CHAPTER SIXTEEN #3
Emmery was right to free him; Arborius had paid his debt.
Gods only knew how Thellonius convinced the dragon to commit such an act, but the former King was as manipulative as they came.
If Emmery hadn’t intervened, Arborius would still be there, eternally wounded and bleeding onto that damp cave floor, the rotting flesh of corpses flooding the air he breathed as he stared up into the sky and longed to fly again.
Instinctively, Vesper laid his hand over his Shadowheart.
What would Kaida think if she’d seen that?
If she knew what Vesper did to a fellow dragon when he housed one inside his body.
How he promised freedom with twisted words. It was something Destonne would do.
Thundering hooves yanked Vesper from his thoughts. He squinted into the distance and his stomach clenched.
On a grey steed, barrelling toward him, was—
Gods, it was Nef.
A cloud of dust chased her and the horse’s nostrils flared from exertion. Nef’s golden waves tangled like a fisherman’s net after a long day at sea, and her wind flushed cheeks coloured her pale skin in a riot of reds and freckles.
Gasping and sputtering, she nearly fell off her steed as she skidded to a halt, her breaths reedy as if she’d sprinted here rather than rode.
She wore a pair of ill-fitting tan trousers tucked into her boots and a turquoise tunic that clearly belonged to a man twice her weight. She’d hastily knotted it at the waist and unevenly rolled it up her arms.
Nef slid off her disgruntled mare and plucked a few twigs from her bird’s nest of hair. She tossed them aside and turned to Vesper.
Before she could speak, he seized her arm and tugged her aside. “Why are you here? Unless Ottai changed his mind, you’re not allowed to leave unless I escort you. And he’ll have my balls if you’re not back before sundown.”
Her Master would be more than irate. He would kill her.
“Hello to you too,” she said, her voice breathless. Her pulse visibly thrummed in her throat. Sweat clung to her brows and slid down her temples as her breaths wheezed out of her.
Vesper searched her face for answers and didn’t like any he found.
“Are you alright? What happened?” He glanced behind him to see a curious sea of eyes watching the two of them.
Nef had covered her red pactum scar with a black kerchief around her neck, so none of them knew what or who she was.
When she’d been at Castle Dusk, Vesper had managed to sneak her and her friend out before Cal saw them.
Nef’s full lips pulled into a too tight smile. “I’ve taken care of things. I’m permitted to join you.”
He struggled for words as his mind somersaulted. It couldn’t be possible. Her new Master wouldn’t let her go, especially after he’d made arrangements for his leave. “I don’t have food for you or—”
“All taken care of.” Nef gestured to the overflowing saddle bags behind her, the sable fabric so full it pulled at the seams. A gold hilt with several sapphires peeked out over her shoulder.
An expensive shortsword she likely had no clue how to wield.
He didn’t want to hear the story of how she’d gotten these things, especially with his closest friends listening behind him.
Uneasiness slithered through him as his attention darted between the saddle bags and Nef.
She had the audacity to wink at Vesper before she pulled her arm free of his hold and mounted her horse. “I’m ready when you are.”
Vesper grabbed the steed’s reins, and yanked her close enough to keep Briar, Cal, and Marlys from overhearing. “Nef, you look … ill. You’re not up for this trek. It’s long. And dangerous—”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Vesper gripped the reins, his knuckles white. Blood rushed to his face as the realization of what Nef had likely done sank in. “Why don’t you stay at the castle? Rest. I’ll have Quill send a message to Ottai. Then I’ll return in a month and we can sort this out then.”
“You don’t understand. I need to go. Now.” She glanced at Callias who glowered at her, arms crossed firmly over his chest. “I can’t stay,” she said, much quieter. And everything she didn’t say hovered suspended in the sliver of air between them.
Vesper’s eyes flared, as shock settled into his bones. And as he caught sight of the unmistakable red caked beneath her chipped fingernails, his stomach sank. This was worse than he imagined.
His lips parted. “I … you—no. You didn’t, Nef. Tell me you didn’t.”
She turned pale as winter and the mountains ahead. “Let’s leave.”
Vesper’s jaw clenched. His temper simmered as this tarnished all his plans. Nef kept her chin up, though fear threaded her gaze.
I’ll always take care of you. His own words berated him.
Vesper strode to Balthasar and swung his leg over with steaming anger. “Let’s go. Marlys, Briar, Cal—you never saw her.”
Briar’s brows pulled together as she raked her gaze over Nef, recognition stirring, until he saw something visibly click. When Briar turned back to Vesper with unbridled disappointment in her eyes, her voice quiet, as she said the words, slow as molasses, “Saw who?”