AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nodded stiffly.
He heaved a sigh and looked out at the mountains. “I am not mad, Vallon. I’m angry and frustrated, and I’m fuckingfrightened.” His voice had dropped to a whisper.
I’d never heard him admit the last. He was certainly speaking to me as his friend now.
“We all are,” I admitted, for the evil was waking with rapid speed and slowly bleeding out into the world.
“So that’s why you won’t bring your little wife to Gadlizel? Too close to the monster we’re fighting?”
“It isn’t that actually,” I admitted. For though it was true the evil being that lived deep in the mountain was growing in strength, I knew I could protect her. I’d flee the mountain with her at the first sign the dark one had broken through our wards.
“Then tell me, brother.”
I startled. Torvyn hadn’t used that term of affection in years. When we were boys, we would pretend we were brothers since both of us had no siblings. By all accounts, with the exception of a blood bond, we were. We’d lived through many trials together, but this past year he’d withdrawn. And that was what had me cautious about telling him.
“She is a seer,” I said flatly.
His frown deepened. “What kind?”
“A world seer.”
There were three kinds. A soul seer prophesied only for one person and their future. These seers were always attached to people of importance, usually kings or queens. God seers spoke the will of one of the gods. But a world seer saw visions that impacted all of fae kind.
“I see,” said Torvyn.
“Exactly. I won’t bring her to Gadlizel because she’d be in more danger from your father than from what lies in the belly of the mountain.”
He turned back to face the sunrise. I joined him at the banister, setting my blade on the flat of the stone railing.
“I understand your hesitance, but I need you, Vallon.”
“I’d kill anyone who tried to harm her,” I admitted, “including your father.”
He turned his head to me, observing the truth written on my face. “Then she is your god-given mate.”
“She is.”
“So we don’t tell anyone she’s a seer,” he said conspiratorially.
Suddenly, I felt as if I was speaking to my friend like we always had. He and I against the rest of the world.
“You’d hide that truth from your father in defiance of his law?”
“My father.” He snorted. “I barely recognize him from the man he once was, Vallon. You know it as well as I do.”
Yes, I did. The king was not the man I had pledged my fealty to so many years ago.
“What if she has a vision among others?” I asked. “She doesn’t have control of her magick yet.”
“Vallon, you never come to court now, and your villa is so far above Gadlizel, you might as well live in a different realm. No one will think it strange that you rarely come to court since it has always been so with you.”
“I prefer my solitude,” I said flatly.
He chuckled, a sound I hadn’t heard in a long while, but then he sobered, his golden eyes sincere when he said, “I need you, brother. I’ll protect your mate as well. I give you my solemn vow.” He held out his hand, forearm vertical. “Besides,” he added, “perhaps she was put into your life to help us all. A world seer, Vallon? It’s rather coincidental, don’t you think?”
“I think it’s the gods’ doing.”
“Then let us listen to the gods. Just because my father ignores them doesn’t mean that I do.” He opened his palm. “Take my hand. Take my oath.”
