Chapter 14 Faolan
FOURTEEN
FAOLAN
It went over about as well as you'd expect.
I wasn't there when the duke was told of the plan to box up his daughters and load them on a small merchant vessel.
I was on the dock seeking said vessel. But I could still hear the yelling from all the way out at the palace gates when I returned with word.
It wasn't great news—it was merely news.
Thankfully, the ports deeper up the river and further into the city were left untouched by the attack which seemed to be only focused on the Duke of Light’s palace.
So I was able to find a small merchant vessel leaving at dawn tomorrow, which could accommodate us, but it was small small, just a family-run operation from the River Kingdom who were hand-to-mouth enough to chance docking despite the attack.
So it was really basic, and we would have to sleep with the cargo, which was going to be cosy.
But it was all there was available when many other vessels had rerouted to other ports after hearing the news of the undead attack.
We were lucky there was anything willing to take us with the unrest. Fae were getting more and more fearful, and I couldn’t blame them.
I accepted and agreed to the fare, which was robbery in my eyes, but it was the best I could do in the circumstances, and with word of the raid spreading, it could be weeks before normal service resumed here. So the price reflected the demand, and it was the King's gold, not mine. I didn't care.
The hardest part of the trip would be avoiding Calytrix. But I had to maintain that distance so she didn’t figure out anything was awry. The more distance I kept, the safer we’d all be. I decided that, despite what Nyx said, I could live with the pull towards her and ignore it.
I headed for Kol's room rather than go near the duke’s offices, where I could still hear yelling.
Nyx’s replies weren’t as loud, but occasionally he’d chime in to the duke’s ranting, and the effort of restraint in his tone was clear to my dragon ears.
I would not want to be him, and I didn’t want to get in the middle. Not my circus, not my dragons.
I knocked on Kol’s door and he answered, shirtless.
The lack of clothes seemed to be something of a running theme with him.
I didn't hate it, he was an attractive male, but my notice of such things had suddenly shifted, so even the hard ridges of Kol’s lean muscles didn't turn my head like they would have before. While I might once have lingered in the admiration, I didn’t have any desire now.
He was attractive, so why the change? I didn’t think less of him…
It hit me. What a fool I was.
It was because of her.
I knew it in my bones, but I denied it with my soul.
I would not allow it. I just had to keep to my plan and stay away.
Then I could leave it all behind, once she was safe.
That would be easier said than done on a small boat, while all sleeping in a cargo hold together.
I would need to steal some of the wine we planned to have in the crates as cover for their real contents and then use it to numb my pain for the next few weeks.
It was going to be the longest journey of my life.
“Faolan?” Kol said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
“Hmm?” I replied, coming out of my thoughts.
“I’ve been talking to you with no answer.”
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Everything okay? You seemed miles away.”
“I’m good, just thinking over the trip back to the First.”
Kol laughed, gazing over my shoulder towards the shouting still emanating from rooms I wouldn’t set foot in if I was paid and wincing at a fresh tirade from the duke. “It sounds like it's going to be a nightmare.”
“You’ve heard the plan then?” I scrubbed a hand over my face, not sure how much I should tell him.
“Could hardly not. I think the entire palace has heard.” He laughed without humor. “Come in.”
I followed him into his room and took a seat on a floral couch.
“How is the prince taking it?” I asked.
“Alaric is far more amenable than you’d think, but would you be happy?”
“Nope. But it’s a good idea, and I’m not sure we have any other option.”
“Then I nominate you to explain it to the King when we get home.”
I snorted. “Not a chance. I’m out of there the moment all of you are safely behind the palace walls.”
Kol eyed me, and I didn’t need him to open his mouth to hear everything he thought on that subject.
Sure, I knew the basics of the ryder bond and knew he’d had one, so he should know better than me, but he didn’t know all there was.
It had to be different for everyone. Wisely, he took note of my closed-off demeanor on the subject and didn’t go there.
Had I been planning on sticking around, I could have seen us becoming friends.
He was the kind of fae I liked to spend my time with.
“Where will you go?” he asked.
“Away.” Anywhere else. As far as I could get from her, and maybe that would ease the idea of leaving.
“Ah, away. Sounds lovely. Got room for one more?”
I turned to fully face him. He was teasing, but…maybe there was some truth there. It was hard to tell since I didn’t know his every expression. “Really?”
Kol shrugged, brushing it off, but something told me he wouldn’t take much convincing.
A few days ago, I would have taken him up on the offer.
He’d be a fun fuck, and a good traveling companion for a while, but now the thought did nothing for me.
Could meeting her really have changed me so drastically overnight?
Surely I had some sort of fucking choice in all of this. Freewill is a damn thing.
“You don’t seem so eager to get back. Why don’t you leave?”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Do you need somewhere to go?” I asked, confusion showing in my tone.
“Maybe you don’t, but if I’m going to be miserable, I might as well do it where my brother knows I’m safe.”
“You know you don’t have to live for Nyx.”
Kol met my gaze. “I’m not doing it for him.”
“Aren’t you?”
He didn’t have time to answer because just then a door slammed further down the corridor, and after a few moments, we heard footsteps heading this way. Nyx didn’t knock, he entered and threw himself down on the other end of the couch, tossing his arm over his eyes and sighing.
“That went well,” Kol teased, looking easier than I’d seen him. Maybe shifting fully had lifted some barrier that was holding him back? Answered that doubt about whether he ever could again?
Nyx lifted his arm enough to shoot Kol a glare and then set it back across his eyes.
“Tell me you found a ship,” he said, his words directed at me.
“Ship is perhaps over-generous,” I stated. “But yes, and it’s bound for the River Kingdom.”
“Isn’t that in the wrong direction?” Kol frowned.
“Goddess, give me strength,” he muttered. “That’s the entire point, brother. It’s misdirection.”
Kol held up his hands in submission.
“They’ll take us?” Nyx directed at me.
“For a price and a case of sun wine, their hold is ours,” I confirmed.
Nyx pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t remind me about the wine.”
“Oh?” I rose my brows at Kol, both of us really enjoying being on the outside of the drama Nyx was living through.
Nyx dropped his arm and shook his head. “I genuinely think the duke is more pissed off about how much wine he’s losing from his cellars than the fact it’s to disguise his daughters being shipped out of the kingdom in boxes.”
“Maybe he should have thought about that before he threw a damn ball for our arrival and kept things quieter,” I muttered, knowing we all felt the same about the attack.
“No kidding,” Nyx replied.
“How do the princesses feel about it?” Kol asked.
“I’m not sure the duke would even consult them. I doubt their opinion matters to him, so why bother?” Nyx said coldly, and I couldn’t tell if his mood was directed at the duke or his brother.
“Lovely,” Kol said flatly.
I sat up straighter. “Don’t you think they should have a say?
” I could have kicked myself for voicing it when the brothers exchanged a look and then both looked at me with knowing smirks.
“Oh, piss off both of you, I just mean they should know what they are in for. It doesn’t matter to me either way. ”
“Uh-huh,” Kol laughed.
I held up my middle finger and then noticed Nyx watching Kol with a faint smile. He was seeing it, too. Hopefully, he’d taken my advice to heart, and in return for not coddling him, Kol wasn’t icing him out for a change. It was good to see.
Nyx turned his attention to me and was a little more serious.
“Zaria is with them as we speak. She sought them out while I had the duke occupied to make sure they know and consent to the plan. I may not wish to die at the hands of Arkyn or the King for returning empty-handed, but I will not transport the betrothed to the crown against their will.”
I swallowed my sigh of relief on that front, but my other concern spilled out. “And if they say no?”
“Pft! My brother’s mate can be very persuasive, so don’t worry,” Kol said, like there was some private joke there I wasn’t privy to.
“She understands being forced into a life one didn’t choose. She’s done it with a lot of grace,” Nyx added.
“I’m not worried,” I blurted without thinking.
Fuck, was I protesting too much?
Kol and Nyx exchanged looks again, and I wanted to run from the room, but I would not give them the satisfaction. I hated all of this, but maybe they were used to it as they both had ryders.
“So when do we leave?” Nyx asked, artfully ignoring my outburst.
“Dawn tomorrow,” I informed him.
“Thank the Goddess, I could not spend another day getting my ear chewed off by that insufferable windbag,” Nyx said, sitting up fully.
“Zaria will have your hide if she hears you saying such things about her!” Kol said wide-eyed, but with mischief in his gaze.
Nyx’s head turned slowly towards his twin, and he stared for a long moment before shaking his head. “Are you drunk?” he asked sincerely.
Kol frowned. “I don’t think so, I didn’t even finish a glass before the banquet went to shit.” He looked sincerely bemused by the question.
I smiled. Nyx was toying with him, but he had such a good deadpan face, and Kol was clearly so rusty when it came to recognizing his brother’s playfulness, I felt like he needed a hint.
“I think he’s joking with you,” I stage whispered to Kol.
“It’s pretty hard to tell the difference between his ‘I’m deadly serious and I may crush you’ expression, and his ‘I’m only kidding and I may crush you’ expression, but I think it’s the second one. ”
Kol’s lost expression broke, and a faint smile danced on his lips. “I thought he’d forgotten the second one altogether,” he stage whispered back. He squinted at his brother, tilting his head. “But I think you might be right.”
It warmed my usually stony heart to see this ray of hope between them. I could sense Kol’s relief at being treated normally for the first time since waking up from his ordeal.
“You can both fuck all the way off,” Nyx shot, but there was a definite smile behind that ‘I may crush you’ facade.
“It’s almost sun-up, and if we’re leaving at dawn tomorrow, we have a day to prepare.
We all need some sleep, then Kol, the duke is having his best carpenters construct two crates immediately.
Can you check on them and let them know our departure time so they won’t delay us?
” He was back to all business, which was fine with me.
The sooner we got out of here, the sooner I could get them to the First Kingdom.
“Sure, I can do that.”
“Good. Faolan, I gave the duke the list of provisions we needed. Can you oversee that?” He handed me a copy of the list. “I know the stuff on there is for his daughters’ comfort and well-being, but I don’t trust that tight arse not to cut corners and skimp on them. Plus, there is the prince to consider.”
I nodded in agreement with his assessment. “I’ll find the steward so I can breathe fire down his neck if he tries to screw us.”
“Excellent,” Nyx said. “Now get some rest.”
Not needing another reason to be by myself, I quickly slipped out of the room.
My skin crawled with the need to get out of the kingdom.
I knew I’d be happier back on the water.
Being trapped in one place always seemed to do this to me, ever since I’d gotten free of the Wild Mountains.
I was used to the feeling. I went to start my list of tasks, but before I got more than a few steps, Calytrix appeared in front of me.