Chapter 16 #2
His face fell. She hadn’t told him the details of that night, the way he’d brought an army of winex to fight and how halfway through they’d gone rogue, attacking friend and foe alike. He wasn’t responsible for choices made by the other winex, and he didn’t need that guilt hanging over him.
“What if they aren’t your friends?” His voice came out in a protective growl.
Aeliana smiled. “Then I’ll scream, and you’ll be welcome to come out and attack.”
“I’m slow these days. It might take me too long,” he grumbled as she dismounted, but he stayed with the horses anyway.
As she approached the beach, several men pulled a boat ashore, their chatter seeming friendly enough.
It wasn’t until she caught glimpse of a shaved head with an X on its forehead that she knew for certain she had the right group.
She ran forward, her boots slipping in the sand and her skirt and hair getting tangled in the wind.
A laugh bred from disbelief and relief bubbled to the surface.
The closer she got, the more she recognized the men—Thallahan with his new eye patch and Larkos with his pirate tattoos.
She found their rough exteriors amusing after seeing their loyal hearts.
At the head of a rowboat, a man remained bent at the waist, tying a rope around a rock, his Sun-streaked brown hair falling in his eyes.
Aeliana’s chest constricted, making her aware of just how much she’d feared for their safety. When he stood, his gaze caught hers, and a smile split his face.
“Daisy!”
Something inside her warmed at the sound of the word on his lips. She’d once hated the nickname, finding it too familiar for a stranger, but now it was like a soft blanket enveloping her.
He closed the distance between them and wrapped her in a bear hug that was tight enough to be painful, but she squeezed him back.
When he stepped away to study her, a strange look crossed his face.
At first there was a sadness that made her think he had hard news to share, but then his lips tilted into his mischievous smile, and she knew.
“You found him,” she breathed the words out and peered past Gaeren, unsure of what her father might look like but eager to recognize him among the crew.
“It’s more like he found us,” he said.
Three other boats still rode in from the larger ship, too far away for her to identify the men, though one held a man with long red hair tied back.
Cyrus. He’d come back, too. She should be frustrated that he hadn’t stayed where it was safe, but instead her heart leaped, and she raised an arm in greeting.
She grinned as he stood to wave back, knocking the boat off-balance and getting yanked back down by the crew.
Several of the men came to greet her, quickly separating her from Gaeren and their brief reunion. Riveran gave her an equally exuberant hug, making Gullet squawk and take flight, but she was distracted by her single-minded purpose as she scanned the men disembarking each of the boats.
Which one was her father?
A hand gripped her arm, and suddenly Gaeren was back at her side. “Look who I found.”
She looked past him but only saw Cyrus, who nearly tackled her now that he was free of his boat. “You’ll never believe all the things we’ve seen.” The intensity on his freckled face reminded her of how much she loved his zeal for life.
But then his face shifted as her vision swam.
She reached to grip him back, to steady herself, but it was like everything around her disappeared, even the ground beneath her feet.
Panic overtook her, as the sensation was reminiscent of traveling across the barrier.
Had Cyrus or Gaeren been holding the golden arrow? Had they somehow activated it?
But when her feet found solid ground and her vision settled, there was still a lack of clarity.
Was this one of Gaeren’s memories? It was almost like the person controlling it was slowing it down and speeding it up without rhyme or reason.
She watched as a stranger approached, introducing himself as Rildan.
Then the memory flowed through different areas of Gahldric’s Stargazer and through their travel across the barrier, where they’d met up with Larkos and the sailors.
The memories were disjointed and uncomfortable, carrying a sense of frightening eternality. Like she might never escape.
She spent weeks sailing: working the rigging, searching for seashells, cooking down in the galley. She spoke and dined with men she knew by name when moments ago, on the beach, they had all been strangers.
Was that moments ago? Or weeks ago?
With a sharp tug that shifted to a slice through her entire body, Aeliana was pulled from the memories. Cyrus and Gaeren once again stood before her, questioning looks in their eyes.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m not—I don’t know.” Aeliana took a step back from them, pressing her hand against her temple.
An ache spread behind her eyes and her starlock felt hot, as if it worked to bring her back from her state of confusion.
How had she seen all that? It obviously couldn’t have been Cyrus.
But it had felt more controlled the last time Gaeren had given her memories of their past. And he’d asked permission then.
Had he done it on accident this time in his eagerness to see her?
The others still milled around the beach, pulling supplies from the boats and securing them on the shore, as if she’d never left, but exhaustion swept through her as though she’d just finished the journey along with them.
As if she’d just experienced the last eight weeks with Gaeren, Riveran, and Cyrus.
And her father.
“Aeliana?”
She turned to take in the older man standing quietly off to the side. He’d been there for a while, likely watching her. Grey hair peppered his black locks but extended past his shoulders, making it obvious he’d come from Lorvandas.
More than that, he was the man from the memories. The man they’d called Rildan. She knew him, and yet she shouldn’t.
“Father?”
His face broke into a grin, all hesitation gone, and he rushed forward, crushing her in his arms. A laugh rumbled through his chest and enveloped her along with his hold, the sensation nearly bringing her to tears with her confusion.
“I can’t believe they found you.” She pulled back and soaked in his weathered skin and hunched form, a frailness masked by a tough outer shell formed by unwelcome life experiences.
He glanced at the forest behind her. “Did anyone else come?”
The hope in his eyes made her know what he was really asking.
“Mother is back at the fortress. She’s doing better, but it’s faster for you to go to her than it would have been for her to come with me. Besides, I wasn’t sure you’d actually be here. I didn’t want to get her hopes up.”
His form hunched even more, but this time with relief. “Can you take me to her?”
“Of course.” She stared at him a moment longer, unable to fully comprehend that he was there. After so many years of assuming her parents were dead, it felt too good to be true to have both of them alive and here with her.
She’d envisioned riding back to the fortress with Gaeren by her side, filling her in on news from Lorvandas, but now that her father was here, she couldn’t leave him to walk. He’d waited long enough to see his wife.
Aeliana turned to Gaeren in apology. “I only have two horses in the woods.”
Gaeren grinned. “We all need to get our land legs back anyway.”
“I look forward to catching up later.” Her words came out shy, her hands suddenly feeling awkward no matter where she placed them. She scanned the shore for Cyrus and Riveran and quickly added, “With all three of you.”
“I don’t mind if it’s just us.” He bent to pick the daisies growing at her feet, and his grin widened. “I’ve had enough of Cyrus and Riveran these last two moons.”
He handed her the cluster of daisies, and her cheeks heated. Her bond mark twinged as his nearness left her flustered. Was he teasing her? Or reminding her they were childhood friends and nothing more?
“Felk is in the woods, too,” she blurted out.
He raised his eyebrows. “Just Felk?”
“Lilik and the others are back at the fortress. I didn’t want to overwhelm the sailors. I wanted to make sure they knew the only winex still in the area are friendly.”
“Where did the others go?” Gaeren asked.
Aeliana shrugged. “I suppose there could still be some roaming free in the forest, but they’ve kept themselves hidden these last two cycles. Their numbers have likely dwindled now that Mayvus isn’t breeding them.” She pursed her lips at the memory.
“I’ll warn the others to keep their weapons to themselves,” he said.
“I was hoping you could share your memories with Felk.” The words came out far less confident, her plan for restoring Felk’s memories now tainted by her own strange experience.
“Of course. I’ll be sure to highlight all the ways he owes me.”
She smiled, but her heart wasn’t quite in it. She’d finally come to terms with using magic because she’d learned to control it. Having something happen without her understanding, without her having control, put her right back in a state of distrust.
She shook the thought away. Gaeren’s memories would help Felk.
But as she led her father to the horses and they made the trip back to the fortress, she couldn’t shake the strange realization that most of the memories she’d seen had been from Cyrus’ perspective.