Chapter 20 #2
Tears fell from my lashes. “Fadey…” I didn’t know what else to say and let my forehead fall to his chest.
Roark nodded and pressed a long kiss to my forehead. His words were formed low, where I could look down and watch the gestures. No more melding.
“We must keep hunting. What else are we to do?” I said, a little desperate.
Lyra. I will not risk you, understand? We don’t know these spell casts. Until we learn how he’s able to find you now, we don’t hunt the bones.
My shoulders slumped. I wanted to protest, wanted to argue, but whether it was the exhaustion from the melder’s trance or knowing Roark’s fear was warranted, I could not muster the words.
“What happened in…wherever you go?” Gunter’s voice drew my attention.
I leaned deeper against Roark’s chest. “Fadey. He…he was there. I thought…I thought only I could step into the mirror, but he nearly pulled me to him.”
Emi’s eyes went wide. “What did he do to you?”
I retold the shift toward the gates, the desire to feel if Kael still lived, then of the blood craft guarding the gates.
The wards must’ve summoned Fadey. Roark spoke in harsh gestures.
“You said there was a rope around you?” Gunter folded his arms over his chest.
“It looked almost like a thread of a bond, like he’d found a way to tie me to him, but it was faded and nowhere near as strong as mine and Roark’s.”
One of Gunter’s brows lifted. “Even weak bonds can only be formed from a connection, be it blood, affection, or through vows.”
I held no affection for Fadey, nor his blood, and I certainly had made no vow with him. “He said Ingir crafted a spell from my blood to tether him to my mind and the realm of souls.”
Gunter paused for a moment to consider the idea. “Still, even blood craft has limits. One blood cast would not still hold. It would require a deeper connection. I’ve never heard of blood craft causing a permanent tether, only finding one that can be used again and again.”
“How would Ingir’s blood craft have found a connection with me? I have no connection to Fadey other than sharing the same craft.”
“Then it seems I have more to learn about soul connections and blood craft,” Gunter said, rubbing his chin. “And I very much plan to.”
We won’t be hunting bones until we know more. Roark’s jaw pulsed.
“Probably wise,” Emi said but offered me a sympathetic look. “We’ll find a way to Darkwin and those bones, Ly.”
“The Night Ledges,” I snapped. “We need to get to whatever is hidden over the Ledges. Which means we must leave here.”
“Working on it,” Brynn insisted. “We’re gathering supplies, but Virki is watching us relentlessly. Like he knows. Honestly, a great deal of the úlfur are watching. Soon I might not be above falsifying deaths to get us out.”
“Perhaps we can dress as Jorvan Stav and feign a kidnapping,” Gunter chuckled.
Brynn smiled and shoved his shoulder. “We’ll tuck that idea next to false deaths.”
“Afraid you can’t pretend to die until after tonight,” said Emi.
Exhausted, frantic with worry for Kael, and burning with rage at Fadey, I still let out a long groan.
Loud and petulant enough that even Roark grinned as he helped me to my feet.
Feasts and celebrations seemed so pointless with all we faced, but tonight was the promised revel where Queen Elisabet would put forth her new melder daughter-in-law for the clan to accept. Or reject, I suppose.
Brynn spoke after a long silence. “I don’t understand why Fadey is so obsessed with you if he can now enter the realm of souls. I thought that was why he wanted your bones.”
I rubbed my brow, kneading out the tension. “I don’t know either. Why does he insist I am this missing piece he needs to find the Wanderer? If we cannot hunt the bones, I’d rather hunt Fadey and make sure a rogue arrow finds his heart. Then the Wanderer can rest and we can too.”
“I like this direction, Lyra.” Gunter reclined in a chair and kicked his legs off the arm until they were flat on the floor. “We kill the bastard and the Jorvan queen. The end.”
Emi chuckled. “I adore this plan, but alas, I do not think Fadey will be a simple kill.”
And there is something he knows, Roark offered, a simmer of hate in his eyes. He’s been planning this for seasons—the raids, the hunt for Lyra, the coup with the queen. I want to know why. I agree with Lyra, his obsession with her goes deeper than the Wanderer.
My heart stuttered. “Was Fadey involved a great deal in the raids?”
Thane always said Fadey was the one who fought the fiercest, insisting he needed to protect and train the hidden melder.
I’d never paused to wonder much if Fadey desired a young, impressionable melder to reach Stonegate. It was always Damir or the Dravens I feared in my mind. “If Fadey suspected your brother ran with me, do you think he had something to do with…Nivek?”
The gold of Roark’s eyes burned like embers. I’m starting to wonder.
“But if Fadey was involved with Nivek’s death, he would know about you, Roark,” Emi said. “He would know what happened to you that night. Why would he allow you to live in Stonegate with such a secret?”
So sure?
Emi paused. “Well, I suppose I can’t say for certain.”
“If Fadey knew of Nivek’s involvement, it could merely be that he knew the prince hid the melder,” Brynn said.
“If his obsession is as fierce as it sounds, it might’ve angered him enough to retaliate.
But it doesn’t mean he knew of Roark, nor of his bond with Lyra.
Vishon and Elisabet kept their second son very concealed from the other kingdoms for this exact reason. ”
My head ached from unknowns, my heart burned from loss, and my body throbbed from sitting on the floor all morning.
You need to rest and eat, Roark gestured against my palm. I began to protest, but he pressed his fingertips to my lips. You are no good to Darkwin if you have no strength.
Since we’d sealed our bond, conversing with Skul Drek was no different from speaking with Roark outside the cold mirror. We were bonded across every realm, but the search for the bones wore me weary, until my legs felt like they would give and I thought I might be able to sleep for days.
Roark did not wait for me to respond before helping me to my feet, taking my hand in his, and guiding me out of the study.