Page 153 of Faeling
“Fae!” The cry rang out from one of the sentries guarding the eastern flank. “Fae approach!”
What? But it was far too soon for them to return from across the water?
Not those fae,Oberon corrected.Friends!
Ravenna hurried to the eastern edge of camp, Asta, Mattias, and many berserkers behind her. They gathered along the ridge, peering down the grassy slope toward the line of oak trees to the east. Three sentries stood near the tree line, spears raised at a figure walking forward.
Two figures.
A unicorn and mounted fae.
“It can’t be…”
The black unicorn came to a halt just out from the trees. His dread-rider, clad in leathers rather than armor and regalia, lifteda hand to his brow, shading his eyes to look up the hill.
“Crow? Is that you?”
Oberon neighed merrily, nudging Ravenna’s shoulder.Allarion and Bellarand have come!
For a moment, she teetered on the edge of the ridge, not quite believing Oberon or her eyes. It just couldn’t be.
It’d been years since he left her in the safety of her bower to take the deep sleep behind the layers of wards set by her father. Their plan had been so simple; she would sleep to dull her powers until Allarion could secure a place in human lands to make his own, warding it with his own magic. When it was safe, he would bring her there, hide her away to begin again. That seemed so long ago now, another life.
Before she’d even thought to, her legs were moving. She heard someone call her name, but she didn’t heed it. Arms wheeling, she ran down the slope, bending and crushing the tall grass beneath her boots.
Her heart beat wildly, so quickly that she nearly flew to him. The sentries were but blurs as she passed them, avoiding their caution and arms.
Allarion jumped off Bellarand to meet her. Arms thrown wide, he caught her when she threw herself at him.
It wasn’t quite the arms of her father, but it was the closest Ravenna would ever get in the living world. So many evenings had been spent round the table with her parents and Allarion, telling stories, joking, playing dice. Her father’s closest friend, he’d quickly become something of an uncle to her, a second father.
When her parents perished, it was Allarion who came for her. It was Allarion who comforted her and took her to safety.
A shudder passed through him, and he rocked them back and forth. “Goddesses, I’ve longed for this day.”
Ravenna couldn’t pull away for long moments, more tears leaking from the dregs of her soul. Fates, she didn’t deserve—she could hardly believe—why now? Her old life and her new one were colliding, and she didn’t know if she could bear the impact.
Allarion held her tight for long moments, silently offering his comfort as she wept. Goddesses, fates, the spirits of Maxim and Aine—she didn’t care what had sent him, only that he was here.
When she did manage to pull back her tears, she was shocked to look upon him.
No longer the grayish color of a fae reliant on magic, his skin bore a purplish hue and his sclera were white, emphasizing the dazzling amethyst color of his irises. When he smiled, she couldn’t help catching his chin in her hand to inspect his gums and tongue. Both were a healthy pink.
“How—?” she choked.
“There’s much to share. For both of us.” Glancing at the baffled sentries around them, he added, “Because I’m intensely curious about why you find yourself amongst an orc war party.”
Fates, where to even start.
“Erm, my queen…”
Ravenna looked over her shoulder to find Bellarand teasingly knocking his horn against one of the sentries’ spears.
Allarion poked his dread-mount’s flank. “Don’t scare them.”
Whatever the unicorn said back had Allarion rolling his eyes.
“There’s no danger,” she assured the sentry, wiping at her tears. Stepping between Bellarand and the berserker, she petted the unicorn’s gleaming black muzzle. “These are good friends.”
