Page 64 of Winds of Darkness
That waves and winds would tip the balance.
Still, she found herself returning among the winds the next morning before the sun woke, and he was there, just as he’d said he would be. He was there the next and the next and the next, simply waiting.
He’d promised he would always be there. With her. For her.
But he didn’t know what she knew.
He didn’t know what the winds had whispered to her while she’d lain on that shore the day he’d kissed her.
A prince of water will fall.
Chapter 9
Briar
“Iam surprised you haven’t brought up training with the other Courts again,” Sawyer said as Briar sat with his brother on the banks of Anahita’s Springs. The water was said to be blessed by the goddess, and it was where the Water Fae imbued weapons with magic. Not only water magic. Any weapon could be imbued here. The element of the Fae dipping the weapon into the waters determined what magic would imbue the weapon.
The Springs were also connected to Briar and Sawyer, the only two known Water Gazers in the realm.
“No one seemed keen on the idea,” Briar mused, watching the images in the water before them. Of course he’d come here with the intention of seeing if Ashtine was in her catacomb nook, but Sawyer had already been here. He wasn’t about to send his brother away. This was the one place they both felt connected to their parents. Their mother had been a powerful water Fae, but it was their father who had been the Water Gazer. It was hard enough for Fae to conceive one child, let alone two. Both of those children receiving the Water Gazer gift contributed to the idea that the Drayce bloodline was blessed and favored by Anahita.
He’d also come here because there was a storm blowing in from the north, and the Springs were more sheltered from the elements.
“Right. It has nothing to do with the fact that you stopped visiting the Wind Court,” Sawyer said, drawing his own enchantment to change the view he was watching in the water.
“What do you want me to say, Sawyer?” Briar asked.
His brother shrugged. “Thought maybe you’d want to talk about it. Sorin is … unavailable, and you’ve been preoccupied. Not to mention that for weeks you’ve been going to the same place on the beach every morning before dawn.”
“Your spying habit is becoming annoying,” Briar muttered.
“You’re just jealous because it’s easier for me,” Sawyer replied, pulling the small mirror from his pocket. It had belonged to their father, and Sawyer had been enamored with it as a youngling. It had only seemed fitting that Sawyer have it when their parents were killed, but the mirror was imbued with the power of the Springs. Their father always told them the goddess herself had given it to the first Drayce Water Prince. That was the legend anyway.
“Either way, I thought I’d let everyone sit with the idea for a while before bringing it up again. I still believe it would be a good idea,” Briar said.
“Quit trying to change the subject,” Sawyer said, dipping a hand into the Springs and letting water pool in his palm. “Tell me about the Wind Princess.”
“There is nothing to tell.”
And that was the truth, as far as he knew. Sure, he could tell his brother about a kiss that happened over a month ago, but what was the point when it had meant nothing? At least to her. That was clear by the fact that she never showed on the beach, but he still waited, night after night, despite knowing it was likely pointless.
Ashtine wasn’t wrong. A relationship would break laws of old and likely incite the wrath of the gods. She wouldn’t risk that. He shouldn’t either, but that didn’t stop him from replaying the kiss over and over. Each day, the memory of how it felt to touch her faded a little more, and he found himself desperate to preserve it. He hated that if they were anyone else, no one would care. He’d spent time with plenty of females. But because of their godsdamntitles, the mere act of spending time together caused speculation. Sure, the speculations were true, but that was beside the point.
“Fuck!” Briar shouted as something icy hit him right in the face. He lurched to his feet, finding his brother laughing. Looking down, he found the snowball already melting in the summer heat. “Ass,” he muttered, wiping at his face.
“It is rude to ignore someone when in their company,” Sawyer replied, scooping more water and freezing it to snow.
“I swear to Anahita, Sawyer, if you throw that at me—”
But they were cut off by the piercing cry of a hawk.
A cry he knew.
“Is that—”
“Yes, it is,” Briar interrupted, trying to see through the trees that kept the Springs secluded.
What would Nasima be doing here unless Ashtine was with her? But he would have felt her cross the wards.
