6. Vale

Chapter 6

Vale

T he forest had eyes.

Despite the constant rocking of the horse and the warmth radiating from Xavier at my back, I was on edge as soon as the sun began to set. It wasn't just the noises, but they didn't help. There was so little life in the mountain I used to call home, that each sound from beyond the trees had me jumping out of my skin.

Occasionally, we would glimpse a small, furred mammal peeking out from its den, but that wasn't what had me on edge. Something else was in the trees. I could feel it.

And I wasn't the only one.

Kian and Xavier were just as on edge as I was, their shoulders tense as they guided the horses through the thinning forest, the snow starting to fall as we ascended another foothill. Xavier said we were going around the mountain range that separated the Girovian Province from Festia, where the capital city of Credour resided.

"We aren't technically in enemy territory," Kian had said, his stony expression belaying his words as he urged his horse into a faster clip, "since we aren't at war, but I wouldn't want us caught in these woods."

From then on, I had been a ball of nerves, afraid of every snapping twig and swaying branch. I'd barely survived my own guild. I had no idea what I would do if we had to go against an army.

I tried to remember the long list of territories Xavier mentioned. The kingdom of Credour was so much larger than I'd originally thought. He'd explained that the Perder Lucem was situated in the northernmost mountain range of the Direveil Province—a title I'd never heard uttered anywhere in the guild.

The forest to the south of the range was Girovia, a province that didn't like being the barrier between the capital and the guild, hating both with equal measure. Festia was close, but the mountain pass was blocked by heavy winter blizzards, the elevation so unbearably high that only dragons traversed the skies above it. There were more outlying territories, but I'd already forgotten their names.

In my most detailed of plans, I'd never allowed myself to think past getting Nyrah and I down the jagged ridge of the mountain and to this very forest. Other than knowing that Credour was south, I'd barely had a heading.

A sinking realization in my gut had my shoulders drooping and shame lashing my insides as I swept my gaze left and right. I wouldn't have been able to get Nyrah to safety with my hasty, ill-conceived plan. We'd had no horses, improper clothing, and no way to make shelter. It would have taken us days to get as far as the three of us had come in these long hours.

I hadn't even stolen enough rations.

But there was enough for her alone, and she was smart. If she made it out, she would survive. And if she didn't…

Xavier's arm tightened around my waist, his sharp inhale drawing my gaze to him over my shoulder.

"What?" I murmured, my gaze skirting around the forest before returning to him.

Crystalline eyes glowed in the rapidly growing darkness, Xavier's mouth set in a firm line. "You're upset," he rumbled, his hold not loosening a millimeter. "You smell of regret. What has you so sad?"

Facing forward, I offered a noncommittal shrug. "It's nothing."

That was a lie. Nyrah was more than nothing, but I couldn't do anything about it and talking of escaping put them both on edge. I knew I couldn't get to her, knew my plan was horrible, and the odds of us surviving and getting somewhere that would accept us were damn near nil. Obsessing over it wouldn't change the facts.

A sigh gusted across the nape of my neck, and I suppressed a shiver. His breath was nearly scalding, almost as if he could breathe fire, and then I realized Xavier was also a dragon and most likely could. But that gentle puff of air twisted my insides as did his hold around my middle. It was tender and reassuring, the first comfort anyone had ever given me.

Momma and Father weren't the consoling type, our home and the guild never allowing such things. After they'd passed, Nyrah was mostly the recipient of my hugs, but even I had to admit most of them were awkward and stilted. I didn't know how to give comfort to a grieving child, and no one had ever taught me how to be a mother.

I fought off the urge to settle into Xavier's embrace again and allow myself to be soothed. It would be so easy and so, so dangerous.

What good could come from a dragon? These men were not my friends or my family. They didn't care about me any more than what was required to get the job done. Xavier was only playing at being kind because he wanted me to trust him. It didn't matter if every single touch had my heart thundering in my chest or my stomach twisting in knots. It didn't matter that his breath on my neck made me ache.

I knew better.

Didn't I?

Stiffening, I shifted forward, shoving his arm off of me. I would not be lulled into a false sense of security only to have the rug pulled from underneath me again. I wouldn't trust either of them, and I was not safe—not here on the back of this horse, not in Direveil, and I wouldn't be in Credour, either.

Especially not in the domain of the king.

A faint whooshing had all the hair on my arms standing at attention, before a thick metal arrow embedded into the trunk of a tree, scarcely a foot from my face. In a blur of speed, Xavier ripped the arrow out of the bark and threw it back from whence it came.

A sharp cry in the darkness told me his aim had struck true.

Then several things seemed to happen at once. A curtain of arrows flew from the tree line, blanketing the darkening space before we were up and off the horse, its big body blocking most of them as I was pulled to safety. The horrific sound of the arrows hitting the animal instead of us had tears hitting my eyes.

I'd cursed Orrus many times over the years, but this…

Xavier let out a low grunt as he drew a sword from his back, blocking the worst of the scene with his large frame. Kian's warmth registered on my right as I was roughly shoved behind the thick width of a tree, its gnarled trunk offering too little cover from the onslaught. The pair of them shielded me, and I could see nothing of the people attacking us.

But I could hear their arrows hitting the bark over and over again.

"Remember how I said we didn't want to get caught in this forest?" Kian muttered, ripping his own twin swords from the scabbards at his back.

I figured the question was rhetorical—either that, or shock had stolen my words completely—and simply blinked at him. I'd never been in battle before, but by the glint in his eye, he'd endured more than his fair share.

"How many?" Xavier growled, his fingers closing around a thick arrow in his side and yanking it out.

"A dozen," Kian muttered, pausing to almost taste the air. "Magically enhanced. Amulets and spells most likely."

Xavier flipped the arrow, volleying it back to the answer of another scream. "Less than a dozen now. Are you able to assist?"

Assist? Did he mean with those giant swords or?—

Kian's eyes brightened, his amber irises glowing in the dim as he stood completely still. Then his lips curved into a ruthless smile for one solid moment before it fell. His gaze narrowed on me.

"I would help—however, we have the magical equivalent of a cock block with us."

I couldn't figure out what he meant until I remembered the Lumentium I always kept in my pocket. Reaching into the baggy fabric, I searched for the rocks that typically weighed me down, coming up empty.

"But I don't have any Lumentium ," I protested stupidly, my confusion growing by the second.

I didn't want to be in this forest getting shot up with arrows any more than he did. And if he could do magic, I was all for it. I might have been cursing Orrus, but I sure as hell didn't want to meet him personally.

Kian rolled his eyes as his grip tightened on his swords. "You're covered in it. It's in your blood, in your skin. Years and years of breathing it in probably put it in your bones."

I was sure he was right, but…

"I still used my powers under the mountain," I admitted, my voice no louder than a whisper.

But of course I had. And using it had signaled them somehow, drawing them to me like a beacon. I was proved right not a moment later.

"You were under the mountain when you…" Xavier trailed off, meeting Kian's gaze over my head.

They seemed to be communicating mind to mind, their conversation abruptly halted by another wave of arrows.

Kian's amber gaze landed on me again. "We need an opening so we can end this. Anytime you want to use those amazing Luxa powers to help us kill these assholes, we'd be all for it."

But I'd only ever killed Thane, and that had been a time of blind panic and rage. This was… this was… shaping up to be a similar situation.

Firming my mouth, I snatched the dagger at his belt. I had zero desire to help him with anything, nor his king, but I didn't want to die in this stupid, freezing forest any more than he did.

"I'll see what I can do," I growled, slicing into the delicate skin of my wrist, careful not to go too deep.

His dagger was sharper than any I'd ever used, the steel of the highest quality. A thin rivulet of blood welled from the cut before light began to bloom. I'd never used this power on purpose, so harnessing it was impossible, but I could force it out of me. It grew brighter, the tree unable to hide the shining target that I now was.

"Oh, great, now you're a beacon in the dark instead of a weapon."

Gritting my teeth, I shot him a dark glare. "Aren't you a dragon? Why don't you shift and breathe fire on them or something? Isn't that all you're good for?"

Kian's amber gaze began to glow, another beacon in the night as his lips curled into an arrogant smirk. "That's not all I'm good for."

Then he spun out from the cover of the tree, likely using my light like a distraction as he flitted through the night into the fray.

Closing my eyes, I tried to call upon the tendril of power in my veins. Yes, I was tired and sore, my wounds still aching, but I'd been tired before. I'd been hungry and worn, but I'd still saved Nyrah from a fate worse than death. I could ensure we made it out of this forest.

"That's it, Vale. Call it forth," Xavier rumbled, his voice so close to my ear, I shivered. "Latch onto it and set it free."

It was almost as though he could see that thread of magic inside me, too, encouraging me to latch onto it to save us all. I tried to grab it, but I couldn't move fast enough.

I may have been having trouble accessing the magic, forming it into a weapon, but the people attacking us had no such issues. The tree that had shielded us from their onslaught shivered, quaked, and then its very roots snaked up from the ground, twisting in the air as they snapped, freeing itself from its home.

Xavier curled a hand around my waist, lifting me off my feet before tossing me to the frozen snow-covered ground. A fierce growl rumbled from his throat as white scales grew from his arms, climbing up his neck. His pale-blue eyes glowed brighter than my magic as he ripped his sword through the tree's roots.

Those roots now had foot-long thorns, and I nearly screamed when one swiped at Xavier's middle, catching in the fabric of his tunic before he managed to spin away.

Arrows flew through the air, each loose nearly hitting him, the deadly tips embedding into the ground at his feet. But instead of willing my magic to the surface, I could do little to help, other than back away from the devil tree, hoping my distance would let his power free.

A rough grip wrenched me from the ground, and I was spun to face a gnarled hooded man with glowing violet eyes. His blackened smile reeked of old rot and death, his crazed expression far scarier than anything I'd ever seen before.

"Credour scum," he hissed as he gripped the front of my tunic in his fist and lifted me off my feet. "You'll die in this forest."

But I'd already been threatened enough in the last twenty-four hours to let this putrid mage kill me now. I tightened my fist around Kian's dagger—the blade still somehow in my hand—and slashed. The too-sharp metal sliced all the way through the bone, taking his head in a single swipe.

Bile rose in my throat as his grip loosened, dropping me from his rapidly shriveling flesh. The tips of his fingers snapped off as I fell to the earth, my backside bearing the brunt of my landing. All at once, the tree ceased its attack, as if my cutting off the mage's head had severed the power linking the two. As the mage melted into ash, the tree plummeted to the earth in a great creaking crash .

Xavier ripped a thorn from his thigh, throwing it to the ground as he slowly limped my way. He surveyed what remained of the felled mage, amusement evident in his gaze as he offered me a hand up.

"You didn't use your magic, but a win is a win. Maybe?—"

His head snapped up as his glowing crystalline eyes widened a fraction before he jerked me past him, his massive body covering me as arrows pierced the air once again. Only, this time, there wasn't a horse or tree to block the onslaught.

No, the only thing saving me was Xavier.

He crowded me, shoved me against the felled tree as he took arrow after arrow, his body bowing with each strike. His eyes, which seemed so human before, grew slitted as scales sprang from the skin of his neck. Those scales didn't cover all of him, though, and he winced with every hit, every slice, every wound.

But he didn't make a sound until a pained gasp managed to slip from his lips, the noise transforming my insides into a burning ball of fury.

Xavier had done nothing but help me since I'd met him.

Yes, he was a dragon.

Yes, he would deliver me to a king I hated.

Yes, he was technically my enemy, but in that instant, none of it mattered.

Someone was harming him, and they needed to stop. Rage akin to when Thane was hurting Nyrah raced through my veins, igniting the magic I'd tried so hard to keep contained. I'd been suppressing it for so long, maybe it only took an act of fury to call it to me.

They'd wanted a Luxa, right?

Shoving with all my might, I barely moved Xavier off of me. Luckily, I was small. Ducking from underneath him, I allowed the fiery power to rise, to consume, to erupt from me in blinding arrows of my own. Screaming at the agony of it, I ripped that power from my skin and launched bolt after bolt of the flaming magic, knowing with a certainty I didn't understand, that they would hit their marks.

Then, the power that had risen so quickly within me flickered and died, and I collapsed to the ground. The freezing cold of the snow bit into my fevered skin as I sucked in a lungful of air.

A warm grip on my ankle nearly made me scream until I spun to look at the body attached to it, my gaze landing on the mangled horror that was Xavier's back. Knees in the snow, he leaned heavily on the fallen tree, too many arrows piercing his skin. He shouldn't be alive—shouldn't be breathing—but somehow, he was.

"You saved me," I whispered, awe and fear warring in my chest as tears threatened to clog my throat. No one had ever saved me. No one had put their body in harm's way because of me. No one…

My gut twisted with indecision as I considered what someone like me could do to help him. We were in the middle of nowhere with nothing. No water, no thread, no needle. And that was if he didn't bleed out if I managed to remove the arrows embedded deep into his flesh.

If he had been a regular person under the mountain with me, I would be cursing Orrus right about then, the death god likely ready to receive another soul. But Xavier was a dragon, and he had to be stronger than the weak humans trapped in the guild's clutches.

"Just doing my job," he whispered, a faint chuckle making him groan in pain.

And while he'd said it so casually, I knew what he'd done was no small matter. I would have died if he hadn't shielded me.

A snap of a twig had me back on my feet, reaching for my power, but the faint tendril would not come. I'd spent so much of my time pressing it down, shoving it away, and now when I needed it, it was nowhere to be found. My grip tightened on the blade in my hand, realizing I would have to fight our way out of this.

A hooded figure slid into view, violet eyes shining from beneath his cloak as his own magic crackled in the air.

Branches and twigs rose in the sky, felled arrows and rocks and debris following suit. I knew as soon as he gave the order, those objects would pelt us, and it would be all over. The knife in my hand would do little to protect me, but I wouldn't let another fucking thing hit Xavier—not if I could help it.

Bracing myself, I stood my ground, blocking Xavier much like he had done for me, prepared for the worst.

Suddenly, out of thin air, Kian seemed to appear, his form not there one second and then melting into view the next. His amber gaze locked onto the bevy of arrows protruding from his friend's back. Then those glowing eyes fell on me, clocking the way I was blocking him, before switching that focus to the mage between us.

A faint trickle of hope warmed my chest.

His twin swords at the ready, Kian's lip curled as he moved. With a fluid grace, he spun those blades and took the mage's head. Much like the mage who had once held me, the magic died as his body fell to the ground, the objects following his withering corpse.

But Kian didn't so much as look at the man he'd killed before rushing to Xavier's side.

"Always have to be the hero, huh?" he growled, reaching for the first arrow and ripping it out. His attention flitted to me for a moment, his scowl scalding enough to burn right through me. "So much for that Luxa power bullshit. The least you can do is help, witch. The sooner we get the arrows out, the sooner he can heal."

As much as I wanted to argue, Kian was right. Whatever power I had beneath my skin hadn't done much, other than make me a target and thrust Xavier in the crossfire only to save me.

Xavier let out a pained grunt as Kian brutally ripped out another arrow, and the shame of each one pierced my heart. Gently, I brought a calming hand to Xavier's cheek, his face blurry as tears welled in my eyes.

Then my fingers closed around the thick metal of an arrow, and I yanked it out.