Page 75 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Riordan?” hissed someone behind us, and we turned to see one of the instructors who shouted even more excitedly in Aeolian when he confirmed it was Riordan. He seemed like he would have thrown his arms around my mate, but he knew how impartial the Imítheos were to demonstrations of physical affection.

“Dimitri!” Riordan greeted him as he clapped the other man on the shoulder. “It is good to see you.”

“It is good to have you home! This must be Amira,” Dimitri guessed, also switching to Gaelic as he looked at me in the assessing way all the Ktínos seemed to. It was not clear what they must think of me, but I could only assume it was that Iwas rather small and unseemly a mate for their king. Although it was only ever the Imítheos who made me feel any sense of inferiority.

“I am honoured to meet you,thárrosi. We have heard so much about you,” Dimitri told me. “One moment.”

He turned, the warmth and kindness all disappearing completely from his face when he shouted at the cadets that had been distracted watching our interaction. He was speaking Aeolian, so I did not understand, but it was clear he had chastised them because they immediately resumed their drills and sparring.

“Sorry,thárrosi. These younglings have a lot to learn,” he admitted with a shake of his head and an exasperated glance at Riordan. “Our general will surely sort them all out in no time,” he added with a smile for my mate as he backed away from us. “I have to get them to their next session in the Pit, but a drink sometime soon?” he asked Riordan who nodded in agreement.

We reached the other side of the field and watched the drills for a short time. I was genuinely impressed with the feats of athleticism from the cadets. It was hard to believe they were not already accomplished warriors, but still mere students of battle. I hoped that boded well for us in the event we had to face the Autumn Court in war.

“Our army is renowned,” Riordan assured me when he spied my awe. “Griffins are fierce and lethal warriors both in the sky and on the ground.”

“You are confident you can fight the Autumn Prince if he comes here?” I asked him with tentative hope.

“Rian DorTìodhlac is a formidable warrior in his own right with centuries of leadership and battle experience in the Wild Hunt. But he is no general,” Riordan began, crossing his arms over his chest as he began to analyze our opponent aloud with me. “Even if he is mustering an army to come here, heis a mercenary with no familiarity in commanding legions of soldiers. Such a vast army of fey will be a mixture of warriors all with differing talents and magic that he may not consider strategizing. So I am confident that our stringently trained and meticulously coordinated ranks would prevail in a battle. It is his magic that will prove to be our biggest challenge in this fight,” Riordan admitted.

“Ornella suggested you might not be able to face him even at your full strength,” I recalled, and Riordan nodded with his jaw clenched in reluctant agreement.

“His magic is dark. A tainted gift that is left over from a darker time of his people’s history. We cannot fight him with magic. At least not directly. Facing him head on will require some thought.”

“What kind of magic does he have?” I could not help asking, although based on his tense expression, I was not sure that I even wanted to know.

“He could take the Vale by consuming my power the same way Jade might have done. Not with blood magic, but with his natural power,” Riordan revealed.

“He can consume your magic?” I verified in horror.

“My magic. My body. My very essence if he wanted,” Riordan confirmed with a glance down at me that seemed to apologize for the upsetting truth.

My heart gave a desperate throb of anguish and dread at the thought of losing him. Heartache that was quickly answered by a fierce surge of my fire magic which raged up readily to protect the man I loved.

I would destroy the Autumn Prince myself before he could steal a thread of magic from my mate.

“Hopefully Ornella will have an insight on him when we get her back,” I stated, my voice trembling in spite of my effort to keep it steady and calm.

“Yes. In the meantime, I have begun to consider what allies we might seek. And I would like to meet with the Sylvan Elves. Their Fallen brethren, the Mavaari Elves, are the distant ancestors of Rian’s people, so the Sylvan may have a better understanding of his magic. They may even know how to counter it,” Riordan informed me as he squeezed my fingers in consolation.

“Elves?” I verified doubtfully.

“The Sylvan are not like the forest elves that you might have seen in the Rookery. They were born from the tears of Thea, the goddess of light, and if the legends are to be believed of them, then they are older than the earth.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the cadets and wandering through the marble hallways of some of the buildings where we would not disturb any of the students. Riordan finally showed me his office, although it did look as if much of his things had been packed up and moved. He said he would take me to his apartment when we had another griffin with us or were officially mated.

We were on our way back to the front gate when I decided he was relaxed enough now that it was time to bring up the topics of his impulsive behaviour and Orion.

“It is chafing unbearably already, isn’t it? Being king,” I acknowledged gently and knew that I was right when he merely sighed and then was silent for a long time.

“I do not want to be leashed and put under control.”

“Oh, Riordan, I am sorry you feel that way,” I said, turning to face him on the path. Thankfully, we were still in The Grove, so we had some privacy as I gripped his hands and squeezed them.

“I want to help my people, and I do think… that I could do some good for them,” he admitted tentatively. “But allthe unnecessary bureaucracy andpoliticsis… suffocating,” he sighed with disgust. “I don’t want to be attending endless meetings. That is not the kind of king that I wish to be. I am a soldier. I do things with my own two hands. Not with laws and policies. I want totalkto my people rather than assume I know what is best.”

“And I don’t think that there isanythingwrong with wanting to do things that way!” I reassured him.

His smile was appreciative but still sad as he reached up to brush his thumb along my lip.

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