13
Aspen
Like a member of the fauna, he hunkered on all fours. Messy dark layers fell around his head, those faeish features prominent, always leaping out at the world.
Although Nicu fancied vibrant clothes and heavy patterns, pewter grey concealed his slender frame from neck to feet, the standing collar of his coat brushing the tips of his shoulder-length hair. Only the red ribbon bracelet and the vivid green of his eyes burst through the murk.
We gawked at one another. “It’s not what you think,” both of us whispered at the same time.
Stumped, I veered back. He should be asleep, wrapped in sumptuous bedding of a high thread count, dreaming every good dream in this world. He shouldn’t be out here, well past midnight, unattended by an entourage.
With the horn blaring, discretion wasn’t necessary. I could have shouted until my tonsils exploded, and no one would have heard me.
Nonetheless, I took zero gambles. “What are you doing here?” I mouthed.
Because our clan had experience reading Flare’s lips, Nicu caught on. “I chased your ribbons,” he mouthed back.
Goddammit. He followed me.
To illustrate, Nicu pointed overhead to the orange garland. Poet and Briar had installed these color-coded strands to guide him through the castle grounds. Every passing year, the tethers extended farther, though not yet beyond The Wandering Fields.
Nicu must have been out here and witnessed my nosedive behind the hay bales. Which meant he’d watched as I hid from Aire.
Shame crushed me to a pulp. Of all the clan, Nicu was the last person I’d ever want to suffer from my treachery, even more than Aire. This precious Royal deserved to have the continent kneel at his feet, not to see a friend turn her back on him.
But wait. Although Nicu shouldn’t be promenading without his security detail, that didn’t mean this young Royal had anything to apologize for or justify. Not unless…
The horn’s call throttled my ears. Along the parapets, armored figures swarmed the crenelations and shouted to one another.
By some miracle, I picked up one word. Missing.
Aire had sensed a presence here. Then he asked, “Where are you?”
But he hadn’t been thinking of me. That explained why he rode into an area outside of his designated patrol.
My head snapped to Nicu’s sheepish face.
His pupils trembled with a mingling of yearning, trepidation, and defiance.
Sometimes he had trouble comprehending the difference between his presence in one location versus another.
However, he’d made progress on that front, so it took half the time it used to for him to grasp who the knights sought out.
“You,” I said. “They’re looking for you.”
Peach tinted Nicu’s complexion. “Don’t tell them. Please, Aspen.”
“Nicu.” I snatched his hands, warm against my chilled ones. “I love the clan like my own family. But I’d never betray your secrets to anybody.”
For what it was worth, I wanted him to remember this promise, regardless of whatever came later.
His worry dissolved into a pure, do-no-wrong smile that could melt iron, summon the sun, and charm the devil. Any second, that grin would move me to confess a dozen cardinal sins.
I squeezed his fingers. “What don’t you want them to know?”
Nicu peeked at the tower. “I’m leaving.”
A heart attack wouldn’t have been unreasonable. “Leaving where?”
Struggling to grasp how far both stood from the castle, his gaze trailed the ribbon garlands from the harvest fields to the forest beyond. “There.” Swerving back to me, his features alighted. “I’m hunting for my stars.”
“Your stars,” I repeated. “Your destiny.”
He nodded. “At first, I was hunting for the spy.”
The spy. The lying female hunching in front of him.
Or the secondary informant, depending on the context.
“The fellowship is already looking, but I can help,” Nicu exclaimed. “Except I didn’t see a spy in the castle, so I thought maybe I’d find them under the clouds. Only I didn’t find them out here either. So now I’m hunting for my stars and being a hero instead. The one to save us all.”
“Let me take a gander,” I whispered. “Your Mama’s famous words.”
“She told me that once. I swore to her that I wouldn’t forget.”
Let no one call me a sucker, except when it came to this Royal. I’d developed a tender spot for Nicu since the night he found me sneaking into The Shadow Orchard on an involuntary mission to chop off a knight’s head.
I replayed the roundtable yesterday, when Nicu volunteered to help to find the spy. And while his parents had explained to him the dark side of the Seasons, Nicu’s role had been limited to meetings and training sessions, so he could practice how to defend himself.
My conscience ached on his behalf. Poet and Briar would torch the universe for their son. They did right by Nicu, crusading for his freedom and his future. But Nicu wanted to accomplish things on his own now. To do more, try more, and see more.
Comparably, I masked myself in lies. But Nicu displayed his authenticity openly, scattering his emotions and desires everywhere like confetti, neither ashamed nor intimidated by them. This Royal hid nothing.
Still, abandoning his parents without a word wasn’t like Nicu. Despite these good intentions, the family communicated everything to each other, and he would rather stake his own heart than violate that trust.
A possible explanation entered my mind. “How long were you planning to be gone?”
“One night,” he answered. “Why?”
My body sagged in understanding. Of course, this made sense. To Nicu, trekking through the forest overnight—in the hopes of finding a sign from nature about his purpose in life—didn’t amount to a fully-fledged desertion. That accounted for his curiosity about why I would ask in the first place.
What’s more, my friend likely hadn’t predicted the uproar he would cause, which explained his rueful blush about the alarm. Ultimately, he hadn’t anticipated the castle would be turned upside down over this.
Nicu cocked his head. “While outside, I saw you and felt a curious spark. You were running very fast from the castle. And why were you tucking yourself from Aire?”
Seconds ticked by, increasing the number of troops crowding the lookout points. Still, I hedged, wary of his gift for memorizing incriminating dialogue verbatim.
But since I drew the line at lying to Nicu’s face, the best course of action required partial confessions. “I took something from the relic vault without permission.”
“Ahh.” Nicu sat on both haunches. “Bad manners. Aire has rules about that. You keep breaking all of them.”
I laughed nervously with him, then glimpsed the perimeter once more. “It’s a harness for my axe, but I’ll bring it back.”
“From where?”
“Never mind that. Listen to me, Nicu. I hear what you’re saying about being a hero, but for now it’s safer if you—”
“You’re following your stars too?” His face gleamed like a constellation. “Then I’m coming with you!”
Fuck. So that part wasn’t supposed to come out, but this was Nicu, the sweetest soul on earth. His enthusiasm buttered me up faster than Aire’s dimples. And aside from a certain Winter king, Nicu had every member of the clan wrapped around his pinky finger.
“No,” I rushed out. “I’ll be gone for more than one night.”
Nicu paused. Not having expected that detail, concern flitted across his features. “Are you in trouble?”
“I’m getting myself out of it.”
“That means yes.” Conflicted, he swung his attention between the stronghold and me, then shored himself up. “Then my stars will follow yours.”
He believed his destiny relied on joining me, that somehow this had become the uncharted path he was supposed to take, even if he hadn’t prepared himself for a longer trip. To that end, Nicu wouldn’t grasp the distance as others would.
I had to dissuade him. Even if it cost me precious minutes, I had to try.
“Nicu,” I stressed. “It’s a long journey. And it’s far. I’m honored by the offer, but this will be a dangerous quest, and I have to accomplish it by myself.”
His eyebrows crimped. “But you need a protector.”
“My axe is my protector.”
“So one is enough?” He opened his coat and patted the dagger strapped to the inner lining. “Or are you allowed to have two?”
Against my better judgement, affection welled through me.
No matter how he maneuvered that blade, ribbon-shaped indentations along the handle indicated which direction the tip pointed.
A simple but effective design that left the rest up to Nicu’s inherent skills.
It was also the first weapon I created for someone I cared about.
As I fumbled for a response, Nicu asked, “What quest?”
“To thwart Rhys,” I said under my breath. “To take down Summer.”
But because I wouldn’t fib to him more than I had to, this confession reinforced the determined set of Nicu’s chin. And well, I wondered who he got that from?
The young Royal squared his shoulders. “I’m coming.”
“You’re staying right the fuck here,” I hissed. “You don’t need to prove a thing. You’re already a hero.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“But I’m not trying to prove something. And a hero’s work is never done.”
“Then do it indoors where there’s beer and a cozy fire.”
The cute motherfucker flashed a smirk. “What if I ask you nicely?”
Bloody hell. He was getting more like his father. Sometimes I joked that Nicu and Poet were joined at the hip like a pair of mischief-makers, their silver-tongued quips bouncing off each other in rapid succession.
If fate knew what was best for our world, this brilliant human would indeed surpass Poet in the future. But only if the lad paved his own way. At eighteen, Nicu had become an adult and wanted a greater role in this fellowship. After all he’d been through from the age of four, he earned that.
Whatever the ignorant laws of this continent claimed, Nicu’s life belonged to him. Nobody had the right to deny him that. Least of all, me.
Besides, although Nicu had never ventured farther than the lower town on his own, he possessed the jester’s cleverness and the princess’s tenacity. And while he wouldn’t skewer an insect, let alone a two-hundred pound bandit, he demonstrated a strong will.
If I rejected his offer to join my expedition, Nicu would trail me in secret. Moreover, we didn’t have time to debate this over a cold pint.
I grunted in resignation, my restraint thawing like putty as Nicu beamed. So much of this decision was wrong. But his joyous smile? That was worth a thousand executions.
Disappearing for a nighttime excursion was one thing; spontaneously expanding that quest was another matter.
Since the Nicu, Poet, and Briar rarely made any decisions without consulting each other, I sensed his desire to rush inside, reassure them of his wellbeing, and explain in person about this change of plans.
Naturally, while leaving me out of the equation.
Except time wouldn’t allow that. Nicu grasped this as well.
Whipping his head about, the industrious young man grabbed a stray and twig from the ground.
After scribbling something on that piece of foliage, he whistled to the sky.
Despite the alarm horn, his lilting tenor reached one of the hawks, who shot toward us and snared the leaf poised between Nicu’s fingers.
The avian launched back into the firmament while my friend summarized the contents. It included an apology for causing the alarm, a heartfelt litany about his expedition to be a hero, a plea to look after Tumble, and a declaration of familial love, plus an extra note about having company.
Panic ensued. “What did you tell them?”
“I didn’t give names,” Nicu replied. “I only said a friend needed my help. Was that wrong?”
Courageous Nicu. No one would be surprised by his willingness to stand by the people he cherished. Likewise, if anyone touched him, I’d skin them alive.
I pointed at him. “You’re lucky I love you.”
Nicu bounced forward and dropped a kiss on my scowling cheek. “Love you too.”
At the next blast of the horn, we launched to our feet and ran.