SWNOVELS Court of Ice and Ash: Chapter 16
from Ruskig before the highest moon. The moment right before the final light of day faded behind the hills. A cold trill of exhilaration surged through my veins. This night was tense and dangerous, but even more than the fury quarries this felt like a step forward.
The missive received from the refugees’ scout said the camp held something of value. Something that could hurt Ravenspire.
I flicked my fingers when we left the gates. In truth, it was more likely my excitement bloomed from restlessness. Days in Ruskig were filled with battling Ari and his stubbornness about Valen, or avoiding Valen because it ached like a thorn in my heart to be so near, yet he behaved as if I were no one of significance.
We’d said little to each other.
I mostly spoke with Halvar, Stieg, or Junius. Tor was always on edge, and Casper spent most his time with Valen.
But tonight, this, this was something I could do to shed a bit of usefulness. I could assure folk running from my sister that they had an ally in Timoran. Even if only my name were used, at least I was doing something.
At Halvar’s word, we kept a steady pace through the wood and thickets nearest the coastal cliffs. Too far to rest eyes on the sea, but near enough the air grew heady with brine and mists. We only rested to drink a few sips of our waterskins and rub out any aches in our feet.
The roads were uneven. Rocks and edges cut into boots and caused more than one stumble. Even Mattis had stopped trying to keep an unyielding pace and strode beside me, watching each step he took as we climbed a steep forest trail.
My knees burned. Dirt gathered beneath my fingernails.
But I never asked why we strayed off easier roads. Halvar was impressive to watch. Occasionally, he’d pause to lift his head to the sky, inspect leaves, bark, or soil, then tell us which curve to take, which hill to climb.
Besides, he had enough argument from Ulf and Frey. He did not need mine.
“Do you think they will ever realize he’s ignoring them?” Mattis murmured. He used his chin to gesture to the front. Ulf—again—was insisting Halvar lead us closer to water. For softer ground and drink.
His response? Halvar rolled a worn battle axe in his hand and slung it over his shoulder, blade up. One swing and he’d be perfectly aligned to slash Ulf’s neck.
A muscle pulsed in the royal guard’s jaw. He shook his head and stepped back.
I grinned. “I think it’s irritating to Ulf that Ari agreed to put one of his prisoners in charge.”
Mattis flicked his eyes to the front. His smile faded. “They don’t need to be prisoners if they’d abandon the Wraith.”
Mattis took any form of deceit personal. I wished he wouldn’t. In truth, if he could not trust them, his grudge might get him killed.
“Halvar will never abandon him, and nor should you.” My eyes fell to Valen. Positioned a step behind Halvar, next to Tor. He was the Blood Wraith tonight. Red mask, black hood. The only missing piece were his black steel axes.
He was formidable and threatening to look at.
I missed him.
“Why do you stand by him when he hardly looks at you?”
I winced, his words cut, swift and harsh. “When someone trusts you so much that they reveal their broken, splintered pieces, you cannot unsee them. You help them mend. You share yours.”
“And you trust he showed you what was truly broken? Not simply what he knew you’d want to see and believe?” Mattis took my hand and helped me balance on a jagged part of the trail.
“Yes. I saw every wretched piece. Pieces he could not hide even if he wanted. He may never speak to me again, but it would not change that I trust he would never harm me.” On instinct, I rubbed the missing tips of my fingers. “Intentionally.”
Mattis regarded me with a frown. “Then help me understand, Elise. When I was taken to the prisons, one of the only consolations I had was knowing you and Siv and . . . Mavs had escaped with Legion Grey. I’ve come to realize I give my trust away too easily. Still, since you are so unrelenting, I wish to understand.”
“Mattis, I can’t tell you more. I can’t tell you why he is the Blood Wraith. I can’t tell you the depth of his reason for infiltrating my life. I can’t tell you about his fury.”
“Why?” He quickened his step to keep my pace when I took a slope faster. “Don’t you see how it will help us all understand him and trust him better?”
I laughed bitterly. “Oh, yes. I see how it would help a great deal.”
“Then open those royal lips and tell me.”
I wheeled on him, a grin of frustration on my face. “Mattis, don’t you think I would if I could? At least to you because, like him, I trust you.”
“I don’t understand. Why—”
“All gods!” Siv’s voice broke behind us. She did not go out of her way to speak to Mattis. I took a guess that her silence was to avoid angering him further, but tonight she glared at him. “How many times does she need to say she would if she could? Meaning she cannot. He has forbidden us to speak of it. Fury in a strong enough fae can compel.”
She shook her head and shove through us. Mattis’s lips parted. He stared after her for a few heartbeats before understanding hit.
“Hells.” He glanced to me. “You can’t tell me.”
I huffed. “As I said.”
“He’s a bleeding sod. Siverie can know and not me?” Mattis said. Not exactly angry, more like he was envious.
I chuckled. “She was there. She witnessed the same as me. She is fury locked, too, so don’t try.”
Mattis snorted. “He compels you into silence, avoids you, and you remain loyal. He must be quite the lover.”
My chest tightened. I struck his shoulder. “He is not . . . my lover.”
Mattis grinned for the first time. “Right. Either way, you no longer need to defend him. He wants out and the first chance he gets he will be gone. Guard yourself, Elise. He does not want to be here.”
He didn’t need to tell me. I knew exactly why Valen Ferus wanted to leave. I knew whatever we had once was not enough to turn him away from his call to blood. But my wall against the pain he’d bring was brittle and weak.
“I know,” I managed to say. “I do not agree with him, but I think in his mind distance will keep us all safer.”
“I wouldn’t know. Apparently, only you and Siv do. Are we safer away from him?”
I shook my head. “No. I think he is needed here. But only if he sees it for himself. He has lived a lonely life and has few people he can trust.” I nudged Mattis in the ribs with my elbow. “Funny, sounds like you have a great deal in common with your lack of trust.”
Before he could respond, Halvar called for a pause.
We’d reached a flat part in the wood. Trees surrounded us on all sides. Shadows were thick as new ink.
“We’ll sleep here,” Halvar said. “No flames. Tor and Legion will take the first watch.”
A few groans went through the line of guards. With the sea so near, the night winds would cut to the bone. Dawn was approaching, but the moments before the sun rose were coldest. I tugged two rolled wool pieces from a satchel and curled in tightly with Mattis and Siv. He relented, silently, that she could keep close. No one needed to freeze tonight.
I pulled the wool beneath my nose. My eyes burned from fatigue. But before they gave in to sleep, I caught the eye of Valen as he crossed the camp for the first watch.
He paused for the slightest moment, as if studying me. Memorizing me.
For a few steady breaths all his broken pieces were on the surface. He battled against himself. Indifferent? I didn’t believe it.
He tried to make himself believe it.
I grinned. Doubtless, the Night Prince would fail miserably.
Sol spoke with Arvad this evening. He left their meeting with a new smile. One of contentment.
When did my firstborn come of age to take a consort? His choice comes as no surprise, and I am overjoyed. Torsten has been his second half since boyhood. Still, I cannot see the Sun Prince as anything more than a cheerful, clumsy child darting through the corridors. Now, I am penning a declaration of his hjӓrta for all to know.
Herja has no interest in consorts or vows or love. She is focused on the blade. Fine. I have no wish to share another child anytime soon. Although, as usual, to be like his brother, Valen now casts his eyes at the courtiers and gentry daughters, as if seeking out the one who will take his heart. The Night Prince had no desire to hear my reminders that he has only just turned twelve . . .
I lifted my eyes from the pages and blinked at the pale light of morning. Tears blurred the soft writing. I didn’t know why the scene dug so deep, but I kept my back toward camp, praying no one saw me.
I had no luck.
“Must be a terrible thing you’re reading if it draws tears.”
Halvar leaned against a tree, grinning. My stomach lurched. Behind him Tor and Valen appeared, returning from the first watch. Stieg, Mattis, and Frey disappeared into the trees to take the next.
“No,” I said. “Not terrible.”
“What is it?” Halvar sat beside me on the boulder.
I avoided Valen’s gaze, though I felt it on the back of my neck. “Lilianna’s journal.”
“Ah,” Halvar said with a chuckle. “All those turns we teased our dear prince for scouring those pages, now we know they are written of us, and I’ve a new interest in them. What is the entry today?”
Tor wore his sour expression and said less than Valen. Still, maybe he’d like to know. “Uh, I read about when the Sun Prince selected his consort.”
Halvar’s grin twitched, and a shadow crossed his eyes. Together, we cautiously glanced at Tor.
The pinched, bitter glare was gone. His face was softer, his eyes dark as pitch. He licked his lips and took a step to me. “May I . . . see it?”
I handed him the journal and cracked a few knuckles, watching him scan the page. My heart lightened when a smile curved over his lips. A weary, distant smile, but one was there all the same.
“I remember this,” he said, then handed it back to me with a nod of thanks. He nudged Valen’s arm. “And I do remember you asking every girl from our lessons if she could handle loving a prince.”
“He was so disappointed when no one was interested,” Halvar said.
I clapped at hand over my mouth at a rogue, chirp of a laugh. Valen glared at them, but the way his lips tightened I took a guess that he was trying hard not to smile. This moment felt too real, too easy. We’d lived behind walls for so long, catching a glimpse of what life was like when the Night Prince was still Legion Grey to me was unsettling.
The moment passed too soon.
“You ought to try to rest,” Valen said, eyes on me. “We’ll be leaving soon.”
“I thought we were traveling at night?” I looked to Halvar for explanation.
“We were,” he said. “Until we discovered one of those bleeding caravans is heading to Castle Ravenspire. They’re too close. We need to get a move on it and get to these refugees before they try to travel in the open.”
“What sort of caravan?”
Halvar shrugged. “Probably for the upcoming vows.”
I grimaced. Runa and Calder spent the coffers of this land to create an extravagant vow ceremony. For weeks wagons and carts had traveled from all townships delivering goods to Ravenspire.
I knew the Blood Wraith and Guild of Shade had attacked several.
“You’re going to let them pass?” I asked.
“We are to focus elsewhere,” Valen said. He took a step away, then softened his expression. “You really ought to rest.”
I tried, but sleep refused to come. When Halvar signaled we were to move deeper into the wood, my eyes burned from fatigue.
The route lost any hint of a path the nearer we came to the wild, untamed cliffs by the shore. Rocky, slate stone broke underfoot. The clean air of the sea invigorated the senses. Trees grew sparse and turned to black pebbled beaches with jagged coves and caves.
Wise and dangerous for the people to hide here. On one hand, Castle Ravenspire would likely not risk their patrols to hunt them down. They’d simply starve them out. On the other, these ledges were notorious for strange tides and harsh winds.
Halvar drew our rescue party to a halt. His brow furrowed as he scanned the empty shoreline. Nothing but smoke from dead fires and sea mist met us here. A prickle of unease climbed the back of my arms. At my side, Siv snapped the tether keeping her knife to her waist.
My blood heated. We were too late. It was the only explanation. They’d already fled, or worse. Castle Ravenspire could’ve taken them.
I was wrong on all accounts.
Before the thought of their fate finished, cries and shouts ambushed those of us in the back. From the darkness of the caves, figures dressed in shabby cloaks and caps pounced. Someone had a knife pressed to my throat in the next breath. My mind whirled in the ways I’d need to twist or strike to break free.
The voices near me gave away, Siv, Frey, Casper, and possibly Mattis had been caught the same as me.
Hot breath raked over my neck. “Stand still, and—”
The man holding me didn’t get to finish. A small, fixed blade knife whistled past my ear. The man cursed and narrowly dodged the strike. Two more breaths and he cried out. Valen and the others free of the ambush surrounded the shadows.
The Night Prince held another knife—I wasn’t sure where he’d gotten one—and narrowed his eyes at the man with his hand around my throat and blade to my nape.
“Take your hands off her,” Valen warned.
The man hunched, using me as a human shield. “Don’t come closer or I cut her.”
“You won’t get the chance.”
A whistle broke the night. At the mouth of one sea cave a man made of harsh joints and loose skin, as if it simply draped over his bones, stepped into the sunset. “That’ll do. Unless I am wrong, these visitors are not from Ravenspire. Look, they bring with them Kjell.”
A breath of relief went through our captors when the scout pushed around Ulf’s body, hands raised.
“They’ve come for us,” he said. “Crispin, they’ve come for us.”
Crispin—the bony man I assumed—grinned. With a wave of his hand, the knife abandoned my throat, followed by a mumbled ‘sorry’. Valen took a harsh step forward, and the man who’d caught me fumbled over the pebbles, cursing.
“You missed,” I whispered with a glance at the knife on the ground.
The Night Prince curled a grip around my wrist, pulling me back. I wasn’t sure he even realized he’d done it. The barest hint of a grin played on his face. “I do not miss.”
“You’re welcome here. We are in your debt,” Crispin called out. He waved us toward the caves. “Come inside and see what we have won for the new king of Night Folk.”