Chapter 19 #2
Keres stepped up quietly and pressed a small glass vial into Amanti’s palm. “Salve,” she said gruffly. “For your wings. Use it daily, or the threads will stiffen.”
Amanti huffed a soft laugh. “Bossy as ever.”
Keres merely glanced at Nali and said, “She’s a terrible patient.”
Nali laughed and took the salve. “Challenge accepted.” And then in a conspiratorial whisper, she added, “I’m a terrible nurse. But I am sure one of my companions would be happy to massage her daily.”
Amanti flushed at that, which almost made this whole situation worth it. Clearly ready to change the subject, she looked at Rydian and said, “A moment?”
He crossed to her without hesitation, shadows fading from his hands as he led her a few steps away. Whatever they said was too quiet to catch, but I saw the way her shoulders eased, the way his did not. When they stepped back, he bowed his head to her—a warrior’s goodbye.
Nali reached for my hand. “I’m glad to have seen you again,” she said. “And for what you did—for my people—I owe you more than thanks. You could’ve let the creature kill more of us. You didn’t.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You could have,” she said simply. “But you didn’t. I’ll remember that.” She hesitated, then added, “I’ll look after her. You have my word.”
“Thank you,” I said, grateful.
She hugged me and let me go quickly.
Behind her, guards began to move the coral doors aside. The current stirred with the motion, revealing a narrow passage disappearing into darkness.
The tunnel up.
“My father has kept his word,” Nali said. “No escort will follow.” She lowered her voice, adding, “And I’ve done a bit more than that. When the tunnel ends, you’ll surface far to the north. The tunnel’s currents will know where to take you. It’s the closest I can put you to your destination.”
“Thank you,” I told her gratefully.
“Ready?” Rydian asked, rejoining us.
“Let’s do it,” Keres said.
“You know,” Slade said, eyeing the tunnel like he might size up an enemy, “I was just thinking I haven’t nearly drowned yet today.”
Keres gave him a look that could have frozen steam.
“Time to go,” Daegel chirped.
Thorne was already moving.
We entered the passage single file—Rydian first, shadows brushing the walls like they recognized the stone. I went after him. Keres followed, then Daegel, Thorne, and Slade trailing last with a muttered, “If I drown, tell the naiad from last night that I love her.”
Keres snickered.
With one last look behind me at the three figures standing on the platform, I left the river court and Amanti behind.
An hour passed. Then two.
Slade and Thorne told stories, recounting parts of the party the previous night. Daegel went on about the city we’d seen outside the palace walls. The naiad metropolis that no other fae had ever seen before. Keres let them chatter, clearly uninterested in anything to do with the river kingdom.
Rydian’s hand brushed mine as he pressed in beside me.
“She’ll be all right,” he said quietly.
I nodded, not sure my words would reflect agreement.
“We’re almost there,” he added.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Light.” He pointed upward, and I squinted, noting the watery light that shone through from far above us.
I exhaled in relief.
Up ahead, Slade yelled out, “Something’s happening.”
The tunnel walls narrowed, the water on both sides beginning to shrink in around us. The tunnel darkened, the river on either side rippling past like predators. From the sandy floor, water began to rise, covering my boots, then rising quickly to my knees.
“What in the Seven Hels,” Keres breathed.
Daegel’s shadow shield flared, encompassing us all, but it couldn’t do anything against the element of water. From beneath our feet, the river continued to rise, bringing with it a strong current.
The current caught my legs and pulled, light at first, then stronger. My boots were swept off the ground.
“Don’t fight it,” Rydian said, whipping along in front of me.
“I don’t think I can,” I said, breathless as the cold water soaked me and pulled me onward.
Slade called out, and Keres flailed her arms, trying in vain to shove against the water’s strength. The pull quickened, swirling, roaring. My hair whipped around my face. Thorne swore behind me. Slade whooped like a man on a death ride.
Then everything tilted. The river-floor vanished. The world inverted, and water rushed in to meet me.
I was falling—no, rising—the current pushing me up so violently it ripped the breath from my lungs. I flailed blindly and caught Rydian’s hand just before light exploded.
I broke the surface gasping.
The air on my face was bitterly cold, the water even colder. Light streaked weakly across the sky. For a second, I just treaded water, dizzy with the sudden weight of gravity.
Rydian swam to the shore first, boots dragging through mud as he hauled himself onto solid ground. I followed, shivering and forcing my limbs to move. The others climbed out one by one around me, coughing and swearing and blinking through the morning mist.
Keres looked back toward the river, whose surface rippled innocently enough. “Next time, we’re taking a boat.”
“Next time?” Slade echoed, shaking out his hair. “So, you’re saying you’d go back?”
“Not if your life depended on it,” she told him.
Daegel collapsed onto the bank, dripping and grim. “I hate the river.”
Thorne smirked. “That’s rich, coming from a man who bathes more than any of us.”
“That’s not saying much in this group,” Daegel told him, and Slade hooted.
The banter eased something tight in my chest.
Then I saw movement ahead.
Figures emerging from the mist. Half a dozen at first, then more. Heavily cloaked, utterly silent. Weapons at their sides.
Thorne’s hand went to his sword. Keres mirrored him instantly.
“Hold,” Rydian said sharply.
The strangers didn’t raise their blades. The one in front lowered her hood.
My breath caught. “Vanya?”
The Autumn fae maid smiled—familiar, warm, and, as always, polite. “My lady.” She dipped into a curtsy.
I didn’t think. I just ran across the muddy bank and hugged her, waterlogged limbs and all.
“I thought I wouldn’t see you again,” I said against her shoulder.
“As did I,” she said, hugging me quickly before stepping back with flushed cheeks.
Behind her, more of them appeared—pale, gray-cloaked, faces I half-recognized from my short time in Grey Oak. Not enemies. Not a trap. For once, something good.
Rydian shook hands with a few of the men. So did Daegel and Slade, and I realized these men had served together, worked together. These were true allies.
“How did you know we’d be here?” Rydian asked.
Vanya’s smile dimmed. “We heard the Winter Queen had gathered forces along her borders. We guessed you’d follow.”
Keres lowered her weapon but didn’t sheathe it. “Guessing’s a dangerous habit. Then again, these are dangerous times.”
The air shifted again before I could answer. A shadow detached from the Withered’s ranks and stepped forward. Gold embroidery on forest-green. A familiar face, eyes ringed in dark circles.
Callan.
The others reacted instantly—swords half-drawn, Keres already moving to block my side. Daegel cast a shadow-shield.
Thorne palmed a throwing knife, arm cocked back.
“Your Highness,” Callan called out, his eyes glittering as he took me in. “Here you are at last.”
I glanced at Rydian. His expression didn’t change, but the temperature around us did. Even the mist seemed to pause as the prince’s shadows became nearly solid between us and the Autumn king.
“At my brother’s side, no less,” Callan added, tossing a fleetingly charming smile at Rydian. The expression dripped with a hollow disdain.
My heart thudded.
So much for the easy part.