21. Enlo
Days passed, and Enlo spent every single one of them with Kienna.
She laughed with him, her eyes lighting up, but in the quiet moments when he would look over at her, sometimes he would catch her staring at him with her brow furrowed. And still she avoided any physical overtures from him whenever he tested to see if she was warming to his presence, his touch. It baffled him—and felt like a challenge. He’d never encountered a woman who didn’t want to touch him. Perhaps it was her prudish human nature coming out. But he heeded her subtle clues, keeping to her boundaries so she’d stay comfortable. He’d settle with winning her heart from a distance if that was what it took. It was only a matter of time.
They spent their first few days in the library or a drawing room, reading or playing vyna—an Elyri strategy game Kienna mastered surprisingly quickly. He hadn’t expected her human mind to be quite so keen.
But a week after Revi had left, Kienna’s restlessness was making it remarkably hard for Enlo to concentrate.
He sighed at her quiet shifting for the dozenth time and pushed away from their game board. “You are not made for vyna today, I think.”
She looked up at him, her expression somewhere between startled and guilty. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I can return to my room.”
“No,” Enlo said quickly. He didn’t have long before Revi returned. He would not waste the time by sending her back to her rooms. A plan formed in his thoughts. “No, let’s go for a walk, work out some of your restless energy.” He said this with a smile fixed into place, one that had melted many Elyri women’s hearts. Kienna blushed and looked down.
She was not unaffected by his charms; he just had to figure out how to get past her walls.
“Come.” He took her hand and drew her up.
She didn’t protest, though she tugged her hand away quickly. He allowed it; this was not the time to push a boundary.
“I want to show you something,” he said. “Are you up for an adventure?”
That made her brows draw together with a delightfully curious expression, and he suppressed a grin. He would lure her outside with her curiosity, then perhaps he could win her over a bit more with some well-timed heroics.
“An adventure?” she repeated as they left the library. She glanced over the hallway leading them to the rear door of the castle. “And how are we going to have an adventure in the gardens, exactly?”
He slid a sideways smirk at her. “Who said we were going to the gardens?”
Her mouth puckered as she puzzled over that enigmatic statement, but she didn’t say anything else. Not right away, at least. When they reached the wall, though, she halted.
“I am not supposed to leave the castle grounds.” Her eyes flicked around like an angry Revi would appear at any moment.
“You are not supposed to leave the Winter Court,” Enlo countered. “The beast won’t know if you go a little way beyond the castle walls.”
Kienna’s expression said she clearly did not believe that.
“We’ll be back soon.” He gave his voice the perfect balance of coaxing and daring. “We aren’t going very far beyond the wall.”
She hesitated but stepped forward reluctantly, casting one more glance back at the castle. “All right. So long as we don’t go too far.”
Enlo held the small gate open for her and shut it behind the both of them with a quiet clink. The evergreens towered beyond the wall, quiet sentinels that only served to remind Enlo of all the Winter Court had lost. Many were green, but the browning boughs interspersed were too many, a quiet plea of despair showcasing the desperation that hummed in the air alongside the curse’s magic.
Enlo guided Kienna forward under the trees’ shade, which was at least a cool reprieve from the summer sun. They walked in silence, the air still and hushed. Even the birds seemed to be sleeping in this hot hour.
As promised, they didn’t have to go far before they reached their destination. It was nothing spectacular, just a simple gazebo that had been built beyond the castle walls. It seemed a bit useless to build something for shade in the middle of the forest, but still, it looked quaint.
And, more to Enlo’s purposes, it was old, and therefore accidental heroics would not go amiss here.
Kienna drank in the sight as they drew closer, her eyes wide, and her mouth slightly ajar in childish wonder. Enlo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Humans were far too easy to impress.
“This is beautiful,” she breathed.
That seemed to stretch it as far as Enlo was concerned, but he merely smiled and gestured her closer under the arch of the gazebo until they stood in the very center. The roof was solid. Intricate carvings adorned the posts and the eaves.
Something prickled against the back of his neck. He froze and looked over his shoulder, but he could see nothing under the shade of the trees. The forest was still. Perhaps too still.
He shrugged the feeling off and turned back to Kienna. She was staring up at the gazebo’s ceiling in delight.
Enlo looked up as well, though his study was less of admiration and more searching for the ideal spot for his charade—where the wood was oldest, the most worn.
There. One of the beams leading from the center of the gazebo to the outer rim was partially eaten away by insects. That would do for his purposes nicely. He didn’t have nearly as much magic as Revi did, so he couldn’t afford to waste it on sturdy wood.
Kienna wandered as she examined the carvings adorning the gazebo. The scenes were familiar to Enlo: creatures cavorting amidst snowy trees, all interspersed with frostroses that still gleamed silvery despite the wooden depiction. Frostroses couldn’t help being glorious in every iteration.
Enlo moved to the side and leaned against a post as he watched Kienna circle the gazebo.
He casually made his way to the post nearest his chosen beam. His reflexes were fast, but he didn’t actually want her to get hurt. He didn’t know how quickly his magic would bring the wood down.
She was nearly in position. As soon as he had done his little act, they could make their way back to the castle—hopefully with more warmth and openness from her toward his advances, in gratitude for saving her life. Peril did wonders for bonding people.
Kienna glanced over her shoulder. Her mouth was opening to speak when her eyes widened, focusing on something beyond Enlo. Terror washed over her face.
A cold feeling already freezing his insides, Enlo turned to look in the shadows of the trees. Barely discernible, except for its glowing red eyes, stood a zruyed.
Enlo swore in Elyri. His hand went to his waist, but of course he hadn’t worn his sword. He wasn’t like Revi of the past, who’d felt the need to carry a weapon everywhere, and this was only supposed to be a short excursion out to win Kienna over a little more.
Snuffling to the left. Enlo whipped around. Another monster approached, jaws dripping with acidic slobber.
Instinct and fear kicked him into motion. He threw his arm out to the side. “Lezspyr.”
A spear of ice materialized in his hand. He drew his arm back and hurled the spear at the first creature. His aim was true. The spear buried itself in the beast’s shoulder before disintegrating to a mist that was sucked into the creature’s skin.
Enlo swore again. How could he have forgotten their immunity to magic? Not immunity—that wasn’t the right word. They were fueled by it, as evidenced by the brighter glow to the beast’s eyes and the way it bared its teeth in what almost resembled a grin.
Enlo had no weapon, and he would only be helping the enemies by using his magic. The two beasts prowled closer. In three steps, Enlo was at Kienna’s side. She hadn’t moved a muscle, her eyes still wide and pinned on the first zruyed. She was the prey, frozen in place.
“We have to run,” Enlo said. “We don’t have anything to fight them with.” She didn’t look at him as he spoke, and he grabbed her arm. “Kienna, do you hear me? We need to get back to the castle. They can’t get past the walls.”
“I wasn’t supposed to leave the castle grounds,” she whispered.
Enlo stifled the growl that wanted to rise up. Leave it to a human to freeze in the face of danger.
He checked the position of the zruyeds again. They prowled closer with every step, with the slow assurance that their prey had nowhere to run.
In a quick motion, he swept Kienna up and around onto his back, eliciting a quiet yelp from her. He burst into movement in the direction he and Kienna had come from. They had to get back to the castle. It wasn’t far. If they could just get back to the wall—
Enlo lurched back as a third monster lunged in front of him, blocking his path. His grip on Kienna tightened as he retreated back to the gazebo. Back toward the other monsters.
He never should have brought her out here. His scheme would have been effective but was not worth truly risking her life. She was the key to the Winter Court’s freedom.
Why were there zruyeds so close to the castle?
A tingle of awareness swept over him, chilled as a morning frost. A zruyed’s snarl cut off sharply, drawing the gaze of the zruyed in front of Enlo.
He took the opportunity to return to the gazebo’s center, shrugging Kienna to her feet and turning to see the new threat. But even before he set eyes on him, Enlo knew.
He knew by the chill along his neck and the dying snarls of the zruyeds as they launched themselves at the greater threat.
Revi was here.