Chapter 7
REDVYR
Jessamine marched up the steps with a hard set to her chin, courage and defiance glittering in her green eyes.
I could not help but admire her, knowing she was in a vulnerable situation.
Wolf left my side and sat beside her, his head level with hers.
She smiled and brushed a hand along his shoulder before facing forward again.
I’d told the council what little I knew of her when they assembled.
The only fact I knew for certain was that she was running from an enemy, one she hadn’t admitted to me.
But now, if she wanted our help, she’d have to confess more truth than she had been willing to give me in the woods when I found her.
“State your name,” said Wyzel, the senior elder of our council. Her gray hair was braided in neat, tiny plaits around her four horns.
“Jessamine.”
“You must have a surname,” added Bowden, a beast fae male descended from a line of healers.
Jessamine’s eyes widened slightly, and I heard the speeding of her pulse before she answered.
“I am Jessamine Glenmyr.”
I stiffened, noting a murmur among the elders. But it was Wyzel who asked the obvious question.
“You are related to the royal family of Morodon?”
Jessamine clenched her jaw before finally answering. “I am the youngest daughter of Darian Glenmyr, King of Morodon.”
I scoffed, leaning forward in my chair, elbows on knees. “You did not tell me this,” I accused.
“You did not ask,” she answered curtly.
“What we need to know now,” began Wyzel, “is why you are running. And from whom. If you are defying your father’s wishes, we could start a war with Morodon by allowing you to remain with us.”
The defiance slipped from her expression, replaced with a touch of fear. An instant growl vibrated up my throat. I didn’t like seeing that on her face. Wyzel arched a questioning brow at me, but I kept my gaze on the light fae female.
“We are a peaceful people,” added Bowden gently. “We live apart from other fae by choice, preferring not to embroil ourselves with the politics and wars of others. Tell us, Jessamine. Why are you hiding from your own people?”
She clasped her webbed hands tightly together in front of her and exhaled a heavy breath. “It is true that I am defying my father.”
Some of the clan whispered at her admittance, but they quieted quickly when she went on.
“But please understand that my father has sold me to an evil man who wishes to use my…my magick to hurt others.”
“Sold you?” I growled, gripping the arm of my chair with force.
Her gaze met mine. “In marriage, Lord Redvyr.”
“To. Whom.” I realized my beastly rage was filling me up, my voice feral, my tail twitching, at this new confession, but I couldn’t swallow it down now if I tried.
“His name is Lord Gael of the royal House of Ryleen. He is the high lord of Mevia.”
“What magick do you possess?” asked Wyzel calmly while my blood boiled inside my veins.
Jessamine blinked nervously, her voice shaking slightly as she said, “I am a willoden. I can control water. I am also a nendovir. I have the ability to speak to and befriend naiads.”
More murmurs broke out among the people. Even Wyzel’s gray brows lifted in surprise. “This is a unique gift, to be a nendovir. Naiads are a fierce, unfriendly creature to the fae. How would your mate want you to use this gift for evil?”
“He is not her mate,” I bit out angrily with more force than I intended, fury still pouring through my veins. Holding her gaze, I demanded, “You have not bound yourself to this Lord Gael, have you?”
She shook her head. “I have not. I ran away from my home when he made it known that I was to be a tool for violence.”
“What violence do you speak of?” asked Lorelyn, the youngest on our council.
Her gentle, calm voice must have given Jessamine some reassurance to say what she was obviously holding back.
I’m sure my gruff manners weren’t helping, but I also couldn’t control the hot fury needing an outlet from my body.
I couldn’t temper my reaction to hearing that Jessamine was being forced to marry an evil man.
What kind of father would do that to his daughter?
“I have another gift,” she said, clearing her voice. “It is a rare one. But I prefer not to speak of it.” Her face flushed pink with emotion.
When the stag dryad had attacked Jessamine, I’d been in a haze of rage, but I’d noticed her skin glowing as bright as moonlight.
It faded after the attack was over, after I’d killed and ripped the dryad to shreds.
I’d been consumed by my own thoughts of destroying the creature that had dared to hurt her.
I’d thought her luminescent skin was part of her witchy magick of course, but I didn’t know what kind.
And while she was withholding some crucial information from the council, I didn’t want to expose her secret, even if I still didn’t understand it.
Perhaps, it wasn’t very powerful magick. It hadn’t worked on the stag, but that didn’t surprise me. He was infected with this disease that had begun to spread to many creatures in Northgall. Perhaps this disease makes them immune to magick or simply stronger against it.
Not long ago, we’d seen a small pack of Meer-wolves with the same infection when they attacked the wraith king’s camp near Belladum. And there had been whispers of other creatures behaving strangely. I wondered if that had anything to do with the fact there was little game to be found on my hunt.
“She could be a threat to our clan,” said councilman Vedgar, bringing my attention back to the present. “She refuses to tell us, even after she admitted she can do violence upon others with this magick of hers.”
“If she’d wanted to harm us, she could’ve killed our own lord out there in the woods all alone,” reasoned Wyzel.
“I would not harm anyone in your clan. I can promise you that. Lord Gael wanted me to use my gift on his enemies. I cannot—I will not use my magick to harm others.” She paused, swallowing hard.
“I simply need a place to hide from Lord Gael’s men.
They are the ones who are hunting me. I was living and working in the Borderlands, but they found me and chased me into the woods.
” She gestured toward Wolf who sat loyally at her side, like her own personal guard.
“This Meer-wolf found me when I’d nearly died from the cold.
Then,” she gestured toward me, “Lord Redvyr sheltered me from the cold and brought me safely here.”
Wyzel nodded with approval. “It is our way, Jessamine. We have learned this from the Meer-wolves who we revere. Meer-wolves are a fierce pack creature. They will protect their own with their lives. Once, long ago, one of our ancestors was injured in the wild, his leg broken. He would have died if it weren’t for the Meer-wolf who took him into his pack, brought him meat to cook on the fire, and nursed him to health. ”
Jessamine listened attentively, her expressive eyes wide with wonder and curiosity.
“Because of this, it has been our tradition and our sacred promise to be fiercely loyal like the wolves, to protect like the wolves, and to show compassion to strangers as they once did for us. We revere the wolf, because we see ourselves in them. Lord Redvyr honored our sacred oath in helping you and bringing you here, as he should.”
“Oh,” she said, lowering her gaze, seeming disappointed for some reason.
“She is still in danger,” I stated firmly. “To honor our law, we must continue to protect her from the Mevian guards. And this Lord Gael.” My voice rumbled dark and deep; its timbre rough. My inner beast wanted to lash out and strike something dead. Bite something hard.
Wyzel turned her gaze to Lorelyn. “Can you see the way forward for us regarding Jessamine? Is it safe for her, and for us, to keep her among our clan?”
Lorelyn stood, hands clasped before her. “I can read the runes, but only with a drop of her blood.”
Jessamine turned to me in confusion.
“Lorelyn is a world seer,” I explained. “For our clan and the beast fae.”
She nodded and took a step forward, holding out her hand without fear. “You may use my blood.”
I wasn’t sure if she had experience with seers.
There were three kinds. Soul seers who foretold the destinies of an individual.
Kings typically had a soul seer on hand, but I never did.
There were god seers who were quite rare.
They channeled the will of the gods. Then there were world seers, the most common kind.
They prophesied the fates of fae kind. Lorelyn was born with this gift to guide the beast fae.
Her premonitions had helped us numerous times.
Lorelyn removed a small blade from her belt, but suddenly I was on my feet. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Lorelyn, but something inside me rebelled at the thought of her cutting Jessamine.
“She is my responsibility,” I told Lorelyn as I unsheathed my dagger.
The young seer dipped her dark head, while I gently gripped Jessamine’s wrist. I flicked my gaze to hers. “It won’t hurt.”
“I’m not afraid,” she replied instantly.
I couldn’t help but smile at her courage.
While it was true that I would cause as little pain as possible, she’d been all but dragged to our clan’s home where my people weren’t exactly greeting her with open arms. She couldn’t know for certain that we didn’t intend her harm, and for some reason, she trusted me.
With the tip of my blade, I pressed gently into the fleshy part of her palm until a pinprick of blood pooled there. I then returned to my chair.
Lorelyn walked to stand in front of Jessamine. “It is best that we sit.”
Lorelyn lowered to the wooden stage and crossed her legs. Jessamine joined her, still holding out her palm. Lorelyn held the light fae’s upturned hand in her own, and with her forefinger she swiped the tiny spot of blood in five different directions.