Chapter 4 #2
Clearing her throat, Magda straightened her shoulders and caught his gaze.
“It was just an accident,” she stated firmly. “It didn’t mean anything. We’ll be more careful in future. Won’t we, Prince?”
Hero clambered back onto her shoulder.
Without another word, she started climbing the root ladder—not bothering to test if it would hold her first—fast as she could.
“No,” Damion said again.
“I cannot vie for Radiant without the Enneahedron,” she said, still slumped on the ground in the shadow of Ouda’s dead tree.
“Of course you can,” he said.
“But then I’ll have no choice but to fight Lavana.”
Damion scowled down at her. “And you don’t think you can win?”
That’s exactly what she thought, but she wasn’t about to admit it.
“And what if I do have to fight her?” she asked. “How will that go without the family’s support?”
“Mine will support you,” he said. “So will your side.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He crossed his arms over his chest.
Honey had scooped up Hero and was cooing at him like he was a baby. Apparently, the part of her that thought rats were disgusting had been taken by Ouda.
Kaelan paced the circumference of the hollow, keeping his distance—thankfully.
“If I have the Enneahedron,” she persisted, “there’s less of a chance I’ll have to fight.”
And die.
“And what if she’s already Radiant?” Damion argued. “What if you were right? If the Crown is ill, if she is dying, then Lavana might be able to convince her to close the challenge window early.”
“Which is exactly why I need it. If Lavana manages to convince the Crown to name her Radiant before the year is up, I can still rightfully challenge her, but I have no chance without the Enneahedron. I lost to Alanna and Lavana defeated her. You know how that will look.”
Damion was shaking his head, but finally he threw up his hands. “And how would we reach the King’s islands? It would take us weeks and we could be killed attempting to cross the gulf. I don’t know why you trusted the Enneahedron to that walking little piece of—”
“I can help you,” Honey said.
“No, thank you, Honey. That’s all right,” Magda said wearily.
“If you need to travel quickly, I know a way,” she said.
“Honey . . .” Kaelan approached her with a hand out, the way he might greet a skittish horse. “Why don’t we go back? Leave these two to make their plans.”
“Hold on,” Damion said. “You are coming with us, yes?
Kaelan’s eyes darkened. “No.”
Magda let her head fall back. She should’ve predicted this.
“I’d like to go,” Honey said. “I’d love an adventure.”
“You’re not invited,” Damion said to her. Then he turned back to Kaelan. “And you have to come.”
Kaelan scowled. “No, I don’t.”
Magda pushed up to her feet. “Well, if he’s not coming, then we definitely need the Enneahedron. Otherwise, I have no leverage against Lavana at all.”
Damion held up his hands between her and Kaelan.
“Have we all gone mad?” He faced her fully.
“Sailing to the Elf King’s Realms is certain death.
” He spun and pointed at Honey. “You are a nymph and no use to anyone.” He moved her aside and seized the front of Kaelan’s tunic. “And you are a fool and a coward.”
Kaelan’s face contorted. His fist slammed against Damion’s jaw. Magda was sure it hurt the Prince more than it did the warrior. Damion plowed into Kaelan, knocking him onto his back.
Honey sidestepped away from them, a serene expression on her face as Damion and Kaelan rolled across the hard-packed earth. Magda sighed, dropped down again, and sprawled out on her back, her eyes begging for sleep.
“I can help, you know,” Honey said. “I am friends with a roc.”
Magda sat up. “Say that again?”
“A roc. It’s a very large bird—”
Magda held up her hand, stopping Honey. “I know what it is. I just . . . you’re friends with a roc? Don’t they eat people?”
“Oh, yes,” Honey said with a bright smile. “But I am sure she won’t eat you if I ask her not to.”
Pushing up to her feet, Magda barked, “Damion, enough!”
Damion shoved away from Kaelan, who had been turning blue under the pressure of Damion’s forearm against his throat. Kaelan glowered after Damion, rubbing his neck.
“Kaelan,” Magda said. “What is this about a roc?”
His gaze flicked up to her and then quickly away.
It would be very difficult for them to pretend that nothing had happened in Ouda’s tree if he continued to act as though something had happened.
Of course, the situation wasn’t helped by the fact that she was still picking up on stray feelings of lust wafting off of him.
But that sort of thing was par for the course between Raes and Princes.
Although she had to admit she was receiving his emotions more easily than she had with any other Prince, even Endreas, even Cae, who she’d been close to as a child and had been expected to claim—before his death.
But her connection to Kaelan had probably sprung from when he’d healed her and saved her life.
That was bound to create a bond between anyone.
As for the rest, it had just been an accident.
She’d forgotten how hard it was to resist the pull of her instincts, both with Kaelan and Endreas.
She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“Honey raised the roc,” Kaelan said, licking a bit of blood off his lip from a small cut there.
“Yes.” Honey clasped her hands at her breasts. “My sweet Anqa. I found her egg about to be eaten by a cockatrice.”
“A cockatrice?” Damion sneered. “You have those bird-beasts in this forest?”
“No longer. The last was slain some years ago by the centaurs,” Kaelan said as he stood. “But you have not heard from her in years,” he said to Honey.
“But she will come if I call,” Honey stated.
Kaelan straightened out his tunic and approached Honey. She gazed at him in the same pleasantly blank way that she looked at Magda and Damion.
“You don’t need to help them,” he said tightly.
Damion crossed his arms over his chest, harrumphing.
“Oh, but I want to,” Honey said. “I want to go with them.”
“Why?” Kaelan asked.
Honey twined her hair around her finger, head cocked, as if listening to a far-off sound.
Magda stepped closer, not failing to notice that Kaelan stepped back.
“Honey,” she said, “where we are going, our journey . . . it’s dangerous. I can’t vouch for your safety.”
“Oh, but you will protect me,” Honey said as if she were an oracle and knew for sure. Except oracles couldn’t see their own futures, and no future was certain anyway. “The trees told me.”
Now it was Magda’s turn to step back. “The trees?”
“Yes. They say you told Ouda you would protect them, all of us. Ouda has chosen you. So I must help you. That is what she would want. If you wish to travel across the gulf, Anqa can fly us. We could reach the northern islands in two days.”
Damion caught Magda’s eye. She could tell just what he was thinking. If she wanted the Enneahedron, then the time they had to retrieve it was short.
“All right,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Call the roc.”