Page 150 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Ugh! Will it always be this way with the Wild Hunt? Rushing from one emergency to the next with barely any time to eat or sleep?” I demanded, grudgingly following.

“I promise it is not always like this. The last few years have been tough, but our most common purpose in the past has been as swords for hire. Plenty of leisure time,” Sage reassured me.

“Wait.Really?” I gaped at him in surprise before we stepped outside his tent, and I was instantly taken aback.

We had emerged into the heart of the bustling camp, and I was immensely thankful for the wards that kept all of this noise out of his tent. The last time I had walked through the camp was during the night. I’d thought it was busy then, but most of these soldiers had been asleep. Now I had to grab onto Sage’s arm or risk losing him in the sea of fey going about their business. I saw all manner of creatures, some that I didn’t even recognize, but there were orcs, elves, redcaps, trolls, dwarves, kobolds, and gnomes. I even saw a sleepy hill giant with his stony skin covered in moss and a daemon with his leathery wings on proud display. Pixies cackled as they flit through the air and played pranks to steal food. Fauns and brownies did the same on the ground, dancing warily between legs and under tables while fey shouted at them.

“We travelled the courts, taking jobs where and as we pleased, and I hope we will return to that life after this,” Sage admitted as he wove through the chaos expertly.

“Yes. I think I will prefer that,” I admitted, still staring around us in astonishment. We passed over the river that dissected the camp, and I saw nixies, kelpies, nymphs, selkies, and mer congregating in their individual tribes.

Many of these creatures were solitary and unfriendly, even with their own kind. The only reason they would tolerate this kind of proximity to other fey was that they truly understood the threat posed to their world. And they had overcome their very natures to be here, all together, to face that threat in solidarity.

And that was easily the most beautiful fucking thing that I had ever seen.

Chapter forty-one

CHILDREN OF VIOLENCE

Ornella

We reached Rian’s tent, and Sage swept back the hanging beads for me to pass into the anteroom. The bustle of the camp outside faded thanks to the silencing ward as we moved toward the entrance into the main room.

Inside, I saw Carrick was sitting on the floor at the low table in front of Rian’s couch with a female human sitting across from him. They appeared to be playing a game while Rian watched them, sitting on the couch behind the woman with a faint smile on his face.

I could tell right away why Carrick was so concerned about this woman. She was gaunt in a white-and-blue dress with long, loose sleeves and a low-cut, V-shaped bodice that exposed her bony chest. One of her eyes was swollen shut, her lower lip was split, her nose was crooked from being broken, and her face and neck were littered in cuts and bruises. Her shoulder-length hair was a unique colour, mostly frizzy waves of dark curls, but there were streaks of red beneath.

She struggled to move the game pieces with her thin and crooked fingers, some of which were missing nails. Her knuckleswere raw and cracked, and there were burn scars on her palms as if she’d grabbed something hot.

Before I could step fully into the room, Sage abruptly began wrapping something silky and light around me, jolting me to a sudden halt. I turned in surprise while he finished adjusting the scarf over my neck and shoulders. He had obviously snagged it from Rian’s things in the anteroom because it smelled of the Autumn Prince. Myanamclearly enjoyed wrapping me up in the scent of another male even less than I did, but he was determined to cover my hickeys. He did not want Nuala to see them, and while I knew he was right to worry, it still irked me after our conversation about Orlaith’s shame.

“Sage, they are not—”

“We can talk about it after,” he interrupted me firmly before nodding for me to continue inside. I sighed loudly in protest, but I turned to lead the way into the tent.

Rian was the first to lift his head, those emerald eyes zeroing in on his scarf instantly. He tilted his head as if in confusion, but then the bastard grinned knowingly at me. I had no doubt he knew his cousin’s habits well enough to understand immediately what was under the scarf.

“Oh,” said the fire witch softly, drawing my attention to her as she looked over at me with just one amber eye. “You are blood of the earth,” she noted with a foreign inflection of Sìth Gaeilge that I immediately recognized. Her voice was so flat and devoid of emotion that it was mildly unsettling, but she sounded so much like Amira.

“This is Ornella. She’s a dryad and a powerful healer,” Rian told her.

“She is a daughter of Danu and an exile who finally found the home she has long sought in a Light Wraith,” said Nuala as her good eye drifted to Sage.

Seers were said to be strange creatures with one eye in reality and the other in the Tithriall, so I tried not to be alarmed or annoyed at her for blurting out my business.

“Yes,” I told her because she still seemed to be waiting for me to respond.

“And you are like me. A child of violence.”

I forced myself not to react and merely looked at her. At her swollen eye. Her split lip. And her crooked nose. How many times had I looked into a mirror and seen my own mangled face reflected back?

Perhaps I even still looked like her on the inside.

“Yes. But I did not let them win. And one day, I will bring them as much pain and suffering as they saw fit to inflict upon me,” I assured her.

Nuala smiled slightly, and Carrick raised his brows in surprise at her, so I knew it was probably the first time she had shown such emotion since coming to Autumn.

“Then we will be sisters in our wrath,” Nuala told me, and I was not sure why, but her words felt heavy as if they carried the weight of prophecy. As if she had spoken this fate into existence. As if there was so much more to her than just the frail body before me.

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