57. Home At Last
57
Home At Last
Idris
S ummoning the storm to accompany my lightning wasn’t usually a choice I willingly made. It was a waste of power that could be better spent generating the bolts required to land a killing blow, but sometimes, the darkness inside got the better of me, and the clouds formed whether I willed them or not. The day Aliza had burnt, I hadn’t intended for them to accompany me, but they’d proven indispensable in the end, their static power providing the key to awakening her still heart. I hadn’t wanted them at the witch’s funeral, either, but my mood had been too low to fight them.
I’d never had the chance to attend Taryn’s funeral, didn’t even know if he’d been given one, and standing amongst Hyacinth’s mourners had driven home another of my failings as a father. Taryn should not have died, but at the very least he should have been honoured. Thanks to having me as a father, nothing was the way it should have been. That day, it had been all I could do to keep myself from walking into the sea. Keeping the swirling, empty mist within me had been the least of my concerns.
Tonight, the presence of clouds was a necessity.
The thick banks of grey hid our approach from watchful eyes as we flew toward Tir o Haf. Above the canopy, the fat moon bathed us in silver light. The first time I’d flown by night, I’d been surprised at how bright it was this high above the world, with a veil of twinkling stars draped over my head, close enough that I sometimes felt I could reach up and leave a sparkling ripple in the wake of my fingers. It was peaceful, too. The roar of the wind, loud after take off, soon faded into the background, barely noticeable. Only the occasional beat of enormous wings broke through the calm as the horses soared, feathers spread to capture the wind.
Tonight, the calm and peace could not penetrate my chilled skin. Inside, a storm of poisonous hatred and oily fear raged. I had not seen my uncle since the day he’d ordered Aliza’s brutal death, since he’d met my glare and vanished, retreating to his palace like a shrivelled old coward. Centuries earlier, he’d gloated down at me, where I’d curled up in a ball on the floor of my holding cell, as though if I made myself as small as possible, I could somehow escape the notice of the raw grief that tortured my every moment.
He’d cast the curse that day, but he hadn’t needed it to contain me, nor had he needed iron bars or a tomb, or even hosts of enchantments and monsters. The pain did that with a thoroughness that no magic ever could. Only eight days, eight endless, agonising days since I’d been powerless as my son took his last breath. Eight days of stunned stupor. Eight days of self-loathing. Eight days without my boy. It may as well have been a lifetime. The curse had failed to end my suffering, leaving me to drift, powerless, in an endless fog of memories, and I wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would end with my uncle’s death, either. These scars were mine, and I would carry them with me forever.
I transferred Saeth’s reins into one hand and snaked my arm around Aliza, pressing her close as I buried my face in her hair. My brow scrunched as I fought the bubbling fear down inside. Taking her to Serensedd Palace, walking her into Maelgwyn’s clutches was the last thing I wanted to do. He’d come unbearably close to taking her from me already, and giving him the chance to do so again was unthinkable.
But she loved her mother and father, and I understood the bond between a parent and child. Understood what its severing could do. The pain it could inflict. Saving her from that pain was worth the risk to my life, but hers?
Only the knowledge that I would have sooner died on that fateful day, almost three hundred years ago, than allow Taryn to be harmed, kept me from altering our course. That and the promise, however unlikely to be fulfilled, that I might finally make my uncle pay for his crimes. If the chance presented itself tonight, I would end him.
Aliza’s gloved hand closed over mine where it pressed against her belly, and she gave me a gentle squeeze that somehow managed to constrict my heart. I should have left her behind; would have if I’d thought for a second that she’d allow it.
Instead, I twitched the reins, pressing my calves against Saeth’s flanks, and began our descent.
The others followed, and in a matter of moments, the clouds swallowed us all whole. The air was thick and wet, freezing on the bare skin of my face. Impenetrable mist pressed against my eyes as beads of moisture formed on my lashes. I blinked them away, only for more to take their place.
Lower and lower we glided. When we broke the cloud bank, we would be exposed, our silvery feathers doing little to camouflage us with the night. We would need to be quick and silent, not to mention lucky, as we swept down to the pinnacle of the celestial tower .
Too much depended on chance, on whether Maelgwyn’s sentinels happened to glance up at the wrong moment, but the drifts were trained in stealth, dedicating thousands of hours to mastering swift, silent manoeuvres. Anwir and Jacques were not qualified, had never flown with a drift before, but I had, and if they followed my lead…
We emerged from the clouds, revealing a sprawling web of glowing light far below us. It was darker here, a detail that would aid us. I shifted my seat, and Saeth banked, soaring in an arc toward the palace. We would have only seconds.
“Right foot in the loop,” I yelled into Aliza’s ear, the wind rendering my shout barely above a whisper. “Bring your left over his neck. Jump when I say.”
“What?” she yelped, her body becoming rigid against mine.
I grasped her hand. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. Do as I say.”
The tower, a tiny spire in the distance, approached at alarming speed, growing larger by the second. There was no time for hesitation.
Awkwardly, owing to the loops in front of the saddle—and the sheer drop below us, no doubt—she eased her leg over Saeth’s mane, sitting sideways. My arm vibrated with the force of her trembling. As though I would let go. As though I would let her fall.
Far below us, the palace walls sped by, and a slight prickle passed over my skin as we crossed the wards. The air thickened around me, closing off the infinite, unseen doorways of the world. Bryn had been right then; there would be no teleporting out. But my lightning still stirred in my veins, a reminder that it was there, unsubdued by Maelgwyn’s tricks and spells .
The dome of the celestial tower gleamed faintly in the meagre moonlight filtering through the clouds. I twitched Saeth’s reins, signalling our final descent.
A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed the others were readying for landing. Our window of opportunity would be small. Even with Saeth angling his wings to catch the air and slow our approach, the tower hurtled toward us.
I dropped the reins.
Still clutching Aliza’s hand, I eased into a crouch, perching atop the broad rump of my horse. The wind clawed at me, an insistent lover, intent on dragging me into her clutches, but centuries of training and the fae grace in my blood had given me unparalleled balance. Well, maybe the vampire would have an edge on me, but the wind certainly did not.
“When I say bank…” the tower loomed, close enough that I could make out the small balconies ringing its sheer walls. My muscles tensed, primed to spring. “Three… two… one… bank!”
I leapt, clinging to Aliza in case she hesitated, just as Saeth veered away, leaving us plunging through the night together. The balcony rushed to my feet, and I landed with a faint thud a moment before Aliza crashed down beside me. I dragged her into my arms, shielding her as we rolled away from the impact.
Not a moment too soon. I’d barely drawn breath before Anwir and Sage landed in the exact same spot, the witch with a little more grace than Aliza had managed. A few seconds later, the vampire touched down silently, barely buckling his knees, the only one of us to keep his feet, with a queasy Pansy collapsing beside him .
Behind them, the horses soared for the clouds, little more than grey specks. From the ground, they would pass for birds.
Anwir clambered stiffly to his feet and attempted to run a hand through his windswept hair, only to ensnare his fingers in the tangles that had been the reason I kept my own short. “Why anyone would want to travel like that, I have no idea.”
With a grin that only the thrill of flight could coax forth, I stood. “You get used to it.” I hauled Aliza to her feet. A tremor ran from her head to her feet, but when it had passed, she composed herself.
“Now what?”
My smile faded as I lifted my eyes. The observatory was above us. Should we choose to enter the tower through this last, dark archway cut into the stone wall, we would find several flights of windowless, doorless stairs leading us to the dome, or, as was more likely, they would lead us into an ambush. The ease with which the wards had let us pass had the hairs on my neck stood to attention and ether dancing over my skin. Maelgwyn wanted us here. It was undoubtedly a trap, and we’d walked right into it. The only weapon in our arsenal was Bryn and his information. Maelgwyn would not expect us up here; he would be watching the dungeons, or the warren of corridors and rooms below, any of which could effectively hold slow, magically devoid humans. That was where he would expect us to begin our search.
Still, even in this tower, designed purely for study and recreation, the twisting stairs within were built for defence. If there were guards, we would be at a disadvantage at best, or dead.
“I will climb. ”
Surprise widened my eyes as I turned them on the vampire. He alone had forgone a flight suit, not that his cold, dead flesh needed protecting from the frigid skies. While the rest of us sported wind-burnt faces, he retained his colourless pallor.
Nothing about him inspired trust, not those terrible, glowing eyes, or the silent way he moved, and certainly not the complete lack of scent of any sort.
“I will see what there is to see and report back to you.”
None of us were better equipped to move without detection, but the longer we lingered here, waiting for him to return, the more likely we were to be discovered. I shook my head. “We do not part ways without a plan.”
“Is there a way into the dome from outside?” Aliza asked, wrapping her arms around herself as her gaze darted between me and Anwir.
“Not without breaking the glass.” And there was no way to do that without alerting half the palace, or I would have shattered it on the way down with a well-placed bolt and saved us all the bother.
Sage gulped, as though swallowing down her flight-induced nausea. “You could melt it, girl.”
Aliza blinked, her mouth falling open in consideration.
“Oui, ma cherie. Climb onto my back, quickly now.”
The very idea of entrusting that undead vermin with Aliza’s life, when he had already shown such blatant disregard for it, had my lips curling back from my teeth. “What then?” I snarled. “We wait here and hope for the best?”
“Do not be ridiculous,” the vampire said with a velvety chuckle. “If the humans are not easily located, I will return for each of you, and then we will hunt as a pack. ”
Returning for us meant leaving Aliza alone and unprotected in the observatory. Over my dead body.
“Relax, prince. I move quickly. You will be reunited in a heartbeat.”
Aliza tilted her head back, eyeing the waiting climb. Even in the dark, her face paled.
“Do you have enough control over your power, girl?” the High Priestess demanded.
“I’ve been training.”
Her reply didn’t quite answer the question, but Aliza turned to Jacques, her face hardening with resolve. “Let’s do it.”
I staggered a step closer, grasping her shoulder. “Aliza, wait. It’s not safe.”
This was not the plan. How could I protect her if we were separated?
“I know.” Fear shadowed her eyes, but she set her jaw in the determination I’d come to know all too well these past handful of weeks. “But we already knew that, didn’t we? My mum and dad are up there, and we’re running out of time.”
Why did she have to be so damned brave?
I bit back my protests, letting my hand fall away. I trusted her, if not her companion.
“You are to allow no harm to come to her,” Anwir demanded of Jacques. It might have been moving if his motive hadn’t been entirely self-serving. We still had two kingdoms left to take; he needed his symbol of hope. I just needed her.
“I take no orders from fae princes, but I will keep her safe nonetheless. ”
I could do nothing but fight down the magic that crackled to lash out as Aliza hopped onto the vampire’s back, hooking her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. As he inexplicably found none existent hand and footholds in the sheer, smooth brick, and began to climb.