Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Aurelia
By the time the morning mist began to lift, Callan and his men had ridden out. Vanya ushered Keres and me into her tent where we changed into dry clothes and then dried our hair by the cooking fire.
Rydian returned an hour later and didn’t ask where his half-brother had gone. I suspected he’d tracked the Autumn king himself just to make sure there wasn’t a trap laid in his wake.
After a brief meal of stew and hot tea, we gathered in what had been Callan’s command tent, a structure of green and gold canvas sagging slightly from the damp. Someone had stoked the brazier in the corner, but the heat did little against the chill that crept through the seams.
The Withered army waited outside, their voices muted beneath the hush of wind through the trees. At my insistence, Vanya had joined us. She stood quiet as a mouse near the door like she might bolt at any moment. She’d already asked me three times if I needed anything.
Rydian stood near the table where maps were spread open, his shadows curling faintly in the low light.
Keres stood on the table’s other side, arms crossed, looking ready to stab anyone who spoke out of turn.
Daegel and Thorne sat opposite each other, a mug of ale in their hands.
Slade sprawled in a chair, eyes half-lidded but alert.
They’d all found dry clothes somehow, but the contents of our packs—the food Nali had given us when we’d left—were ruined.
And then there was Eirnan.
Clearly a leader among the Withered here, he entered without announcement, tall and spare as a winter pine.
His hair was streaked silver, his skin pale, his cheeks and nose bright pink from the cold, but there was something unbroken in the way he moved.
Soldier. Survivor. From the looks of his weathered body, his magic was nearly gone, but he held himself as proud as any fae warrior.
“Your Highness,” he said to me with a bow so crisp it belonged to another era. “If titles still mean anything, that is.”
“They don’t,” I said, though part of me still felt the weight of it. “Not out here, anyway. Aurelia will do.”
He nodded once and looked to Rydian. “And you, my Prince?”
I tried not to react to the reference, knowing full well Eirnan meant it for Rydian’s Autumn roots.
“I’ve never liked that title either,” Rydian told him kindly.
Eirnan smiled faintly. “Good. Then we may speak as soldiers.”
“Please,” Rydian said, gesturing. “You have the floor. Tell us what you know.”
Eirnan approached the table, spreading out a crude parchment map of the northern reaches—one clearly drawn from memory.
“Heliconia’s army holds the ridge along the Concordian border.
Her troops have doubled in the past month, and every village in their path has been leveled to complete destruction. ”
“She’s done licking her wounds,” I murmured.
Eirnan nodded. “There’s more than simply war. The ground freezes where her soldiers march. Snow falls, enough to bury home and hearth. Rivers have frozen over. Game has migrated south or succumbed to the frigid temperatures.”
“Winter magic is spreading,” Daegel muttered.
“The rumors are true, then.” Rydian’s gaze flicked to mine. “She’s recovered at last.”
“Our scouts overheard her soldiers talking. They say her strength has been renewed. That the curse she cast on Summer nearly killed her, but she’s come back even stronger. They believe she’s drawing from something ancient.”
“Something more than the power she stole from the gods?” Keres asked.
“We don’t know,” Eirnan said.
The tent fell silent except for the hiss of the brazier. I traced the jagged line of the mountains on the map. “And she plans to use that power against the Autumn Court?”
Eirnan inclined his head. “Her soldiers speak freely of it—how their queen will make an example of King Callan for trying to take a traitor queen.”
Keres’ gaze sharpened on me. “Wow, she really is obsessed with you.”
Slade snorted.
“Heliconia proposed to him,” I said. “Again.”
“What?” Keres’ eyes widened.
Slade sat up straighter. “I heard she did once before. Back before he announced his engagement with you.”
“Apparently, I was his loophole so he didn’t have to outright refuse her,” I said.
“And now?” Keres asked, brow lifted as if she’d already guessed Callan had come here to try that same loophole again.
“She offered him mercy in exchange for his throne,” I said, unable to keep the bitterness from my tone. “If he refuses, she marches on his kingdom.”
Thorne leaned forward, brow furrowed. “And will he? Refuse?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
Rydian’s scowl deepened. He said nothing, but his silence was loud enough to fill the tent.
Slade cleared his throat. “In light of this new information, do we continue on our own course?” he asked pointedly. “Or offer our aid to Autumn?”
He shot a look at Eirnan and Vanya.
I turned to them both, explaining, “We came north because Heliconia has my friend Lesha, one of the Aine, as a prisoner in her camp. We intend to free her.”
Vanya’s eyes widened.
Eirnan studied me thoughtfully. “You’d risk all your lives against an entire Obsidian army for one friend?”
“Yes,” I told him simply.
He looked from me to the others, one by one, and something behind his eyes clicked. “Then we march at your side.”
“I can’t ask you to do that. But if you can point the way.”
Eirnan shook his head. “Not much in the way of cover stands between you and the Winter army. The moment we take a step north, we’ll be seen.”
“Then we find another way in,” Keres said, but I could see the bleakness in her eyes. The naiad had refused us, so the river was out. And now, a land approach was out too.
“There is another way,” Eirnan said. “Old tunnels under the mountains—traders and smugglers alike have used them for centuries to avoid the snowstorms rolling off the mountains. I worked those routes as a trader before…” His mouth tightened. “Before everything.”
“And you can find them again?” Rydian asked.
“I can.”
I studied him. “What’s the catch?”
“Only that the tunnels aren’t stable,” he said. “Parts have collapsed, and there are creatures living deep inside those caves that would make an Obsidian look friendly. But if you want to reach the war camp unseen, it’s the only way.”
Keres rubbed her temple. “Collapsed tunnels full of monsters. Perfect.”
Slade smirked. “You’re not afraid of a little dirt and a few bats, are you?”
“Dirt doesn’t scare me,” she said. “Idiots do.”
Daegel grinned. “Then you’ve been terrified since you met Slade.”
The faint ripple of laughter broke through the heaviness for a heartbeat. Even Rydian’s mouth twitched before his attention returned to the map.
“We’d do well with a day’s rest before we continue on,” Rydian said.
Eirnan nodded. “I’ll see to it. And when the time comes, we’ll march with you to rescue your friend.”
“I can’t ask—”
“We will fight beside you, Aurelia of Sevanwinds. We remember what loyalty once meant.”
“You already fought for me once,” I told him quietly. “I owe you a debt for it.”
“We fought for ourselves that night as much as for anyone else,” he said. “And we walk free now. The debt is paid.”
“Even so, I won’t ask you to die for me.”
He smiled sadly. “We’ve been dying for kings who didn’t deserve us for centuries. Let us die for something better.”
Something in my chest tightened. “Thank you.”
Rydian rolled the map closed and handed it to Eirnan. “Send your scouts. We move at dawn.”
The meeting dissolved after that, everyone filtering out. Keres and Slade bickered their way toward the campfires. Daegel lingered just long enough to mutter something about rechecking our supplies. Thorne followed with a whistle that couldn’t quite mask his weariness.
Eirnan paused at the exit, meeting my gaze once more. “I am glad our paths have crossed again, my lady.”
“Is that why you traveled with the king?” I asked. “To find me?”
“It’s he who asked to travel with us.”
“And why did you?” I asked.
“He vowed to be a better king than his father.”
“And has he been?” I asked. “So far, I mean.”
“The donations ended. The centers are closed.” His eyes sparkled with grief and hope. “It’s a start.”
“It’s a start,” I agreed, surprised and relieved to hear Callan had done so.
He dipped his chin. “We have you to thank for it all. You’ll have our blades, my lady. And whatever magic we have left.”