Page 64 of The Crowned Queen

They seemed unconcerned now, at least. They raced ahead, weaving through the giant trunks until they finally reached the Alderwyl, the river cutting through the forest like a silver ribbon. The water churned at its banks, swollen with spring snowmelt and no doubt still glacial-cold. Loren could still remember his mother’s fury when he had convinced Eloria to jump in during her tenth spring.

“This looks like as good a place as any,” Finn said.

It had to be. Even Loren could see that Serafina wouldn’t make it much further. Finn had shouldered her pack for her hours ago, but her face was too pale and her limp had only worsened as they continued, their pace slowing to a crawl.

At least it wasn’t a bad place to make camp. They’d stumbled on the cluster of stone houses almost by accident, their walls so buried in leaf litter and debris that it looked like they were being swallowed by the forest. Ivy crawled over the stones, threading through shattered windows, and their thatched roofs had long since rotted and fallen in, but they seemed sturdy enough otherwise, stone and fae craftsmanship standing fast against the test of time.

“I’ll set up here,” Serafina said, stopping in front of the largest of the houses. “Is there some way we can get the roof covered? The drier we can keep things the better.”

Finn nodded, already turning in a slow circle. “We need to set a perimeter first.”

“I can do that,” Loren said. His shadows were already spreading across the ground, slipping through rotted doorways and broken windows to investigate.

“Not alone,” Finn said, frowning. “Everyone stays in pairs. And don’t wander out of earshot. If something attacks you—scream.”

“Won’t the Arcanum hear us?” Brynn asked, her voice small.

Finn shook his head, his expression grim. “We’re the only ones mad enough to be out here.”

Loren and Caela walked the perimeter, pausing every few feet for Caela to carve a sentry rune deep into a tree trunk. Magic stretched between them, forming an invisible barrier between their camp and the rest of the world.

“Think it will work on whatever those vines were?” Caela asked.

“I honestly have no idea,” Loren admitted. His shadows spread out, searching for any threat they might have missed as Caela got to work gathering up fallen branches for firewood. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. Honestly, it reminds me more of the Shadowed Veil than anything else.”

“Well that’s not reassuring at all.” Caela grimaced. “At least it seemed like Brynn’s fire worked against it. How did you know how to calm her down after?”

Loren shrugged. “I’m over fifty years old. I’ve seen people come into elemental magic before. It’s overwhelming for everyone at first.”

“Useful though.” Caela bent down, gathering an armful of fallen branches for firewood. “And Naeva has precognition. That’s why Raelle chose them both to come. Because they’d be useful.” She laughed humorlessly. “I only got illusion. What good is that? Sometimes I think she just said yes to me because I would have irritated the fuck out of her if she hadn’t.”

“My sister is an illusionist,” Loren said. “It’s more useful than you think. Eloria can turn herself invisible, or even project her form somewhere she’s not. She had the Arcanum fighting boats that didn’t even exist back on Eluneth.”

Caela held out her hand, her forehead wrinkling as aether gathered in her palm, coming together to form a misty butterfly. Its wings beat slowly, its ephemeral form flickering twice before vanishing altogether.

“I can make a butterfly,” she said flatly. “Not that impressive.”

“You’ll learn.” Loren bent down to pick up more wood to hide his smile. “You have no idea how impressive that was. You’ve had your magic what, a month? It will only keep getting better.”

Caela grumbled, dropping her bundle of firewood beside the main house. “Was this a village then?” she asked, straightening. “It’s awfully small.”

“Probably a family holding.” Loren stepped back, trying to picture what it would have looked like twenty-five years ago. They weren’t that far off the road. He might have passed right by here a dozen times in his life. “The parents would have lived in the main house, their children and grandchildren in the others. They would have fished in the river and farmed a small plot of land somewhere nearby. They probably kept goats, maybe even bees.”

“It sounds like a nice life,” Caela said wistfully. “Do you think the Arcanum drove them out?”

Loren shook his head slowly. “There aren’t any scorch marks or signs of a struggle,” he said. “It looks more like they just packed up and left.”

Caela shivered despite the warmth of the spring air, wrapping her arms around herself. “They must have been really scared,” she said. “If they were willing to leave this place to face the Arcanum out there.”

Loren followed her gaze, the hair on the back of his neck prickling. Wild magic. Old and powerful. They’d seen the damage it could do on Eluneth. What had it done here that had driven these people from their homes?

“Let’s go find Finn and see what else we can do to help,” he said with a confidence he didn’t feel, clapping her on the shoulder. “Then we can sit down and come up with a plan.”

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Araya knew the moment Elise brought a woolen dress instead of a clean shift that her reprieve was over.