Chapter 14
Fourteen
Saphirus
The healer returns and shuffles over to Brielle as Willow and Aster lead Leda and me out of the room.
“Where are we going?” Wariness creeps into my voice, and I don’t try to hide it.
These people are still warriors, chosen by Eurydice to bond with a wyvern.
They were skilled enough to get us away from Daimon—one of the strongest fae in the realm, if not the strongest. They’re able to keep their village safe and protected within this island.
They know the borders from their patrols.
They could be our strongest allies…or another enemy to add to the list.
“You’ve only seen a small portion of Kauri,” Aster says lightly. “Penyth is training their Riders in separate teams, but here in Kauri, we fight together. As one. I want to show you just that.”
Leda coughs, failing to cover a small gasp. I give her a look, and she raises her brows, slowly shaking her head.
“We’re going to fly?” Leda questions.
A smile tugs at Aster’s mouth, and he nods. “We aren’t just a village of warriors; we’re a village of Riders.”
Calix joins us, a grin on his face.
“Scared, Le?” Calix teases. I raise a brow, my gaze turning to Leda. Le? “Never thought I’d be braver than you at something.”
She rolls her eyes and mutters, “Cocky little shit.”
My brows jump up as I watch them with curiosity. Calix is a flirt with anyone who has a heartbeat, but the way her cheeks are redding slightly is definitely new. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember him ever flirting with her like this.
Calix winks, and Leda huffs.
Her nostrils flare, and she tilts her chin down as she grits out, “I’ll talk to Adrian and see if there’s anything he can tell us.
” The words tumble out a little too fast. She’s hardly finished speaking before she spins around and walks down the length of the limb to its trunk.
Without so much as a second glance, she disappears into the trees.
She’s all too eager to talk to them. I wouldn’t be surprised if a scream or plea for mercy soon rose from where the humans were being kept.
The unsaid anything he can tell us means anything about Moros.
“Ready to see Zephyr and Arryth?” Willow asks, her eyes softer than they were in the healer’s cottage. “We’ll find the rest of your group first.”
A flurry of excitement stirs in my stomach, and I nod, ready to be out of these trees for a little bit. My head is spinning with all that Brielle, Willow, and Aster discussed with us.
I need to think—to process what the hell we’re going to do about all of this.
We weave through the trees, over thin bridges that connect one trunk to another, and pass cottages built throughout.
“Where is everyone else?” I keep my voice low as Calix and I trail behind Willow and Aster.
“The others are…exploring with some of the villagers.” Calix roughly scratches his jaw. “I wanted to wait on you and Leda to see how Brielle was doing.”
I quickly update him on Brielle, and he fidgets beside me, a restless energy pulsing off of him—a feeling I know all too well.
As much as I want to hop on Zeph and fly off of this island for good, I can see the deep circles that still rest beneath Calix’s eyes. And I can’t deny that it’s going to take Brielle a few more days to recover from expending so much of her magic.
Calix is strong, but his usual luster has dulled, the spark behind his eyes dimmed. Brielle isn’t the only one who needs a few days to recoup, I realize.
I tug at my magic, reaching for the affinity that first found me. Shadows twirl around my fingers, eager and hungry.
I swallow and release them. Everyone else looks like they could sleep for four nights straight with how depleted their magic is, but mine…feels stronger than ever. Ready to fight.
Still, I can’t do this alone.
We follow Willow and Aster to the tree through which we entered the village, but it’s no longer open. No staircase to access or way down.
It isn’t long before the sound of splitting bark rumbles in front of us, and I’m transported back to the moment I left Crea.
Back to when I didn’t know fae existed and only knew what I had been taught about Penyth my whole life.
When I still thought my father was Reichardt—harmless compared to my true father.
It was also when I still had Graylen by my side.
Willow and Aster step through the door she created, shaking me from my thoughts.
“I will find you, Graylen, but I have to save our home for you to have one to come back to.” I send the words down our silent bond, hoping that they’re able to reach him somehow. Hoping that he finds a way to hold on.
Calix and I walk side by side through the forest, the ground quiet and the light dimmed.
The trees shift above us, leaves fluttering to the ground as limbs shake. I can’t see anything other than branches swaying from this far away—if I didn’t know any better, it could be a forest animal bouncing through the trees.
“The village is beginning to wake,” Willow explains. “Kauri doesn’t come to life until dusk at the earliest, usually closer to the moon rising.”
Aster walks ahead of us and calls over his shoulder, “They’re up early today with all of the excitement.”
It isn’t long before voices begin to filter down to us; children laughing, women singing. It’s as if they all awoke to a bell only they could hear, filling the branches above us with the first real signs of life since we’ve arrived.
“Excitement?” I ask.
Willow raises a brow at me, and it hits me.
Us. We’re the excitement.
We walk until I can catch glimpses of the sun nearing the horizon, the canopy of trees spread just far enough apart for me to see the sky.
A rush of anticipation fills my chest, the emotion leaving the faint taste of fresh strawberries in my mouth. The overwhelming need to fly comes after it, filling my veins with the weightlessness of free-falling and leaving me dizzy enough that I have to brace my hand on a tree.
“Lu?” Calix asks, turning to me. His hand softly lands on my shoulder as his face swims into view. “You okay?”
Zeph.
“My wyvern is up to something,” I huff out, my voice caught between amusement and suspicion.
I’m still getting used to feeling her emotions alongside mine, but what she’s feeling now is impossible to ignore.
Each moment we spend together, each time we fly, it strengthens our bond.
I might not have been able to read her emotions without being right beside her a full moon ago, but now it’s as clear as my own.
Calix’s hand flies to his chest, and I can see his eyes shift from pure joy to wonderment, his breath catching.
“Arryth,” he breathes, and I know he’s experiencing something similar. “He’s calling out to me.”
Willow chuckles in front of us, pausing for us to catch up. “They know we’re getting close,” she says with a broad smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Follow me.”
Calix and I follow behind her and Aster, the light whooshing of waves crashing against rocks growing louder with each step we take.
I watch Aster and Willow interact, their hands grazing but never fully slipping into the other’s.
Not as if they’re embarrassed or hiding it, but simply because they can’t help touching every few breaths.
A lump forms in my throat when Aster reaches out to tuck Willow’s hair behind her ear, her answering smile soft and content. From the way his hand is angled, I catch sight of a pale white scar on his hand—jagged and running across his palm.
I’ve seen that before.
My eyes flick to Willow’s left hand, the same scar across hers.
“Do you think they got those scars in the war?” I lean over and ask Calix, hoping it’s quiet enough that they don’t hear me.
Calix gives me a strange look and shakes his head.
“They’re soulbonded,” he whispers back. “Bound together for life through blood and ceremony. That’s the mark left behind, but I’ve never seen it happen myself.
Just stories of how they formed them. The blessing of the soulbond disappeared far before I was born. ”
My gaze flickers back to them, realizing their relationship goes so much deeper than I thought it did. It makes me remember Ellerry’s words when we were in her tree house during training: “A mate hasn’t been found since the split of the Valon Empire…the pull just disappeared.”
Whatever curse Moros cast on the empire didn’t just affect the land; it affected its people. It may keep the humans and fae separated, “fixing” the issue of division, but in reality…it only made the divide wider.
Moros isn’t saving the realm; he’s damning it.
“We’re here,” Willow shouts, jolting me from my thoughts.
We step through the trees, and a cacophony of noises bombards my senses all at once. Birds cawing, people cheering, wyverns screeching, and waves crashing. Salty air hits my nose as I breathe in, snapping my attention to the present.
The first thing I notice is how the trees abruptly end. This piece of land is like a hook that juts off the side of the island, a cliff that stretches out and curls in a loop at the end.
I hadn’t noticed the gain in elevation as we walked with Willow and Aster, but now that we’re up here, I realize just how high up we are.
The sea is thousands of paces below, the birds flying above the waves so small they look like ants, though the crashing waves echo all the way up to us, sounding as if we were right beside them.
But I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from the skies.
Wyverns of all colors, shapes, and sizes soar through the open air. A burst of giddiness rises within my chest, sending an unexpected wave of awe sweeping through my body.
Fae of every kind are seated atop them, their smiles wide as they swoop high and low.
The cliff in front of us is filled with more beasts, their wings relaxed as they dance along the edge.
It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen—a freedom so different from the rigid training in Penyth. As if they aren’t preparing for war, but simply…living.
“Lu!” Sidra’s light voice calls out to me from my left. “Calix!”
My eyes widen when I find her, sitting crisscross and waving her arms at me. A child, no older than ten, is braiding her hair. Charcoal has been smeared across her face, just like Willow and Aster’s were yesterday. The village girl is dressed similarly, with braided hair and painted face.
That’s when I notice Maddox and Orla beside her, Maddox getting swirls painted onto his arms and Orla laughing as another child adjusts a new tunic on her—one that matches what all the children are wearing.
It’s dark green and lands at the top of her thighs with leather straps tied around her waist.
They look like they belong.
Two children run in front of me, nearly tumbling into my side, and I jump back to avoid getting thrown to the ground. I turn to Willow, knowing my eyes are wider than the full moon.
“I thought you don’t trust us?” I ask, wondering why they would allow us around the children of Kauri.
Willow shrugs and nods to my friends. “I told you, get to know us before you make assumptions about who we are.”
Aster smiles, and his gaze lifts above my shoulder. “And even if we don’t trust you, we know Zephyr.” He chuckles. “She’s far too stubborn to be drawn to someone that wasn’t worth bonding with.”
A puff of air races against my back, sending my hair flying past my face. I feel her before I see her, the rush of excitement from earlier increasing tenfold. When I spin around, I already know Zeph is waiting on me.
Her nose nudges into me immediately, eliciting a soft umph. She nuzzles me, a content purr rumbling from her chest.
“I missed you too,” I say with a quiet laugh, my hands wrapping around the sides of her nose. “What have you been up to out here?”
From the corner of my eye, I see Calix move past us as Aryth bounds over to him.
“They’re learning what it means to have fun again.” Aster steps up beside me.
I watch Zeph, expecting her to give him a warning growl or show her teeth at his proximity to me, but instead, she lowers her head to him. She allows him to stroke her head briefly before he walks past.
We know Zephyr.
And my girl knows them, too. Watching her with Aster, it eases some of the worries in my mind. Maybe we can trust them after all.
But his words tug at something in my mind, stopping me from giving into fully trusting them.
“And this is helpful to creatures of war, how?” I ask.
Aster huffs a laugh. “They’re not a sword—a blunt object with no feelings and bred for killing. They’re like us—driven by emotions. For them to bond with their Riders and the rest of their unit, they need to trust them.”
“So this is like a trust-building exercise?” I question, still not convinced these people are going to help us.
Aster nods, a look of understanding on his face—as if he can feel the judgment in my tone.
A scream pierces the air, and my body goes rigid. I peer around Zephyr, my muscles tensing as I reach for my magic. But Zeph pushes me forward with her wing, causing me to stumble away from her. Just enough to see where the scream is coming from.
My eyes widen as I take in the rest of the land behind her.
At least twenty—if not more—wyverns soar from the side of the cliff, their bellies showing and wings stretched out wide.
They fly into the air, hovering briefly before landing on the ground with a light thud that causes the rocks at my feet to vibrate.
Villagers ride atop the wyverns; these Riders are more like Willow and Aster—free. Wild. Not bound by training programs or separated into small groups. They all land as one, each marching to the beat of their own drum.
They’re dressed similarly to Willow and Aster today in hand-stitched clothing and a mix of cotton shirts and leather vests. A few of them have thick wool cloaks on, cloth sashes tied at their waists.
A small, amethyst-colored wyvern catches my eye, running in a circle around Aster, which draws a burst of laughter from him. In the blink of an eye, he jumps atop her and settles into a worn leather saddle.
The closer I look, the more I realize they all have a saddle.
Well, that would make my life a lot easier.
“Come on,” Aster shouts, looking back at me.
I shift closer to Zeph, ignoring the burst of energy that shoots down our bond at his words.
“Where are we going?” I ask hesitantly.
Aster winks and points to the sky. “We’re going for a ride.”