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When Bezaliel did not answer, his gaze roaming behind me to Una and her handmaiden, I let him take it in. He knew I wouldn’t bring my mate or vulnerable females on a violent quest.
After another moment, he called back, “Haslek! Tell Lord Redvyr he has visitors requesting permission to treat with him.”
The beast fae with darker skin, pelt, and tail turned and ran back into the cluster of tents of Vanglosa. From here, we could see no one else milling around the tents. Not unusual. They would’ve told everyone to stay inside and out of our eyesight while they determined if we were a threat.
No sound but the cold wind blowing across the open plain accompanied us while we waited. I looked back at Una, finding her examining the beast fae with wide-eyed curiosity. When she caught my attention, she smiled, excitement glowing in her violet eyes.
The messenger returned quickly enough, running directly to Bezaliel and whispering something in his ear. Bezaliel nodded and then addressed me. “The wraith king may enter with two of his guard.”
“Goll,” said Una, pulling my attention back to her.
She didn’t need to say a word. We’d had a lengthy discussion last night in our furs at the encampment outside Belladum. She demanded to be with me when I spoke to the beast lord. If they refused our help, she insisted it was her purpose to be there to convince him to aid us.
I wasn’t even sure they’d have any idea where or how to find this second text, but the vision she’d had in her book clearly stated it would be among the beast fae clans.
I nodded at her then turned back to Bezaliel, who now scowled. “I must bring my mizrah with me. And because I do, I’ll need to bring more warriors.”
I didn’t need to add that I’d only bring her inside with ample protection. The beast fae were as protective of their females as we were.
Bezaliel’s yellow eyes coasted back to Una, his expression softening with curiosity. After a moment, he said. “Six guards. Follow me. Leave the horses.”
He turned and walked back into the village of Vanglosa, the other beast fae turning with him.
“Keffa, Soryn, Pullo, Morgolith, Meck, and Ferryn.” I dismounted then helped Una. The others flanked us as we walked into Vanglosa.
Just like any village made of brick and stone, Vanglosa was organized into sections, separating workspaces from the residential tents toward the back of the encampment.
The blacksmith’s shop was little more than a hide covering with open sides for full ventilation—a giant iron stove and anvil, metalworks dangling from hooks overhead. Next was an even larger tent with an open front revealing small iron stoves over open pits, the smell of bread and roasted meat wafted from their kitchens.
An open area between tents was set up for curing hides. At the moment, several red deer pelts were staked and spread wide on upright poles, tools left on small tables, abandoned obviously when we strangers entered their village. They were likely bulking up on furs and hides for the winter months.
While Vanglosa was their settlement most of the year, they’d be packing up soon enough for their winter farther to the southeast.
As we came closer to the center of the village where their tents were clustered closer together, I knew that we were nearing what they called thekella’mir. The home’s heart. It was where all assemblies of importance took place in a beast fae community—mate unions, death pyres, birth celebrations. The beast fae were few in number compared to the wraith fae and the shadow fae, who lived wholly apart from the rest of us in the Solgavia Mountains.
While I didn’t communicate often with the beast fae, I knew their population remained low. For whatever reason, they didn’t multiply like other fae. Possibly the curse that had been put on them years ago that gave them a more beastly appearance and left them with only the magick of heightened, animalistic senses and strength. But every clan celebrated each new birth at their kella’mir.
And that is where the beast lord of Vanglosa was waiting as we walked into the open circle. He sat upon a dais beneath a giant oak tree. His black Meer-wolf, one of the biggest beasts of their kind I’d ever laid eyes on, lounged to his master’s right.
Surrounding the dais were fifty or so beast fae males, all the fiercest of his warriors by the looks of their runes decorating their exposed skin. Behind them, there were beast fae women and children peering from around nearby tents. Some had become brave enough to move farther into the open to see who’d come into their village.
Una’s hand flinched in mine, her steps slowing. I stopped and turned to her, but her gaze remained fixed and wide-eyed upon the dais.
“It’s all right, Mizrah,” I murmured low. “He will not hurt you.”
She leaned against me and whispered, “His teeth are as long as my arm.”
She exaggerated, but he was an ungodly large fae. “Trust me, sweet Una. No harm will come to you.”
Her gaze finally lifted to mine. She swallowed hard.
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
“Of course,” she answered easily, so fast it made my heart skip a beat.
She trusted me. It nearly felled me on the spot. I squeezed her hand tighter and tucked her close as I led us the rest of the way to the foot of the dais.
“Greetings, Lord Redvyr. We bring you tribute.”
