My heart twisted, and a lump formed in my throat for this little brave girl, who likely knew no other home and was terrified by what lay beyond the borders of what had once been her safe haven.
“Are they good folk?” she asked, glancing toward the others who had, at last, paused their horses to wait for us.
I bit my tongue at the answer that rose to my lips. Kidnappers weren’t good folk. Good folk didn’t do awful things for good reasons, did they? Except as I sat there—thinking that the girl should come with us for her own well-being and safety—I knew I was about to do something awful. I was about to lie.
“They are good folk,” I said, hoping my doubts didn’t reflect on my face.
Slowly, the vines that had sprung from her legs and feet retreated and she stepped closer.
The lump in my throat grew tighter. Why she had decided to trust me—a total stranger, a human—was beyond me, but I could see it in her eyes. She had made a decision to place her life in my hands. I’d seen that expression before, the same one my little patients held when I assured them I’d make their pain go away and heal their scrapes and broken bones. I could always deliver when it came to those kinds of things, but this was different. I had no idea what lay ahead of us. I had to trust that my gut feeling about Jeondar was correct. He’d said he could find her a home.
Witchlights, this is so hard!
I considered myself a good judge of character, but there were always people who were cunning enough to fool anyone. Kalyll’s face flashed before my eyes.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I extended a hand in Valeriana’s direction, smiling gently. “Will you ride with me? Dandelion is very gentle.” I patted the horse’s neck.
The girl seemed uncertain, but then she took a deep breath and straightened to her full height, gathering her courage. “I will.”
She took my hand, and I pulled her closer to Dandelion, letting her caress the animal’s neck. Her eyes lit up as she threaded her fingers through Dandelion’s mane.
“Let me help you up.” I went to grab her waist to hoist her up, but before I even blinked, she’d already climbed in front of the saddle with an agility that astounded me. It seemed like her foot had barely touched the stirrup and her hands were scarcely involved in the process.
I climbed after her, feeling clumsy as hell in comparison. Soon, we were trotting to join the others. When we reached them, Valeriana seemed to shrink in the circle of my arms. She didn’t look at them but focused on braiding Dandelion’s mane instead.
Jeondar smiled knowingly and nodded his approval.
As we started toward Imbermore, I glanced ahead, searching for any sign of Kalyll and Arabis, but they were gone. The sky above would start growing dark soon, which meant we should be making camp soon, the way we had every day since we left Pharowyn.
“Are we stopping?” I asked.
“Not tonight,” Jeondar said. “We’ll reach the gates in good time for a proper dinner, a warm bath, and comfortable sleep on a feathered mattress.”
That sounded wonderful.
“Stop talking dirty to me, Jeondar,” Cylea purred.
They laughed, while all I wanted to do was plug Valeriana’s ears.
Everyone’s mood seemed to grow lighter the closer we got to the city. Even Kryn abandoned his constant frown and seemed more than eager to get there.
The sky was dark, with a waning moon hanging high above by the time we reached the gates. Hundreds of torches illuminated the massive entrance, a mental set of doors that rose thirty feet up in the air and was carved with an intricate design of a slice of ocean with rolling waves above and marine life teeming beneath it. Taking in the whole thing, I saw a giant octopus, coral reefs, undulating algae, a foaming surf, and a vast sky above all of that.
Both Valeriana and I ogled in wonder.
“The gates are closed,” Silver said, stating the obvious, though I could read the true message in his comment: that the city gates were normally open to let travelers in, and that if they were now locked, it meant danger was nearby.
“Where are the prince and Arabis?” I asked.
“They must have gotten through before they closed the gates for today,” Jeondar said as he jumped off his horse and walked toward a small door to the right side of the gate.
I thought getting in might be an ordeal, but in no time, we were walking through the side door, pulling our horses behind. The guards on duty—tall Fae males dressed in red tunics with sun-shaped emblems at their breasts and wearing leather harnesses around their shoulders and waist—bowed respectfully as we passed. They peered curiously at Valeriana and me, though only for an instant, their deference surprising.
As we mounted our horses again and moved through the city, Valeriana and I wore twin pictures of open-mouth amazement.
I had seen paintings of Fae cities in my realm, but they were only crude representations of reality. Imbermore was unlike anything I’d ever seen or could have imagined. The place was like Venice on steroids. The entire city seemed to be built over water.
We maneuvered the horses through cobblestone roads, but the preferred method of transportation was small boats gliding over perfectly blue water. They glided over the surface as if propelled by magic. The buildings were all constructed from stone that seemed to grow from the depths of… what? An ocean? A lake? A huge river? Whatever it was, the web was intricate with falls, streams, canals, aqueducts, and water features that seem to defy gravity. The place was unreal, and I was awestruck.