Chapter 26 Faolan
TWENTY-SIX
FAOLAN
We decided the best way to get out of the River Kingdom was to hire transport up the River of Sorrow to Havelock. It felt like the worst idea, but no one else seemed bothered.
“River of Sorrow… That sounds a bit ominous, doesn’t it?” I mused, sitting back on the rather luxurious river boat. It wasn’t large, but there were scantily clad males with fans, so it felt wrong to complain.
“I’m not mad about it,” Alaric said, taking a fruity drink offered to him while giving me a “shut the fuck up” look.
“I’m not saying this isn’t a much upgraded means of transportation, what I’m saying is we are traveling up the River of Sorrow.
” At least I had a fruity drink to nurse for my hangover and a couple of hours on the cruise to relax.
We were posing as tourists taking a river cruise, so I was just playing up my part.
There were wonderful fall markets in Havelock that always drew quite the crowds after the harvests, so we blended right in.
“The Twelve Kingdoms are full of names of old. It’s totally safe now.” Alaric was too nonplused for my taste.
Kol sat on the foot of Alaric’s seat, grabbing the drink out of his hand to take a sip. “Are you letting the males cloud your judgment?”
“Hardly, though I did push for this boat because of them. Look how uncomfortable your brother is.” Alaric gestured at Nyx on the other rail.
“I am enjoying his discomfort, but it’s not because of the males so much as Zaria seeing them.” Kol held back a laugh.
I had to admit that if Calytrix was not on the other side of the deck, pointing out birds on the bank to Nova, I might look worse than Nyx did right then. I felt murderous on the way to the dock when a group of males watched them pass.
“So where did you actually sleep last night?” Kol asked, his tone meddling, and that was not good.
“I told you. Caly found a room, and I guarded her. Someone had to after Nyx just let her leave their room.”
“Caly, is it?” Kol smirked, and Alaric diplomatically sipped his drink rather than weigh in.
I rolled my eyes.
“Fine, back to my question, which you artfully dodged. Where did you sleep last night?”
“I didn’t really sleep if you must know. Because there was only one bed.”
Kol turned to wink at Alaric. “Classic.”
Alaric looked confused. “So you didn’t sleep because you had nowhere to lie down?”
Kol elbowed him. “No, he didn’t sleep because it’s impossible to sleep when you have a hard on, and you’re lying beside the one you most want. Am I right?”
Alaric’s confusion disappeared, and he looked both intrigued and concerned for my safety. “Ah, I see. Well, did you…you know?”
“By the Goddess! Of course not,” I snapped, sitting up straighter and glancing towards the sisters. “I have some restraint.”
“Sadly,” grumbled Kol.
“For the best,” Alaric said warningly.
“Maybe.”
“Goddess, is this why they call it the River of Sorrow? Look at you,” Kol teased.
“What?”
“You’re actually pouting.”
But Calytrix chose that moment to cross the deck and join us. I cut them both a stern look and swerved the conversation back to safer ground.
“All I’m saying is, with our luck, the River of Sorrow seems a bit ominous. I’m not sure we should be taking the chance.” I held up my hands.
“You think it’s ominous?” Calytrix asked, meeting my gaze.
“You don’t think so?” Did this mean we were playing friendly?
Or maybe it was a truce. We hadn’t spoken since our moment last night.
We didn’t have time this morning between deciding what our next move was and Nyx still being cross with us.
So it was hard to tell if she was feeling any way about it all.
Did she even remember? That much Aquatic Absinthe was enough to put me on my arse, so in a small fae body I could only imagine.
“I don’t believe in chance. I believe the Gods have our lives in their hands and our fates decided. The name of a river will not have any bearing on our journey.”
Alaric shot me a look that said, ‘that told you.’
Well then.
“Are there crocodiles in the river?” Nova edged backwards, shifting the subject and coming to join us.
“Probably,” Calytrix replied. “They love the tropical shores of the River Kingdom.”
“I guess I’ll be staying far away from the rails.” Nova chose a seat between Calytrix and Kol.
“You don’t have to worry. I think dragons win against crocs,” Kol whispered.
“They might win against crocs, but can they win against hippos?” Alaric asked, and I couldn’t tell if he was serious.
“Hippos? Seriously? I thought those were a myth,” I said, side-eyeing the water.
Alaric shook his head, holding back a laugh. “They are very real. You nervous now?”
“I can’t figure out if you’re serious…” I risked a full-on scan of the water. “If they are real, aren’t they supposed to be able to bite a boat in half?”
“Smaller boats, sure, but I’m sure the crew is experienced.” He gave me a confused look. “Don’t you know all this after crewing ships?”
“Not river ships! I stayed in the ocean, thank you very much.” I took another gulp of my drink.
“There are just as many dangerous things in the ocean as the rivers…” Calytrix started.
I held up my hands, cutting her off. “Nope. Don’t tell me. I need some peace when I’m done with this mess.”
“Isn’t that more reason to tell you?” She popped a brow.
I made a rude gesture at her. “Enough trouble from you, Trix.”
She giggled and nearly snorted her drink up her nose, which made her laugh harder and cough.
“Goddess.” I jumped to my feet. “Don’t choke.”
She tried to speak, but that only made it worse.
“Are you at least breathing between the drink and the laughing?” I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket, not sure what to do.
She finally regained some of her composure and took the handkerchief to wipe her face. “You’re too easy.”
“Or you’re mean.” I sank back into the seat next to her, which was probably a terrible idea.
“Just a tiny bit. But I think you deserve it,” she said playfully.
“What did I do?”
“You know.” She gave me a very pointed look. Evidently, we were on positive terms after the night before. And then I was thinking of her. The brush of my lips over hers…
“Share with the class,” Kol said, snapping my thoughts away from the image and giving me a much-needed reprieve, but now I needed to make something up.
“She’s mad I took such good care of her while she was drunk when she should be thankful. I guess embarrassment is showing through.” I winked at Calytrix.
She flashed the rude gesture back but was clearly at a loss for how to reply.
“See, she’s even more cross now I’ve outed her.”
“Awe! Caly, you didn’t tell me he took care of you.” Nova turned toward her.
Calytrix rolled her eyes. “He merely tucked me into bed. It wasn’t anything.”
“And made sure you didn’t fall out the window! Which you tried pretty hard to do,” I added teasingly.
Kol whistled. “Sounds like a true gentle fae.”
Calytrix rolled her eyes. “He was.” She looked directly at me, the ‘I wish he wasn’t’ implied. To me, anyway.
“Well, I for one will not be drinking like that again for at least a decade,” Alaric said with regret, turning his face up to the breeze of a palm leaf wafted by a male he was practically salivating over.
I wondered if Nova had taken notice of that fact, but she seemed blissfully ignorant.
Calytrix groaned in agreement.
For several miles, the privileged among us dozed their hangovers away.
We guarded them, though against a scantily clad crew of pretty males and the odd crocodile, three dragons and a ryder was perhaps overkill.
The river was quiet for the most part, only the occasional boat passing as this stretch of river was mostly used by pleasure seekers.
It was narrow and winding, and there were more suitable routes for trade barges.
But it got us to the next port, where we would hopefully head back out to sea and finally begin heading back to the First.
It was lazy and easy. Only Nyx could not rest. He spent the entire trip watching, alternating directions and urging Kol or I to take the other.
It was over-cautiousness, and I knew it was because we were so exposed.
But no one knew we were here, and our boat was not exactly speedy.
If anyone were looking for us, they would pay no attention to a pleasure cruise.
The sun was high in the sky when we began to see more traffic as the river network converged on the upcoming port of Havelock.
I’d been here a couple of times with special cargo that had to be escorted all the way to or from the inner depths of the Kingdom.
Havelock, from my memory was a busy but harmless river port.
We cruised along with other boats, on higher alert than before, but our charges were still relaxed, which maintained our appearance of a leisure cruise. It would not do to have us all sitting up, tense and glancing about.
We would soon dock, and then we could find an inn, and I could finally stretch out on a bed where I wasn’t as tense as I’d ever been trying not to touch the thing most forbidden to me. I needed a nap before we decided what was next.
Nyx came over in a hurry, excusing the attendants around us for some privacy, and spoke under his breath. “We have a problem.”
Zaria came with him, sitting next to Nova and Calytrix, gesturing for us all to scoot in. “There is a boat following us, and it has the symbol on its banner that we’ve been investigating all this time.”
Kol and I sucked in a breath at the same time while Calytrix and Nova seemed confused.
“You think it’s the priests?”
Nyx nodded sharply.
“Priests?” Calytrix asked. “Why are they a problem? I know their worship of the Goddess is a bit asinine, but aren’t they harmless?”
Nyx scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know where to even begin, and it may be nothing.” He looked at Alaric. “Are you caught up on the current happenings in the war?”