Chapter 2
Chapter two
WRATH OF THE WILD HUNT
Orion
“Has it occurred to you yet that you might have handled that all rather… poorly?” I asked my skiá.
“Do not mock me, Orion, I am not in the mood for it,” Riordan retorted sharply without looking back.
“Clearly,” I muttered.
He threw a foul expression at me over his shoulder from between his fluttering wings. Our booted feet barely touched the steps as we glided around the wide stairwell that spiralled down into the prison beneath Ergastiri.
“I was also deeply unnerved by Rian’s power, but you threatened to lock your mate away in your bedchamber! And not in a fun way,” I could not help teasing him.
He merely scoffed at my attempt at humour and did not slow our descent.
“Remember what happened when Helena would tell us not to do something at Ergastiri?” I persisted doggedly.
Riordan’s wings flared, his boots hitting the stairs hard as he stopped so suddenly that I almost flew into him.
“You think she may try to sneak into Autumn Court?” he guessed, turning to look up with frantic concern.
“It’s what I would do if you shouted at me and forbid me to do something without a conversation,” I admitted, hoping he would heed my hint.
“She will not be able to get there once I have blocked the realm from portalling,” he insisted.
“That may restrict the majority of people, but not even you can stop the Tithriall from flowing through the Vale. That means any fey with an ability to travel that way will always be able to get here. And it is a moot point in any case since Amira has your power,” I pointed out calmly.
“You could close the portals, and she could open them again if she wanted to.”
This had not occurred to him, and I could instantly tell it may not have been the right thing to say.
I had wanted him to realize that he needed to have a conversation with his mate about why she could not go to Autumn.
Get on the same page with her. But I could already tell that he had not come to that conclusion.
“I will need to assign her more guards.”
“That was not—” I broke off and pinched the bridge of my nose while I shook my head in frustration with him. “That was not what I meant to suggest.”
“What then, Orion?” he snarled impatiently.
“Perhaps you could try talking to her about all of this rationally?” I suggested, failing to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. He glowered at me as his tail swiped back and forth behind him.
“You heard her! She is determined to believe the best of her friend—”
“And we have to assume that is with good reason since Amira knows the dryad and we do not! Besides…”
I trailed off in uncertainty, not knowing how to put my feelings into words. Unsure if I even wanted to.
“Amira could have dismissed me as nothing more than a jealous hothead. Just like everyone else aside from you and mitéra,” I reminded him in quiet earnestness, and his anger softened instantly.
“She has proven to have a way of seeing the very best in people who… perhaps cannot see it for themselves. We may not have liked or trusted the dryad, but Amira saw something in her that merited an unshakable faith. And I can guarantee that it was the dryad who’d already encouraged the Autumn Prince to try negotiation again in the first place.
For Amira. So if your mate has so much faith in her friend then… I do too.”
Riordan stared at me, his anger receding as the hint of a smile began to flirt with one corner of his mouth.
“One night with her under the stars and now you will start taking her side in all things, won’t you?” he guessed, looking rather pleased at the notion.
“Hardly,” I scoffed as a flush of heat crept up my neck at the look of approval in his expression.
“I do not want her traipsing into enemy territory any more than you do! But even I know that putting your foot down this way is not only unfair to her, but it is not the way to address this. You were too harsh with her,” I stated unapologetically.
Riordan winced in guilt as he glanced away from me. He knew I was right, but I could also feel his desperation to keep her safe practically carving him up inside.
“You have led our people through many trying times before this, and I trust you to do it again,” I assured him.
“But how you respond to this threat will determine what kind of king you become after this. Will you allow fear to rule all your decisions or will you trust yourself and the bonds that you have forged?”
Riordan did not speak as he internalized my words for a moment before his resolve began to harden in his eyes. He nodded at me appreciatively and then turned away.
We continued down the stairwell to where two guards opened the iron gate to allow us to pass into the prison. Riordan walked by the hallway that would take us into the cellblock and strode into Beron’s open office door.
“Your Majesty!” gasped the warden as he straightened upright from his desk and bowed deeply. He appeared to be going over my notes on what little I had gleaned from the Spring Court traitors that Rian had left behind.
I had been working almost as tirelessly as my king to track them all down with a collaboration of Vale fey and griffin trackers.
The forests were still being meticulously combed, but we were confident that we had managed to capture most of the traitors.
Many of them were in the cells under Ergastiri, but Amira had insisted that the fey with children be housed in one of the campus dormitories.
It was something I had agreed with her about since the children hadn’t asked to be affiliated with the Wild Hunt, and neither of us felt they belonged in prison.
Amira had created a series of binding circles to prevent the family units from leaving their assigned rooms, but they were much more comfortable there than in the prison cells.
“Anything new from the letter carrier?” Riordan asked Beron briskly once the griffin had finished bowing.
“He still maintains that he was only asked to deliver the letter to Lady Amira and return with her response. Orion probably told you a fey from the Autumn Quadrant came to analyze him. He was not concealing any kind of malicious magic or weapons on him,” Beron advised.
“Is he still asking for Amira?” I asked, and the warden inclined his head at me in confirmation.
“We should send a message back to try and gauge their willingness to speak to us now. Perhaps Amira is right, and it is not too late to salvage something,” I suggested hopefully to Riordan.
Doubtful. Unless we could get them the Light Wraith back from the Sylvan, Riordan answered privately down our skiá bond. Not only do I doubt our ability to do that, but I am not sure we should. The Sylvan were clear about the consequences of not delivering him to them.
“I will speak with him,” he added aloud to Beron who nodded before the king strode back out of the office.
Riordan would have usually addressed the prisoners well before this.
But my skiá had not had time for much of anything aside from getting enough sleep to replenish his magic and repairing what Rian had destroyed.
I could tell he was looking forward to reorienting himself with all that Amira and I had been tackling in his absence.
I took the lead, guiding him down the right cellblock where we were keeping most of the Spring fey and just one Autumn Court fey.
We could hear the emissary from Ahnnaòin well before his cell came into view.
His jovial whistling was a constant annoyance, which he had used to tune me out whenever he got tired of my questions.
I stopped next to where the little faun sat carrying on a merry tune. His cheek and one furry leg were propped up against the bars made of magically imbued wood instead of iron for fey prisoners. His hoof made a knocking sound as it tapped out the rhythm of his whistling.
“Oi! You tell that damned fool of a warden that we are starving in here!” the faun demanded, finally interrupting his own infuriating melody.
“You received an adequate daily portion,” I dismissed his recurring fixation with his rations.
“I am wasting away in here!” he insisted dramatically, patting his robust stomach which was far from emaciated. “And who are you to tell me what’s an adequate portion size for me? You think just because I am small—”
“You have been here less than a day!” I scoffed.
“Answer my questions, and I will see to it that you are given two additional meals tonight,” Riordan cut in.
I rolled my eyes as the faun sat up abruptly, his interest piqued as he eyed my skiá curiously.
“Yeah? And who are you?” the faun asked.
“My name is—” Riordan began.
“You are addressing His Majesty, Riordan Vasilikós, King of the Vale,” I hissed at the disrespectful little shit, earning myself an exasperated glance from Riordan.
The faun’s bushy brows rose as his gaze trailed over Riordan’s gold armour that I had not had the opportunity to polish for him in several days.
“Is that so? Well now, there seems to have been some mistake, Your Majesty. You see, I’m not an enemy. I came here with a message for Lady Amira from Lady Ornella to request an audience and discuss negotiations. And now you have thrown me in here to starve,” he complained.
“Since you were dispatched from Ahnnaòin with that letter for my mate, the relations between Autumn Court and the Vale have taken a turn. I am sorry our hospitality is not to your liking,” Riordan replied matter of factly.
The faun’s lips pinched, and his eyes narrowed at the king as he considered the revelation.
“From what I have pieced together from conversations between your prisoners and the guards, it sounds like you attacked us first.”
I was incensed by his answer, but this was the most that anyone had been able to get out of him, so I held my tongue to let Riordan continue talking.
“Should I not have considered the repeated abductions of Vale fey over the decades to have been an attack?”