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Chapter
Fourteen
MURGHA
By the time we reached Windolek Castle, it was dark and late. Or very early.
I’d actually nodded off. The steady rhythm of his beating wings, his thumping heart beneath my cheek, and his warm embrace had lulled me to sleep. I didn’t know how long we’d been flying when I felt the jolt of Vallon landing, but there were no candles or torches burning in any windows that I could see from where we were outside the wrought iron gate.
“You awake?” he asked.
“Yes,” I murmured sleepily.
He set me gently on my feet and took my hand. Stepping up to the gate, he pushed me a little behind him.
“Are you Lord Vallon?” came a gruff voice on the other side of the gate.
“I am. The king is expecting us.”
“Is he?” I whispered.
Vallon smiled over his shoulder, the torchlight sharpening his fine features. “Gwenda met up with us while you were sleeping.”
I looked around but didn’t see her. The wood sprite had a mind of her own, coming and going as she pleased. When her best friend didn’t need her.
A door set in the gate swung open. “Follow me,” came the guard’s rough voice.
Vallon tugged me behind him. “It’s all right,” he assured me.
When we reached the interior of the castle, I gasped. Our entire village could’ve fit in the cobble-stoned bailey yard. I could see the full length of it by the line of torches leading to the castle steps beyond a set of stables for livestock.
The wraith fae in front of us had four horns and a giant build. He was no bigger than Vallon, yet he made me nervous. Most males did. Except for Vallon. How strange that was.
The wraith fae led us up the steps and inside where another guard patrolled the interior hall. He merely nodded at us and continued his vigil as we were led not into a throne room or great hall but a smaller parlor near the foot of the winding staircase.
The room was cozy with a fire burning—natural wood rather than the blue coal—several overstuffed chairs surrounding the hearth and an ornate desk set to the far side of the room, piles of parchment in neat stacks on the desk.
“Have a seat, and the king will be with you shortly,” said the guard.
He left and pulled the door shut behind him, clicking a lock from the other side.
“Oh, no.” I squeezed Vallon’s hand, realizing I was still holding it. “They’ve locked us in.”
“I expected it,” he said casually. “The king wouldn’t allow the possibility of any strangers wandering his castle with his wife and newborn child in residence.”
I let go of Vallon’s hand to step toward the fire and warm them.
“What makes you smile?” he asked, now beside me and watching me with that earnest intensity.
“I was just thinking of Princess Una. When I met her, we were at the beginning of war with the wraith fae. She was doing her best to assure the people that all would be well. No one knew, least of all her, how close to death she would come.” I shrugged, staring into the dancing flames. “And here she is, new mother and cherished mate.”
A lump suddenly formed in my throat, a stone of sadness settling in my chest.
I jumped when I felt Vallon’s hand beneath my chin, tugging it up so that I would look at him.
“That makes you sad.”
“Not for her.” I swallowed hard. “I’m so very happy for her.”
