Chapter 37

By noon the horses were ready. Our plans were set in stone according to everyone but me.

Because I wasn't taking no for an answer.

Once, I might have settled, remained agreeable just so no feathers got ruffled.

But not now.

This morning I was ready to ruffle away.

I'd gone over everything a thousand times, picked through my feelings, dissected this underlying sense that fate was pushing us in this direction, and decided…

All I had to do was convince these pigheaded males to see things the same way I did.

I sidled closer to Dane. "If we had to go north"—I kept my tone casual—"how bad are those mountain passes right now, do you think?"

"Another storm's coming in a couple days." Dane grumpily searched the sky, his head tipped back as he scented the air. "But my nose is telling me we have a clear path south and my nose never lies about such things. We'll stay ahead of the weather until we reach Nightcairn. Then we'll regroup before we make our final push into Solarys."

"But say we did have to go north?" I wheedled. "How bad would the trip be?"

His lips flattened out. "But we're not heading north, Anaria. We're going south."

I held in my frustrated groan, waiting for Vesper and Bella to bring me the information that would cement our final decision.

Whether or not the elders knew where the Oracle holed up in her downtime—did Old Gods even have downtime?—was a long shot. Although, if there was no pendant to steal, no king to kill, I would have spent the entire winter here at Stormfall. Gleaned everything I could from their library and had these witches teach me everything they knew about magic.

Blood magic, in particular.

But we didn't have time.

We never had the luxury of time.

"Going north into the mountains right now would be suicide." Dane kept his eyes on me as he yelled, "Tavion. Get your arse over here, nephew. We have a problem."

"Traitor," I hissed.

"Whatever names you call me, princess, are better than freezing to death in a mountain pass. Trust me, I've seen those poor bastards' corpses thawing out in the spring. I have no desire to become one of them."

My husband showed no hint of trembling, no signs of weakness as he strode across the frozen ground, every step so swift and sure my heart joggled in my chest, tears burning in my eyes before I blinked them away so I could see him in full, arrogant glory.

I caught his hand when he came close, pulling it to my lips and brushing a kiss across his knuckles. No tremors, only steadiness.

"Thank you. For what you did." Tavion's own eyes were lined with silver. Tears he'd wipe away as soon as he turned toward Dane, but a rare vulnerability he allowed me—and only me—to see. "For believing in me when nobody else would."

"I'll always believe in you, even when you act like a pompous arse, husband."

His lips curved up at that. "I will try," he said softly, "to not lash out in temper. An old habit, and one I would very much like to break." He held my gaze as he wiped a tear from my cheek. "For you, Anaria, I will change."

Dane made a gagging sound. "Enough of this. Tell him, Anaria."

Tavion's gaze raked over his uncle. "Tell me what? We're leaving within the hour."

"Your princess wants to go north, while I told her we're going to Solarys as planned. We already have the route to Blackcastle planned, godsdamn it, and there is no way to get through those northern passes right now."

"She's your princess, too, you old wolf, and don't fucking forget it."

I ignored them as Bella hurried toward me towing a gray-haired witch I'd never seen before. She had those same scars on her face, her mouth clamped shut, and panic flooded through me as I replayed the bite of Solomon's cold, sharp blade cutting across my tongue.

Close.

That had been so fucking close.

Dane grunted something about spoiled little princesses before he stormed off, taking his precious ego with him, and Tavion made to follow, but I caught him by the arm. "Stay," I told him softly. "I want you to hear this for yourself. Help me decide if I'm making the right call."

His eyes glowed before he gave me a sharp squeeze.

"This is Morgana." Bella clutched the woman's tiny, withered hand, and up close…gods, she was old. Ancient in a way few beings had the privilege of becoming in this wicked world. Experience seeped from her piercing gaze, in the hum of power that hung around her like a mantle.

She raked Tavion over with those assessing eyes, and I swore he trembled.

"My mother, as it turns out, never met the Oracle, but Morgana attended that first meeting and the ones that came after. She is a truthteller." Bella slid me a sideways look. "Vireena didn't trust anyone, not even the Oracle of Tempeste."

"Well, Vireena wasn't wrong in that regard, even if she was a cold-hearted bitch," I offered begrudgingly. "May I ask what you overheard?" I asked softly, holding Morgana's gaze. "Anything you might remember could be helpful. Even the smallest detail."

Their eyes slid half closed and they remained like that before the young witch spoke. "The Oracle mentioned the high cliffs, north of here, beyond the mountains. No exact location but there were…other clues."

"What kind of clues?" I murmured, keeping my voice down.

"Once, she described the crying of gulls echoing against the cliffs. The only high cliffs are on the eastern edge of the Dearth. A…sort of natural wasteland." Bella's eyes flashed. "Not all that far from the Hammer."

That couldn't be a coincidence.

The place they—we'd—been born, the place that became Corvus's lair because he was too dangerous or lazy or stupid to leave, and…what if the Oracle remained close as well? Whether because that was the source of their power, or because Fae and witches and human didn't venture that far north, didn't matter.

We had a location.

I didn't know if this was fear or excitement curdling in my stomach, but strangely enough, something else settled into me. A sense of purpose. As if, despite these detours, we were still on the right path.

"Anything else?"

"Just one word. Ashbane." Bella shook her head. "Morgana doesn't know what it means, only that the Oracle spoke the word twice during their meetings. But she's a truthteller, and to the Oracle Ashbane meant home."

"So we find this Ashbane and we find what we're looking for."

"What are you looking for?" Bella asked, Morgana's clever eyes pinned on me with such fierce intensity the back of my neck prickled in warning. "And why?"

"I can't tell you that," I murmured, Tavion moving closer, and I didn't even have to look down to know his hand rested on the pommel of his sword.

"I can't tell you yet," I clarified, wondering if the truthteller would read my mind and be done with it like Vesper had spoken into my head. "We are searching for the last of our allies," I told them quietly, well aware how closely Tavion listened. "Cosimo was imprisoned inside a pendant by the Oracle three hundred years ago."

Everything went back to that point.

Something had happened then, something that goaded the Oracle into action. Something that set all this into motion.

Morgana's eyes went half closed again as she fed Bella more information, neither of them looking surprised, as if trapping people in pieces of jewelry was a commonplace occurrence.

"Was he an astrologer?" Bella asked. "And did she wear the pendant around her neck?"

I shook my head. "Yes. She captured him and somehow…I do not know how…she imprisoned him inside this pendant. But no one has seen the necklace for a few months. I have a theory?—"

Tavion hissed out a soft warning beside me and I shook my head. "They are our allies. I will tell them what I know and perhaps they can help."

I held Bella's gaze then my eyes lifted.

Adele barreled through the front doors of Stormfall, heading straight for us. I spoke faster.

"Trapping the astrologer was how she controlled Torin and Simon for so long." I met Bella's eyes and patted my chest where the hand drawn copy was hidden. "According to Zor, Cosimo can read any language. He could decipher those symbols you found. We could find out what they mean. For both of us."

Bella's eyes sparked and the two engaged in another short mental discussion while Tavion glared at me like he was thinking of doing terrible things.

I smiled up at him sweetly. "While everyone else slept the night away, I got shite done, husband. You can thank me later."