Page 40 of Shade of Ruin

I hadn’t been lonely. There was always someone to talk to. All good things must end, I suppose, and so instead of complaining, I nod my head. Darian and Lee are a little more exuberant.

“Finally!” Lee says when Cole announces we’re leaving to his friends. “I haven’t had a new book in three months.”

The wind that blows down from the hills almost constantly whips Lee’s tightly braided hair as she jumps off the log. Every inch of her insanely tall body seems to glow with excitement.

Darian says, “And I have to report on the drakeling to the Guild. They’re going to want to know all about her. I don’t know how to explain what Maeve told us, but a little creative storytelling could circumvent their questions.”

Somehow, he sounds just as excited as his twin, even though he’s not moving at all. Just a wide grin as he runs his hand through his hair, like the hard part is over. Like he’s finally getting the reward after months of work.

“We’re walking,” is Cole’s response, and the previously high spirits fall instantly.

Lee stomps toward him, the perfect image of a child on the verge of a temper tantrum. “No. You’re joking, aren’t you? Please, someone tell me he’s joking. It’s going to take so much longer.”

Darian jumps up from his seat on the log, obviously just as unhappy with that idea. “We’re supposed to be in Draenyth in six weeks. We should hurry so that we have time to prepare when we get there. It just makes sense to fly.”

Cole shakes his head, never moving or even considering their complaints. “I need to be at full strength when we get there. You can fly if you want, but the Wyrdling and I are walking.”

“Wait,” I say. “They can take me to Draenyth. I can go straight to Calyr and be done with the whole thing before you’re halfway to the city.”

Cole smiles at me, perfect confidence in that expression. “You’re willing to trust Lee and Darian to protect you instead of me?” He glances at his two friends and says, “You’re willing to take responsibility for her?”

That makes all three of us hesitate, and Cole says, “Two Immortals from the House of Light aren’t the same kind of escort as the Prince of Flames. Even you should know that at this point.”

I grit my teeth. Why does Cole always have to make it seem like he’s so damned important? Like no one else knows anything or can do anything without him? I want to tell him I’m the Princess of Shadows and my thoughts are valued too. But I’m not supposed to know that. I don’t think he’d even believe me.

“We’ll walk,” Darian says, nodding his head to Lee. “You’re right, Cole. It’s better that we all go together. And three weeks of travel will give me time to put my story together.”

“Yes,” Lee agrees, her excitement level dying out almost completely. “Together is better.”

Cole nods. The traveling silence must already be starting. Fantastic…

“Great!” Lee says. “Then let’s get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover, and we’re stuck walking the whole way.”

“We could always convince a herd of moose…” Darian mumbles as he looks past Cole, but Lee physically slaps the back of his head.

“No way am I ever riding a moose again. You remember the last time, don’t you? I only have one pair of pants, and I won’t get stuck halfway to Draenyth with an antler hole in them. Not again.”

Even Cole laughs a little at that, and it pulls me out of my annoyance. I’m starting to understand why Lee and Darian can make Cole laugh when I never could. They’re… Light. I don’t know what weighs so heavily on Cole, but you can see it in his eyes. He’s exhausted. I shouldn’t be so annoyed at his silence.

“We leave in an hour,” he says. “Pack up your things, but we’re traveling light. We need to make good time.”

Darian and Lee move around the house with an excitement that Cole’s never had, pulling things out of drawers and cabinets and stuffing them into bags.

Cole just throws a change of clothes into his bag and ties on a bedroll, but my eyes follow him. There’s a depth to Cole that I didn’t see when I first met him. It was impossible to see without having Darian and Lee around to make him smile. To… bring life to him.

I wonder how many years they’ve been the only people keeping him from being lost to the burden on his shoulders. And I wonder how much longer they’ll be able to keep him afloat because Cole’s getting worse. The fire in his eyes is getting dimmer by the day.

The open road feels strange after all the days in Aerwyn. I had wondered what it would be like to travel with Darian and Lee. Would they be talkers? Would they want to maintain a permanent silence like Cole?

Turns out, I think I enjoy traveling with Cole more than Darian and Lee.

“There’s no way that a man could squeeze milk from a rock. Only a High Fae from the House of Life could do that.”

Darian rolls his eyes. “That’s the point, Lee. Aren’t you paying attention to the story? The crowd thought the man was a mage or a Fae. They thought he was powerful beyond any of their imagining. But he was just a man who was very clever.”

Lee glares at Darian, and I just wish they’d be quiet for a little while. It’s been hours of constant talking. More like constant bickering, actually. “But you didn’t say that. Tell the entire story instead of stopping at every little interesting part. Really, Darian, you’d think that after all these years of collecting stories, you’d have learned to tell them.”

“He was squeezing cheese!” Darian shouts. “There! That’s the story. He convinced the whole town that he was powerful by tricking them into thinking he was squeezing milk from a rock when he was really squeezing a block of cheese. There’s more to the story, but I don’t want to tell it anymore!”

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