Chapter 18

Fuck. I didn't even know what I was looking at was possible, but I'd never met the Spirus before. Sorcha needed to leave. I got it. I didn't like having my life planned for me either, but I was used to it by now. She didn't just turn into an eagle and fly off. Sorcha was glorious. She flew off as an eagle engulfed in flames. I never wanted to be more than just Farkhi, but I'd kill someone to be able to do that.

"Fuck," the tall man swore. "She keeps exposing herself and she nearly killed us."

"This is why she should have been with us from the beginning," Volaris said.

I was pissed, too, because all of this could have been avoided. She was relaxed and happy when I was done with her. Sorcha had been at least ready to hear what we had to tell her. Oh, she was stubborn. She'd probably argue and have opinions about it. I thought I knew how to make it better for her now.

"This isn't her fault," I snapped. "If you two idiots had been paying attention to her instead of talking over her like she wasn't here, you would have seen she was getting agitated. She told you what she needed, and I tried to get you to stop, too. You both kept going anyway. If she wanted to hurt you, she would have. That was a warning.

"I've never been around a Tempris before, but she was keeping the heat contained, even if you pissed her off. Then you told her to calm down. I know she's a Tempris, but I don't think any woman in the history of Nestran has ever reacted well when a man tells her to calm down when she has every right to be pissed off. You're both lucky she left instead of burning all your hair off or worse."

"Fuck," the Tall Man said, mopping his face with his hands. "You're right. She hates that. I know better. Even if she really is Lisana, she's still not my child. It's hard not to try to assume that role since Belisarus refused to do it for some reason. It's not just that Esylle wants her to stay here. I want that for Esylle, too, but I don't want to think of that kid isolating herself on Idric like she was doing when she has people here who care about her. I don't even care that she would make a suitable heir for Esylle or who she's supposed to be to the tribes. She shouldn't be alone."

The Tempris were at least more similar to me than humans, but I got that. Maybe we weren't that different. My dad was protective of me as his fledgling, but if another kid needed help, any tribe member would have stepped in. They would have felt just as protective of that fledgling as the Tall Man was for Sorcha.

"If you care about her and don't want her running off and exposing herself, stop planning her life for her. And you," I said, pointing at my father. "She's not going to do a fucking thing she was promised to do if any of you try to force her. I'm not going to let any of you do that either."

It was a weird role reversal. My father was a fair and kind king to the Farkhi. He was firm when he needed to be. I wasn't king yet, and I went through my brief phase where I was rude and disrespectful. I grew out of it and maybe I was being a little rude, but I was also right. My father knew that and snapped into action.

"Fly back to our camp. We need to send spies to the palace to get Joron out. The man she changed isn't going to be able to control his shifts. I doubt he'll be able to make the journey back to the palace as a horse. If he does, it's probably going to take him a while to figure out how to shift back. He could have stayed and learned, but he chose to go back to Folcard.

"When Folcard finds out Esylle is with a girl who looks exactly like her and can gift what they've killed us trying to steal, they will come for Joron. I have no doubt they'll think Joron and Esylle have been able to gift that this entire time and have been keeping it from the humans. They will do to him what they did to the rest of us. There are only three people left with Tempris powers and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Make sure someone gets him out, Sono."

I nodded. I didn't particularly want to leave Sorcha alone since they kept upsetting her, but my father was right. Folcard was evil. I knew not all humans were bad, but Folcard definitely was and he had the ability to talk other humans into doing what he wanted.

I flew off because the Farkhi had another king to save.