CHAPTER 13

Drifts of snow fell upon Duncan’s head, tangling with his dark hair. I was mesmerised by him. Intricate flakes caught in his eyelashes and littered his broad shoulders, soaking into his leathers, making them glisten in the dull light. For those that fell upon his skin, it took a moment for them to melt upon impact with his warmth. Once evaporated, they left a glistening sheen of moisture across the sharp lines of his face.

The muscles in Duncan’s jaw were set with concentration. His brows furrowed over narrowed eyes as he tried to make out the shapes through the mist and darkness before they revealed themselves as our ship drew closer to the land. “You’ve done us all a service, Robin.”

“I only did what was required,” I replied, although my body sang with my exhaustion. If I wasn’t sleeping, I was doing as Rafaela requested, calling upon cold winds to rip across the ocean and press our ships forwards.

I wasn’t the only one. A handful of fey with elemental magic had helped, too. Some guided waters to help push our ships. It was a joint effort, and one that had worked.

After days of travel, Wychwood finally loomed before us. It was only a shadowed smudge across the horizon, hidden by a cloak of late dusk and the blizzard that ripped across the landscape. Regardless of our inability to see what waited for us ahead, I knew with no doubt that we were in Icethorn territory.

I felt it, deep within me. The cord that tied me to these lands had thrummed back into existence earlier that very afternoon. And it tugged within me ever since. From that moment onwards, I could think of nothing but reaching our destination and letting my feet touch solid ground. My land. My home. A place I had spent little time in yet was intrinsically linked to. It was as though my skin was Icethorn’s earth, my blood was its waterways and my bones were the rocks that stitched it together.

I raised my face skyward, closed my eyes and exhaled. The kiss of cold snowflakes against my face was refreshing and calming. I smiled against their graceful brush, revelling in the cold bite that pinched my cheeks and turned them red.

“You’re smiling,” Duncan said.

I tilted my face until I could see him again. He was looking at me with the same intense concentration he gave the land ahead. His gaze flickered between my eyes and my lips as though he couldn’t decide which was more interesting than the other.

“Regardless of everything we’ve left behind and still have yet to face ahead, the relief I feel knowing I’m almost home is enough to make me feel happy,” I admitted. “If only for a moment anyway.”

A silver cloud of breath burst beyond Duncan’s lips as he sighed. His hand snaked around my side and pulled me in. His warmth was as clear as one of Althea’s conjured flames. “It’s one of life pleasures to see you smile, Robin. Now I know what to do to grant you one, I will utilise the knowledge going forwards.”

Duncan turned his attention back to the view ahead, clenching his jaw and sealing his lips closed once again.

“Is something bothering you?” I asked, sensing something brewing beneath Duncan’s surface.

His fingers drummed across the side of my waist. “The unknown has always been a terrifying concept to me. And we are about to dock into the heart of it.”

Reluctantly, I tore my gaze from his tense profile and scanned the shadowed outline of my court. “At least we will face it together, right? As much as this place is my home, it is still a strange place. My experiences in Icethorn have not been as… welcoming as you’d expect.”

I almost lied and said memorable. The memories I had of my court were not kind. But the potential was there.

Icethorn had been the place I’d built a pyre and burned my father’s body to ash. Another image overwhelmed me, a memory of kinder times that now spoiled in my stomach. Erix and me in Berrow. Both of us, entangled as one as a winter storm whipped the abandoned town beyond the rundown house we hid within. Such little time I had spent this side of the Icethorn border, and it had brought nothing but a discomfort in my gut.

And yet I was smiling, because reaching Icethorn meant I’d won at something. I’d saved the fey from Aldrick.

“You’re shivering,” Duncan accused. He didn’t ask if I was cold, because that wasn’t why my body shook. He knew that my affinity to winter prevented such an ailment. “Here.”

Duncan lifted the thick cloak and draped it across my shoulder, its brown and grey fur edging nestled into my cheek. I pressed in closer to his side. He closed the heavy swash of material over me like a wing and kept me in place. It wasn’t the warmth of his body imprinted on the cloak that comforted me, but the concept that it was his.

I was his.

“I wish I could promise you that everything will be all right,” I replied, fingers weaving among his, which lay upon the ship’s railing. “But lying to you is not a habit I wish to take up.”

“Nor do I want you to ever feel you need to lie to benefit me.”

I’d not exactly lied to Duncan, but neither had I been entirely truthful. Something about what he said wedged its way into my soul like a splinter of iron. With everything going on, I didn’t wish for the added discomfort of half-truths.

“Has Kayne spoken to you at all?” I asked, pondering our last encounter days prior. I hadn’t seen him since.

“Nothing of credit. But I plan to interrogate him when we reach safe land. He’s been avoiding me. I don’t think there has ever been this distance between us.”

“That’s odd,” I said, feigning ignorance.

“I know. To be honest, I’m not sure what I have done, but it must be something. At least he has the fey to focus on. It seems he is making up for lost time. Never thought I would see him so interested in helping before.”

Guilt uncoiled within me. I was the reason this barrier had built between them. Even if Duncan didn’t recognise it yet, I did.

Noticing my lax expression, Duncan dipped his chin toward me. “Should Kayne have said something to me?”

I contemplated lying, but that would go against everything I had promised him mere moments before. “A couple of days ago, I asked for his help with locating Jesibel. He refused. It’s nothing serious, but I get the impression if someone else asked the same thing of him, he might’ve been more willing to offer his help.”

Duncan paused, taking a moment to read the underlying accusation woven through my comment. “You think Kayne has an issue with you?”

“It doesn’t matter if he does or not.” I shrugged, feeling strangely awkward discussing matters of Duncan’s closest and oldest friend. Especially with him. I hadn’t even voiced my concern to Althea. I waited to see how Duncan reacted to the conversation. Searching for a hint that Duncan may already know what I was suggesting.

“It matters to me, darling.”

I offered him a smile, trying to reflect the emotion in my eyes, but failing. “I think I’m just being sensitive?”

“What, you, sensitive? No.” Duncan winked. “Care to tell me what he has said to you?”

I tore my hand from his and placed it over his chest. His heartbeat thundered up my arm. Duncan might’ve pretended he was calm about the topic, but the way his body reacted suggested otherwise. “Nothing to merit you worrying. Forget I said anything. What matters is I trust Kayne. He’s been pivotal in seeing our success up to this point. Perhaps what I asked of him was too much. I’m just surprised he didn’t bring it up with you, that’s all.”

Duncan’s mouth twitched. “If you ask me to talk to him, I will. Just say the word.”

I shook my head, looking back toward Wychwood. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. It’s nothing, really. Kayne said it would threaten our position if Lucari is seen by Aldrick, and he is right.”

Duncan didn’t reply again, and I was glad of that. Swaddled in warmth, we both watched the Icethorn Court draw nearer.

Our destination was clearer to see now. The closer we moved toward Wychwood, the easier it was to pick out details. Towering, verdant pines tipped white with snow. Sharp cliff faces of stone that rose from the sea and stretched toward the darkened sky. I scanned for a beach but couldn’t see any location that suggested where we would dock. The only variation to the sheer face of the cliff was what looked to be a cove. The shadowed mouth was carved into the face of the rock itself. Jagged rocks extended beyond the water’s rough surface like reaching claws. There was no chance of our ships getting close enough without finding one of those stone claws piercing their hulls.

Talking of Kayne, Lucari screeched as she flew, dancing among the drifts of snow. Unlike the hawk, the Nephilim didn’t fill the skies. Instead, they stayed in their ship, which stalked our fleet like it was its shadow. Since the winged monster had cut across the skies, I hadn’t seen Rafaela take to the skies at all. But her presence was always close, standing guard on the deck of her ship, her attention never once straying from our direction – from me.

“Boys.” Althea announced her arrival, interrupting our silence with her presence. “Enjoying the view?”

The wind caught strands of her red hair and tussled it from her shoulders. Dark splotches hung beneath her eyes. I had noticed more, with each day that passed, that Althea’s skin had taken on a slight green tinge. Although she did well to hide it, Seraphine had reported having seen Althea bent over the railing as she spilled the entire contents of her stomach into the ocean. When I asked if she was okay, she waved my concern off with a hand and threw herself back into the briefing of her conversations with our captain. Anything to divert the attention from the way the sea made her sick. To Althea, showing such sickness translated to exposing weakness. And, surrounded by Cedarfall soldiers, she’d never have allowed that.

If I was to learn anything from Althea, it was her steel resilience.

“Just relieved we have almost made it,” I said.

“Because of you.” Althea nudged my shoulder, pale lips cracking when she smiled. “Captain has assured me that this is the agreed location for our arrival. We are to anchor out at sea and move to land in smaller vessels.”

“And we trust his judgement?” Duncan asked dryly. “The man has had one hand gripped on the wheel and the other on the neck of a bottle this entire journey.”

“Got us this far, and in one piece, Hunter. I suppose you think you would do better? General was it, or did they call you captain in your ranks, too?”

“General,” Duncan replied coyly.

“Ah, yes,” Althea brushed her hair across her shoulder. “How could I have forgotten?”

I cleared my throat, demanding their attention. “Althea, not that it is my turn to belittle the captain, but I thought we were meeting our welcome party on the black sand beaches you spoke of?”

“We were. But plans have since changed, Robin. With everything that has occurred, I took it upon myself to alter our arrival destination rather last minute. I didn’t like the idea of our plans becoming known by being exposed to the open for so long. Never know who is listening.”

Aldrick. That was who she spoke about, I knew it without asking.

“Good decision,” Duncan replied.

“Why, thank you.” Althea mocked a bow. “I do live to please.”

A stone dropped in my stomach. It was impossible to ignore the feeling. “We have an uncanny ability to hold information back from one another, don’t you think?”

“You trust me, don’t you, Robin?” Althea asked. “Because I’ve learned to trust you and all your quirky ways.”

“Of course I do.”

“Then the answer is mutual,” Althea replied, eyes wide in genuine shock. “If it makes you feel better, no one knew but the old drunkard over there.” She gestured toward the captain, who was singing a sailor’s song as he navigated the lead ship toward Icethorn land. “Surprise.”

A loud snapping of metal sounded from deep in the ship’s belly. It vibrated through the damp, snow-covered wood we stood on as the anchor finally dropped into the dark waves. The same sound echoed across the ships that followed behind us.

Our ship jolted forward, groaning at the sudden tension as the anchor met the ground far beneath the dark waves. Duncan’s hold on me tightened. If it hadn’t, my ribs would have slammed into the railing.

“I cannot believe I am saying this aloud, but we actually made it!” Althea said, glancing between the both of us. “For a second, I didn’t think we would.”

The deck came alive with fey. By the last day of the journey there wasn’t a soul who didn’t help. Some began lowering the sails and masts, whilst others prepared themselves in smaller groups to await travel to shore. With each passing moment, the ship slowed gradually, coming to a final stop just shy of the claw-like rock formations surrounding the cove entrance.

“Please tell me someone is aware of your little detour?” I asked from beneath Duncan’s cloak.

Althea’s face beamed as she looked toward the cove. Her lips were pulled upward, her chin raised proudly beneath bright, gleeful eyes. “Oh, someone certainly knows.”

I recognised the look on her face. A mixture of elated excitement followed the blush of her cheeks and the way her posture straightened. Althea’s dirtied fingers gripped the railing. She leaned over to get a better look toward the cove.

“In fact, I can see them,” she spoke into the roaring winds. “Look.”

I squinted, trying to make out what she could in the distance.

“Stay close to me, Robin,” Duncan whispered into my ear. “You’ll be welcome, but I haven’t earned that right yet.”

“Nothing will happen to you,” I replied. “I promise.”

It was the easiest promise to make.

Althea raised a finger and pointed to the shadow-filled cavern beyond the crashing waves. The harder I looked, the more I recognised that those shadows seemed to move. A bud of flame illuminated the three distant figures.

“There she is,” Althea sang, practically leaning over the bannister. “There’s my woman.”

My eyes landed on the very person Althea spoke of. Gyah Eldrae stood forward from the light. Even from a distance, I could see her burning smile. Beside Gyah was a vision of Althea, except much older. Queen Lyra Cedarfall was here to welcome us home, too. My heart swelled at the sight of them both, but it was the third person who forced my heart up into my throat. I blinked at the prickling sensation that filled my eyes as Queen Elinor Oakstorm extended both arms out to me and waved. If there was not such distance between us, I would have thrown myself into her embrace.

“We made it,” I whispered, allowing the tear to fall from my eye.

“Yes, we did,” Duncan confirmed, beneath the gleeful squawks of Lucari, who shot across the sky with anticipation. He leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to my cheek. “Well done, my darling. You’re home.”

“No, Duncan.” I glanced up at him, unable to hold the smile of relief from my face. “ We are home.”