Chapter Fifteen
The innkeeper acted as though she’d met a celebrity when Selina deposited five gold coins in her hand. Always gold with her, never silver or copper.
The female even went so far as to pack a lunch for their travels and warn them to be careful on the road.
They’d just left the village when Selina dug through the pack to examine the contents. “My word, she gave us everything.” She fished out a small leather satchel tied with a cord. “Medical kit.” She tossed it up to feel the weight. “A nice one, too.”
“I imagine she probably sells them.”
Selina pulled out a wrapped bag of jerky, examined it for all of two seconds, then tore off a piece before speaking with her mouth full. “Well, they might not know how to bake, but the dried meat is divine.” She definitely didn’t fit in with the court ladies.
“I’ll take your word on it if you’re still standing in thirty minutes.”
Selina patted her bag. “Not to worry. I have extra antidote should we accidentally ingest anything foul.” He did too, but Rion didn’t tell her that just in case she tried to poison him herself. It wouldn’t take much to drop a full grown Fae male.
Less than an hour later, the pair stumbled upon the first dead animal. A deer, the carcass half ripped apart while the other half was left to rot. Selina crept closer to observe the animal and prodded it with a stick. “No wolves here. Just birds who must have decided they didn’t like the taste.”
“It must be bad if even the scavengers are turning away from it.”
She crinkled her nose, then shifted her attention to the ground at his feet. “Are you really not going to use your magic?”
“I thought you wanted this to be covert?”
“I do, but your arm—”
“I can manage.”
“Oh, so you’re so high and mighty now that not only do you not need your magic, but you don’t need an arm either?”
“You’re the one who wants to train with me. I figured the confidence in my skills would only impress.”
She snorted. “We’ll see.”
“Shall we make a bet on it?”
“On what?”
“My abilities.”
“Someone thinks very highly of himself.”
“I do, in fact.”
“Fine,” she placed her hands on her hips and began walking again. He followed. “If you can make it back to the village without a single scratch, be it from animal or Fae, then I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“That’s a dangerous offer.”
She stared at him. “Fine, whatever you want within reason .”
His throat suddenly went dry, but somehow he kept his voice steady as he said, “A date.”
“I already promised you that. You have to give me some time to talk to them though. Once this mission is over—”
“With you .” She stopped walking. Turned to stare. Her mouth fell open as if she intended to speak but words didn’t come out.
Shit. Too forward. Too soon.
He needed to divert. Give her an out.
“Only if I come out unscathed, of course. Unless you already—”
“Fine. One date.” She held up a finger. “But I warn you, I’ve very high end.”
He tried to keep his excitement at bay. He forgot what to do with his hands, his eyes, and nodded as casually as he could.
“And if you lose, then you owe me a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” he asked.
“Whatever I want, to be disclosed at a later date.”
“Done.”
They continued at a steady pace and only paused when the sun began sinking toward the horizon. Selina didn’t dare use the river to clean his wounds.
“I haven’t seen any signs of wolves.”
“Or Dark Fae,” Selina added with a hint of sarcasm.
“You don’t believe?”
She shrugged. “No one has seen them in years.”
“Those who venture to the mountains claim differently.”
She scoffed. “Convenient that their stories always happen after sundown.”
“What about the bodies?”
“Predators, obviously.”
“The Fairy Folk are real.”
“And mysterious little things. That doesn’t mean big bad monsters are lurking in the shadows waiting to snatch us up. Those are just children’s stories told to keep us all in line.”
“My mother talked about the harpies a lot. And the sirens.”
She stopped rummaging through her pack and seemed to dive into her own memories before saying, “Mine, too. She claimed she’d seen one once.”
“A harpy?”
Selina nodded. “She said it looked like a half-naked woman with winged arms and feathers that ran down her torso. She also said she was one of the most beautiful creatures she’d ever seen. Until she showed her pointed teeth.”
“What else did she say about them?”
Selina continued digging until she found the jerky. “Nothing. She ran.”
“Probably smart. Was she lying?”
“No, but my mother was . . . eccentric. She said a lot of things that we . . . well, she thought they were true enough. She was never . . . right, after my father’s passing.”
Rion took the offered food. “I’m sorry to hear it.”
They ate in silence for a time. The sun set behind the treetops. The shadows lengthened and a small fire crackled at their feet.
“I know it’s a tender subject for you but,” she glanced at him. “Do you think you’ll ever find her? The High Lady?”
He stopped chewing. Stared at the flames. His stomach became a pit and soured out.
His mother. It had already been eleven years and they hadn’t found a single trace of her. “Saoirse still looks. I go with her when I can. I don’t think she’ll ever stop.”
“And your brother?”
“He sends out units every month. Alec is . . . cold, at least toward me, but I remember him with our mother. I don’t think he’s properly laughed since then.” No need to mention the grief they’d all suffered at their father’s loss.
Selina rubbed her hands on her legs, then repacked their bags. “I’m going to attempt to get some sleep. Wake me if anything happens.”
***
Rion let her sleep through the night. He watched the shadows, listened to the movements in the trees. He stared at the moon and questioned the gods’ plans as memories of his mother resurfaced.
She’d done so much for Brónach, and now she was gone. Forgotten in some small recess of the world.
There was always the possibility of a fade. There’d be no trace, according to the ancient texts and scholars. But his mother wasn’t old enough for that. Nor would she have willingly left her mate or her children.
Rion watched the inky blackness above and imagined her staring into the same star-flecked sky.
One day he’d find her.
One day he’d bring her home.