Chapter Fifty-Six
T here’s a collective exhale as we enter the warmth of the stables. The scent of fresh hay wraps its familiar arms around us. The soft chuffs of the horses are the only sounds. Everyone else must’ve headed to the castle to help.
“They must be taking a break since their stable master is out of commission,” Gryphon voices my thoughts on the empty structure.
“Or Killian’s called everyone directly to the castle,” I respond, reminded of what passed between the three of us earlier. Both Thaddeus and Gryphon stop and look at me.
“Why would it come from Killian to move everyone into the castle?” Thaddeus asks, his question accentuated by the lift of his eyebrows and his slow words, as if he’s unsure he wants to hear the answer.
“Hadeon’s dead.” I take a few steps toward our horses, effectively ending the conversation there. I can feel the shock pass between them but don’t acknowledge it.
Gryphon moves ahead of me quickly toward the saddles, gathering what’s necessary.
“Roe,” Thaddeus’ voice is low as if he’s still struggling for control. And I can tell what’s next won’t be about Hadeon. “You almost died.” A statement, not a question .
“I know.” My answer seems insufficient, but I’m not sure what else to say. I search his eyes for a clue as to what he’s thinking. Sea glass green has returned, my Thaddeus has returned, and I’m surprised to see fear reflected in them.
“I can’t lose you.” He leans in close, and I welcome his scent of a fresh frost that wraps itself around me. “You mean too much to me.”
“Then I suppose you’ll just have to keep me close.” At the look in his eye, something dark and unrecognizable flashes before he smiles and whatever it was that I saw, is just as quickly forgotten.
“Not even dragons could keep me away from you.” His lips meet my own. At first, soft kisses that say I miss you. But they deepen, and something between a gasp and sigh leaves me as his hands find my hips and his palms trace up my lower back until our bodies are pressed against one another. His arousal presses into my thigh, promising pleasure the next time we’re alone. Gryphon and the horses forgotten, for just a moment.
He kisses my jawline, down my neck. He continues, unable to help himself as he licks at the blood remaining where Hadeon almost took my life and I feel him shudder as he tastes me.
“We don’t have a lot of time.” Baylor clears his throat as he steps out of the tack room, looking anywhere but at us.
With that, our embrace is broken. With a growl filled with promises for later in his throat, Thaddeus steps away from me.
But before I can be too upset, I turn to see Baylor striding toward us as if he wasn’t on death’s door just hours ago.
He moves to hand me a saddle, but it falls forgotten on the floor as I wrap my arms around him. As I do, I realize in the past weeks, Baylor and I have interacted with more formalities than a hug would warrant, and the last time I had my arms wrapped around him, we must’ve been sixteen and up in the hay loft above us. He follows my gaze and raises his eyebrows suggestively. “Once more, for old time’s sake?”
Something changes in the air and Thaddeus growls again. Baylor instantly steps back, hands raised.
I look from Baylor to Thaddeus. “He’s—” But alive somehow seems like too small a word. Baylor is absolutely glowing. His curls gleam as if the sun shines down upon him. His skin glows with an inner light, soft and bright at the same time. All the lines in his chiseled face stand out more, giving him an ethereal appearance. His ears have the tell-tale look of the Fae. And even though he hasn’t grown one bit, his whole presence just feels bigger. I look side-long at Thaddeus, is this what happens when Fae and Ancient blood combine?
“I’ll live to see another day,” Baylor finishes. “As long as you don’t hug me again.” He looks pointedly at Thaddeus, who’s now trying to cover up his response with clearing his throat.
“The blood of the Ancients looks good on you.” Thaddeus smirks, striding over to fit the bridles over the horses’ faces.
“Ah, yes. I suppose one of these days I’ll owe you one.” Baylor winks at Thaddeus and combs a hand through his blond curls, belaying the seriousness of what passed between them this morning.
The stable door opens and all four of us draw our swords. The two figures close the door behind them with urgency. When they turn, relief and happiness swell within me. Patton and Thaliya; their arms weighed down with burlap bags, move quickly toward the horses to load them up. The scent of freshly baked bread wafts through the air as they begin tying each bag onto the saddles .
“I wish we had more time. But they’re right behind us.” Patton is all warrior-leaving-for-battle, expertly tying down packs in the proper spots along each horses’ saddle as if he’s done this a thousand times before. While Thaliya cups my face, she whispers all the words she thought she’d have time to say, but we’re running out of time too fast. All her rushed words and instructions go right over me, I hope later I’ll be able to recall even a part of what was said.
“We’ll have to go out the rear. Let’s ride.” Baylor, with the enthusiasm and buoyancy of someone who was not on the chopping block this morning, mounts his ride, followed quickly by Gryphon and myself. Thaddeus mounts behind me without comment.
“You don’t have your own mount?” I turn in my saddle, unsure how I feel about this invasion of space but enjoying the closeness and scent of him nonetheless.
“As a bard? I would not. My own ride will catch up to us, in time.” Thaddeus looks so amused; I only hear half of his answer.
“Will catch up?” I’m unclear how that makes sense, but I squeeze my mare’s ribs with my calves, starting our movement forward.
We pass Thaliya and Baylor on the way out the back. “We’ll keep them distracted long enough for you to gain some distance, but don’t stop until you know it’s clear. The surrounding lands will be crawling with guards these next few days,” Patton says as he positions himself between us and the door.
“I don’t need to tell you as much, but your parents would be proud.” Thaliya looks at me with tears limning her eyes. “This is what Bronwinn would have wanted. And now that you know everything, everything else will start falling into place. ”
If this is what she thinks falling into place looks like, then it’s going to be a rough road ahead.
Just as our horses step from around the stable doors, they begin whinnying and backstepping away from the thick trees surrounding the back side of the stables. The sound of shuffling gravel and sticks breaking grows closer.
Frantic and unsure how to proceed, I turn around to see Thaliya’s body stiffen at whatever’s coming from their side, so I try to stay out of the light from the stables. We’re closed in. Stuck between the guards coming in behind us and whatever this unknown terror big enough to rattle even the horses is coming straight at us. I look to Thaddeus for directions.