Chapter 18
The frozen dirt and dead pine needles crunched under my boots as I crouched low. Ace stood beside me using the nearby trees and tall brush as cover.
“See anything?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “I still don’t like this.”
In the end, we decided against running down the streets of Perga to announce Paul’s betrayal. We didn’t know who Paul was working with and he could have a number of accomplices in town.
After bathing and foraging for some food, we made it to Perga, skirted the main road and avoided the glorious smells of the bakery.
I could really use a gooey cinnamon bun right now, but we had more important things to deal with.
Sley’s cabin looked empty, and we hadn’t crossed anyone on our way here.
“It’s risky,” Ace continued.
“She’s my best friend.” I straightened and stepped out of the brush.
Ace grumbled and followed me as I made my way to the front door and gently rapped my knuckles on the rough wooden door.
It swung open almost immediately. Sley stood barefoot in her home, wearing a long, layered skirt stitched from at least five different fabrics, and a wool shawl wrapped around her shoulders in an asymmetrical knot.
“Is it really you?” Sley jerked her head up, her eyes wide. She scrambled over the threshold and launched herself at me. I caught her in both arms, and she squeezed the life out of me. Her hair smelled of pine and orange peel.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered.
I shook my head and squeezed her back. “I’m immortal.”
“And immortals have been turning up dead.” She stepped back and swatted my arm. “I was so phaaning worried. Orion, too.”
He must’ve returned before anyone had noticed he’d left. “He’s safe?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Ace looked over his shoulder, his scowl deepening. “Can we come in?”
Sley bobbed her head and stood back. With a sweeping arm, she waved at her home.
We stepped inside, and Sley closed the door behind us with a soft thud. The scent of dried herbs and wood smoke wrapped around me like an old friend.
Sley had one of the smaller cabins in Perga, but it always felt warm to me, even in the dead of winter. Sley hid the bland wooden walls with a patchwork of woven shawls, quilted tapestries, and sun-faded fabrics.
In the far corner, Sley’s bed was draped in layered quilts, each one stitched by hand. Some were embroidered with constellations, wildflowers, or strange swirling sigils I didn’t know. Curtains made from old fabrics framed the tiny window above the bed and let in a shimmer of light.
The floor was covered in braided rugs, mismatched and soft. Sley had woven them herself from scraps of cloth. The fabric muted our footsteps as we crossed the room.
Bundles of lavender and rosemary hung from the ceiling beams, their stems bound with twine and jars lined the shelves in her food prep area.
Sley loved to share her process of how she collected herbs and prepared her products, but my attention span struggled to follow all the intricate steps.
I left the twine making to Sley and focused on constructing arrows instead.
A small pot simmered over the hearth fire. Sley was making her regular tea with apple, clove, and a hint of mint. The familiar scent was comforting and wild all at once.
Those two words described my friendship with Sley perfectly—comforting and wild.
“Did we lose anyone in the attack?” Ace asked, breaking the silence.
“Just old man Reilly.”
“O’Reilly?” That was surprising. Why would the hunters go after him?
“Yeah, oddest thing. He was found in his cabin, single arrow to the chest.”
“That’s happening a lot around here,” Ace muttered. His attention snagged on one of the hanging tapestries and he stepped away from us to study the details.
I knew this one well. The artwork depicted the final battle between the galeons and phaanons.
King Oberon stood over a cowering phaanon woman with his sword raised for the final strike.
But instead of looking fearful or sad, a smirk twisted her lips and her eyes twinkled with mischief.
I never understood her expression, or why the artist chose to show her like this, but I hoped when I faced my final moment, I would have no fear, like her.
“Where did you get this?” Ace asked.
“Vitor,” Sley said.
Ace raised both his eyebrows. “You’ve been to Vitor?”
Sley visibly shook herself and straightened. “Not quite. I purchased it from a Vitorian merchant at a fair in Wast.”
Ace turned slightly to me, but whatever he tried to tell me with his look was lost on me. My mind instantly went to the gutter, which was totally inappropriate for this moment, so I just smiled.
Sley glanced at Ace and then back to me. Her eyebrows rose. “You two haven’t bickered for an entire five minutes. Are you feeling all right?”
“Sometimes there are more important things to do than bicker,” I pointed out.
Sley wasn’t buying it. She peered at me like I was some fruit that cracked open, and she was trying to decide if I was edible.
“More important things?” She prompted. “Like who gets to be on top?”
“Like my brother being behind the thefts and attacks,” I said, vomiting the words as if saying them quickly would somehow make it hurt less.
“Paul?” Sley scoffed. “Funny. The only thing that man knows how to get behind is a willing woman’s ass.”
“Okay. One, that’s gross and two, I’m not being funny. I’m being serious.”
She hesitated and glanced at Ace.
He nodded, his expression solemn.
Sley shook her head. “Paul who never gets his hands dirty? That Paul?”
“That’s the one,” Ace said. “Also, she can be on top whenever she wants.”
Sley opened her mouth and then shut it again. Her gaze flicked side to side as she processed the information.
I scowled at Ace over her head. My friend did not need to know about our sexual positions.
He shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. “It’s true.”
“Paul would never hurt you,” Sley said finally. “It can’t be him.”
“I agree with you about not hurting me. He wasn’t the one who gave the order to attack me. Apparently, there was a miscommunication.”
She narrowed her eyes. “There are more people involved?”
“They have a full base set up in the woods. Paul obviously helped them pick the location because it’s out of my range. He probably gave them my schedule and patrol route to help them avoid detection.”
“Is your brother leading the charge or is he another soldier?” Sley asked.
“That’s what we don’t know. But I can confirm he’s the thief.”
Sley hissed and rocked back on her heels. As the person responsible for managing the communal supplies, Sley had been the one to alert me of the thefts to begin with. “That pampered ass.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Sley asked. “You’re not responsible for your brother’s actions.”
Maybe not technically, but part of me still felt responsible.
He was my twin. I was supposed to be the closest person to him in his life, yet he had a whole secret compound set up without me having a clue.
This whole time I thought he had increased his duties in Wast and that was why he was out of town so often.
“How is he killing them?” Sley asked.
“Huh?” I snapped my head up. The question surprised me, and it shouldn’t have. I should’ve expected it. I should’ve had an answer prepared.
“Emi?” Sley tilted her head. “How did your brother, or the people your brother is with kill the bonded galeons? We’ve always been told they’re unkillable once bonded, but we know that can’t be entirely true.
There has to be a way to kill them. There was a phaaning war where plenty of phaanons and galeons died and then there were those recent deaths… ”
“He used blood,” I whispered.
Ace grumbled under his breath behind me. Sley was my best friend. We had to trust someone.
“Blood?” Her gaze shifted side to side. “Blood?”
“The blood from a phaanon can–”
“Kill a bonded galeon,” she whispered. “I remember the rumours…”
Why was she looking so panicked—like she’s swallowed something and then realized it was poison? My chest constricted, pain stabbing at my heart.
“Where is he getting the blood?” she asked. “Phaanons are extinct.”
Yeah, that was what I thought, too, but now more and more were popping up everywhere.
I wanted to say I didn’t know. I wanted to deny the truth, yet the truth was already out there and Sley deserved to hear it from me. She had the right to know what she was getting into if she stuck by my side.
“From himself,” I whispered.
Ace cursed under his breath and turned away. He may as well have thrown up his hands and had a tantrum like a five-year-old.
“Himself?” she frowned. “But that would mean…”
“He’s phaanon.”
She jerked upright, her gaze locked on mine. “But that means you’re…”
“Phaanon. Yes.”
“It was you?” she whispered. “This entire time, it was you?”
“I haven’t done anything.” I frowned. “Wait. What do you mean this entire time?”
Of course I didn’t turn into a phaanon overnight, but it wasn’t like I grew up knowing the truth. It’s not like I lied to her or purposefully hid the truth. I suspected I was a pure-blooded galeon.
“I just found out, myself,” I said. But if I was being honest, even if I had known, I wouldn’t have shared the truth. Phaanons were hunted to extinction—near extinction—because we were too dangerous to allow to live.
“I didn’t know,” I whispered.
Sley stood a few feet away from me, her gaze shifting back and forth as her hands curled into fists. She wasn’t a galeon descendent. To her, I’d be just another immortal, yet she was taking the news harder than I had anticipated.
“It was you,” she said again. Her eyes rounded and she shook her head. “You and Paul.”
“I’m still me.” I reached out to grasp her arm.
She jerked back, stepping out of the way. Her lips trembled and she shook her head again. “You need to leave.”
“Sley—”
“Now.” She stomped to the front door and held it open.