Page 53 of Burn Bright
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The following morning dawned bright. Noise echoed through the village as I moved from house to house, trying to find the prince and his men. They were leaving as soon as they’d saddled up, I’d heard, despite a late night spent remembering their friends with some of Master Haskell’s bestbrandy.
I saw the two guards who were all that remained of Hussar’s men. The prince’s golden head gleamed in the foggy morning, his breath steaming in the air as he laughed at something the mayorsaid.
But there was no sign of a stubborn, dark-haired man with wild yelloweyes.
I found him in the inn's stables, if it could be called that. Cas preferred the company of animals to that of men, and the horses seemed to be used to his scent. He stroked a hand against one glossy bay shoulder, cinching the saddle tight for theride.
And all the words that rushed to my mouth refused to leaveit…
What could I say?Stay, please. He couldn’t stay. He was wolvren, and bound to the prince’s will. A slave when all was said anddone.
They’d never find us in the forest if we ran, whispered a little voice insideme.
But they’d find my sisters and my father. And we’d never be able to stoprunning.
He’d asked me if I could go to court, but there… there was no answer thereeither.
All that came out was: "You have no feather. And you have no firebird. What are you going to tell theking?"
"Are you certain we have no firebird?" He stroked his straw braid along the horse's spine, and his yellow gaze flickered up, to meetmine.
He knows. I steeled myself, trying not to reveal my surprise upon my face. "I'm fairly certain Hussar stabbed her through the chest with a spear and she burned to ashes. There was no sign of a new firebird in the flames when they finally dieddown."
"I saw the sparks settle on your skin." He strode around the horse, casting aside his makeshift brush. "Neva, I saw your eyes. Something happened in that forest. Something beyond my understanding. Your scent changed. You look different. You even sound different. I saw one of the sparks from her pyre hit your skin, and everything about youchanged."
"What do you want me to say?" Iwhispered.
"Thetruth."
"You know the truth. Or you've guessed it." I closed my eyes, the words spilling from my lips as I told him everything. Galina's offer. The tests. Mychoice.
And the sacred duty I'd accepted when I'd drank from the Well ofTears.
"The woods are my home now," I said, glancing up from beneath my lashes. Some part of me might have dreamed of a different outcome, one where I rode away from Densby with a handsome prince, and the taciturn wolvren at his side. One where I might have made a life for myself at hisside.
"And I'm needed atcourt."
The distance seemed vast between us, despite the inches between ourbodies.
"What are you going to tell the prince?" My back hit the wall of the stable, as he took that final step toward me. This man could ruinme.
"Neva." Casimir's hand reached out, his thumb stroking lightly over my mouth. "WhatcanI tell him?Nothing. Any explanation would see your heart cut from your chest if we weren't careful. Evaron wouldn't speak a word of it—not by choice. But there are ways to make a man reveal what he knows, and I'd prefer to keep this between the two of us. Just incase."
That same heart was thundering inside me. "You're not going to tell him? Evaron will be punished for thefailure."
The words were a whisper on mylips.
And Evaron was his onlyfriend.
"We'll figure somethingout."
"What is Evaron going todo?"
"I don't know yet," he admitted. "The common people love him, and there are several lords at court who seem wary of Rygil. Not everyone believes in the Way of the Light, but their power base is large enough to make things difficult for him—and Rygil isambitious."
"It all depends on the king then, and whether he disinheritsEvaron."
