Page 112 of Blood of the Stars

“The dragon isn’t our enemy. Mayvus is.”

The others exchanged glances, but no one dared get involved. Kendalyhn snorted and pushed past Aeliana, heading back into Islara.

Aeliana’s gaze roamed the others, doing a silent census to make sure everyone was accounted for. Jasperus and Holm were missing, but an extra man sat, slumped against a tree with a sack over his head and his hands awkwardly tied behind his back.

“Since when do we take prisoners?” Aeliana asked.

Velden shrugged. “I’m just waiting until Sylmar can talk to him. He claims he’s here to protect you.”

The man they spoke of didn’t move. His chin rested oddly on his chest. No tattoos marked his hands, so he wasn’t the man from Lovers’ Falls. “Is he unconscious?”

“It’s just an herb in one of my seaweeds. Lukai can revive him when Sylmar is ready to question him.”

She knew her friends hadn’t mistreated the man, but after reliving Durriken’s memories, something about seeing the man tied up left her raw. She stepped forward and pulled off the sack. The man’s golden-brown hair hung in his eyes, and days-old stubble covered his jaw. She kneeled at his side, lifting his chin to see if he looked remotely familiar.

He was younger than she’d first thought, only a few years her senior if she had to guess. His nose had a slight angle, like it had been broken once in his youth, but every other feature seemed perfectly chiseled from marble. Still, he didn’t wake.

Sylmar hadn’t been completely wrong. She’d been holding back. She realized that now, after being forced to use her power to its fullest capacity. It hadn’t always been intentional. Holding back had been her method of survival for as long as she could remember. She couldn’t decide yet if that was a good or bad thing. Even her uncertainty was proof that she’d changed since coming to Vendaras.

Before she could evaluate it more, she pulled at the remaining energy in her starlock, drawing it through her arm and into her good hand where it held the man’s chin. Her starlock grew warm, and then cold as the energy drained. She fed it to him, not knowing if it would work but eager to try. The others might be content waiting for Lukai and Sylmar, but this man had been looking for her.

She wanted answers for herself, now.

He drew in a deep breath, then his eyes fluttered open. Deep blue, like Durriken’s wings, stared back at her. She dropped her hand, suddenly flustered at his nearness, that she’d been touching his face. She sat back on her heels, cradling her injured arm against her and giving them space to study each other.

For a moment, no one spoke. The others might have been too shocked at her use of magic. Or maybe they, like her, were waiting to hear what the stranger had to say. He seemed to study every feature of her face, taking it in like a man starved. Then he finally settled on her eyes. Her entire body screamed at her to look away, but instead she stared back, feeling oddly stripped and vulnerable before him, despite the fact that he was the one caught and bound.

His lips twitched, then the right side of his mouth lifted, like he was laughing at her.

“Sun’s fire. You’re not the Daisy I remember.” His words brought up images of the daisies wrapped around Durriken’s paws, along with the dozens she’d involuntarily grown over the years. The things she’d always tried to keep hidden. And now he teased her with it, like it was some sort of thing they shared.

She frowned. “I’m Aeliana, and I doubt we’ve ever met.”

Now he really did laugh, and with their audience, Aeliana regretted reviving him.

“I taught you to swim,” he said, “and you showed me where to catch tadpoles in the creek. I carried you around on my back half of every day for almost a year, just because you liked being taller. Your mother cheated on my training because it gave us more time to play.”

Mention of her mother finally made the others stir. “You knew my mother?”

“I lived with your family for my dedication year. I knew you both. And your father.” His smile only grew, still holding a mocking air. “You were my Daisy.”

She stiffened at the familiarity. All his words felt foreign.

Iris stepped forward, almost between Aeliana and the stranger. “That’s not possible. I recognize you. You’re the Prince of Elanesse.”

Her presence gave Aeliana space to breathe, to consider his words. It couldn’t be possible, could it? She’d been three when she left Vendaras. So maybe it was possible, but definitely not likely. Not if he was the Prince of Elanesse. Her Recreant parents wouldn’t have brought a member of the royal family to their home, allowing him to befriend their daughter.

“Iris?” He shifted against the tree to turn toward Iris more, but his bound hands were in the way. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you? Yes, I’m Gaeren, but you knew me as Henri. My parents weren’t exactly going to announce to everyone where I was for my dedication year.”

Iris bent forward, studying the man like an insect she needed to identify. “It could be him. He has the name right, but… I thought he was a merchant’s son from the village.”

Gaeren snorted. “I guess my disguise worked.”

The others started whispering, but Cyrus drew closer to Aeliana. “I don’t like it.”

Aeliana nodded. Sylmar would likely have Kendalyhn examine Gaeren next. It shouldn’t be difficult for her to verify the truth. But what if he was lying?

Her gaze strayed back toward the Islaran gate. What was Kendalyhn seeing in Durriken’s past right now? Were they going to kill him?

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