Chapter 31 #2
I glanced out at the clan members milling around the other campfires with cups of ale and hearty laughter, the bathka having ended their dance.
I could see the subtle differences in the clans, mostly by their clothes and how they chose to wear their hair.
Sorka and her guild had a particular style of stitching and tailoring that I could spot easily in a crowd, and the other clans had their own unique way of tailoring and decorating their gowns with beads and metal.
The Vanglosa clan mingled with all of the others, an easy camaraderie that I would never witness at my father’s court.
“Tell me, Lord Walgar. What do you see when you look out there?”
He frowned, his back to the crowd and campfires. The woman who must be his mate turned to look behind her. Reluctantly, he did the same.
When he turned back to face me, he said, “Beast fae. Drinking and talking.”
My gaze caught on Bes dancing with a young beast fae male, obviously in his teen years like her, his body tall but still very lean, his horns not as thick and long as the adult males.
He held her hands and guided her in a circle, bending their knees to the beat of the drums. Their movements were awkward next to the adults dancing with their partners in a similar fashion, but there was joy on their young faces. Sorka watched from nearby, smiling.
Not far behind them, sitting on a thick log near one of the campfires were Tylok’s children and the wraith fae boy, Gershal.
Leifkyn knelt next to them, a rough wooden game board in front of them, pointing to parts of the board as he talked.
He was teaching them to play kings and bones, a game I’d seen many regulars play in the corner booth at Haldek’s tavern.
Walgar’s woman at his side, most likely his wife, then added in a soft, serene voice, “I see many clans celebrating together. Old friends greeting one another. New ones being made. Lovers finding partners.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, my lady. All of those things at once. What I see-”
I stared past them where Brohm was throwing his head back in laughter, two other males I’d never met before gesticulating wildly as they both seemed to tell a story at once.
“What I see,” I said again, “is an interconnected people who not only support one another to survive, but they come together in fellowship and celebration so they might thrive.” I met Walgar’s gaze, his expression pensive.
“That is not something I have ever seen before. Not in my father’s court, and not in the nearby townships that we visited a few times.
It is a treasure I recognize as valuable. ”
His wife smiled, her eyes crinkling in the corners.
“I am far from the place of my birth, Lord Walgar, but that was never a home for me.” I looked at Redvyr, my belly flipping at the intense admiration in his gaze. “I have found my home with Lord Redvyr, and the Vanglosa clan of Meerland.”
I felt the eyes of a few others on me from farther down the table.
The beast fae’s heightened senses helped them not simply for hunting or sensing danger but also in eavesdropping.
Not that I minded. I wanted the other clans to know what I said, how I felt.
Until I heard one of them say, “She doesn’t wear his mark. ”
When I glanced toward the couple on the other side of Walgar’s wife, they both averted their gazes, the female with a sneer. I’d experienced worse in my father’s court. Still, I had to admit the idea stung. That Redvyr’s people might find me lacking as his partner.
“And what of the wraith king?” Walgar asked Redvyr, switching the subject. Whether it was to avoid the tense awkwardness at the table or simply to be polite, I was relieved.
Redvyr glared daggers at those down the table whispering far too loud and making a show of ignoring us at this end of the table.
“What do you mean?” Redvyr asked, forking slices of roast meat from a platter onto his plate.
“Word is that he rules all of Lumeria as well as Northgall now. That he kills his own men.”
“He kills his men when they commit treason,” Redvyr stated coldly.
Those who had been ignoring us before now tuned into the discussion.
“You know this for certain?” asked the male sitting next to Walgar’s wife.
“Aye,” Redvyr answered, anger still lacing his tone.
“We were told he slaughtered his own brother,” said another farther down. “That he tore him to pieces with his bare hands then lit him on fire with his magick.”
“Half-brother,” Redvyr corrected, forking a bite of roast meat into his mouth. “And yes, he ended him in such a way.”
When he said no more, the same male asked, “What had he done to betray Gollaya? To deserve such a death?”
It was Bezaliel who spoke up. “He kidnapped Goll’s mate, his queen, with foul intent. So yes,” he said, his voice now dipping with irritation, “he slayed the man that was supposed to protect his mate rather than cause her harm. Then he burned him to ash.”
“I’d do the same,” growled Redvyr, sitting back in his chair and drinking ale from his cup, glaring over the rim down the table.
I didn’t think the other clansmen disliked me enough to cause me harm, but Redvyr’s warning sent a shiver down my spine all the same. The good kind.
I hadn’t known this about King Goll and his queen, but it didn’t surprise me after meeting him. He wasn’t a fae to be trifled with. Neither was Redvyr.
“I think I’ll go to bed now,” said Tessa, looking at Bezaliel. “Saralyn is tired.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offered.
Even though I hadn’t eaten a thing, I was more than ready to escape the feast table.
My presence was causing tension which was upsetting Redvyr.
He needed time with the other clan lords.
I understood from other’s stories about this feast gathering that it was only once a year, and it was a time for bonding to keep the camaraderie and peace between the clans.
I stood but Redvyr grabbed my hand. “You don’t have to go,” he said in a low voice, wrapping his tail around my ankle like he so often did.
Smiling, I squeezed his hand. “I’m tired from the journey as well. I’ll walk Tessa back and get some rest.” I stepped closer and whispered, “I’ll be waiting for you when you come to bed.”
He lifted my hand, holding my gaze, and pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. “I’ll wake you when I return.”
With that, I bowed my head politely to Walgar and his wife. I even smiled at the others down the table, their expressions mixed—some irritated, some welcoming, some bewildered, and some altogether unreadable.
I followed Tessa, who was already down the stairs and halfway across the feasting area when I caught up to her.
“Thank you,” I told her. “You gave me an excuse to leave early.”
“To be honest, they were quite civil with you.”
I laughed as we passed the last campfire and turned between two tents and headed toward our clan’s side of the encampment.
“That was civil? I hate to see rude.”
She laughed too, the first time I’d heard her do so since we’d recovered Saralyn and Bes.
“I didn’t receive one welcoming word from anyone in the other clans my first time here.
I’d proven myself as a competent healer among our own clan, so they stood by me.
By the time I returned my second year, I received more kindness.
They aren’t quite so openly rude to you because you are Redvyr’s mate.
He is a well-respected lord among the clans. ”
“I am sorry to hear they treated you poorly. But I can take a few hard looks and harsh words. My father’s court was far more vicious. Of course, that was because my own parents were the ones who often spoke ill of me in front of others. The courtiers were only following their lead.”
Tessa frowned at me, Saralyn asleep in her arms. “Your own parents did that?”
I shrugged, the pain a dim memory now. The leagues of land between us seemed to dull the hurt they caused me.
Even though it had been less than one year since I’d left, it seemed like forever ago that I stood in my father’s study like a mare up for auction, his ambassadors openly ogling me.
My brother had only been buried a month when my father summoned me and his ambassadors to him.
He’d had me wear my finest dress and even had me turn in a circle so they got a good look at me.
His awful words still rung in my ears: She will fetch a high price.
Her magick is worth her weight in gold. And her body is made for breeding.
Any husband could get several heirs from her.
I want only the highest offers brought to me.
Not long after, the highest bidder, Lord Gael of Mevia, appeared at the palace gates, and I was sold before I’d even met him.
“It doesn’t matter now,” I told Tessa as the laughter and voices at the feast grew dimmer. “I’m where I’m supposed to be now.”
Perhaps Redvyr was right and the gods do know best. If my brother hadn’t been killed in battle, then my father wouldn’t have been so bold to sell me to Lord Gael. And I wouldn’t have run away, eventually finding myself here, with this dark fae lord that I loved.
The sudden realization punched me so hard in the heart that I gasped.
“Are you okay?” Tessa reached out a hand and grabbed my arm, thinking I might’ve stumbled.
“Fine,” I said a little weakly as we walked along the stone edge of the butte. “I’ll just be glad when we return to Vanglosa.”
“You and me both.” She sighed, stopping in front of her tent to face me. “It will get better, this difficulty with the other clans. I promise.”
I pulled her into a hug, making sure not to crush or wake Saralyn. Or Hallizel, who hadn’t left the baby’s side since we left Ghasta Vale. “Yes, I know. Goodnight.”
She went into her tent and I walked on, not worried about whether the clans liked me at all. That wasn’t what suddenly weighed on my heart. It was that I knew for certain that I loved Redvyr.
I stopped in front of our tent, staring up at the crescent moon, the clouds billowing.
I exhaled a breath, wishing for him to return quickly.
I’d tell him what seemed to be bursting inside me and demand that he give me his mark.
That I didn’t need to wait until we returned to Vanglosa.
I was absolutely certain that the gods meant for him to be my mate, and beyond that, I knew with all my soul that he was meant to be my love.
A whimpering cry jarred me from my thoughts. It sounded like a hurt wolf off to my right. When the pained whimper came again, I walked toward the sound.
“Mishka? Is that you?”
Though I’d seen Wolf run off with the pack, I’d noticed Mishka still close to camp earlier this afternoon.
The cry came again as I neared a shadowed indention of the butte wall. The clouds overhead cleared, revealing Mishka on her side.
“Mishka,” I rushed forward and knelt beside her, feeling along her fur for the injury. “What happened, girl?”
Her eyes were half-lidded. Though there was little light, I could see and feel that she was breathing quickly.
Running my hand along her side, I felt something long and thin sticking out of her haunch.
Instantly, I pulled it free and held it up to the moonlight.
A dart with blue feathers on the head, the length made of a silvery metal.
I’d never seen any beast fae with such a weapon. It looked more like—
Someone grabbed me around my chest, pinning my arms to my sides and knocking the dart from my hand while at the same time covering my mouth and nose with a damp handkerchief, a strong medicinal scent on it.
I struggled while the person held me hard, breathing deep from the handkerchief, my limbs suddenly going weak.
“Watch her hands,” a male voice I didn’t recognize said somewhere in front of me. “Her claws are poisonous.”
“She’s going out.” That was the hard voice of the male who had me in his tight grip. “Almost there.”
I kicked and struggled, but the male was far too strong to overpower, and my body was drifting, my arms and legs feeling light, unresponsive.
“There she goes,” said the gruff voice next to my ear in high fae, the common tongue of all light fae.
Before I fell unconscious, I heard the flapping of wings—moon fae wings—as I was lifted and carried up into the sky.