Page 175 of Wolf Caged
“An’sidwain is in the last place I would ever take you.”
His gaze locked with mine, warm yet dark as his words sent a cold shiver down my spine and filled me with dread.
“The home of an ancient lich.”
Chapter 47
SAPHIRA
The evening light felt good on my body as I walked through the garden, eyes tired from spending the day with my head stuck in books in the library.
Malachi had been there when I had arrived, and had politely apologised for what had happened. I knew he meant every word he had said, but my wolf side had been snarling within me from the moment I had set eyes on him, and whenever I had glanced his way during my time in the library, I had wanted to growl, warning him away from Kaeleron.
And maybe once or twice I might have actually growled at him, the soft snarl slipping from me before I could contain it.
Despite my frosty attitude towards him, he hadn’t been scared away and had kept me company for hours, a brooding tower of silence in his armchair. As the day had worn on, the mood between us had softened. It might have helped that he had gone to the kitchens and returned with a tray of tea and sweet things, and a few meat pies with some cold cuts and bread and butter. When I had eyed the pies and meat, he had confessed he had run into Kaeleron and had been given intelligence on me.
I had been tempted to find Kaeleron and growl at him too, but had shrugged it off and devoured the peace offering instead.
Malachi had helped me rearrange the furniture, moving a smaller wingback armchair into position opposite his near the fireplace and adding a low wooden table next to it where I could keep my stack of books and cups of tea.
Today, I had scoured the books for any mentions of lich, wanting to know what I might be up against if I managed to wear Kaeleron down.
According to Malachi, Neve had received another vision, one that had again seen both me and Kaeleron in the Forgotten Wastes, hunting for An’sidwain, and had warned Kaeleron that if he didn’t take me with him that his mission would fail.
And Kaeleron had decided to recruit Malachi in my place regardless.
That had stung a little, and I wasn’t proud of myself for refusing to speak to Malachi after he had announced he would be going with Kaeleron instead, dropping that little bomb on me just as I had been growing comfortable around him, or how I had spent a good hour plotting ways to make Kaeleron pay for doubting my strength and my courage.
I sighed as I leaned against the wall in my favourite spot in the garden, my gaze taking in the magnificent wall of white water that thundered into the bay below and then the ships that bobbed on the gentle waves, heading towards the port.
A few minutes later, Kaeleron came to rest beside me, his body braced on his elbows on the balustrade and his eyes on the ships too. I ended up watching him instead, the silence we shared comfortable. Too comfortable. I was beginning to feel at home by his side, as if it was where I belonged, and I was sure that wasn’t a good thing.
“I looked into the Forgotten Wastes today, and also into the lich.” I picked at the stone wall, but managed to keep my gaze onhis face rather than obeying the urge to avert it and avoid him as I said, “I still want to go with you. Neve told you that you had to take me, and I’m not afraid. I’m not.”
He just heaved a long sigh at that.
“You haven’t come to train me. I get that you’re busy, but?—”
“Your training is on hold for now,” he interjected.
Earning a frown from me. “Because you want an excuse not to take me.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Because I am busy.”
“You’re too obvious,” I muttered and jabbed at the stone wall, my mood taking a dark turn. “Of course I would see through it. You can blame it on being busy all you want, but I’m not stupid, Kaeleron. I know you stopped it so you can use my lack of training as a reason not to take me with you. Is it really so dangerous for me to go to the Forgotten Wastes?”
He exhaled again, as if his patience had a puncture and I was squeezing all the air out of it, and looked over my head at the mountains to our left. “Yes.”
That wasn’t answer enough for me. Before I could press him for an explanation, he continued.
“I found Neve in the Forgotten Wastes, long ago. She was near mad from her time there, trying to evade the beast who hunted her. A starving, vicious little thing that tried to kill me when I came upon her in a cave, fearing I was in allegiance with the one looking for her and terrified that I would lead the creatures that roamed the Wastes to her if I was not.” His handsome face darkened, his silver gaze distant as he kept it fixed on the jagged maws of the mountains. “She had been brutally beaten by those creatures, had brushed with death more than once before she had holed herself up in that cave, too terrified to leave it. Neve fears that land. You would be wise to fear it too.”
I shrugged, trying to let images of beautiful, powerful Neve all broken and scared roll off my back. “I get what you’re saying—that no one in their right mind should want to go there—but I can handle myself.”
He scoffed and shook his head. “It is not a matter of handling yourself. The Wastes are dangerous, and I did not want to take you there before. Now that I know the dragon stone is in the possession of an ancient lich, I have half a mind to reinforce the wards that shield my court from that wretched land and prevent you from even thinking about heading there. I will find another way, one that does not involve taking you there.”
“You mean taking Malachi?” I glared at him as he tensed, eyes widening a fraction. “I heard about that plan, and again… Neve saw you taking me. Not the demon. Finding An’sidwain is important, yes? Vital?”
