35. The Departure
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
THE DEPARTURE
I found myself in darkness with the smell of dirt and mildew in my nose. Somewhere between panic and disbelief, I reached out with trembling hands. I felt exactly what I expected: nothing but cold and ungiving stone. The cellar I had been kept in when I was kidnapped eight years ago was realer now than it had ever been in my nightmares. Was I dead, making this hell? Oh, God. I didn’t think I could bear an eternity of this.
My head jerked upward as heavy footsteps sounded above me. There was shouting, and the cellar door opened with a bang . But instead of a member of the Counter Assault Team, there was nothing but blinding light. I threw my arms up to shield my eyes. The light dimmed enough that I could squint through my fingers without pain. There was a figure there in the doorway.
A husky female voice spoke. My brain struggled to keep up with the words; they sounded like the lilting language of the fae, but somehow I understood them as plain as day.
“Brave, softhearted human. You have used my blessing well.”
A hand reached out from the light, beckoning me closer. My feet moved of their own accord. The hand remained extended, steady and patient, as I staggered up the steps. When I grasped the hand, power filled me like I was tasting oxygen for the first time. The light turned gold. I felt the presence of something living and wild underneath my skin.
“I am not supposed to do this,” the voice said, almost whispering now… and sounding a bit grumpy? “If anyone asks, this was all you. Can’t have them thinking that I lost my edge.”
The hand tightened around mine, and the flame within me roared to life.
It took time to catch my breath. I didn’t dare try to move, devoting what little energy I had to blinking the high ceiling into view. My chest tingled with pins and needles so intense that they bordered on pain. I felt cold marble against my back, along with loads of something wet and sticky that I really didn’t want to think about.
Other than that, everything seemed… whole.
Eventually, I gathered the strength to turn my head. I saw blurs of color and flashes of light—Riel and Solois. By the looks of things, they weren’t pulling any punches, but to my smug satisfaction, Riel seemed to have the upper hand. He trapped Solois’s leg in the floor somehow and was on top of him before he could pull it out. I watched as he began to squeeze the life out of his own brother. A protest rose in my throat, only to falter.
Why should I stop him?
If it was Solois or us, there was no question. He’d been willing to kill me just a few minutes ago. I raised a shaky hand to the spot on my chest that had been a gaping hole moments before. The wound was gone; no one could have guessed that I’d nearly seen the light. Or had I? I vaguely remembered some kind of dream, a woman reaching out to me…
He had killed me, hadn’t he? Or gotten close enough to it.
Turning my attention back to the ceiling, I tried to ignore the hot tears that trailed in rivulets down my cheeks. The throne room being empty, the sounds of the fight drifted my way. Could it still be called a fight? It was a plaintive struggle now. Riel grunted with effort, or perhaps from pain. His brother fought for breath—I could hear the heel on his free foot scuffing the floor in a panic and faint, choking wheezes emanating from that direction. Something rattled softly, like metal striking stone. The torturous sounds continued on and on.
God, why was it taking so long? It was brutal and appalling. I wished that I could cover my ears, but I also felt a strange, sick need to be present for this, as if I could support Riel throughout this terrible task by listening.
The sounds of struggle finally began to fade away. Silence fell, but not three seconds had passed before Riel let out a heart-rending cry of grief. I turned my head again to see him sitting atop Solois’s still form with his head bowed, shoulders heaving with exertion. He made a twisting motion, and a sharp crack echoed through the room.
Eyes closed, features distorted by pain, Riel let his arms fall and turned his face up to the ceiling. His lips moved soundlessly, as though he sent up a prayer to follow his brother’s soul. The moment offered a strange sort of beauty and peace. Then he stiffened, remembering why he fought Solois in the first place. He whirled about, and our eyes met.
He stared.
I stared back.
“Avery,” he whispered, anguish and relief blending together in his voice like a sorrowful song. All the fight left his body in a rush, leaving him a broken but no less beautiful man. He got to his feet, hesitating only briefly before stepping over his brother’s body .
I struggled to sit up and reach for him, prepared to offer whatever comfort I could. He came to me and collapsed by my side. His arms surrounded me, gripping me close, but there was little joy to be had in our reunion.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered against his neck. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
It kind of was. But instead of saying so out loud, I simply held him tight, and we just… were for a little while, soaking each other in.
“Ah. I got blood on you,” Riel said apologetically, ending the moment. He wiped ineffectively at a stain by my right shoulder.
“Huh? I’m pretty sure I got blood on me.”
It was then that I noticed the burn on his cheek and the ravaged flesh along his chest and arms. “When did that—” I began with a frown, before I thought better of what I was about to ask and bit back the rest of the words. “You’re bleeding. Let me,” I offered instead.
I tried to think of an innocent topic to fill the silence as I healed him so that Riel didn’t have to be alone with his thoughts. Nothing came to mind.
We sat together for a little longer before Riel started to gather himself. He got up and helped me to my feet, making sure I had the strength to stand. I assured him I was fine, so he busied himself with straightening his messy clothing instead. When he turned back to the door, his gaze landed on the corpse nearby. His shoulders shook. It took him two tries to speak.
“What am I going to tell our parents?” he asked in a broken voice.
“The truth.”
Setting a supportive hand on his arm, I told him calmly but firmly, “Solois was trying to kill us both. Hell, he almost succeeded. What you did, you did in self-defense, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Your parents… well, I can’t say that they’ll understand right away. They’ll probably need some time. You all will. But you’ll get there. ”
I wished I could offer something better than that, but what else could I say? I was pretty sure that my abilities didn’t extend to healing emotional wounds. Riel’s eyes squeezed shut. When they opened again, I watched him set his feelings aside and transform from a wounded son and brother into the son of a leading family at war.
“Let’s go,” he said decisively. “This isn’t over.”
I went with him to the door. As we stepped outside, Farisen noticed us. His gaze bounced from me to Riel and back again, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. He probably noticed that someone was missing, but if he did, he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he nodded toward the courtyard, where the menders were still hard at work. Staff members were beginning to distribute food and other supplies to anyone who was present.
“The fighting is beginning to calm,” he reported in English. “It should not be much longer. I have no news of your parents, only that they asked about you some time ago.”
“Thank you, Farisen.” Riel turned to me, and I had the sneaking suspicion that I wouldn’t like what was about to come out of his mouth. “Avery… I should join them. You can stay here with the other?—”
“No way,” I argued immediately. “We should stick together. That way, we don’t have to worry about each other. I can take care of us both with my powers, yeah?”
“Avery.” The exasperation in Riel’s tone was impossible to miss.
I understood where he was coming from—we’d both nearly just died, after all—but I didn’t want to risk not being there if he needed me again. Didn’t he feel the same?
Farisen said something in the fae language. I thought I heard Solois’s name, especially since Riel’s jaw clenched. He hesitated before responding. When he did, whatever he said made Farisen’s eyes widen. I looked between the two of them warily. If Riel admitted to killing Solois, things could get ugly. They didn’t have the full picture, and while there were some cultural differences between us, I doubted that murder was something the fae let slide.
As they continued speaking in hushed tones, a faint buzzing sound caught my attention. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but it stirred an odd memory in me. I hadn’t heard a sound like that in a long time. Not since crossing The Rift, in fact. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I scanned the sky for the source.
“What is it?” Riel asked, brows furrowing as he followed my gaze.
“That sound. It has to be some kind of…”
I hadn’t even finished my sentence before a silver combat drone appeared above the woods, coming from the direction of The Rift. “Oh, shit!” I exclaimed, rushing after it. Alarmed and confused, Riel came after me. I waved my arms above my head in an attempt to catch the attention of whoever monitored the video feed. If we were lucky, they were just conducting surveillance. If we weren’t, they might be about to start dropping bombs.
“We need to make sure they see us!” I was too frazzled to give a better explanation, but Riel stopped where he was and raised his hands to release a brilliant glow. I held my breath and kept my arms moving until the drone began to circle around rather than continue in the direction of the battlefield.
“Luenki!” I whirled about to face Riel and regretted it when my eyeballs were accosted by light. Groaning in pain, I turned back around, blinking repeatedly to clear my vision.
“Luenki said Vivian and the others were waiting for me,” I recalled, struggling to get my thoughts together. “If she’s not back yet, she probably went through The Rift. I don’t know what she told them, but they might think I’m in danger.” That made the most sense.
Riel let the light fade and dropped his hands. He swayed on his feet, and I saw his eyes flick toward the fighting. I wanted so badly to ask him to come with me. I was terrified of saying the wrong thing and making things even worse. I wanted him by my side while I tried to explain things I didn’t understand to people way more important than me.
But what I needed was to swallow my feelings and do the brave thing, the responsible thing, like Riel did now. Otherwise, I didn’t deserve him. So, instead of asking him to support me when he and his family were the ones who needed support right now, I found myself saying, “It’s okay, do what you gotta do. I’ll go back to The Rift and try to calm things down. Hopefully, if they can just see that I’m alive and well, they won’t do anything drastic.”
A winged shadow was there and gone as the drone passed by overhead.
Riel didn’t respond right away, but there was a softness in his gaze that told me I had done the right thing, even though it hurt. He reached toward me, and I leaned up, expecting a parting kiss. Instead, he tousled my hair.
“Your courage is admirable, eseri , but someone from our family should accompany you and help Luenki smooth things over. Let me speak with Farisen before we go.”
He turned away, and I stood stock still as his words sank in. Then I practically melted in relief. Although I had tried to be brave, I had been quaking in my boots at the prospect of going by myself. I thought I might be able to face anything with Riel there.
Riel approached Farisen as the mender emerged from the castle looking rather grim. Realizing that he must have seen Solois’s body, I wrung my hands, expecting an accusation or worse. While I wasn’t close enough to hear, the two men appeared to speak calmly, or as calmly as could be expected given the circumstances. Farisen nodded and the two clasped hands.
When Riel joined me again, it was with a stocky, antlered avida at his side .
“Is something wrong with Oyanni?” I asked, frowning. Had she been wounded on our return trip, and I hadn’t noticed?
“She is well, but to The Rift and back is a long way to travel twice in one day,” Riel replied. “Keersu is m—was my brother’s. He will serve us just as well.”
He offered his hands, and I let him help me up. The animal’s back was even broader than Oyanni’s, if that was possible. I tugged at my skirt to cover my legs as best I could. Riel swung himself up and settled himself behind me, and I laid a hand on his thigh for comfort.
“We’ve got this,” I assured him, though it was as much for my own sake as for his.
“I have been dealing with your government as long as you have been alive,” he reminded me, nuzzling my hair in a brief display of intimacy. “And I would rather face them than my parents on any given day, but today especially.”
Unsure how to respond to that, I squeezed his thigh to show my support.
The ride to The Rift was even longer than I remembered, but I was glad that it was no longer dark. The woods were not quite so foreboding during the day. Not to mention that having Riel behind me gave me strength. In this familiar position, I could almost forget the horrors of the past few hours. Almost.
We were drawing close but had not yet left the shelter of the trees when a clear voice shouted, “halt!” Not taking any chances, my hands were in the air before we even stopped.
Armed soldiers began pouring from the brush.
“Wait, it’s me!” I cried.
One of them drew up short and raised a fist, stopping the others in their tracks. “Avery Nelson?” he asked dubiously. I nodded emphatically, all my attention on the guns.
“And this is Riel, the second prince of House Wysalar.” With my hands still in the air, I jerked one shoulder to indicate the man behind me.
“Please forgive the lack of notice,” Riel chimed in politely. “ We came alone. The other members of my House are otherwise engaged, but we wanted to address your leaders’ concerns regarding the situation here and Avery’s well-being as soon as possible.”
At that, the man in the lead lowered his gun, although his stance remained cautious. He nodded to another man, who disappeared into the trees, before turning his attention back to us.
“Sorry about that. We had a report from a reliable source that there was a civil war situation going on here, so we’re working on securing the area. Our orders were to extract Ms. Nelson safely and provide support to the Wysalars as needed.” He hesitated before addressing Riel directly. “I guess that means we’re at your service. Sir.”
The salute felt like an afterthought, but I didn’t blame him. It wasn’t too long ago that I was floundering in front of the fae myself.
Something occurred to me.
“Luenki? Was that the source?” I asked curiously.
“I’m not at liberty to share that information, ma’am,” the soldier replied, not unkindly.
“Can we speak to George? Or Vivian? Are either of them available?”
The soldier gave an abrupt nod. “If you’ll come this way.”
He drew alongside us, casting the avida a wary look. A beckoning gesture had the rest of his team falling in line behind him, and we headed in the direction of The Rift.