Page 139 of Blood of the Stars

After losing her once, he refused to lose her again. He told himself it was because he needed to keep track of potential threats, but he knew that was a lie. Especially after the panic that had infused him when the stranger said the arrow had been trained on Daisy.

She reached out to pet Gullet, who squawked his appreciation, and when her face lit up with joy, a foreign sense of longing rose inside him. Earning a look like that would be worth five of Lenda’s insincere smiles.

Felk sat at the edge of camp even after Daisy urged him to come closer. His eyes darted between Sylmar and Daisy, as if Sylmar were some sort of alpha male who needed to welcome Felk back into the pack. While the others gathered for the midday meal, Gaeren stopped by Felk, passing him a stick with fish and a serving of flatbread.

Felk hesitated, unable to hold Gaeren’s gaze.

“Go on,” Gaeren said.

Felk grabbed the food, then turned away, sitting on his haunches and picking at the food.

“Thank you for coming back,” Gaeren said.

Felk stiffened but didn’t reply. Eleven days into the moon’s cycle, he was like a full-grown man approaching middle age, with sinewy muscles and a wide jaw. But something about the way he curled around himself still made him seem like a child.

“Aeliana’s been sad without you. It’s not your fault you fought in a past life. I shouldn’t have shown you that. What matters is how you are in this life, and you’ve been a good friend to her.”

“The other winex don’t have mamas,” Felk said, his brow furrowing in confusion.

Gaeren sighed. “Maybe if they did, more of them would be like you.”

“I don’t belong with them, not anymore.”

Gaeren glanced back at the others. “Do you want to belong with them? Or with us?”

“I want to belong with my ma—with Aeliana.”

Felk turned his back to Gaeren and cut off the conversation.

When Gaeren returned to the fire, where the others still circled around to cook more fish, the group was unusually somber. Jasperus and Holm excused themselves to rest up before night watch, while the rest discussed trivial things like the food and weather, their eyes always coming back to rest on the stranger.

Sylmar still ate, likely waiting until after the meal for the interrogation, but Gaeren was done waiting.

“So, what’s your name?” Gaeren asked, sitting near the stranger.

The man went rigid, gaze frozen on his food. “I don’t—I’m not sure.”

Sylmar frowned and set down his plate. “Where are you from?”

Lukai and Velden exchanged wary glances, and Gaeren glanced at Riveran’s equally suspicious expression. Was the man an enemy the others didn’t recognize? Did that make him a friend or enemy of Gaeren’s? Gaeren was beginning to wonder if he knew half of what went on in his family’s palace.

“My memories are all jumbled in my mind.” The man set his flatbread down on his knee, rubbing his arms even though it wasn’t the least bit cold. “I can’t grasp any of them. The first thing I remember is waking up in a cave. It glowed with lights in varying colors, like a rainbow lighting the room. When I turned to see the backs of at least ten sprites, I also caught glimpse of them pushing a young woman outside the cave.”

Gaeren turned toward Daisy, who choked a bit on her fish, unable to take in the rest of the party’s accusing looks.

“Aeliana?” Lukai’s voice came out with a growl.

“Yes, they pushed me,” she said, “and I was fine. I didn’t see him in the cave, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there. It was too dark to see beyond the sprites’ bright lights.”

Sylmar grunted, and Gaeren suspected she’d be hearing a lot about heightening her awareness during her next lesson with the overbearing mentor.

“I couldn’t remember who I was or what I was doing,” the man continued, “but I had a compulsion to follow you. To make sure you were all right.”

“The sprites let you pass?” Gaeren asked, unable to hide his skepticism. “After they’d pushed her to her death?”

Riveran shook his head, the X on his forehead glinting in the Sunlight, but Gaeren wasn’t sure if Riveran had trouble believing the sprites had let the man pass or if he was warning Gaeren not to give away their experience.

The stranger shrugged. “They parted for me as if they’d expected it. One even said, ‘your time has come.’ I ran down the path, watching for—for Daisy?”

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