“I’m not dying,” Vesper assured. “It’s a month. Not forever.”
Marlys’ thumb stroked his cheekbone, something she once did when he was a boy and ran to her for a dose of tough love. “Can you blame me for worrying? You left us once. And don’teverdo that again. I mean it.” She gently pulled her hands from his grip, stepped back, and crossed her arms with sass. “Don’t do anything moronic. Use your brain, boy.”
Vesper scoffed. “Why does everyone think I’ll do something stupid?”
“Experience,” Briar chimed in and they all laughed hesitantly.
But when the quiet settled, Vesper knew it was time.
“Thank you all,” he said. “For everything you’re doing and have done. I’ll send word with Quill once I’ve arrived. If you don’t hear from me in a few days, I’ve likely been mauled then digested into Hollowhound shit.”
Briar swatted his arm. “Don’t be a prick.”
But Vesper gave her hand an affectionate squeeze, glanced between his three pillars of strength, and mounted Balthasar.
If his father was there, would he be proud of him? Would this somehow make up for the century of wasted life and all the atrocities he’d committed against his family’s values? Would his father finally see who he really was, or still look through him like a ghost? Would this be enough to earn his approval? Or earn his love? Either way, he would fight for his home.
His mind wandered back to Arborius shackled in a chamber hidden in the mountain pass, trapped with corpses, bled, and starved all that time by his father’s hand. And why, Vesper didn’t know, other than the dragon aided Thellonius in the massacre of Asaella’s former rulers, along with the rest of their people. Vesper had been too young to know the details, but the unending punishment seemed beyond cruel.
Emmery was right to free him; Arborius had paid his debt. Gods only knew how Thellonius convinced the dragon to commit such an act, but the former King was as manipulative as they came. If Emmery hadn’t intervened, Arborius would still be there, eternally wounded and bleeding onto that damp cave floor, the rotting flesh of corpses flooding the air he breathed as he stared up into the sky and longed to fly again. Instinctively, Vesper laid his hand over hisShadowheart. What would Kaida think if she’d seen that? If she knew what Vesper did to a fellow dragon when he housed one inside his body. How he promised freedom with twisted words. It was something Destonne would do.
Thundering hooves yanked Vesper from his thoughts. He squinted into the distance and his stomach clenched.
On a grey steed, barrelling toward him, was—
Gods, it wasNef.
A cloud of dust chased her and the horse’s nostrils flared from exertion. Nef’s golden waves tangled like a fisherman’s net after a long day at sea, and her wind flushed cheeks coloured her pale skin in a riot of reds and freckles.
Gasping and sputtering, she nearly fell off her steed as she skidded to a halt, her breaths reedy as if she’d sprinted here rather than rode.
She wore a pair of ill-fitting tan trousers tucked into her boots and a turquoise tunic that clearly belonged to a man twice herweight. She’d hastily knotted it at the waist and unevenly rolled it up her arms.
Nef slid off her disgruntled mare and plucked a few twigs from her bird’s nest of hair. She tossed them aside and turned to Vesper.
Before she could speak, he seized her arm and tugged her aside. “Why are you here? Unless Ottai changed his mind, you’re not allowed to leave unless I escort you. And he’ll have my balls if you’re not back before sundown.”
Her Master would be more than irate. He wouldkillher.
“Hello to you too,” she said, her voice breathless. Her pulse visibly thrummed in her throat. Sweat clung to her brows and slid down her temples as her breaths wheezed out of her.
Vesper searched her face for answers and didn’t like any he found.
“Are you alright? What happened?” He glanced behind him to see a curious sea of eyes watching the two of them. Nef had covered her red pactum scar with a black kerchief around her neck, so none of them knew what or who she was. When she’d been at Castle Dusk, Vesper had managed to sneak her and her friend out before Cal saw them.
Nef’s full lips pulled into a too tight smile. “I’ve taken care of things. I’m permitted to join you.”
He struggled for words as his mind somersaulted. It couldn’t be possible. Her new Master wouldn’t let her go, especially after he’d made arrangements for his leave. “I don’t have food for you or—”
“All taken care of.” Nef gestured to the overflowing saddle bags behind her, the sable fabric so full it pulled at the seams. A gold hilt with several sapphires peeked out over her shoulder. Anexpensiveshortsword she likely had no clue how to wield. He didn’t want to hear the story of how she’d gotten these things, especially with his closest friends listening behindhim. Uneasiness slithered through him as his attention darted between the saddle bags and Nef.
She had the audacity to wink at Vesper before she pulled her arm free of his hold and mounted her horse. “I’m ready when you are.”
Vesper grabbed the steed’s reins, and yanked her close enough to keep Briar, Cal, and Marlys from overhearing. “Nef, you look … ill. You’re not up for this trek. It’s long. Anddangerous—”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Vesper gripped the reins, his knuckles white. Blood rushed to his face as the realization of what Nef had likely done sank in. “Why don’t you stay at the castle? Rest. I’ll have Quill send a message to Ottai. Then I’ll return in a month and we can sort this out then.”