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“Has anyone come by?” I repeated the question in a panic now, once again ignoring him. My heart was pounding in my chest so loud it was all I could hear over the gentle lap of the waves. As that panic grew, so did the heat from my magic. I had kept full control over it for decades, but standing so close to Tayln I was sure he could feel the heat.
“Nothing but the usual Walkers.” He was glaring now, his jaw tight as a muscle in his neck feathered. My magic sparked as my heart skipped a beat.
“Jayse. Do you know if Jayse is–”
“What have you gone and done now, Caspyn?” Tayln was off the boat in a thud of foot against the pier, his legs shaking on the dock as he stood toe to toe with me.
I had only ever seen him on the skiff, his body hunched as he pulled the rope. Facing him now, the old man at his full height with the barrel of a chest and arms that were pure muscle thanks to decades of pulling people over rough waves, I saw the man he really was; a powerful force that if I hadn’t been trained in death and felt the heat of my fire beneath my veins I might have actually been scared of him.
By the Goddess, if I wasn’t panicked I would have been impressed.
Instead, I tightened my jaw, facing him as he faced me.
“Nothing I cannot fix,” I snarled, my shoulders straightening even as my hands flexed and itched to feel my blades hot and cold against my palms.
“Are you quite sure about that, because if you ask me all of this seems to have slipped out of what you can ‘fix’.” His eyes narrowed and I was sure I saw the muscles in his shoulders feather, but I remained still, willing myself not to move a muscle, no matter how correct he was.
Because he was right, after all.
I had felt that control slipping away for days, but I still had a chance to stop it.
“Is Jayse–”
“She be fine,” he cut me off again, his voice still a bark of distrust. “No one has come across since before the sun set las’ night.”
I didn’t dare move. I stared at him, his jaw still set, those hard eyes digging into mine as I tried to run through the possibility of my actually having beat them there.
I had no idea how long I had transported myself, perhaps only a day forward, but the fire had been cold and they were long gone.
They had mentioned that they couldn’t get out of the city, the gates of Turin were notoriously hard to traverse if you didn’t have papers, possibly harder if your ears revealed you for the monster you were. I had taken an exit I had found decades before, perhaps they had the same connections.
But he was the King of the Fae–
“Caspyn!” Tayln snapped, pulling me out of my panic. “Tell me one thing, have you brought danger to our Qit? I warned you–”
“I have not.” I replied impatiently, flexing my hands as I once again itched to hold my blades, my skin prickling as though it was begging.
I wasn’t exactly sure if my statement was true, and Tayln seemed to sense that, his hand tightening around the anchor rope as though he would throw it and pull himself away, leaving me stranded on the beach.
“Whatever I have done, I will take care of it.” That time I couldn’t stop my hand from drifting to my blade, even as the sound of horses echoed from the road. We both turned, Tayln already pulling the anchor rope into the ferry.
“Go to the Qit. Tell Jayse I am coming and to pack what she can,” I hissed at the old man, my eyes focused on the distant road and the sound of voices that were now drifting toward us. By the grace of The Goddess, I truly had beat them there.
“That girl deserves better,” he mumbled as he jumped back into the ferry, the look of disappointment near identical to the one Da had given me as a boy. It was more than a lifetime ago, but it still pulled at me the same.
“You fix this, Caspyn, or I’ll be the one to end you if you brought danger to my home.” His warning was clear as he flashed his lantern toward his son and pulled away. I had no doubt he would try, but I would be long gone before it came to that.
The sound of the ropes creaking and the waves crashing against the ferry whispered alongside the voices that were coming closer, and my boots as they slammed against the pier.
If this was them, I didn’t have much time to prepare. I needed to end them before they caught sight of me if I was to have a chance, especially against Vaelar.
Racing into the small copse of trees off from the trail that led to the peer, I ducked into the underbrush, my palm pressing against every bush and branch I could reach. My skin went cold as my eyes slipped to that silvery blue, my magic flaring as I drained time and life from the plants around me. Each one only gave me small chutes of time with my brief touch, not enough to do more than jump a few steps forward and perhaps stab someone in the back. It would have to be enough.
The voices were getting closer.
My skin was chilled with the stolen time, the air smudged with the ash of the dead foliage as I gripped my knives and the source of those voices came around the bend.
Three Wave Walkers. Their faces were covered in grimy beards, their sun tanned skin wrinkled and weathered making them look old even as their bodies were young.
