Chapter 8
NYRA
I felt like I could barely walk when Wren finally led me away from the training area. The muscles in my thighs trembled with every step I took, but I simply bit down on my lip to stop myself from wincing.
Wren’s voice broke the silence, soft and hesitant. “I’m sorry about Dacre. He can be…difficult sometimes.”
I raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look. “Difficult?”
She chuckled softly. “I promise he’s not always like that.”
I looked at her, really looked at her, and I felt desperate for her to know that I was telling the truth. At least about this.
“I’m not lying about my power.” I looked down at my hands and how useless they had been when my father made my trainer strike them until I could muster some sort of magic from my fingertips. “I have never been able to conjure any sort of magic.”
Wren’s lips curved into a gentle smile, and she beckoned me to follow her across the quaint wooden bridge. With every step we took, I couldn’t help but feel completely disoriented—every path looked the same, yet I was almost certain I hadn’t been this way before.
“I believe you. It’s just we’ve never heard of a fae who didn’t carry at least some magic. It seems impossible.”
My shoulders drew back, and my posture stiffened.
“There are occasions where there will be a delay in someone’s magic. Some people don’t really know how to manifest it until they are older.”
Tiny flickers of hope lit up inside me, and I gazed up at her. “Really?”
She nodded. “Yes, but usually they have traces of it that they can feel or use. But they don’t understand the extent of it until they are older. But I’ve never heard of someone coming into adulthood without it.”
I felt my body sag as her words hit me, all the air leaving my lungs. I was nineteen years old. If I were to have magic, it should have more than manifested by now.
“Come on.” She nodded toward a tall wooden building that looked as if it could collapse at any moment. It stood on the far edge of the cave floor, and dark water flowed by slowly. It seemed to moan with the movement of the river. “Let’s get something to eat.”
I followed Wren into the building, which turned out to be a small pub.
The interior was cozy, with mismatched tables and chairs.
The walls were adorned with old, rusty weapons and flaking paintings of mythical creatures that had been all but forgotten.
The smell of freshly baked bread and roasted meat filled the air, making my stomach grumble.
Wren led us to a small table in the corner.
There were several people sitting at other tables, but I was caught off guard by the woman who came over to our table. I startled in my chair, the sound of it dragging against the floor jarring, and the woman narrowed her crystal blue eyes.
“Hello, Wren.” Her voice was sharp and musical. “Who’s your new friend?”
“Hey, Kit. This is Nyra. She’s a new recruit.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Nyra.”
I nodded in greeting. “It’s nice to meet you as well.”
“What can I get for you today?” Kit asked, and my gaze drifted from her face to the delicate iridescent wings that sprouted from her back. They fluttered softly in the warm glow of the lanterns, but I noticed they were frayed and worn around the delicate edges.
“The usual for both of us.”
“Give me just a few minutes.” With each step she took away from our table, her wings fluttered gently as if they had a life of their own.
“Does she have wings?” I whispered to Wren so no one else heard me.
“How long did you work in that palace?” She chuckled and leaned back in her chair. “They really had you sheltered, huh?”
I looked back in Kit’s direction, but she was already gone. “I spent my whole life there and my mother before me.”
It was another half-truth, half-lie.
“That’s unfortunate.” Wren cleared her throat. “Winged fae are a rarity, and most don’t live anywhere near the palace if they can help it. The only way King Roan can tax their power is if he can find them, and he spent years clipping their wings at every tithe so they couldn’t fly.”
He clipped their wings.
There was a small pop in the air, and the food Wren ordered appeared on our table, steam billowing off. I felt like I was going to be sick.
“Hell yes.” Wren grabbed her fork and quickly dove in, and I lifted my own fork in my hand as I searched the pub for another sighting of Kit.
She was standing behind the bar, laughing at something someone was saying, and this time when I looked at her wings, I paid more attention to the frayed edges I had noticed before. I couldn’t tell now if her wings were fluttering or quivering.
Had my father done that?
She looked up, noticing my staring, and I quickly looked away and down at my food. It was some sort of fish surrounded by root vegetables, and even though I still felt nauseous at the thought of my father’s cruelty, I took a bite.
“You know,” Wren said as she absently rapped her knuckles against the table, “I don’t think Dacre hates you.”
A loud laughter bubbled out of my throat, and the two men sitting closest to us turned in our direction. I shoveled another bite of food into my mouth.
“I’m serious.” Wren smiled. “He’s just protective.”
I scoffed. “Protective?”
“Yes. Of all this.” She waved her hand around. “Our parents spent their lives building this rebellion, my mother gave her life trying to protect it, and he feels the burden of that responsibility now more than ever.”
I wanted to ask her about her father; I also had a million questions about Dacre, but asking her to answer questions meant that I had to be willing to do the same.
“Was he protecting the rebellion when he kicked my ass in the sparring circle?”
“He didn’t kick your ass.” Wren rolled her eyes playfully. “He was pushing you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Pushing me? I’m pretty sure my tailbone might be bruised where he dropped me.”
Wren’s expression turned serious. “I know. But believe me, he’s not like that with everyone. He’s just trying to weed out anyone who might be a threat to the rebellion.”
I chewed on my lip, even as I nodded. “I can’t wait for tomorrow then.” I laughed without humor. “Hopefully, he takes out some of his aggression tonight, so he’s nicer tomorrow.”
Wren scrunched up her nose and made a gagging noise. “I do not want to think about my brother taking out his aggression.” She said the last few words dramatically, and a flush crept up my chest.
“Oh, gods. That’s not what I meant.” I stumbled over my words.
“I would much rather think about me taking out my own aggression.” Wren rested her chin on her fist. “Especially by someone who knows what they’re doing.”
A laugh bubbled out of me, and I couldn’t hide how uncomfortable this conversation made me. I hadn’t so much as kissed a man, let alone done anything more. And here I was at the dinner table thinking about her brother and whether or not he would know what he was doing.
Wren gave me a knowing grin, and I tried to divert her attention from me. “That one guy today looked like he was interested in you.”
“Tavian?” Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” He was handsome, and he looked at her like she was the best thing he had ever seen.
She waved her hand dismissively. “He’s just a friend.”
“So, who are you interested in?” I took another bite of my food and almost groaned as the flavors hit my tongue.
A blush rushed up Wren’s cheeks, and she darted her eyes away from me. “I can’t tell you all my secrets.”
Guilt panged in my chest, but I quickly pushed it away and took the last bite of my food.
“Let’s go hit the hot springs.” Wren stood and stretched. “Your body is probably going to be killing you tomorrow.”
She wasn’t wrong. I could already feel the ache in my muscles as I stood and followed her out the door.
We weaved through more trails and bridges, and this place felt more like a maze with every step we took.
“Where are the hot springs?” I asked as Wren seemed to be leading us in circles.
“Just a little farther.” She ducked under a large hanging stone, and I did the same.
The smell of sulfur in the air hit me instantly, but it was the dozens of pools of dark water in front of us that made me stop in my tracks.
The pools were surrounded by small rocks that kept the water from bleeding into one another. Steam rolled off the surface of the water like smoke, and drops of water splashed into them from the rocks above as if it were raining.
Amid the steam rising from the hot springs, I noticed a man with blistered and peeling skin on his arm gingerly dipping it into the water.
He winced in pain and let out a small exhale.
Sitting beside him was a woman in a cream-colored shirt and trousers, gently cupping the water into her hand and pouring it over his damaged skin.
Her soft words of encouragement floated through the quiet space.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” I admitted out loud to Wren as she moved us to a small pool on the far side of the open-mouthed cave.
She caught my gaze that was still on the man who was wincing as he lowered into the pool until his shoulder was now covered by the water.
“The hot springs have many healing properties.” She pulled at the straps that held her vest to her body before lifting the weapon-filled vest and setting it on the ground at her feet. “I’ll admit, we warriors probably use them way more than anyone else.”
I followed suit, removing my own vest and placing it next to Wren’s. The hot springs were even more beautiful up close, and the heat was almost suffocatingly intense.
Wren kicked off her boots and started removing more clothing, and I followed her lead until I realized she was climbing into the water wearing nothing but her undergarments.
She lowered herself into the pool before she looked up at me expectantly. I was still covered in my uniform, and I wiggled my bare toes against the rocks.
“Come on.” She nodded toward my clothes, and I crossed my arms.
“There are a lot of people in here.”