Chapter 15 Reyla
Reyla
After we'd calmed the shaken zephyls, we continued on our journey. Inside our carriage, Farris settled by my feet with a tired huff. The remainder of our trip passed without incident, though pleasant felt like the wrong word after the attack. The quiet gave me too much time to think.
“I want to send Moira and Calista back with our guard,” I finally said.
“I don’t want to put them in any more danger.
Prager won’t stop with witherroots. She’ll keep coming after us even if we safely arrive at Irridain.
We can keep Farris inside our rooms where he won’t be seen, but protecting them will be a much bigger challenge. ”
“We’ll ask your ladies, but they have free will. When they agreed to come with us, they knew there could be danger.”
I grumbled, knowing he was right. “Will Prager be able to see through our disguises?”
“She shouldn’t be able to.”
I worried my lower lip. “I’m still going to tell them to return to Evergorne with our guards.”
I hated the thought of sending them away. They’d become more than a ladies-in-waiting.
They were also friends.
We reached the place where we’d arranged to meet up with Dorion and parked our carriages deep underneath a cluster of trees.
Dorion hadn’t arrived yet, but we donned our rings and with Farris at our heels, climbed inside Calista and Moira’s vehicle to wait, sitting across from them with Farris slouched by my feet.
We didn’t dare risk them leaving their own carriage without a disguise. Someone might recognize them. While I doubted many lords or ladies noticed staff, some were savvy enough to do so.
“I want you to go back,” I told them. “It’s not safe.”
“We have to stay with you,” Moira said, Calista nodding along with her daughter. Moira frowned Lore’s way before her gaze met mine again. “Please. We need to be here in case…” Again, she looked at Lore, though I had no idea why.
“We want to remain with you,” Calista said.
Moira took my hand, squeezing it, hers chilled from the shock. “It’s not about helping you dress or doing your hair as much as moving among the staff and reporting back to you. You need this.”
“I could do this for us both.” Concern lined Calista’s face as she looked at her daughter. “One person inside Irridain will be safer than two. I understand why you want to help, but I don’t like risking you.”
“We have to go with them.” Moira's voice held steel. “We'll be more help than hindrance. I don’t want to go back. You can’t…” Her breathing caught and tears shimmered in her eyes. “Please don’t send us back.”
Movement outside caught my eye, but when I looked through the window, I only saw a black bird pecking at something in the shade of a broad tree.
To anyone passing, we appeared unremarkable. Nobles with their retinue pausing in the shade for a break. Easily forgotten.
The hairs on my neck refused to settle.
“I don’t want to send you back,” I said. “But I couldn’t bear it if something happened to either of you.”
Farris whined and kept sniffing the air. And while Lore sat beside me, his posture seemingly at ease, he’d already reinforced his ward. I could feel the new layer humming across my skin.
His hand never strayed far from the hilt of his dagger, and the tension in his shoulders mirrored my own. I’d felt this kind of stillness during a raid or while swooping down toward a village on dragonback. That feeling that almost anything could happen, and it would always be bad.
The forest showed no visible threat. Trees stood silent, the undergrowth undisturbed. But I couldn’t shake my worry.
“My queen?” Calista said, dragging me back to the conversation. “What’s your decision?”
“Please don’t send us back.” Near desperation filled Moira’s voice.
A shiver dragged through me. I could barely pay attention to what was going on inside the carriage. “I feel like something’s watching us.”
Lore whispered low in a language I’d never heard before, but he knew many. His new ward unfurled like a ribbon, wrapping around the carriage and sealing it from listening ears and prying eyes.
Moira’s head swiveled toward the window. “What is it?” Her hands were still cold. Poor thing must be terrified.
“Nothing we can see,” I said. “It’s probably just nerves.” Or not, but I wouldn’t name anything else.
Lore finished the ward with a flick of his fingers. “Done.”
Calista’s whitened fingers clutched the edge of her seat. “Should we be worried? Those things that attacked us…” Her entire body quivered.
“We fought them off,” Lore said.
Dragging her clammy hand from mine, Moira met my gaze. “This is why we have to go with you.”
I stared at her, caught between caution and the trust we’d built.
“We know how to move unnoticed.” Moira's hands tightened on the carriage bench. “While you're navigating court politics and trying to stay alive, we can listen at doorways, chat with servants. We'll hear the whispers you won’t.”
Calista opened her mouth, then closed it again. She looked from Moira to me, fear shadowing her eyes.
Moira leaned forward, her gaze meeting mine.
“You won’t be able to slip away from court without drawing attention.
You’ll be surrounded by fancy lords and ladies, the conniving type.
You’ll be trying to survive the day and win each competition without offending someone who might come after your head.
We can move through the halls. We can linger in the kitchen and gossip with servants.
We’ll hear what isn’t meant to reach your ears. ”
I folded my arms across my chest. “And what happens if someone catches either of you listening?”
“We won’t let them. We won’t draw suspicion. Besides, if someone’s watching now, they may already suspect something. Sending us away won’t eliminate that.”
I glanced at Lore. He was watching Moira with the same hard calculation he’d used in the labyrinth when studying the latest trap.
Finally, he nodded once.
The bond between us hummed with shared understanding. He'd protect them as fiercely as he protected me, not because duty demanded it, but because they mattered to us both.
“Alright,” I said, still not liking this, but what other option was there? “You two will go with us for now. But if either of believe you’ve been compromised, no, if I see even a hint that you have been, you’ll return to Evergorne.” One flit, and we could leave them behind. “No arguments.”
Moira nodded solemnly. “Agreed.”
“I can’t see any other way around it,” was Calista’s answer.
“And you wear the rings at all times.”
“Of course,” they said together.
“I still don’t like it,” Calista muttered, her arm sliding around Moira’s shoulders. “But we have to do this.”
Moira kissed her mother’s cheek.
The wind shifted outside, rocking the vehicle, and one of the zephyls stomped its feet. I glanced out the window again, but I didn’t see anything of concern.
But the feeling remained, like an invisible person breathing on the back of my neck.
Lore met my gaze and gave a slight shake of his head.
If something’s watching, they won’t touch any of you, he said. Not while I breathe.
Let’s hope it stays that way. We’ve dealt with enough for one journey already.
Agreed.
The silence pressed into my skin. No birds. No wind. Just the weight of unseen eyes.
Somewhere in the growing dusk, I felt Prager’s presence like poison seeping through my veins. She was out there, waiting. Planning.
She'd tasted our power during the witherroot attack, and she’d learned our weaknesses.
We wouldn't fall easily, but there were too many opportunities for another attack.
And we were still too far from Irridain’s gates.