Epilogue
REDVYR
“Over there.” Bezaliel pointed to the copse of trees, the first bright green leaves beginning to bud.
Within the shade stood Prince Torvyn and his priest Vallon, along with a petite, fair-haired wood fae female. I recognized her from the time she had visited her sister before.
“It is her,” Jessamine said excitedly, Tessa standing next to us.
“Yes!” Tessa set out quickly with Saralyn strapped to her back.
Saralyn was growing fast and almost too heavy to haul in her back-carrier, but Tessa still insisted. It didn’t seem to stop her from racing ahead to meet her sister.
Murgha said something to Vallon then rushed out of the shadow of the trees. I noted that Vallon’s gaze was on the sky when his mate stepped into the sunlight. There was nothing above us, which told me the priest was anxious about a possible attack. The grimlocks.
“She’s so big!” Murgha gushed, lifting a wriggling Saralyn out of the carrier.
“Isn’t she?” Tessa beamed. “Murgha, this is Jessamine, our Lady of Vanglosa.”
I couldn’t help but smile, the title of my mate and wife being freely given. Bezaliel and I walked alongside the women toward the two shadow fae still standing beneath the trees up ahead.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you again,” Murgha said, referring to how Jessamine had served Vallon and his mate, Murgha, in Haldek’s tavern several months ago. “I’m so happy my sister has a new friend in the clan.”
“It is good to see you too,” said Jessamine. “I feel so fortunate myself. Tessa has been such a dear helping me acclimate to clan life.”
“Well, it makes my heart happy all the same,” said Murgha as the women led the way over to the prince and his priest.
“You still owe me an apology,” murmured Bezaliel under his breath.
“What are you talking about?”
“You swore it would never happen.” He pointed between me and Jessamine. “Seeing as I presented you to the clan as lord and lady of Vanglosa a few days ago, I think it’s high time you gave me that apology.”
Sighing, I said, “Sorry that you’re a cocky know-it-all and that you happened to be right about Jessamine.”
“I suppose that’ll have to do.” He smirked as we finally made our way to the canopy of trees.
“It took you long enough,” I told the prince as we stopped in front of them.
“We’ve been occupied.” It was Vallon who spoke, his red eyes watchful and wary of our surroundings. “We didn’t receive your message until recently. And you left your winter camp early. It took us longer to travel.”
His quick side glance at Murgha was explanation enough. They’d decided to bring Murgha with them for their meeting with us. Interesting.
“We found your grimlocks,” Bezaliel said gruffly, all levity gone from his voice now. “They abducted both my child and another from our clan.”
Murgha, who was still holding Saralyn, went pale. “Oh, gods.” She jerked her gaze to Tessa. “Did they hurt her?”
“We were fortunate that they did not,” I told them. “And Jessamine used her magick to lure them out.”
Prince Torvyn, his cool expression pinching with a frown, finally spoke. “How did she manage this?”
I looked at Jessamine, letting her decide what she wanted to tell them.
“I am a skald fae with a particular kind of magick,” she began, then she told them briefly and without the gory details about what happened, but she did include that Farla, Tylok’s wife, was murdered trying to protect her children in the end.
“How terrible for you all,” said Murgha, wrapping an arm around her sister’s waist.
“And Tylok’s children are still with you?” asked Vallon.
“They are.” I glanced back toward our camp, pointing to the field on the right where they played with the other children in the clan, the wolves on guard.
Tylok’s son and daughter were easy to pick out with their small wings tucked against their backs, still visible from over here.
“They are welcome to stay with us, if there is no place for them in Gadlizel.”
We all knew that Tylok was excommunicated for taking a wood fae female as his wife. I glanced at Murgha, wondering how the priest had managed to get the approval of their king. Or if he’d ever told them at all.
“We will bring them back to Gadlizel,” said the prince.
“Your father will allow it?” I wanted to know what the state of affairs was in Gadlizel, since no one had heard from his father or his ambassadors in some time.
Prince Torvyn held my gaze, expression stoic as always. “They will be welcome in our city.”
“They are orphans, after all,” said Vallon.
“Aye,” said Bezaliel. “You could lie about where they came from.”
Vallon and Prince Torvyn shared a knowing look, which proved that was exactly what they planned to do.
“There is something more I must tell you,” Jessamine interjected. “Among the grimlocks we encountered, the one who was their leader, he called himself Selestos. He said his master named him after an old god.”
Prince Torvyn’s blank expression hardened, his brow pinching with concern.
“You’ve heard this name before,” I said as a fact, not a question.
He seemed to be considering something before he finally said, “Selestos is the name of one of Solzkin’s many children. He was beget from a sea vyrm.”
Jessamine laughed darkly. “The god Solzkin mated with a serpent monster?”
“It’s an old story. She shimmered in the ocean and sang a melancholy song that captured Solzkin’s heart.
He followed her into the darker depths of the Nemian Sea.
There, he caught her and violated her. The following year, she died giving birth to a son.
Before she died, she named him Selestos, the Godjin word for menace.
From that point forward, Selestos began to kill, pillage, and rape his way across the living world.
Solzkin avoided his offspring, denying any claim to him.
Until one day, Selestos descended on a dryad coven and fed on them.
Solzkin caged his prodigy in the eleventh hell, so he could never rise again. ”
For a moment, no one spoke, the horror of this story almost as frightening as hearing Prince Torvyn speak more than seven words at once. It was Jessamine who broke the reverie.
“Is this a legend, or is it true?” She stepped closer to my side.
“There is always truth in legends, my lady,” he answered.
I placed a hand at the small of her back. “It seems legend is becoming reality. Selestos is the leader of his master’s golems. We killed all of the grimlocks in his pack, but he got away. This sorcerer who created him may also conjure more grimlocks.”
“There are more.” Vallon’s gaze flicked to the skies through the trees again. “That is what took us so long to get here. We’ve found and killed three different hordes in the foothills of the Solgavia Mountains.”
I tensed, a prickle of fear raising the hairs on my neck.
“These creatures,” added Jessamine, “are god-touched. Though they were created with black magick, I sensed a veil of divinity around them.”
I grunted, adding, “You need to find this sorcerer. And kill him.”
Prince Torvyn’s expression remained unreadable. “We are looking.” Then he turned his gaze on Jessamine and with a softer tone added, “You are correct, my lady. They are god-touched.”
“That is why we need a god seer,” said Vallon.
I huffed a laugh. “If your king hadn’t excommunicated all of them, you might have one in Gadlizel.”
Vallon frowned. “Agreed. Nevertheless, we still need to find one who will work with us.”
God seers were few and far between. They were clairvoyants who could commune with the gods and divine their will.
“You are asking the wrong fae,” I told them. “We have Lorelyn, but she is a world seer.”
“I know who you can ask,” said Tessa, bouncing Saralyn on her hip, the babe twirling a dark lock of her mother’s hair around her tiny claw-tipped fingers. Then she looked at Jessamine, “Aelwyn.”
“Yes,” Jessamine said excitedly. “In Hellamir, we saved a moon fae female who was about to be burned at the stake. She was a god seer.”
“What?” Murgha asked in horror.
“I know. It’s a long story.” Tessa glanced at me, certainly noticing how tense I was at the mention of the Mevians.
Jessamine laced her fingers through mine and squeezed, instantly washing away the anger building inside me. Then Tessa went on.
“She told us she owed us a favor. Perhaps she could help us discover how to find and kill this sorcerer.”
“How do we find her?” asked the prince.
“She said she was returning to Naevhail Glen. That is all we know.”
Vallon looked earnestly at the prince. “We will find her then.”
He returned a grim nod.
“If and when you must deal with this sorcerer, you may call on us,” I assured them.
Prince Torvyn gave no sign that he would ask for help. Stubborn bastards, the shadow fae.
“Will you introduce us to Tylok’s children?” Murgha asked Tessa.
“Of course,” she replied. “Come this way.”
While Murgha went along with her sister, Vallon close behind her, Jessamine remained at my side and the prince didn’t leave.
“You are welcome here, Prince Torvyn. You are not our enemy.”
He was an aloof fae, and more than a little distrustful of others.
“My priests are encamped not far away. I will return and send two more back to retrieve the children. Thank you both,” he looked at Jessamine then back to me, “for saving them. Tylok,” he paused, some emotion I couldn’t place arresting his speech for a moment, “though my father exiled him, he has always remained a dear friend. To me.”
With that, he stepped past us into the sunlight, bent his legs and opened his vast black wings before lifting off in a whoosh of wind. We watched him in silence as he banked north toward the Solgavia Mountains.
“Well,” said Jessamine, “he’s a strange prince.”
“He is,” I agreed. “There’s something wrong in his father’s kingdom. Though no one really knows.” I shrugged. “And it’s none of my concern.”
“Unless they need help when they find this sorcerer or whatever he is.”
“Whatever he is? What do you think this fae is, who’s conjuring golems?”