Chapter 40

UNA

"I need to bathe some of this dirt off."

Goll glared at me from across our tent where I stood wearing my thickest chemise underneath a heavy winter cloak I was lacing at the top.

"You aren't going to bathe naked in the middle of camp," he declared firmly.

"First of all, I'm not getting naked at all. I'd freeze to death. Hava and I would simply like to wash off with fresh water. I realize you warriors can go weeks without a bath of any kind, but we cannot."

He tilted his head, his gaze taking on a seductive gleam. "What soap are you using?"

I bit back a smile. "The one made of night phlox and moon lily."

His deep, rumbling groan vibrated directly between my legs. "Come straight back to me. After I scry with Dalya, I'll be waiting for you."

After closing the distance between us, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed up against him. His hands slid beneath my cloak and around my hips, heating my skin beneath the chemise. He pulled me close, dipping his head to my throat where he lapped at the skin with his tongue. His hands slid down to cup my buttocks. He squeezed, making that delicious sound in his throat again.

"If you keep that up, I'll never get my bath."

"You smell and taste divine to me." He kissed up my throat, scraping his fangs and giving me a tantalizing shiver. He squeezed my hips and pulled me against his hard frame meaningfully, nipping at the exposed skin of my neck.

He then lifted his head, his gaze trailing down the length of me. "Why does the sight of you in a thin shift and boots arouse me so intensely?"

I laughed and stood on my tip-toes with a hand at his nape to guide his lips to mine. He came easily, coaxing my mouth wider to slide his tongue along mine.

"I swear you're doing this on purpose," I murmured against his mouth. "Hava is waiting for me."

He kissed me one more time, his hands sliding up to my waist, then he eased me gently out of his arms. "Go. And hurry back."

"How long will it take to scry with Dalya?" I wasn't sure how long it took an oracle to peer into her king's future. Goll had told me he was concerned, sensing something he couldn't see, and wanted Dalya to scry to seek some answers.

"We'll be done before you get back. That I can promise."

With one more kiss pressed to his lips, I walked toward the exit.

"Watch for naiads. And bring Pullo and Soryn."

"Don't worry. Meck and Ferryn are coming."

"Ferryn is well enough?"

"Dalya did a wonderful job," I told him lightly, standing at the flap. "He's as good as new."

Then I ducked out toward the closest campfire. Hava quickly walked away from the firelight where Keffa was singing, the basket of soaps, oils, and cloths on one arm.

"It's about time," said Hava, sighing her impatience. "I thought you would never finish whatever it is you were doing."

"Hush, Hava," I shushed her.

Walking beside Hava, I looped my arm through hers, noting Meck and Ferryn stepping in front and behind us to escort us to the stream. I smiled at how well Ferryn looked, fully healed. He smiled back at me then focused on his task as our guardsman.

"You know, Hava," I said in a low voice, "I find it rather interesting how often I find you staring longingly at Keffa."

"Pish. Stop that," she shushed me.

I laughed. "You moon over Keffa like he's one of Ogalvet's sticky maragord puddings."

"I do not moon," she protested. "But he does have such a lovely voice."

Laughing, I said encouragingly, "Well, I think you should tell him."

"Why would I do that?" she asked.

"So he knows you admire him. You never know what could happen between you. If you really like him."

It warmed my heart to think of Keffa, who had lost his love so long ago and likely had not had much companionship since. Hava didn't seem to mind his scarred face, broken horn, and lack of one eye since it was quite true that Keffa had a beautiful voice and a lovely soul to match, too.

In the same way, Hava was a pretty dark fae, but she was a half-breed, which seemed off-putting to most of the wraith fae. At least, I hadn't seen any male wraith faes showing her any interest, and she was quite attractive with her bright red eyes and voluptuous figure. Not to mention she had a heart of gold and the kindest personality.

"No, no," Hava finally added. "He would not think of me like that. He likely thinks me only a child."

"But you are not a child, are you?" I nudged her with my elbow.

She grinned up at me. "No. I am not."

My spirit was light as we made it to the edge of the gurgling stream. Hava ignited a ball of feyfire in her palms then whispered a command in demon tongue. The orb of flame floated in the air, giving us enough light to see by.

"We will stand sentry from the edge of the brush, Mizrah," said Ferryn, pointing to the line of bushes that was not too far away but enough to give us privacy.

"Thank you," I told him, wondering if I was imagining things when his gaze roved down my body with interest.

I was still covered in my cloak, and Ferryn had never looked at me that way before. The way a male courtier at Issos might when I walked into the great hall in a sparkly formal gown. It unnerved me, but then he turned and joined Meck a good distance away, their backs to us.

Hava was jabbering away about how Keffa was also a good huntsman, not just a singer, while pulling out the soaps and oils.

"Here's a cloth for you." She passed me one and a bar of soap.

I lifted it to my nose and inhaled a deep whiff, noting the way Goll loved to smell this particular scent on my skin. Tugging on my cloak's lacings at the throat, I pulled it loose and set it over a fallen log next to the stream.

"Brrr!" Hava was now standing in the water, her short chemise revealing her shapely legs. "It's freezing."

I lifted the hem of my chemise, wishing that I'd worn a shorter one like Hava. My hem would trail in the water and be soaking wet before we were done.

"Gods, it is freezing," I trilled as I waded into the brook up to my shins.

We laughed and set to scrubbing our faces and necks then underneath our chemises. I glanced over at Meck and Ferryn whose silhouettes remained steadfastly facing away.

"So where did Goll take you on Drakmir yesterday?" asked Hava.

"How did you know he was taking me anywhere?"

"I had a suspicion."

I smiled at the memory of our day at the castle.

"He brought me to see Windolek, his mother's home when she was alive."

A bittersweet sting caught in my breast at remembering the look on Goll's face when he spoke of his mother. I'd folded the handkerchief he gave me and tucked it carefully in my satchel of clothes to keep it safe.

He had obviously loved his mother very much and lost her too young. And then his father locked him in a dungeon for years. It was remarkable that he'd grown to have such compassion. For though he liked to admonish himself for the blood he'd shed, there was such tenderness in his heart.

Perhaps it was his hardships that had forged a creature who longed for love. That was what I felt when he reached for me in the night and pulled me close, pressing his mouth tenderly to my skin.

Thinking of the wee babe now growing inside me, I rubbed the soapy cloth over my bare stomach, having lifted my chemise to my hips.

"What is that smile for?" asked Hava. "You have a secret."

I hadn't wanted to tell anyone yet. "I do."

"Tell me," Hava urged, running a cloth over one of her horns.

"Not yet. I want to—"

"Shh," she snapped suddenly, her gaze darting to our left where the stream disappeared into the shadow of trees.

I froze, staring where she did. I didn't hear anything.

"What is it?" I finally whispered.I didn't have the heightened sense of hearing that Hava did.

"I thought I heard—there it is again." Hava stepped backwards. "Get out of the water."

I didn't hesitate, sloshing through to the shallows and onto the soft bank.

"Meck!" I called.

My guards instantly turned and rushed over. Hava was still standing in the shallows, staring into the darkness."I can't see anything, but I can hear it."

"What is it?" Ferryn demanded gruffly from beside me.

"Hava, get out of there," I urged, stepping toward the shore. I was about to yank her out if she didn't get to the bank.

"No." Ferryn gripped my shoulder and firmly pulled me back, then stepped in front of me toward the edge of the water.

Then I heard it. The soft sloshing of water. Something was coming toward us in the brook, slow and steady. Then more splashing. More than one of them, whatever it was. My blood froze, remembering the maddened Meer-wolves. But those beasts had come at a sprinting run and attacked fiercely. Whatever this was, it was moving methodically slowly.

"Hava!" I cried.

Ferryn reached forward and grabbed Hava by the arm and hauled her back. Meck stepped in front of me, facing whatever was coming.

And while instincts urged me to run, I couldn't move, frozen with both fear and frantic need to know what was coming for us. I could just barely make out movement in the shadows of the trees blocking the moonlight. Then they came into full view, marching up the stream in a staggered line, straight toward us.

"Gods save us." I stumbled a step back, dropped the rag and soap I still had clutched in my hands, watching my nightmare come to life.

Skeletal fae—half-rotten in trappings of their graves—lurched slowly forward. Some had the bones of their once flesh-covered wings spread behind them. They were the dead of the shadow fae. But the shadow fae didn't have the gift of neklia.

Meck jerked around but not to face me, his horrified and fear-stricken face on his brother. "How could you?" he ground out accusingly. Meck gripped his sword tight, pointing it toward Ferryn. "I won't let you."

My shocked gaze twisted behind me to see Hava on the ground beside Ferryn, unmoving. I gasped, disbelieving what was happening.

Ferryn glared at his brother, sword drawn as well."You knew it would come to this."

"It is madness, Ferryn!" he cried, his voice cracking with terror and fury.

My gaze snapped back to the creatures emerging into the shallows, coming closer. Wights. More and more of the dead, hollow eyes and gaping mouths, their bones scraping and clicking together without flesh and tendon to soften their movements.

"No." I shook my head as Meck attacked his brother and swords clanged.

I dodged around them, running for the camp when a hand snatched my arm and jerked me into a hard body. Ferryn twisted my arm backwards behind my back, pressing me close.

"No, my mizrah." Black striations streaked like shards of black glass in his eyes, darkening his irises. "You're not going anywhere." Then he swiftly lifted the handle of his sword above me and swung down toward my head.

Sharp pain, then darkness.