Page 75 of Owned By the Fae
'Yes. Since we’ve come back, we've been sent on missions to find them. They look like Gate boxes, but they're made of iron.'
Her brow furrows. 'Why would a Gate box be made of a metal that none of the fae and most of the other creatures of the Dark Realms wouldn't be able to touch?’
‘Exactly,’ Kal says, idly ripping a piece of the bread off the loaf I brought and tearing it slowly into crumbs. ‘I don't think they're Gate boxes at all. There’s something inside them that Varrik wants. We've been sent to get two of them so far. I spoke with Vern the other night in the pub. Once he was deep enough in his cups, he mentioned there have been others, and that Varrik has been single-minded about finding them for years. He’s had them located, he’s stolen them, he’s bought them.'
Lia sits up straighter, an odd look on her face.
‘You know something?’ I ask.
‘I was taken to Varrik’s study the other day. He had me kill an orc. A box was mentioned. The orc had tried to double-cross Varrik. He sold it to someone else and told Varrik he wouldn’t find it, but Varrik said that he already had it and that someone was retrieving it.’ She looks at us. 'What do you think they are?'
I shake my head. 'Clearly something important to him and it sounds as if he’s willing to go to any lengths for them. He was beside himself when we returned with one after that mission.'
Lia’s eyes find mine.
'Was that when you killed Grith?’ she asks, her tone almost playful.
I raise a brow, a little uncomfortable but at the same time oddly thrilled that my female knows what I did. 'I didn't know you knew.’
‘Kallum told me.’
There's a glitter in her eye.
'Thank you,' she says, squeezing my hand hard.
'He deserved it,' I say.
'Yes.’ She nods. ‘He did.’
‘Come,' Kal says. 'We can’t stay here.’
I grit my teeth. I don't want to leave yet. I want to spend time with my Harbinger, with my mate, but Lia nods, looking resigned.
‘A healer is meant to be coming soon,' she says. ‘To check …’
I watch as Kal stiffens and I look between the both of them. ‘Check what?’
Lia swallows hard and gives Kallum a meaningful look. ‘Tell him?’ She glances at me. ‘I don’t want to speak of it.’
‘Everything?’
She inclines her head a tiny bit, looking resolved.
‘Tell me what?’ I growl, my stomach rolling. ‘What more have you kept from me, Kallum?’
'Not here,' Kal says with a shake of his head. 'Come on.'
I put away my frustration to embrace Lia. ‘I’ll come back as soon as I can.’
She gives me a small smile and I put my hand on Kal’s shoulder. Her eyes move away from us and dart around a bit. She can’t see us anymore. I try not to look at her forlorn expression as we leave her alone. She goes back to sit on her chair by the dying fire.
'She needs wood,' I remark to him. 'It's going to be cold tonight.'
‘Dane will sort it,’ Kal sighs.
Dane?
He doesn't speak again until we're outside of the keep and down the lane. When we reappear, he stops and turns to me.
