71. OUT-OF-SORTS
A warm wind tore through the valley, whipping against the fabric of our tent, and bringing with it, the scent of rain.
Niall and I sat together in front of the fire in our private quarters.
I was nestled between his legs, my back against his chest, fingers drawing small shapes on his leather-clad thighs.
Neither of us could sleep. After the meeting with the High Lords, and the jarring history lesson with Lyceius, there was too much on our minds, and the humidity that had rolled in hours earlier made it nearly impossible to get comfortable while fully clothed.
We needed to be ready for anything to happen at any time.
And that meant staying dressed and alert.
Despite the gusts of wind, the birds were already beginning to sing their songs, signaling that it was sometime before dawn.
I yawned.
Niall leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on my temple, cinching his arms tighter around me. “We will have to get some sort of sleep soon.”
“I know.” I nestled back into him.
In all reality, we both knew there would be no sleep.
Not good sleep, anyway. Perhaps sleep kept its distance from battle camps because it knew those within would find no peace in it.
Perhaps this was what Aremis meant when he told me that warriors often sought something on the eve of battle that would take their minds elsewhere.
A noise rustled outside the tent, and a guard stepped through the flap and cleared his throat. “There is an emissary here to see you.”
Niall nodded. “Let him in.”
The guard backed out, and to our surprise, Breck took his place.
“Breck?” I jumped to my feet. “What are you doing here?”
He looked out-of-sorts. Like he, too, had been deprived of sleep.
“They found the king,” he said. “He’s in The Great Wood, just outside of Elandrew. The queen delivered a message to our patrols stationed along The Veil. She needs your help.” He held up a piece of wrinkled parchment, no larger than my palm.
I unrolled it.
Bringer of Light, we have located Broderick, but we need your help. Meet me in The Great Wood, just past The Veil, and I will find you there.
- C
I turned back to Niall, who was analyzing Breck from where he still sat. When he reached up for the note, I passed it to him. He read it, and quickly tossed it into the fire.
“No,” he said, firm and final.
“No?” I stepped toward him. “Niall, what if—”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight. Not with what just happened. Not when we’re on the brink of war.”
“But, if they’ve found the king, he could have information. The queen could have foreseen something—”
“If she needed our help, she could have delivered the message herself. I’ve given her a way to port.”
“But what if she’s trying to stay hidden?
What if . . .” My rebuttal died out in my throat as I watched him stare into the fire.
I knelt beside him and took his hand in mine.
“She is asking for help, and I don’t think she would ask unless it was absolutely necessary.
There may be a reason she didn’t come here herself.
If we ignore her plea, and the king dies, or worse . . . if she gets captured . . .”
“And what about Fallon’s vision? What about the male and female he saw lying injured at her feet?”
“It could be the king—”
“And it could be you, lying next to him.”
I opened then closed my mouth, not able to find an argument against his statement. He could be right. We didn’t know who Fallon had seen beneath the queen in his vision.
The flame’s reflection danced in his golden irises. “War is not the time to trust lightly, darling, and I don’t trust this message.”
“But you trust the queen, right?”
He hesitated before answering. “Anyone can fake a correspondence.”
“Niall.” I squeezed his hand, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Please. She knew who to get the message to. She knows that we trust Breck.”
He pressed his lips into a hard line and worked his jaw, wrestling with himself on the matter, until finally . . . “I cannot go with you. I cannot leave the army.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
He gave me a look that said he already knew that, but he still did not like me going alone.
“Send Remic with me, or Silas—”
“They are busy receiving the Dionachs. The first dozen landed an hour ago, with more to come.” He tapped his temple. “I’ve been checking in with them.”
I glanced back at Breck, who was sweeping his eyes over the interior of our tent, keeping quiet. “Breck can accompany me. I’ll be back before the sun is fully over the horizon.”
Niall didn’t reply.
This was the most solemn I had ever seen him. The night had been full of long stretches of silence, and planning in between, working through all the moving pieces to this game called war. But seeing him staring at the fire, deep lines etched into the space between his brows . . .
“I can’t lose you,” he said quietly.
“You won’t,” I replied, leaning my head against his. “I promise.”
He closed his eyes and sighed. “I know better than to tell you to stay.”
“And you know that I never want to be without you. But if I can help save the king and keep Corinne from harm . . .”
There was a long pause. Then, reluctantly, he nodded. “No detours. Do what needs to be done and come straight back—both of you. We meet with the Dionachs shortly after first light.”
Breck inclined his head at the orders.
Niall looked up and held his stare. “Guard her with your life, Breck, or it will be considered forfeit.”
“I will,” Breck vowed, placing a hand over his heart.
“Good. Because if you don’t, I will come for you, and I will not stop until your soul burns to ash.” Niall didn’t even need to be standing to make his threat land with deadly precision. Breck shifted from his left foot to his right, seeming to feel the finality of each word.
“Hurry back to me,” Niall said, hooking a finger under my chin and pulling me closer to plant a kiss on my lips.
Breck stretched an open hand toward me, helping me to stand. The moment my fingers touched his, a nervous twinge began in my gut, but I pushed past it.
My mind was a messy place, thanks to what had happened earlier. But what we’d learned made me even more anxious to investigate this and help the human realm if I could. Queen Corinne was our ally, and what good of an ally were we if we did not answer her call for aid?
The worry on Niall’s face was the last thing I saw before Breck and I ported.
We materialized somewhere in the midst of the forest. Elandrew’s forest, not Belthria’s. I knew because the vibrancy of the foliage in the fae realm definitely did not exist in the human one.
“Why are we in Elandrew?” I asked. “I thought the queen said to meet in The Great Wood?”
“No one can port through The Veil. It’s like a ward—in a sense. No force of magic can move across it, except for a god’s. It must be crossed physically.”
Right. Because what would be the point of it then?
“Don’t worry, it isn’t far,” he said, imploring me to follow him with the nudge of his chin.
The forest floor was still somewhat dark, a mix of purple and gray hues, caught in the final moments before the sun would crest the horizon and wake the world.
Gone was the mist I’d encountered at dawn when I first crossed into this realm.
The warmth of the approaching daylight seemed to have already burned through it.
Moss and dewy leaves wafted their scent into the air as we trudged over fallen tree trunks and stony outcrops, and every few steps, I caught a strange whiff of citrus and sweat.
Breck shuffled through the foliage, not following any particular path. His focus was everywhere, yet nowhere. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, watching his breaths, the hitch in his exhale.
“Do we have to move so quickly?” I searched the area as best I could, keeping an eye out for hidden threats. “What if Killian placed guards here to intercept us?”
“He didn’t.”
The quiver of arrows thudded against his back, bouncing wildly as we rounded a bend and hopped over a stream. I ground my jaw at all the clamor, knowing anyone close by could easily pinpoint our exact location because of it.
I scanned each tree and bundle of ferns with precision, looking for the shimmering wall between the realms. It was near. I felt its pulsing presence.
“Breck, the king’s guards could be just beyond,” I said, running through every possibility in my head. He didn’t seem to be listening. I reached out and caught his arm, tugging to make him slow down. “Breck!”
He whirled on me, his hair swinging over his brow. But the look he gave me wasn’t one I was used to receiving from him. There was an impatience there. Something that didn’t sit right in his features.
“We’ll be fine.” He tugged away from me. “I know where they would be stationed—if there were to be any at all.”
I wasn’t sure if I trusted that, especially if he had gotten that information from Killian.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” he said over his shoulder. “Just trying to get you there quickly and safely.”
Gods, his footfalls were getting clumsier by the minute. “Are you . . . frustrated with this whole transfer-of-power thing?”
He glanced back over his shoulder at me once more. “Let’s just say things haven’t been as easy as I hoped they would be.”
A few dozen feet later, I spotted the slight distortion that shimmered around the trees ahead. Vivid colors moved like vertical waves in the air, lapping against the tree trunks.
Memories of The Veil’s essence flashed through my mind, sending a shiver over me. Would it feel the same, crossing the threshold again? Or would my mental shield keep the voices and their overwhelming presence at bay? That concern faded from thought when Breck reached back for my hand.
“The time is now.”
I met his eyes and placed my hand in his, trailing behind him, stepping lightly, anticipating the worst as we neared the boundary. I dipped into my power, fortifying my mental shield, just in case.