Chapter Thirty-Two
Aseries of faint noises coaxed me from my fitful sleep. Even while asleep, I couldn’t rest—especially after the extremely long day we’d had.
As the noises continued, I came to accept that it might be a long night, too.
Giving up on trying to ignore the sounds, I sat up in the too cold bed, my hand immediately reaching for Byn. My eyes flew open a second later, though, when my hand only met empty space.
Blinking twice as my vision adjusted to the darkness of the room, I swiveled my head toward the source of the noise at last.
Standing between the door and its frame, his bare back to me, stood Byn.
He was rubbing one of his eyes, and his frame gave away just how exhausted he was, too.
It seemed like whoever he was whispering with had dropped by unexpectedly, since Byn looked as though he’d just rolled out of bed and was wearing only a low-lying pair of sleep trousers.
Curiosity getting the best of me, I slipped silently out of bed—taking the blanket with me—and crept up behind him, wanting to know who stood on the other side of the door.
Standing on the tips of my toes, I looked over Byn’s shoulder to peer right at Rayven.
“Hey, Rayven,” I said with a small yawn. I moved back a step as Byn nearly jumped out of his skin, not having noticed I was up.
“Stars, Avi, you scared me.” He clutched his chest, then turned back to his friend and lightly scolded him. “I told you not to wake her.”
It was then that I noticed just how distraught the spy looked.
His curly hair was unruly, as though he’d been tossing and turning in bed all night before visiting us.
Desperation played on his face, and I couldn’t help the way my brow furrowed when I realized he was fully dressed, too. I’d never seen Rayven so disheveled.
“My apologies, it’s just—”
“What can we do?” I cut Rayven off, stepping forward with the blanket clutched around me.
Byn and Rayven shared a quick look before my husband said, “Rayven… his family lives on this Isle. He’s considering going to visit before we leave, but he might be too late—we need to leave in a mere hour or two. The sun will be up soon.”
“There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” I tilted my head, peering up at Rayven.
He nodded.
The spy simply didn’t want to face his troubles alone this time.
“It’s just that…” Byn began speaking with Rayven again, but I turned back toward the room and quickly rushed to the bags we’d brought on our journey.
In a matter of almost no time at all, I’d dropped the blanket along with my sleep attire and donned an entirely new outfit.
I threw on a more casual outfit, as I didn’t know what I’d be walking into.
The soft cotton top was a combination of different green shades, ranging from sage to deep forest green—like Byn’s eyes.
On top of the shirt was a brown under-bust corset with a pattern of suns on it.
My trousers were a subtle brown color, and they were light enough to not make me immediately sweat.
I laced up a pair of my boots, ran a gloved hand through my bangs and hair, and rushed back to the bedroom door.
Wearing the colors I most often saw Byn, Teagan, and Margo wearing, I headed for the bedroom entrance again. Throwing the door open, I almost caused Byn to fall over with the movement as I looked at Rayven and said, “Let’s go.”
Byn’s lips parted slightly in surprise, though I could feel the respect and gratitude he was feeling at my offer. Each member of the Valwain was vowed to me, yes, but I was also vowed to each of them.
And I wanted to help in any way I could.
“You don’t know what you’re walking into, Aviva,” Rayven warned, but didn’t object. He was simply giving me one more chance to turn back around and return to bed—if I so pleased.
In response, I stepped out into the corridor and up to Rayven’s side.
“The Rividian rulers are not going to be pleased if we’re not both here to give our well wishes before we depart,” Byn said, though we both knew I’d already made up my mind.
“Good thing they already signed the contract. They won’t back out now,” I reassured him, then stood up on my toes again as I planted a kiss on his cheek. In the blink of an eye, though, he cupped my jaw and tilted my face to align with his as he kissed me passionately—and quickly.
I forced down a gasp when he released me seconds after our lips met and had to force myself into turning away from him to face Rayven instead. Every fiber that made up my form could feel the distance growing between us as I began walking out of Castle Avyer with Rayven.
I may not have been the fae Rayven had been expecting to join him, but by the way his shoulders were a fraction more relaxed, I could tell he was grateful for my presence.
Once we passed through one door that led outside, Rayven reached out a hand toward me. “We don’t have time to walk, run, or shadow wield. I’ll hasten us there—if you’re still up for coming.”
I frowned at the uncertainty on his face, but gripping his gloved hand in mine, I quirked up one side of my mouth. “Let’s get this bird in the sky.”
Rayven nodded once, and then we were nothing and everything all at the same time.
Like it happened when we traveled to Castle Avyer, we moved faster than I ever had in all my years.
The night surrounding us made us nearly undetectable with all the shadows about, and I was sure Rayven was grateful for it.
He wasn’t attempting to hop from shadow to shadow in an effort to be sneaky—he was simply relying on how fast we were going to be enough to keep us hidden.
That time, I didn’t bother with trying to take in any details as we hastened. I trusted Rayven knew where we were going, and how to get back to where we needed to be. I just held tight to him and let myself enjoy the feeling of moving faster than even flight itself.
Time felt like it had paused as we traveled through the darkness, but I knew some moments had passed and we were drawing nearer when Rayven began to slow down.
Since slowing, I could take in more of our surroundings.
And what I saw took me by surprise.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen the dirty, poor sections of a kingdom or city before. It was just that the rest of the Isle was so beautiful, so charming, that I hadn’t imagined a place that looked like where we were then.
Structures lined both sides of the uneven dirt path we’d ended up on.
They were little more than shacks, if I was being honest. I imagined most of them only had one room in them.
The roofs more often than not had tarps over them, as if to keep out any bad weather.
And notably, there were no torches lit outside.
Even though I knew the Isles were home to many fae with Southern blood and zirilium, it seemed like the part of the Isle we stood in now didn’t share those abilities—whether they weren’t allowed or simply couldn’t, I didn’t know.
Rayven stopped at the end of the dirt road, releasing us from the shadows as his eyes locked on one shack in particular.
It didn’t stand out from the others—it looked as though it was barely holding itself together, and seemed to be crafted of whatever could be found around, just like the rest of them in the area.
It was so, so different from the crystal castle we’d just come from, or even The Haven back in Cairnyl.
And yet, the shack before us was where Rayven had called home, once upon a time.
“What is this place?” I asked, my voice coming out quieter than I’d intended.
“The North isn’t the only kingdom that shuns those without zirilium,” Rayven answered, not removing his gaze from the structure down the path.
That explained why the shacks were made with scraps instead of chunks of earth, and why there were no torches lit anywhere.
None of these fae held those abilities.
In the North, they’d be considered crids.
“I haven’t been here in twenty years,” Rayven said, his voice an octave deeper than usual. “I was six when they sent me away.”
Keeping my face calm and open, I stepped up to his side and peered at the shack with him, trying to imagine what he was seeing.
“My mother thought I’d have a better chance at a happy life if I went to go live with her brother, my uncle, on the continent.
She… She wanted me to have everything she never had,” Rayven spoke with regret in his voice.
“She sent me away a couple months before the borders closed. I thought she and Beckett would join me someday, but the day after the borders were sealed, my uncle got the letter saying she’d passed. ”
“Rayven…”
“Beckett, my brother, is still here. We share the same father, though Beckett was always his favorite.” Rayven pursed his lips, doing his best to push back his emotions. “And I was Mother’s.”
“I haven’t heard about your uncle until now,” I stated. Not a question, so he knew if he didn’t want to explain, he didn’t have to.
But he did.
“He reunited with Mother among the Stars.”
We stood for a few moments, simply observing. No movement came from within the shack, though it was so early in the morning, that was to be expected.
“What do you want to do?” I asked gently. The situation and how it was handled was completely up to him—I was just there if he needed someone.
Rayven’s eyes flickered to the door of the shack before turning to look at me. Within his gaze, I could see all the doubt, fear, and anxiety swirling within him. But between all of that, there was also a hint of something else.
A fraction of hope.
I placed my hand on his arm and squeezed. “You’ve got this.”
That sentence, along with a deep breath, was all it took for him to slide up and knock on the shack door—the same knock the Valwain always did.
I slipped into my shadow form and moved closer to Rayven until I blended in with the shadow he cast under the moonlight. I knew he could sense me there, and I hoped he knew I would be there for him the same way he’d been there for me.