Page 175 of The Call of Crimson
“They shifted focus… right after we arrived from Rimor.”
The realization sits heavily in my stomach.
“They’ve been tracking one of you,” Darian adds, finishing the last of the locations.
“Why did they spend so much time along our border?” I ask, recalling the first time I had encountered the Fae when searching for Julian’s body. “How is it possible they only broke through once?”
Darian’s jaw ticks. “Ayden has been protecting you far longer than you realize.”
“You’ve been keeping them out of Rimor,” I breathe.
He says nothing, his silence answer enough. Ayden had been so much busier than I ever realized.
I turn my attention back to the map. The last several are scattered, nowhere near the others.
“What changed here?” I ask, pointing to the last three.
He eyes the dates before pointing to one. “That’s the night Lord Aurelius appeared in the middle of my camp right before we were attacked.”
“He appeared?” My heart stumbles, breath catching in my throat. “You mean when Ayden sent him away from the castle?”
“No. I mean, he quite literally appeared in the middle of the camp just before we were attacked.”
“That’s not possible,” I whisper, shaking my head.
“I assure you that is exactly what happened,” Darian insists, his tone bordering on impatient. “One moment, he was just standing there, the next, we were being attacked. I didn’t exactly have time to ask questions on how he got there.”
“That was the night of the engagement ball. He was there with Charlotte. Ayden and I argued, and he sent Aurelius away from the castle as punishment… but that’s over a day’s ride from the castle. It’s not physically possible unless he Traveled with you.”
Darian sighs, running a hand through his mussed hair. “Look, I don’t knowhowit happened, but it did, Breyla. He’s been with me ever since, fighting alongside my soldiers at every attack.”
I drop it, deciding this topic was better broached with Aurelius himself. “Was he at the remaining two attack sites?”
He freezes, his gaze slowly sliding to mine. “He was.”
Dread fills me at the conclusion we’ve both come to.
My heart beats so fast, I hear the pounding in my ears like the torrent of a river about to pull you under. The muscles in my chest tighten and constrict as I whisper, “Aurelius is their target.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
BREYLA
“If you continue that pacing, you might actually wear a hole in my library floor, sweetheart.” Ayden’s voice startles me out of my thoughts.
I’ve been in the royal library all afternoon, looking for answers. I need to understand what is happening between Aurelius and me, but I need to understand why my kingdom is under attack more.
The answer is at my fingertips, but it continues evading me. It’s driving me to madness.
I roll my eyes at him and continue my pacing as I read through a scroll I’ve read a dozen times already.
“My kingdom is under attack, Ayden. What do you expect me to do, needlepoint?” I ask sarcastically. His mother’s attempts to mold me into the perfect docile wife for him would continue to fail. Over my dead body would I allow her to dress me in gowns and sit idly by.
Ayden chuckles and steps into my path, plucking the scroll from my hands. Without looking, he tosses it on the nearest deskand threads his fingers through mine. “Come on, we’re going somewhere.”
I raise a skeptical brow. Ayden’s proclivity for mischief makes me weary by default. “Where?” I ask cautiously.
“To take your mind off the things you can’t control,” he answers, tugging me forward. “I can see them eating at you, and it’s not healthy.”
