CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR #2
“What’s a ternion?” I inquired after they’d repeated the term once again.
“Feather Collectors always work in groups of three. Safety in numbers sort of thing. We replenish the basic feathers the South Sky Tower needs, and on top of that we compete annually for the chance to become the next year’s Royal Ternion with all the perks that entails.
Including the opportunity to live closer to Corvin here, within the Royal Inner Citadel.
You can submit five feathers for consideration.
But Grodin’s team found a sphinx feather this summer.
So we don’t actually stand a chance. They haven’t been unseated in years.
I’d accuse them of cheating, but they’re just that goo—”
“Tercel,” Corvin snapped, whipping his head around to glare at him. “I think you’ve told her enough now.”
A tense hush fell over the group as Tercel ceased talking.
“The soup is done,” Farryn said awkwardly into the silence.
Tercel shot Corvin a guilty look. “Forgive me. I thought she must know since—” He fell silent as Corvin gave a small shake of his head.
“Nobody can know until the time is right. We all swore the same oath. How can you think that of me? After what happened to my mom? You know I would never endanger—” Corvin cut himself off, looking physically pained when he addressed me.
“Elvira, I’m so sorry about the secrecy; it won’t always be like—”
“It’s fine,” I replied, but a little too quickly, standing up to serve myself a bowl of soup.
I did not return to sit next to Corvin, leaving Nix to doze alone.
From the other side of the campfire, I tried to cover the flush of embarrassment rising up my cheeks. Corvin still didn’t want me to know too much about his home. A home that was sounding increasingly substantial, by the way. More and more, it seemed like he was somebody important.
I tried not to let the secrecy sting too much, to tell myself I understood.
We both had Fae blood. And oaths were sacred.
Besides, he owed me a debt, not his entire life story.
But…the first slurp of soup was tasteless in my mouth.
And a heavy mix of emotions settled in my stomach, twisting it into knots.
I couldn’t help but feel that if Corvin really trusted me, he wouldn’t have prevented Tercel from telling me more.
Would have told me already where he called home.
My mind buzzed with Tercel’s description about his life.
Not just any ternion, he’d said. A Royal ternion, which suggested the existence of a ruling monarch.
Except, I was well enough acquainted with the royal families of the realm to know Corvin didn’t belong to any of them.
At least, I was familiar with the carefully recorded lineages and portraits included in my history books.
Unless he was a very distant cousin? Or perhaps an illegitimate son?
Now that would be quite the scandal. I nearly choked on my soup just thinking about it.
Moonlight save me—was he planning to make a bid for one of the thrones?
Had I stumbled into the middle of a dangerous political coup in the making?
Not my business, I repeated to myself. Not the Midnight Sovereign’s business.
And yet, the rapid beating of my heart whenever Corvin was near said otherwise.
Mine. It thumped. My business.
For a moment, working together in the cavern to survive, it had felt like I was a part of their small group.
But that was foolish. Just like it was foolish to think Corvin’s business was my own, that he owed me any sort of explanation.
I was an outsider. I didn’t truly belong.
I wasn’t trusted with their secrets. I cursed myself for thinking there was anything more between us.
I’d read far too much into our kiss. We were both ecstatic to have succeeded in our quest; that was all. Simply carried away by the moment.
I ate my soup, not participating in the conversation, too lost in my own thoughts.
When my spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl, I stood up. “Thank you for the food. I think Nix and I will be off now.”
At the sound of his name, Nix blinked awake, elongating his body in a long stretch.
Corvin jumped to his feet, while the others remained seated. “When will I see you again?” he blurted out.
“In the mirror?” I suggested. “Though I haven’t seen you for a while.”
“About that—” He cleared his throat. “Kygraw thought I wasn’t spending enough time…preparing. He confiscated the mirror. And the cloak, as a form of punishment. I’m still trying to locate the mirror. Normally he’s bad at hiding things, but I can’t seem to find where he stashed it.”
“Tried to find it?” Tercel chimed in. “You tore apart the entire—”
Corvin ignored him. “Please, I don’t want to go this long without seeing you again in person.”
I met his gaze. “You could visit for dinner. But I have some business in Solaris soon. Would you be free this day next week? Before I leave for my trip?”
“Yes,” Corvin said quickly.
“Can we come too?” Tercel asked, clapping Corvin on the shoulder.
“It would be great to see where you live,” Farryn added.
Zorana nodded. “I want to come as well!”
The knots in my stomach loosened at the sincere enthusiasm in their voices. “Of course; you’re all invited.”
I gestured to Nix, taking a step away from the campfire.
“Do you need any assistance getting home?” Corvin called after me.
I half turned, shaking my head. “Nix knows how to guide me through the Autumn Court.”
“Elvira, I—” he continued, taking a step toward me.
“Safe travels home,” I said, cutting him off.
He gave me an accepting look, though his voice sounded regretful. “You too.”
“Thank you all again for saving my life in the cavern,” I said as my parting farewell.
“Of course!” Tercel responded. “We’d happily save your life again.” He winked. “But only if we’re the ones to endanger it first.”
A laugh escaped me as I turned and followed Nix deeper into the forest.
A mess of emotions tumbled through me as we trekked home.
Gratitude that I survived the manticore attack.
Curiosity about where Corvin and his friends called home.
Disappointment that he still didn’t trust me with that information.
And perhaps most potent of all—longing. A burning desire to see him again soon, to understand if he wanted me like I wanted him, to kiss him like I did before, only this time, with no secrets between us.
I dangled my arm off the chaise lounge in defeat, dropping the book it held on to the growing stack littering the floor below me.
The book’s pages fluttered closed in a mocking chorus.
Nothing in that one. I’d been searching for the words ternion and Zrocan all afternoon with no luck.
But that just meant I hadn’t pulled the right book yet.
They had to be mentioned somewhere. Right?
Curled up on the study armchair across from me, Nix let out a deep sigh.
I peered over at him. “I know why I’m annoyed. But what’s going on with you? You haven’t stopped sighing since we returned home from Uvrakar last night.”
Nix’s voice was morose. “I failed to protect you in the cavern.”
I lifted my upper body, twisting around to face him better.
“What do you mean? You were amazing! You jumped onto that manticore with the moonflower. That was very brave. Besides, I would never have reached the cavern in the first place if it weren’t for you.
I mean it. And we made it back safely in the end, didn’t we? ”
He perked up slightly at my praise. “How much longer are you going to keep reading?” he asked.
“Until I find something useful about the Zrocan,” I vowed.
Nix jumped down from the armchair and sauntered over to my pile of books.
He placed his paw on the cover of a large burgundy-red tome.
“Check this one,” he recommended. I was too distracted by the size of his paw pad to read the book’s title right away.
I’d noticed he was getting bigger, gaining weight, but his proportions seemed to be changing too.
Like his paw, which looked positively massive, splayed across the book cover just now.
“Nix?” I asked curiously. “Are you turning into a dog?” He stared at me blankly, twitching his whiskers.
He turned and flicked his tail, stalking lightly out of the room.
It was a distinctly feline gesture.
Shrugging it off, I picked up the burgundy tome, flipping through its chapters.
It was a recorded history of the Dragon King Embenar.
Notorious for his bloody reign and violent insistence the skies of Uvrakar belonged to the dragons alone.
He chased out quite a number of winged creatures from his kingdom in an attempt to dominate the skies.
The phoenixes fled to Sivell and eventually allied with the humans living there.
Others weren’t so lucky, according to the book’s author.
Like the Pegasi, which hadn’t been seen since.
I nearly dropped the book in excitement when I turned the page.
There was a small reference to the Zrocan buried in the next section: The Zrocan, bird shifters renowned for their feather magic, were amongst the first to be targeted by King Embenar in his violent purge of Uvrakar’s skies.
The Zrocan used to live in Uvrakar before King Embenar slaughtered them?
I shuddered in horror, thinking of how many creatures the demented Dragon King had killed or displaced in his thirst for domination.
Only, Corvin was living proof that at least some of the Zrocan survived. Which begged the question: Where did they live now? And why couldn’t he tell me? I flipped to the next page in the book and continued to read, but there was no more mention of the Zrocan within its pages.
Maybe soon, Corvin would trust me enough to tell me himself.