14. Tahlia

“Ithink Vodolija is unhappy. You’re asking her to go back to the creepy ghosts,” Fara said into Tahlia’s ear. “She’s diving. Showing aggression. Maybe she wants us off her back so she can go home. I should have stayed home with all that bread. Why am I even here?”

“I might need your fists; plus, who else will make sure I pay attention to every little problem?” Tahlia teased.

If the sound had been a ghost, or ghosts, why had it alerted them like that? Was it curious? Was it even cognizant of its actions? Had it once been a person or was it a creature made of forgotten magic?

There was nothing like this in the rest of the Realm of Lights, certainly. No stories of such spirits except those that came from this broken kingdom, and those tales were sparse and lacking any real information. At least the thing hadn’t attacked or injured them. That was a relief.

Perhaps none of the spirits were able to affect the living or had no motivation to do so. But if that were true, then why did border folk often find the bodies of travelers who had ventured too close to this land? The corpses found were described as having skin turned to gold with boils going up and down their arms and not a drop of blood in their bodies. The look of the dead had many proposing the idea that whatever evil had befallen the kingdom had something to do with Mistgold Fae—the families who had ridden dragons for centuries and who had that golden sheen in their blood.

Why did travelers come here anyway? For the same reason Marius had? If so, what was that reason?

They climbed a small rise, then spotted Marius and Ragewing a good ways off, seated at a sparkling fire.

Well, if they could stop for the night, so can we.

“That’s bold,” Fara said, standing beside Tahlia and gazing down toward the fire. “They’re telling everyone they’re here. Why isn’t Marius more concerned?”

Tahlia shrugged, hiding the bulk of her worry. “Let’s keep out of their eyeline.”

She led Vodolija back down the rise. Soon enough, the fire Tahlia would make would be visible, but they could remain hidden for a little while longer.

Fara shivered as she helped Tahlia gather fallen limbs and broken sticks from the scattered trees growing here and there. A stretch of dark-leafed trees broadened into a full forest a stone’s throw away, and though Tahlia worried about taking on Fara’s habit of fearing everything, she wasn’t about to go traipsing into the woods. Not after hearing that sound earlier.

Once they had a pile of wood, Vodolija set it ablaze and settled beside it. She trilled with satisfaction, obviously enjoying the heat. Tahlia sat on a small boulder beside Fara and they shivered together.

Fara wiggled her mud-slicked boots. “My feet will never be the same. I’ll be tottering around like a hag years before my time. I hope Marius appreciates my hobbling.” Her lip curled, showing a fang.

Tahlia removed her riding gloves and held her palms toward the flickering light. Vodolija lifted her head and sniffed the air.

“If you want to hunt,” she said to Vodolija. “We’re good here. But I do have some dragonbread if you want to stick around…”

The dragon growled low in her throat, and Tahlia chuckled. Vodolija hated that stuff.

Vodolija bowed her head, stood, then walked toward the forest. Tahlia appreciated that she was being careful that her takeoff wouldn’t blow out the fire. Vodolija launched into the sky, her sea-hued wings spread as wide as a ship’s sails. She was so lovely.

When traveling, the knights always brought dragonbread in case hunting wasn’t possible or pickings were slim. A fist-sized serving of dragonbread could sustain a dragon for a full day, sometimes more depending on their activity level and how much they’d eaten recently. The dragons never seemed to savor the special meal, but they ate it when they had to. Marius had said they loathed dragonbread as much as younglings did their daily mineral drink, a supplement that Fae children in the Shrouded Mountains had to imbibe because of the lack of nutrients in their diet during the long winters.

Fara took some dried meat from their bags and heated it over the fire. Tahlia had eaten the stuff during training. It was pretty disgusting, but if you warmed it, it at least felt more like real food. The feeling finally returned to Tahlia’s hands and feet as they dined on their meager feast. Tahlia kept an eye on the darkness beyond and the forest. Gods, she was tired, more than she should have been.

The noise of wings had Tahlia on her feet with her bow drawn and an arrow ready in a breath.

Fara had picked up a rock and was poised to throw it.

The shadow above materialized into a dragon Tahlia knew as well as she knew her own.

Ragewing.

The large Heartsworn landed a stone’s throw from the fire, and Marius swung out of the saddle and slid to the ground. He looked like a living storm.

Fara sucked a breath through her teeth and took a step back.

Tahlia’s heart lurched into her throat. He had a cut along his cheek and the blood there had dried to a dark slash. She longed to touch it, to tend to it, and to ask him how he’d hurt himself. It was so odd to feel like comforting a male who appeared virtually made of solid stone.

Ragewing shook out his scarlet wings, blowing Marius’s hair. Marius’s gray eyes caught the glimmer of the fire and he fisted his hands as he strode toward Tahlia.

She gave him a wide smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Knight, you should not be here at all.”

Oooh, using his captain voice. “I realize that, but neither should you. In fact, I am pretty sure you disobeyed a direct order.”

His nostrils flared and his jaw worked. He looked Tahlia up and down, his gaze like a sweep of his hands. She swallowed and tried not to remember being pressed against this male with nothing between them but desire and joy.

“Lady Tahlia, you will return to the castle. That is an?—”

“Hold on.” Tahlia returned her arrow to the quiver and set her bow on the ground near the food and supply bags. Then she met his angry gaze. “Look. Hear me out, High Captain. Something is up with you.”

“Lady Tahlia…” Fara wrung her hands and looked at Tahlia like she was a madwoman.

Ignoring her for the moment, Tahlia eyed Marius. “If you tell me why you’re here, I’ll take off. I swear it.” She held a fist to her heart. “But I’m not leaving you here where there isn’t a single living soul without hearing a solid reason for your little adventure.”

“It’s none of your concern.”

All right, that actually hurt. She fought the urge to press a hand to her stomach. “It is my concern. You are my concern.”

His eyes bunched at the edges and his throat moved in a swallow. “Tahlia, please. There is something you don’t know. I can’t…” He broke off, coughing and clearing his throat. When his gaze turned back to her again, he was grimacing as if in pain.

“What is wrong?” She stepped toward him.

He lurched backward and glanced to the side, his lips drawing back like he was in pain. “I am sorry for everything. But you must leave. I can’t put you at risk too.”

“So you admit you’re putting yourself and Ragewing at risk by coming here.”

“I’m not an idiot, Tahlia.”

Fara snorted. “Could have fooled me,” she whispered.

He glared at her and she turned away, suddenly very busy with tidying their supplies.

“It’s not exactly a holiday spot,” Marius said, a tone of wry humor in his voice.

“Was that an attempt at a joke, High Captain?” Tahlia grinned, thrilled to see him thawing if only for a second.

He rubbed his face with his hands, then dropped them and glanced from Fara to Tahlia. “You will leave once Vodolija returns. That is an order.”

“Why?”

Tahlia stepped toward him. He dropped back fast like she was a sword aimed at his jugular. Her heart sputtered. His rejection hurt worse than any damage steel could do.

“I can’t…” He growled in a very dragon-like manner and stared at the sky. “I order you to go back to the Shrouded Mountains immediately. To Dragon Tail Peak.” His chin dipped down and his eyes found hers. “If you disobey this order, you will be put on probation for a time that I will determine once I return.”

“If you return. Did you hear that sound earlier? The howling? Do you have any information about it or about this place?” Maybe if she pursued a different line of questioning, he’d give her a clue as to what in every god’s name he was up to.

“I saw two spirits when they were singing, for lack of a better word. They mean no harm. Ragewing and I are as safe as we can be considering the scenario.”

“What is the scenario exactly?”

His jaw worked, and his teeth clenched. “I…” Shaking his head, he looked at the ground.

“Fine. Don’t tell me about your secret mission. Do you actually know you aren’t about to be killed by whatever kills everyone that crosses that border or are you just telling me that to get me out of here?”

“I can’t lie.”

“Oh, right. I tend to forget that because you full Fae are so tricky.”

Fara gave Tahlia a narrow-eyed glance.

“This conversation is over,” Marius said.

But was it? “Just let me stay one full day. Then I’ll go.”

“No. Leave. That’s an order, Lady Tahlia.”

“Marius, I can see the way you’re torn. In your eyes, you seem as haunted as this kingdom.”

She lifted a hand, longing to stroke the rough line of his jaw, to feel his hot skin under her fingertips. He moved back another step.

Tahlia chewed the inside of her cheek. “Fine,” she said, walking away. “If you’re going to be ridiculous, I’ll just ask the more sensible of you two.”

She went to Ragewing and looked up into the dragon’s scarlet face.

“Do you think we should be here? Or would you like to grab Marius and fly the hells out immediately before we end up as pale as the blank page, dusted in golden boils, and deposited on some border folk’s farm?”

Ragewing’s head swiveled and the dragon studied Marius.

“No,” Marius said, shaking his head. “We are not leaving.”

Ragewing snorted a puff of black smoke and sat back on his haunches.

“You’re headed for that glowing light, the shimmering bit of stuff between those mountains, correct?” Tahlia wasn’t giving up yet.

“Yes.” He shook his head like he had a bug in his ear. “I mean to say, it’s none of your concern. Please go.”

“Please? But it’s an order? Make up your mind, High Captain Marius.”

The steel in his eyes hardened and a thrill shot through her at his dangerous beauty, idiot that she was.

“Tahlia.” His voice went stony. “You are pushing me to consider punishments I’d rather not order.”

“Do tell. What type of punishment is there for a person who saves your life?”

“You are not saving my life.”

Fara brought a strip of dried meat to Ragewing, who accepted it with a grunt.

“You don’t know that,” Tahlia said. “Something haunted and wild could attack you right now and I’d be here, wielding my arrows and?—”

“An arrow for the ghost?”

“Can’t punch them either from what I hear,” Fara mumbled.

Tahlia almost snarled at Marius. “Perhaps my strategy needs amending, but it could happen—I could end up saving your life here, Marius, and wouldn’t you look such a fool for wishing me gone?”

“We may be off the books for this journey, but I am still your captain.”

She saluted him. “I’m here and ready to obey.”

He snorted, the edge of his lips twitching. “You don’t even know the meaning of the word.”

“I will learn as long as your orders involve me acting on your behalf here in this incredibly lovely disaster you’ve dragged us into.”

“Tahlia, all jesting aside. You truly must?—”

Vodolija landed beside Ragewing, cutting off whatever stale warning Marius was about to dole out.

“No deer to be found?” Tahlia asked the Seabreak.

A purring sound stuttered in the back of the dragon’s mouth, a noise Tahlia had learned to interpret as pouting.

“Did you find any fresh water?” Tahlia asked Marius.

“Yes. There is a creek not far away. Trees shield it from view, but if you look closely, you’ll see it.” He glanced at the flames. “We were flying back from it when I spotted your fire.”

“Eh, don’t look down your nose at me,” Tahlia said. “You made a fire too.”

“Unlike you, I am experienced. I deal with multiple threats regularly and have done so for years.”

“So you’re resorting to insults to get me to leave?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Marius said. “It’s not safe for you or Lady Fara to… It’s… Tahlia.”

He looked ready to explode. What was going on with him?

Holding out her hands, she said softly, “Marius, one day is all I ask. One day, then I leave with no more insults or begging or punishments required.”

She longed to make a flirty joke about the punishment, but he had made it clear he wasn’t interested in anything like that at the moment. Though it cracked her heart into pieces, she wasn’t about to keep pushing him on that front like some jerk with her head up her arse. She only wanted to know why and what was wrong with him. She wasn’t sure she could refrain from all flirting, but at least she was trying.

“Fine. I give up.”

His growl of frustration usually pleased her, but in this case, it only smashed the pieces of her heart into shards that cut her through and through. There was definitely something very wrong with Marius and she was going to figure it out.