to embers, but the stars still shone dimly against the purpling predawn sky.

She wore a dark blue, fur-lined cloak, a sensible wool dress, and thick, thigh-high stockings under her brown leather riding boots, all pilfered from Fawn’s armoire.

She had hoped to bid her friend farewell in person but found Fawn’s chamber empty and her bed still neatly made.

Realizing Fawn must have been with Josef, Nova smirked and quickly penned a note, which she left on the desk.

Bending down, she adjusted the dagger sheathed within her boot, the crossguard digging into her ankle.

Heavy footfalls descended the stone steps behind her, and then Callan was at her side.

He whistled sharply, cutting through the stillness of the early-morning air.

A moment later, Frost appeared, trotting through the stone archway, his mane and tail, as white as a snowsquall, bouncing behind him.

The horse came to a halt in front of them, and Callan stroked its graceful neck with one hand, murmuring softly as he took the reins in the other.

Nova stepped forward and gently scratched behind the horse’s ear.

Callan tightened the straps of the saddle and hefted a brown leather saddlebag onto Frost’s broad back, securing it in place.

Dressed in his travel clothes, a heavy woolen cloak over a gray tunic and thick black breeches, Callan looked more like the rugged tracker she had first met in Timberfell, but his dark hair was still braided and woven with beads.

“I can’t help but notice you’ve prepared only one horse for our journey,” she said. “Again.”

“You’ve never traveled by portal before,” Callan explained, bending to hold the stirrup steady.

“Is that all?”

Callan lifted his brows. “Well, I thought it unwise to mention, but the last time you rode a horse, you were thrown.”

He stared her down, the faintest hint of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Yes, that would be unwise to mention,” she huffed, hooking her booted foot into the stirrup and swinging her leg over. Shifting in the saddle, she adjusted her dress so it covered her legs as much as possible. Callan mounted behind her and took hold of the reins.

“You can have your pick of any horse in the stables when we arrive in Nivali,” he murmured in her ear as he nudged Frost into a trot.

“I’ll accept that as an apology,” she said. The warm rush of his laugh brushed against her cheek, and Nova was thankful he sat at her back and couldn't see her blushing.

She tried to hide it, but the prospect of leaving the Estate’s protective shield frightened her.

Though the sun had fully risen roughly an hour after they’d passed through the Estate’s massive wooden gates, Nova still flinched at the snap of twigs as they rode along the worn cart path beneath trees crowned with terracotta leaves.

The only creatures she spied lurking in the forest were wood sprites flitting from limb to limb, no larger than hummingbirds, their gold-veined wings shimmering in the sunlight.

Though the creatures had sharp teeth and could be vicious, swarming when provoked, they were mostly harmless, according to Fawn’s lessons.

Callan tugged gently on the reins, steering the horse toward a row of apple trees lining the path.

As they passed, he plucked a fragrant golden apple from a branch, buffing it on his cloak before handing it to her.

Holding the ripe fruit in both hands, Nova brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply before sinking her teeth into it.

“Is it just my Fae senses, or does the food taste much better here?” she asked, mouth full of the sweet fruit.

“Legend says that long ago, when mortals could freely enter Aemoria, eating our food or drinking our wine enchanted them, making them vulnerable. It’s one of the reasons the Boundary was created, barring humans from entering.

But, to your point, I choked down enough mealy apples and stale bread while I searched for you below the Boundary to say this with a fair bit of certainty: The food here is much better. ”

A few moments later, Nova took a final bite of the apple and tossed the core into the brush.

Movement caught her eye, and she tilted her head back to see a raven lazily circling high above them, a smudge of black against the expanse of clear blue sky.

Callan nudged Frost into a canter when they reached a fork in the path, taking them deeper into the forest and only slowing to a walk once they were sheltered beneath a canopy of overhanging branches.

“Is something the matter?” Nova asked, twisting to look at him.

“A lone raven.” He tipped his head toward the shadowy tunnel stretching through the trees behind them. “It’s a bad omen.”

Eyes wide, Nova twisted further to look over her shoulder, but nothing followed.

There was no sound but birdsong and the rustle of leaves in the light breeze.

The morning was comfortably warm. As they plodded along, crossing between cool shadows and patches of dappled sunlight, Nova leaned back, relaxing against Callan’s chest.

“How much longer until we reach the portal?” she asked, absentmindedly combing her fingers through the snowy strands of Frost’s mane.

“Not long now. See the crest up ahead?” He pointed at a gradual slope in the path before them. “The portal is in a clearing on the far side of that hill.”

“How does it work, exactly?” The notion of traveling in minutes a distance that would have taken weeks in the Human Realm fascinated her.

“Portals sit on sites of ancient magic throughout the territories. Each portal is a gateway leading to a sacred site in another location. The one up ahead is connected to an ancient site in Nivali, not far from the capital.”

When they reached the hill a short time later, Callan wrapped his left arm snug around her waist, clicking his tongue for the horse to pick up speed on the incline.

When they descended the opposite side, he steered them to the right and off the packed-dirt path.

Frost stepped nimbly over roots and overgrown brush.

Callan loosened his grip on Nova, but his arm lingered, resting loosely around her middle.

At last, they crossed into a large circular clearing, the ground carpeted in spongy, green moss.

At the center stood an ancient tree. Its knotted branches and thick roots reached out nearly to the edge of the circle.

The wide trunk was split, as if it had once been struck by lightning, creating an opening large enough for them to pass through, even while seated atop the horse.

The tree appeared hollow with a seemingly infinite blackness contained within it.

As they approached, a glimmer ran across the opening, not unlike the ripple that had revealed the shield over the training field.

The breeze stilled, and the forest birds went silent.

“Are you ready?” Callan asked.

The fine hairs on Nova’s arms stood on end. “Y-yes,” she answered, stifling a shudder triggered by her proximity to such concentrated magic.

Callan urged Frost on, and they entered the portal. The sensation reminded Nova of crossing the Boundary. All sound faded as if she’d been plunged underwater, and a great weight pressed in on her from every direction. The horse trudged forward slowly, as if fighting against the pull of a tide.

After what felt like only a matter of minutes, Frost carried them through a passageway and onto a snowy, windblown cliff overlooking a cove flanked by high bluffs.

Nova twisted in the saddle. The portal entrance was a cave in the rock face, unremarkable except for the carved symbols around the opening.

Nova recognized the characters as those she’d seen etched on Callan’s blade.

A weathered stone carving of Brumal, the god of transformation, stood to the right of the cave, arms held out with palms facing the overcast sky.

Moored in the harbor below, dozens of ships of varying sizes bobbed on the water.

Large patches of ice, thick and opaque, dotted the cove.

Set back from the sandy shoreline stood a great wooden structure, its peaked roof blanketed in pure white snow.

A sprawling city of smaller wooden structures surrounded the main building with evergreen trees jutting up toward the sky like ships’ masts between them.

Dozens of tiny windows glowed with the flickering orange of firelight.

Nova glanced up, realizing the sky was already growing dark.

“It’s nearly nightfall,” she said, pulling her hood over her head against a blast of icy wind. The soft fur lining tickled her chilled cheeks.

“Traveling by portal is much faster than traveling over land, but it still takes time.” Callan’s tone was serious, his expression somber, as he pulled up his own hood and opened his cloak, draping it over her shoulders.

She leaned into him and pulled the material tight around them both, the combined heat of their bodies warming her immediately.

“And days are much shorter in the Winter Court.”

Frost snorted impatiently, pawing at the snow-covered rock. Callan made no move to start their journey down the mountainside.

Nova realized he was stalling.

“The wind’s picking up,” she said after a few moments. “Perhaps we should be going.”

“Of course,” Callan said. His voice had a faraway quality, as if her words had pulled him from a trance. With a nudge from Callan’s boots to his ribs, Frost started off along the snowy decline toward the Estate.

The bite of the frigid wind against her face lessened once they made it down off the mountainside and were shielded by the dense evergreen forest. The air was thick with the sharp scent of pine and cedar as they traveled between the trees.

Snow slid off the branches, landing with soft thuds on the forest floor, the freed limbs springing up and casting clouds of fine white powder into the air.

After a time, they came upon a fence with several collapsed sections.

Callan pulled at the reins and stopped before a sagging wooden archway where a path led down a small hill to an abandoned village below.

The thatched roofs of the buildings were caved in, the cracked panes of the windows dark. Callan shuddered.

“What happened here?” Nova murmured, a shudder running through her as well.

“You remember the tale I told you of the Shadowbringer?”

Nova nodded.

“This village was one of the first attacked during his campaign of bloodshed. Some of the residents were found dead, mauled by dark creatures. Most had simply vanished leaving no trace. The village stands as a monument to those who were lost.”

Callan urged the horse on, understandably eager to put the ruined village behind his back.

“The attacks have lessened over the centuries. It had been many years since the last report, but a squadron of Tundaran soldiers disappeared just weeks ago under similar circumstances.” He fell silent, and they rode on through the hushed quiet of the forest, even Frost’s hoofbeats muted by the snow.

At last, the Nivali Estate came into view as they rounded a bend in the path.

The grand three-story structure rose up before them built upon a raised platform.

Several steps spanned the length of the building—each one a single plank hewn from an enormous tree—leading to a pair of towering doors.

Dozens of chimneys speared the sky, plumes of gray smoke swirling out before dissipating in the frozen wind.

Callan brought Frost to a halt at the foot of the steps and dismounted, leading the horse to a post and looping the reins around it before offering a hand to help Nova down. He stared up at the entryway flanked by tall windows emitting a warm glow.

He was stalling again.

“How long has it been since you were last here?” Nova asked, hauling him from his thoughts once more. She accepted his hand and slid down smoothly from the saddle.

Callan shook his head. “You still think of time as humans do. It’s different for the Fae.” He clenched his jaw.“Let’s say it has been far too long.”

“How long?”

Callan blew out a breath.

“Two hundred years.”

Before Nova could react, he started up the steps, one hand on the small of her back, guiding her beside him. When they reached the top, he lowered his hood and laid his palms flat on the doors but hesitated, turning his face to hers.

“There is something you should know before we enter.”

His eyes found hers slowly, as if the weight of his emotion made it difficult to lift his gaze.

“I am the rightful Noble Lord of Nivali.”

With that, he shoved his hands against the heavy doors and strode purposefully into the Great Hall beyond.