Thane turned enough to see her. She cut a glare that was cold enough to freeze a troll. He smiled, getting the reaction he expected. But his chest tightened. There was so much she didn’t know. It’s not as if he had a choice in marrying her, either. He didn’t choose to be bound to her as a boy. But he was stuck with the magical elf everyone wanted to get their hands on.
A long silence passed between them. It wasn’t awkward or tense as he expected. He felt calm and the steady hoot of an owl added to the ambiance. “Why did you destroy my house?” she asked softly. “I didn’t even put up a fight when you came.”
“Destroy your house?” He hadn’t ordered Aldrich and Piper to do that. He’d simply sent them in to get her, and they’d all had to stay so quiet on the road a conversation about it hadn’t taken place. “What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know what your friends did? Do you have any idea how long it took my aunt and me to collect all those magical plants? And the blood on the wall to top it off,” she huffed, and then snapped her mouth shut.
Blood on the wall? “We didn’t do that to your home.”
She blinked in surprise. “Then who did?”
He swallowed hard, his mind whirring at the possibilities. If the pale ones were tracking them and someone destroyed her house before they got there… someone else knew where she was. The list of elves his father, Tenebris, sent to look for her was long. Hunters from all over Palenor and even some of the woodland elves of Calladira wanted the reward he’d offered. Perhaps one of them had stumbled upon her by chance, recognized her mate rune, and Thane happened to get to her before they could. Maybe they sent the pale ones.
“I don’t know, but it wasn’t us. And for what it’s worth, I am sorry that happened.”
“That means whoever it was might still be there. My aunt is in danger. I have to go back.”
“Your aunt will be fine. Whoever it was is after you and would have followed us. It might have even been the group of pale ones.”
“Can pale ones write? They wrote on the wall in blood.”
His mind drifted to his father. He’d disappeared into the Void a month before and hadn’t been seen again. Thane assumed he’d been torn apart. Hoped it, even. No one survived the Void. A son should miss a father, but Tenebris hadn’t treated Thane any better than he had one of his subjects, like he was only born for one purpose and it was to serve. He’d seen to it that Thane was trained in the art of war and logistics, that he was schooled in many areas, but only on rare occasions did he spend quality time with him like a father would a son. Tenebris wanted to use him to find Layala. Convinced that through their mate bond Thane should know where she was, he’d sometimes beat him. Beat him bloody and bruised. It wasn’t until he was older that the thrashings stopped because Thane put an end to it. Train the boy you harm to fight and it will come back on you.
Tenebris always insisted his motivation was pure. He believed Layala could rid their world of the Void and put an end to the pale ones for good, possibly bringing back magic to the elves. But Thane knew his father’s obsession was twisted and evil.
“Not all pale ones are mindless beasts.”
“Why should I believe it wasn’t you?” she asked.
“Why would I lie about it?” he fired back. “If I did it, I’d tell you and maybe even brag.”
“Prick,” she mumbled.
Lord, this female had a mouth on her. “What was that?” No one had ever called him a derogatory name before her, at least not to him directly. He was the High Prince and now High King. It simply wasn’t done.
“Nothing, your highness.”
He didn’t know whether to laugh at her audacity or to shove her off the horse and force her to walk. If he didn’t feel it was his duty to look after her, he’d leave her in the middle of this wood and go home.
He lifted his eyes to the dark canopy of the star-shaped leaves, silently cursing his father for attaching him to her. Yet, even if he wasn’t, he couldn’t abandon her now. If the pale ones got ahold of her… “Are you always so uncouth or is that reserved for me?”
“It’s a trait of my lovely personality. A gift, really.”
“How blessed am I to have such a one-of-a-kind bride,” he said and kicked Phantom into a steady canter. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Maybe a part of him enjoyed her brashness as much as he hated it. She was certainly nothing like he expected her to be.
She grabbed onto the fabric of his cloak. “I’d prefer Layala over ‘bride’. Thank you.”
“You’re betrothed to the most attractive and charming High King there has ever been. You should be swooning that I call you my bride.” He smiled.
She snorted. “Lucky me.”
When they reached Piper, Aldrich and Fennan, the healers still tended to Aldrich’s injured leg. He sat on the flat of a stump, his face strained. The medic touched his tender flesh and he groaned through the stick between his teeth and stamped his good foot on the ground.
Most of the sentries had gone back to their positions in the trees, but for the pair of healers that knelt in front of him. His pant leg was rolled up to reveal deep purple bruising from his ankle to halfway up his shin. His gold blond hair was damp with sweat at his temples.
“Is it broken?” Thane asked, dismounting. Upon closer inspection, the shinbones were misaligned and showed as much through his skin. He winced knowing how much that would hurt. “You’ll need to set it and wrap it with franzen leaf.” The plant grew here in the forest and was known for its healing properties.
Piper stepped to Thane’s side and folded her arms over her abdomen. “He needs to rest for a few days. You should take Fennan and get her to the castle. I’ll stay.”
Aldrich cried out when the healers snapped the bones in place. Thane bit down, regretting asking his friends to come with such a small number. He’d put their lives in danger trying to be discreet, but they didn’t complain about it. They never did.
Remembering he’d left Layala on Phantom, he whipped around. His rapidly beating heart settled when he found her still seated on the gelding’s back while he grazed nearby. She could have trotted off while they’d been distracted and yet she’d stayed. Perhaps he could trust her more than he thought. He rubbed his chin, contemplating if he should wait for Aldrich to heal enough to travel or not.
The cooler evening air brought the chirps of luminor crickets. Thousands of their minuscule bodies scattered on leaves and on blades of grass lit with a yellow glow. Almost as if the forest floor became the night sky. There wasn’t even a need for torches. The insects produced enough light. He loved to come here and marvel at nature. It was only in this place he ever felt at peace. The luminor trees and insects brought him calm. It was their magical property. And after some of the things he did, he needed that calmness to live with himself. Some of the things Layala thought about him were true, probably far worse.
Aldrich threw the stick from his mouth, making some of the luminor crickets scatter. He spit and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “I’ll be fine. Go on ahead.”
Always well-mannered, that one. He didn’t want to leave Piper or Aldrich here but Castle Dredwich was the safest place to keep Layala. It hadn’t been breached in over two millennia. If pale ones invaded here, the forest could be taken, and she could be captured. It wasn’t far. Even if the last couple of weeks on the road left him sore and exhausted, he could make it. He’d ride through the night to sleep in his own bed at this point.
Tapping Fennan’s shoulder, he tilted his head for them to go. One of the sentries brought Fennan a horse. A gelding that had pulled the carriage, now saddled. Thane grabbed onto Phantom’s reins. Layala stared down at him. “Don’t I get my own horse?”
Thane thought better of it. He didn’t want to have to chase after her should she try to make a run for it. “You’ll stay with me.”
“I know how to ride.”
“It’s not your skill I’m worried about.”
“You’re afraid I’ll run,” she said flatly. “What would be the point? You and your friends would hunt me down again. It’s not as if I could go back home.” The sentry elves nearby watched them, not a single one breathed a word but their eyes fixed on the two with rapt attention, as if this was the theater and he and Layala were the entertainment. He hadn’t wanted anyone to know he was here or about her, but that was out now. There was no reason to even bother with the hood anymore, but he kept it on to annoy Layala. It bothered her not to see his face.
Thane pulled himself up and let out a long breath. “We don’t have a choice, and if you knew anything about our mate bond, you’d recognize that.”
