Page 93 of A Dance With Fire
He hated Weylyn. Everyone fucking did. Nothing was private with him around, and the fucker relished in digging out their most intimate thoughts.
It was because of this bastard right here that everyone knew of Mairin, a secret he’d wished to conceal but had been ripped right out of his mind the moment he’d joined forces with the Seelie King.
“The fuck you want, lapdog?” Ryker growled.
“Her thoughts are scattered,” he answered with an amused tone. “So many memories and thoughts all swirling together. It is hard to pick out just one.”
“I don’t care.”
“No?” Now the bastard sounded openly amused. “Then you would not care that the one thought that is easiest to grasp, the one that sits between every scattered, painful memory are thoughts of you?”
Ryker stilled at the confession. He wanted to deny that claim, tell Weylyn he was a fucking liar, but he knew by now that Weylyn didn’t lie.
“Why would she think so often of you when your hatred is so palpable?”
“I don’t care,” Ryker repeated through gritted teeth.
“Don’t you? Some bonds are just too difficult to ignore.”
Ryker shot to his feet, the chair he was sitting in skidding across the ground and falling. He didn’t have to stay and listen to Weylyn spout his nonsense. He didn’t want to. “Fuck off,” he demanded and walked away.
He felt Weylyn smiling behind him like he’d won some sort of contest. Well, let the fucker bathe in his victory.
Ryker didn’t fucking care.
He had better things to worry about. Like the arduous journey that would begin tomorrow. That was what he would focus on rather than whispers of bonds that didn’t exist.
* * *
The next morning,they didn’t waste any time leaving. Packed with all the essentials, the seven Fae stood in a line as the Seelie King wished them farewell.
“Daily updates,” he told Valerio, though his eyes were on Weylyn as he said it.
“Yes, father.”
“May Mana protect you all.” Then the king turned to Shula, and she held her breath at the cruel disposition. “Do not attempt to escape, Shula Azzarh.” That was all he needed to say to her. The tone of his voice worked better than any threat ever could.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat and nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.” She didn’t like speaking to him with reverence, but it was better than being outright disrespectful. After all, he was giving her what she wanted, even when she’d been so rude upon asking for it.
Uric opened a portal, and they stepped through it. Shula didn’t turn to look at the castle. She didn’t feel particularly sad about leaving the melancholy place. It hadn’t been a home. Just another safe house among many.
The portal sucked her in and spit her out in an entirely different location. One that wasn’t covered in snow, but still had a cool, gentle breeze. Trees surrounded them from all sides, and there was no roaring wind or freeze. It made Shula feel overdressed in her coat and fur-lined boots.
Once the portal closed behind them, she turned to look at all six of her companions. They were assessing their surroundings while Uric caught his breath in the aftereffects of using his magic.
“Where are we?” Shula asked, the first to break the quiet.
“South of Tuath mountains, near the Arcana.”
The Arcana was a wide rush of a river that spread down the middle of Illyk, from the north in Vellm and ending in Dana. It divided half of the human lands down the middle.
“We cannot travel by river,” Valerio said. “Soldiers are stationed at major docks and checkpoints, checking papers and registration numbers.” He looked around the woods, his gaze quiet and assessing. “We’ll stick to the woods. Stealth is important. We cannot afford to be caught. We make our way to Dana, and then we will cross the river in a place we know there won’t be soldiers.”
Shula tried to pay attention to their plans, but her mind wandered, gaze scraping over the landscape. She listened intently to the sounds of birds chirping, deer roaming, and beyond that, the rapid rush of the Arcana.
She’d seen the river before. Dark and as deep as an ocean; on good days, it was still and gentle, but on worse days, it was rapid, deadly. Today seemed like a worse day.
“We’re too close to the river,” Shula chimed in, causing everyone to halt their planning and turn to her.
