Chapter 40 - Faolan
FORTY
FAOLAN
We raised no alarm returning to the First Kingdom.
The city slumbered with only the guards walking the battlements of the city walls.
We flew over silently. We hadn’t spoken much about the return because the parting weighed too heavily, so when it came time to go to the palace, there wasn’t really a way to leave her without me exposing myself.
I was too raw to care. Not giving a single fuck what the King, Nyx, Jaxus, or anyone else wanted from me. I couldn’t have her, and I’d tell them to shove their laws if pressed. What would they do? Chase me to the ends of the Twelve Kingdoms and beyond? It didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered in the wake of leaving her.
I wasn’t ready, and I thought of ways to offer another option. I went through so many in my mind.
Are you sure about this?
We don’t have to return yet.
Give me another hour, another day, another week.
But the longer I had with her, the longer I’d want and the harder it would be to let her go. It already felt impossible. The idea made me want to strangle the future king, and I’m sure regicide would be frowned on by Nyx.
“What are you thinking?” Caly asked, like she knew.
“Do you want the truth, or a much more appealing lie?”
“The truth, please.” Her tone nearly killed me.
“I wish we had one more day.” I went with a reasonable answer that was close to the truth.
“I don’t know if I can stand having another day with you.” She echoed the words in my heart.
“That was the second part of my thought. I want more time, but I’m not sure we can handle more time.”
She hugged her arms around the parts of my neck she could reach. “Why does this have to hurt so much?”
“Because we both know it’s goodbye.”
She sucked in a shuddering breath, not speaking, but the emotion charged through our bond told me enough.
We didn’t have time for anything else because as we knew they would, the palace watch called out that they’d spotted a dragon, and one they weren’t expecting and didn’t recognize. Our colors were distinct enough to tell us apart, even from a distance at night with the moon as bright as it was.
In a matter of moments, dragons launched themselves from the battlements, approaching. The first to reach us, I knew immediately.
I roared in greeting to Luka and Hazel. Hazel’s demeanor changed from stormy and defensive to smiling. Luka waved from his seat.
“You know them?”
“Yes. They are my friends.”
Jaxus and Kiera joined soon after, and then Nyx and Zaria. They must have noted the change in Hazel’s body language because neither arrived with their defenses up. Both were elated, so happy to see us.
They escorted us to the dragon landing, the only area with enough room for one dragon, let alone four. A guard waited, and my stomach dropped to my feet.
Calytrix climbed off my back and held herself like she was already the queen.
I shifted back, and Jaxus handed me a pair of sweats and let me put them on before he pulled me into a hug. “Thanks,” I said, patting his back in greeting.
“No worries.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“No?” I asked, forcing a smile. It felt weird to not mirror their moods, but how could I be excited about losing Caly? “I’m hard to kill.”
“No kidding,” Nyx muttered, approaching. “We thought you both dead after the last attack.”
I nodded somberly. “We were captured.”
“Truly?” Jaxus asked, appraising me again. His gaze swept over my still-healing wounds.
“Truly. I’m sure you’ll hear all about it in the debriefing.” I forced another smile, looking around for Calytrix.
She was gone.
Her absence cut me like a knife, making the panic I’d been fighting since the last attack return en masse.
Nyx was speaking, but I cut him off.
“Where’s Calytrix?”
Jaxus glanced around and then nodded towards the palace while giving me a curious look. “Her guards are escorting her to her rooms.”
The walls closed in around me, and the urge to burn the fucking palace to the ground flashed through me.
“Woah there, tiger.” Jaxus’ hand was back on my shoulder. “She is safe.”
I ground my teeth. What could I even fucking say?
Nyx’s stern gaze flicked over me. “We should let you rest.” His words were laced with another meaning.
“Right.”
As soon as we were safe inside Nyx and Zaria’s chambers, I had all of them breathing down my neck, demanding answers.
I answered them the best I could, recounting our escape and return while leaving out any mention of the rebels.
It wasn’t because I didn’t think I could trust them necessarily, or most of them, but if I breathed a word of it, I would be putting Caly in more danger. I couldn’t do that.
The only one not peppering me with questions was Kiera, but she was too busy poking and prodding my injuries.
“Does this hurt?” She dug in the worst wound in my wing, pushing her finger at least half an inch inside me.
I sucked in a breath, flames licking at the corners of my lips. “Yes.”
Jaxus growled. “Keep the fire to yourself.”
“Maybe tell her to keep her fingers out of me.” I hissed.
Kiera rolled her eyes. “I had to check for internal infection and damage. I don’t know what kind of care you got.” She snapped off her gloves and stood. “The treatment seems good. I want to see you in the Healer’s Wing tomorrow.”
My gaze flicked to Nyx. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” he repeated.
“We obviously need to discuss my place.”
Nyx’s brows rose. “I wasn’t aware you were staying long enough to have a place.”
“I don’t think I can leave now,” I admitted sullenly.
The room exploded with everyone talking at once.
I tried to reply, but there were too many voices, and I couldn’t focus on one.
Finally, Jaxus stood up. “Shut it,” he said with his booming voice.
It worked. Suddenly, all the oxygen might have left the room, and I was even more the center of attention than before.
“Out. All of you,” Jaxus continued after a long moment, and he growled when there was an objection. “I mean it. Back to your lives. Nyx and I need to talk to Faolan alone.”
When we had some peace, I moved to a chair across from them, needing a little fucking space after the assault.
“Are you sure?” Nyx asked when we all settled in.
“Do you want to explain to the King why there’s a dragon out there, not required to serve?” I challenged.
They exchanged a glance and had clearly talked about this without me.
“What don't I know?”
“We might have fibbed.” Jaxus pulled a face.
“How exactly?” I’m not sure I even wanted to know.
Nyx cleared his throat. “You tell him.”
“No way—this is on you. You told the King.” Jaxus shook his head and held up his hands.
“You came up with it!” Nyx grumbled before turning back to me. “We convinced him you’d been working for us for months, and that’s why you were helping us bring the princesses back.”
“Okay, that’s not so bad. What exactly did you say?”
“You have to understand, he was pretty mad when he learned we left the future queen behind in an ambush. I tried to explain that there were only two dragons, and we were all separated, and it’s just how things worked out.
” Nyx rubbed the back of his neck. “We told him you were undercover working with us so we could use your connections and that you were gathering intel on Octavian since you were also from the Volcano Kingdom.”
I blinked. “Excuse me.”
“You left us with no choice! We had to give him something. Plus, we thought you were dead. We didn’t think it would come back and bite us in the arse!” Nyx snapped.
“I did say it was going to come back and bite us in the arse, actually,” Jaxus muttered.
“Shut it.”
“And now how are you going to explain me flying back in here?”
“We haven’t a clue.” Nyx deflated and turned to Jaxus. “Any ideas?”
“Don’t look at me. I already came up with the undercover shit.” Jaxus crossed his ankle over his knee.
“I had to have a way to explain away some of this. It’s suspicious to keep having dragons appear.” Nyx rubbed his temple. He looked better than he had a year ago, but the stress aged him. He had flecks of gray in his dark hair.
I thought about it for a few minutes. “Could you come up with something about me being blocked like Zaria and Kol?”
“Oh!” Nyx jumped to his feet and began to pace. “That might work. We’d need Kiera…”
“Wait, you want the King to believe you were blocked from your dragon and didn’t know what you were?”
“No, that wouldn’t work. He’d never buy that.”
“It could work. Kiera may even be able to get her Gran on board. Gran would come up with some Forest Kingdom nonsense, and the King wouldn’t know which way was up when she finished with him. What Gran says is fact.”
“Excellent. Let’s get Gran on it then.” Nyx stopped and turned towards me. “Are you absolutely sure you want to stay?”
“What other choice do I have? By morning, the entire palace will be talking about the new dragon.” And I didn’t know how I could leave her. I was already a mess knowing she was alone with him as we spoke.
“He’s right, it’s already out there.” Jaxus agreed.
“Do you think there’s any way they’ll allow her to be my ryder?” I asked.
They exchanged another glance.
“I think we need flyers badly, and the King is willing to secure them by any means. His laws are strict for a reason, so of all fae, he should seek to ensure you are both brought into the ranks, no matter the unusual circumstances and the nightmare it causes him with his son. I think he might support it.” His words sounded ominous.
“It’s not him I’m worried about.” I sat forward, putting my head in my hands. The way Kol talked about the heir made me want to kill him.
“I’m not so sure,” Jaxus interjected. “You don’t think he’ll give in to his son’s objections over common law?”
“I think at the end of the day, he’s the King, and he knows better than the whims of his son,” Nyx said firmly.
“Then I’ll stay,” I said resolutely.