Chapter 35 Faolan
THIRTY-FIVE
FAOLAN
Getting higher in the sky was more taxing than anything I’ve ever done. It took all my focus and effort to gain a foot. I had no idea if they were following or how close they might be.
All I knew was flying and the pain.
Every beat of my wings brought a new agony, and I didn’t think I could handle another.
But I did, over and over, somehow enduring.
I fought against the pain to carry us off, Caly, muttering prayers to her God for our safety as she held on for her life.
It was the sole thing that kept me going.
I could not let them have her. I had to get her to safety.
“Are they still trailing us?” I asked, my fatigue evident even in mind speak.
She twisted on my back, keeping an eye out. “I don’t see them?”
“Good. Hopefully we lost them. If they had a dragon to give chase, we would know it by now.” I wouldn’t allow myself to think about what would happen if they found us again.
Hours passed, and silence engulfed us. We were both on edge, waiting for another attack, too exhausted to process or do more than keep up the vigilance.
I began to flag. I wasn’t sure how much further I could really go, not with open wounds streaming blood.
But they’d found us there, where else could they follow?
And how? How had they found us?
My mind was a mess, crawling with indecision.
I flew for as long as I could, using thermals to minimize wing beats where possible.
Every league I flew, I lost more blood from the tears in my wings that wouldn’t heal while those barbed bolts were still pierced through.
The agony from each beat as the bolts jolted the wounds and the burned rope ends constantly flapped in the wind was enough to bring me down.
But the will to keep my mate safe from those seeking to harm us had driven me on.
Eventually, though, my body couldn’t take anymore.
I had to land, but it would be nearly impossible to find a safe place to rest in the terrain below.
The border between the Night Kingdom and the Desert Kingdom was a harsh and treacherous mountain scape.
The peaks trapped the cool, moist air from Night, causing a deadly rain shadow that not only played tricks on the mind but also the body.
The climate was more extreme than even the Ice Kingdom we knew so little about, leaving it barren.
And dangerous creatures roamed the unforgiving landscape, so most fae avoided this region of the Kingdoms entirely, making it the perfect place for anyone who hoped to escape notice… if we could land and find shelter.
I knew of a place within the cover of the inhospitable range, but going there was a huge risk.
Bringing Caly into the territory could enrage those I knew there because of who she was, but we needed to stop.
I knew I wouldn’t make it over the mountain range without rest. I really had no choice, but I wasn’t sure how it would go.
Would they be open to us as allies? Their kind wasn’t a trusting bunch.
But I carried some goodwill with them. I hoped it was enough to bring the future Queen into their stronghold, but maybe I’d just lost so much blood I couldn’t see sense.
Time would tell, and I was out of options.
I needed a safe place to recover for at least a couple of days.
“We need to stop for the night,” I said to her mind, my first words after hours of silence.“My wings need to heal.” I had no idea how I’d kept us airborne this long.
I could tell she’d frequently stopped herself asking if I was okay since my wellbeing did not rank higher than our need to fly far, far away from the danger.
But I’d felt concern. It was part of the mate bond.
She was beginning to feel my suffering, and I knew that would be hard for her to handle.
We still hadn’t talked about what we’d done last night, and I wasn’t ready to face the consequences of that yet.
But even if we hadn’t faced it yet, the fact was that, as my mate, she knew I was too far gone to go on.
“Where do you think is best?” she replied simply, not questioning the need. She would be a perfect mate if I could have her.
Every conversation we had, she showed more of herself, and while I loved getting to know her, the immense guilt I felt over bonding with her, knowing I’d be leaving, ached in my chest.
“I have an idea, but you might not like it.” I exhaled, wishing I could look into her eyes while I explained to her what I wanted to do. I needed to gauge her reaction.
It wasn’t as easy as, ‘I know you’re the future queen, but do you mind if we commit a little treason on the side?’ It would be a secret she would have to carry to her grave.
Could I put her in a position to carry this secret from her future husband for the rest of her life?
“Why wouldn’t I like it?” her internal question came with a sly smile and a bit of intrigue.
I resented myself for not going in that direction. “I don’t want to tell you without you knowing that once you know, you can’t go back. And protecting these fae will mean lying to the future King for the rest of your life.”
She snorted and patted my shoulder a little condescendingly. “You sweet son of the Goddess. What part of my existence do you think I won’t have to lie to him about?”
I frowned. “Huh?”
“Do you not recall how we spent last night?”
If I’d been in my fae form, rouge would have crept up my face. I was shocked that she was happy to open that subject. “It’s not the same.”
“No? How about our ryder bond?”
“Well…”
“Or the other?”
I swallowed hard, remaining silent.
She knew.
But then, of course she knew. Had she given me any cause to doubt her astuteness thus far?
“This is not even speaking to the objections of my own people and our not agreeing with the so-called King's illegitimate rule. This marriage is already making me swallow all I am to my core. What’s one more thing?”
“When you put it that way…” I felt even worse for still planning on leaving her there once she was safe. How could I do it and live with myself?
“Just tell me.”
“There is a rebel camp on the border of the Night Kingdom. They may let us recover there and feed us.” I waited with bated breath.
“And you’re just telling me now?”
“Why would I have told you before?” I asked, confused.
“Because I have surely expressed to you clearly my quite anti-monarchical views, so I would have thought if you knew of a movement I am deducing is aligned with that, you might have mentioned it.”
“I’m not trying to get you to join them. Just hide out.”
“Maybe this is all in His plan? If I am forced to be the future King's wife, this might be my path to win the freedom of my kingdom. Nova told me everything happens for a reason, and I’m starting to think she’s right.” Determination showed in her voice.
I couldn’t argue with her, but how could I encourage her to put herself in harm’s way?
“Never mind. It was a stupid idea.” I wracked my brain to come up with another option.
“Excuse me?”
“What?”
“I accepted enthusiastically, and you are now refusing?” There was a bite to her words.
“Because I can’t put you at further risk.”
She snarled. “I know they exist now. I will find them with or without you taking me to them.”
“From the palace?”
She laughed good and hard at that, and it almost made me leery of telling her no. “Oh Faolan, if they exist out here, they wouldn’t be very good rebels if they didn’t also exist in a place they could actually gather intel to enact change.”
“Stop making good points.” I sighed, my fatigue catching up on me.
“How much further can you go?” Her question was leading.
“I don’t know. Maybe for a while.” It was a lie, I was done, but I would at least push on until we could land safely.
She internally rolled her eyes, I felt it. Goddess, this bond would kill me when I had some distance between us. “And when you can’t go on any longer and leave us in a dangerous situation because you don’t have a choice where we stop, how will that feel?”
“I resent your logic.”
“But it’s sound.”
“Fine. We will go to them. But I’m not letting you join, and I’m also not leaving you there,” I shot back.
“As if I won’t do as I please.”
I muttered about her being infuriating as I closed my eyes, seeking out the magic that would lead me to their hiding place. The ends of the trail were hidden, and with the amount of blood I’d lost, it was hard to stretch out my mind, but after flying around in circles, I finally found it.
I nearly cried. My wings sagged, though I forced them to keep beating.
“Are you okay?” Calytrix gasped and gripped my scales tighter.
“Yes,” I said, not sure it was the truth, but I had to be. “It’s not much further.”
I followed the trail as far as I could, before it led to a place I couldn’t fly.
Out of choices, I came in for a very undignified and unsteady landing.
I tried to minimize the risk to her. This was not a good first landing for her to experience, but it was out of my control.
We hit the ground harder than I wanted and I rolled, aiming to tip her into some brush if I could.
But she was already off my back before it came to that, performing some kind of dismount she was clearly familiar with and jumping clear of my wing before I could tuck it.
I barely got my fae form back with the last of my magic, falling to my knees in the sand in the process.
My wings could not shift back while they were still impaled, so they hung limply at my back.
Calytrix ran to my side, grabbing my arm. “Faolan.” The strain in her voice killed me.
“I’m fine,” I barely managed. “Just tired.”
“Don’t think I believe you,” she said as she helped me to my feet.
“I promise I will be okay.” I tried to free myself from her grasp, but she wrapped an arm around me.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
We walked like that, following the threads of the trail. It felt old and dead. Not like when I’d last been here. Fear crept up throat.
What if they’d left? Been discovered? Moved locations?
Anything could have happened in the last half a year.
If they weren’t here—I blocked the thought from my mind—I’d figure it out. I had to. I couldn’t let harm come to her. I vowed it.
The last of my power detected the movement a fraction of a moment before a sword poked in my back.
I froze and Calytrix cried out, spinning to put herself between me and the sword. I couldn’t stop her. I didn’t have the power to move that fast, and besides, I could scent the male upon us now. He was a friend. I hoped he would be still after I made the introductions.
“It’s okay,” I soothed to her mind. “They are friends.”
“Friends don’t hold swords to each other,” she snapped back.
“They are protecting their territory, but they won't harm us. Trust me.”
“How did you know I was here?” I asked our assailant.
“You think we wouldn’t notice a dragon of your size circling overhead for more than half an hour?” he said dryly.
“It wasn’t half an hour!”
“You’re right—it was over.”
I huffed. “Will you offer us shelter or not?”
“You have not come here pure.” His words seemed final, and my reserves began to waver.
How would I keep her safe if I could hardly stand? I wasn’t sure I could get back up in the air, let alone fly for any period of time. “How am I not pure? I have never betrayed you.”
“You betray unwittingly, but you still betray.”
“How the fuck?” I was too delirious for this.
“You have a magical trace attached to you. Our wards detected it. You put us at risk even being here.”
“What?” I searched my body, pressing my fingers into every hole and scrape they’d punched in to my skin.
“You won’t be able to feel it.” He came around me, lifting a hand and moving it in a circle near my chest. “But I know what to look for.”
I closed my eyes, taking a more magical approach to looking for the damn thing, but my energy flagged. I barely kept my feet. “We had nowhere else to turn. I don’t think we’d make it further.” I opened my eyes to meet his. “Please take mercy on us. I pledge to owe you.”
“How do we know you aren’t leading them to us?”
“We don’t even know who they are or why they want us.”
He looked us over. “There must be things you aren’t saying.”
“I’m betrothed to the heir,” Calytrix blurted out.
“No!” I tried to stop her, but it was already out. Surely, she knew that was what would put her at most risk with rebels.
More rebels appeared from thin air. They surrounded us but didn’t get too close.
“Faolan is escorting me to the First Kingdom so I can be handed over. I can help you. I can spy for you,” she stated, playing her hand. It was admirable in the face of such hostility, but was it foolhardy?
“How do we know this is true?” he asked.
She pulled her sleeve back, exposing the markings sealed at birth. “I’m sure even you know the seal of the King. This should be proof I’m seen as property.”
“How do we know this is not some elaborate ruse by the King to discover us?” he asked.
“Because I have just as much reason to hate him as you do.” Calytrix set her jaw, stepping forward almost like a challenge.
“My people have been forced to submit to the false King since the unification of the Twelve Kingdoms. We did not choose to bend the knee. We were forced. I am forced marry his heir to satisfy the treaty. I will have to allow him into my body and to give him my magic by bearing his young. To defile my own sovereignty to uphold a treaty signed by my ancestors in distress. Forced to give over our future, female by female, until our superiority is so diluted in their blood, we hold no more power over them.” She leaned in and lowered her voice.
“I hold the feminine rage of hundreds of generations pulsing through my veins. No one could be more committed to destroying their line than I.”
“Then why do you even go? You have a choice. Faolan’s not keeping you, is he?” He looked between the two of us.
“Because they have my sister, and I have no doubt the heir would kill her to make me suffer. If I have to sacrifice myself, I might as well make it count.”
The fae fell silent. They must have been conversing, but how, I did not know.
“We will help you,” Ryuu said at length. “But we will need to remove the tracer before you come any closer.”
“Of course.”
“With the damage to your body…you may not survive it,” he said in a cold tone.
“Faolan, you can’t do this.” Caly tried to step in.
“I have to.”