Page 194 of A Lord of Snow and Greed

Which made no sense at all.

“Which mine?” I pressed.

“GersemiMine.”

“Do you know it, Vale?” I looked up at him.

My husband shrugged. “It’s one of the oldest in the kingdom, but I’ve never been. No one in my circle has. All the Lisika mines are on this side of the Red Mist Mountains.”

Of course they were. If they were on the other side, the mines would belong to the vampires. The western territory bordered the Blood Kingdom.

“Staret, how far away is it?” I pressed.

“With the latest snows? A half day by horse.”

“Thank you.” I nodded to the holy fae. “With this information, we’ll be going. Staret Celi, have servants pack skins of water and food and bring them to the stables for our journey. Also send a guide to show us the way. Do not delay.”

Staret Celi’s eyebrows shot up in surprise that we’d kept our word. That expression was the last I saw of him before I turned.

“I remember where the stables are,” I said to my companions. “Let’s saddle up. If we leave now, we can get there by nightfall.”

Chapter 52

VALE

Thanks to the punishing pace Neve set for the mountains, dusk neared as we closed in on Gersemi Mine. We had only needed to slow when we entered the mountains and the roads narrowed to allow for single-file travel, but if my little beast had it her way, we would have galloped for ten straight hours.

I’d never been more enamored with my wife.

“How far now?” Neve called out to the guide riding in front of her.

I tossed a smile over my shoulder at Caelo, who returned my grin with an amused shake of his head. He, too, enjoyed seeing my wife take the reins.

“Around this corner coming up, Princess Neve,” said the guide, a male dwarf of around my wife’s age.

I took the guide’s race and the vast quantities of food and water we’d been sent off with as a sign of Staret Celi’s goodwill. Or intense fear. Either way, it worked in our favor.

Dwarves hailed from one of the two mountain ranges that bordered Winter’s Realm. And though, over time, many of those dwarven mountain kingdoms had fallen, the dwarves understood the mountains and the pathways cutting through the great rocks better than most other races of fae.

“Thank goodness we’re close,” Anna piped up from the back. “My legs are exhausted.”

“Riding all day will do that,” Caelo agreed, shifting the quiver full of arrows on his back. Mine wasn’t rubbing, but his motion was a good reminder to move, so I did the same. If you did not adjust your quiver every so often, you might wind up with a rash you didn’t even feel coming. “You did well.”

“I learn from the best.” Pride laced Anna’s voice.

While I was not used to being around a human in this way, during our journey west, Anna had grown on me. When we were not so rushed, I looked forward to getting to know my wife’s best friend better. Perhaps even becoming friends with her myself.

“Slow!” The guide pulled back on his horse’s reins. “Take this corner with great care. Parts of the road have eroded, and it’s even narrower than what we’ve been riding on. In this spot, it’s easy to fall off the side of the mountain.”

The path we’d taken was already quite narrow. How did they get wagons up here to transport the gold and minerals?

“Should we risk it?” Neve stared over the edge of the mountain, into the wooded area below.

The guide replied, “Follow me and you will be fine.”

“No,” I said, recognizing an option that the dwarf did not, perhaps because it was not available to him. “Those who can fly will do so, leading the horses by the reins.”

The dwarf frowned. “I will manage on my own.”

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