Page 68 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Ktínos are not shy about such things. We all do try to restrain ourselves for Riordan’s sake when he is nearby, but rest assured that there are few secrets in the army.”

Well… damn.

I was quiet as we walked, mulling over all that they had revealed, and I began to debate with myself on whether to bring up my questions from the night before. It occurred to me that Riordan might not know the romantic inner workings of the relationships of other Imítheos because they were all so prudish in public. But as a handmaid, Sofia was undoubtedly privy to much more information.

“Does that mean… Could Riordan start to feel desire for Orion even if Orion and I never get together?”

“It is… possible,” Sofia admitted with an intrigued tilt of her head. “Once the king’s desires are awakened, it will undoubtedly cause their bond to flourish in new ways.”

Well,fuck. I had not thought about that, and I had no idea how to feel about it.

Chapter nineteen

THE WITCH CAPTIVATES YOU

Orion

It did not take Riordan long to get the coordinates for the village that had been attacked. We flew hard, Riordan, Iris, and I going ahead of Theo who went to Ergastiri to recruit some backup and retrieve the Winter fey survivor. The young male, a warrior among the Oighear Pixies, had reportedly collapsed upon reaching the closest outpost to his ravaged people. Not all fey could travel through the Tithriall the way that insufferable dryad could. The flight had taken the young warrior all night with his delicate dragonfly wings, but it only took us a couple of hours to reach the ice pixie village.

We saw dark plumes of smoke rising into the midday sky in the distance which guided us to a lake frozen solid in Winter’s thrall. The wet stench of rotting leaves, such a distinctive smell of death among Unseelie fey, was heavy in the air even before we landed on the ice.

The Oighear village was comprised of domed ice huts all built at the edge of the lake beneath the overhanging branches of giant pines. Many of the huts had been melted when the Fuath set fire to all the sleds that the Oighear used to move across the lakebetween ice fishing holes. Most of the sleds were bigger than the huts and had to be pulled by teams of gaotha: the large wolven creatures with blueish-white fur that barked when we landed.

The Oighear Pixies were nomadic, living in small tribes of only sixty to a hundred individuals, so I’d known before we arrived that the attack would be devastating. Such an assault might even wipe out the tribe. But my heart still plummeted into my stomach when I saw only a handful of adults were left. They did not even rise from the grieving circle they had formed when we shifted into our two-legged forms to approach them.

I shivered in the terrible cold as soon as my fur and feathers had receded. A biting wind howled across the iced lake and assaulted my bare biceps. Iris was the only one who seemed to have thought to bring a cloak.

Riordan did not appear to feel the cold as he strode across the ice to where the Oighear and their gaotha knelt, crying and wailing over the leaves and ashes.

A tragedy. One that could have been easily avoided if so many of the watchtowers that Riordan had erected in each of the Seasonal Quadrants had not been abandoned. There had been no one near enough to help and no one to raise the alarm in the capitol in time.

Nikos was personally responsible for this.

“Your Majesty,” said one of the Oighear in complete shock when she finally raised her head.

The wings of her companions all fluttered in surprise as they raised their heads. Their short, thick hair and leathery skin were a similar bluish hue to the frozen lake. They dressed in heavy furs and leather armour despite the fact that Winter fey did not feel the cold.

I stayed back, but Riordan went to kneel with them, seamlessly joining their circle. He even bowed his head and kissed the side of his first knuckle in the traditional expressionof grief among Oighear tribes. Something he had learned during the first wars with the Fuath.

“Your warrior reached us safely and will return to you soon along with the rest of our reinforcements,” he said.

“The watchtower was abandoned,” whispered one fey, and Riordan inclined his head, shouldering the burden of the implied accusation without complaint.

“A decision that should never have been made and that will be rectified immediately,” he assured them.

“We know it was not your decision,” interceded one of the older females, someone who might have known my king during the first wars. “We remember how you drove the Fuath from these lands long ago,” she confirmed.

“He only returned home yesterday,” I added to one of the younger males who still looked angry at my bonded. Honestly, I didn’t care that their anger with our people was completely justified. This was not Riordan’s fault.

“We are here to provide what help we can,” the king told them calmly.

“You are too late!” burst the younger male, sending a flurry of snow rushing from his wings as they rippled with glistening waves of his magic.

I stepped forward, but Riordan shot me a forbidding glare before the young fey shot to his feet and rushed away from the circle, disappearing into the dark forest.

“I apologize—” began the elderly female.

“You will do no such thing,” Riordan interrupted her. “He is right to be angry. I was gone too long.”

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