We were both angry at the world, and he understood me. It was nothing more than that.
Still, I caught myself patting down my tangled hair and trying to straighten my tunic before I went to find him. I threw his cloak around my shoulders, and then stepped out into the mists. He was shirtless, chopping some of the old wooden walls into smaller chunks and tossing them into a pile. For a moment, mouth completely dry, all I could do was stare at his incredible rippling muscles. They glistened from a sheen of sweat.
He glanced up and caught me staring. A slight twitch of his lip was the only indication he knew what I was thinking. “Good morning.”
“Morning.” Holding the cloak around my shoulders, I moved toward him. “What are you doing?”
“Found this axe in one of the other houses, so I’m building a fire.” He lifted his brows. “I thought that was obvious.”
A flush spread through my neck and cheeks. “Isn’t it a bad idea to build a fire out in the open like this?”
“It’s early morning.” He shoved the end of the axe into the ground and leaned against the wooden handle. My eyes tiptoed down to his bare chest again. For the love of light, I needed to stop looking. “Pookas sleep this time of day. We have a solid window now where they’re not out hunting for blood.”
“And what about all the other dangerous things out there?”
He smirked. “I’m the most dangerous thing out here right now.”
Another burst of heat filled my cheeks.Come on, Tessa.What was wrong with me? One night in the same bed with him, and I’d completely lost sight of reality. I just hoped he couldn’t tell.
He continued, thankfully, saving me from having to respond. “We’ll break our fast and then we’ll have a training session.”
“A training session?” I liked the sound of that.
“And then we’ll be on to Itchen. We should reach it by the end of the day.”
I took a step closer, my heart in my throat. “Itchen? That’s where you think Mother and Val might be.”
A strange expression flashed across his face. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up, Tessa.”
Again, the way he spoke my name curled through me.
“They might be there—it’s a good city for humans. But there’s no guarantee.” He heaved up the axe and got back to work. The crack of splitting wood rang through the silence, filling up my head with distant memories of a time, seven years ago, when the king had allowed the mortals of Teine to build a few new homes. He’d even given us a single axe to use under strict supervision. Father had helped.
But thinking of him hurt almost as much as thinking about Nellie, especially because that day had not ended well. A few of the humans had taken a break in the pub, resting their weary feet and tipping ale down their parched throats. The fae soldiers had thought the humans had sneaked away to plot against them. So, the soldiers had slaughtered them all, and then they’d hung the traitors’ bodies up in the village square. One of those humans had been my uncle, my father’s brother. Both of Val’s parents were killed, too. My father had vanished into the mists not long after that. He was gone for a full year.
And when he’d finally returned to the Kingdom of Light, Oberon had taken his head.
After Kalen built the fire, and we had a small breakfast of pooka meat and a heel of bread, he pulled a pale gray gemstone from his pocket. He extracted metal tongs from his pack and used it to hold the gemstone over the flames.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pulling the cloak around my shoulders to ward off the cold.
“Checking on Toryn.” The gemstone turned black. “Niamh.”
A moment later, Niamh’s face appeared on the gemstone. I gasped, leaning closer. She was as clear as day, and I could even see the walls of the castle behind her. I’d never seen anything like it before.
“How is Toryn? Is he all right?” Kalen demanded.
“He’s fine. We reached Dubnos without any issue, and he’s healing in his quarters.”
Kalen visibly relaxed, the tension in his body unwinding like a spool of thread. “And the city itself?”
“No sign of any storm fae,” Niamh replied. “Alastair sent some scouts down to the border. They should be back this afternoon.”
Kalen nodded. “We’ll reach Itchen today. Keep me informed.”
The gemstone cracked just as Niamh’s face vanished from the surface. Kalen dropped the instruments into his pack, his gaze distant, his lips a thin line.
“That’s good news, isn’t it?” I asked.