Page 31 of War Of Fire and Fortune
I faced her fully then, seeing the glint of suspicion in her gaze. "Kade and I are searching for the Peacebringer," I said, my voice steady. "We are of no use here. He already left, and he left me behind to inform Father and to gather some troops to meet him at the ship.”
Valla's eyes narrowed to slits. Her gaze probed. I held my breath. Then, as suddenly as a storm breaking, her lips curled into a smile, slicing through the unease. "Well then," she began, her voice like silk. "You wouldn't mind me joining you, would you?"
Fuck. This wasn’t part of the plan.
My heart quickened. I wasn’t prepared for any games. This exit was supposed to be quick, but I didn’t have any logical reason to tell her no.
"Aren't you needed here with Father?" I dared to ask, hoping to keep her at the palace.
Valla's smile flickered, not reaching the cold depths of her eyes. "No, he's been extra busy planning the next invasion for Woodhaven." She stepped closer. “I can come back in a few weeks when we have the next war meeting, but until then, I think this would be more fun. Don’t you, brother? Oh, it's a splendid idea—we could travel together."
I forced the smile onto my face. “Perfect.” The single word felt like a shard of glass on my tongue. I had planned to vanish into a Hollow and emerge at the harbor to await the men on the ship. But to have Valla as my travel companion was as unexpected as it was unwelcome. I couldn’t use my shadows around her. And ifshe didn’t find Kade on the ship, the whole plan would be ruined before it ever really started.
"Then it's settled," she said, satisfaction curling the edges of her voice. My mind scrambled for an escape as I nodded in feigned agreement. I'd have to send word to Kade, and soon.
A shout from down the hall fractured the tense silence. A soldier, his armor clanging in his haste, bellowed from down the hall. I cursed internally when I realized it was one of her trusted men.
"Princess, the prisoner is gone!"
Valla's gaze snapped to me. The playfulness that had danced in her eyes moments ago vanished.
"Where. Is. Kade?" Her words, filled with venom, fell between us like heavy stones in still water. The visceral heat of her anger licked at my skin, and I felt the weight of her accusation pressing down on me. She thought we had done it, and she wasn’t wrong, but I couldn’t have her knowing that.
"I told you. He already left.” I kept everything about myself neutral.
Valla's eyes narrowed. “He took him, didn't he?”
I fixed my gaze on Valla. Her eyes seemed to glow like twin embers with her rage. "No. We have nothing to do with your prisoner going missing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a long journey ahead. You can come or not. It’s your choice." My voice remained steady.
Her lips parted. She couldn’t read me, so instead she turned, a swift pivot on her heel, to face her soldier. "Prepare our men. We are returning to the ships."
“Yes, princess.” He bowed slightly before running off to do as he’d been told.
She turned to me and leaned in close, the chill of her breath brushing against my ear. "If I find out you and Kade had something to do with this . . . I'll kill you both." The words werea hissed whisper, yet she drew back with the hint of a grin that didn't reach her eyes. “I must speak to Father before I go, but I’ll meet you at the stables.”
I nodded and took a step away, feeling the heat of her threat like a brand upon my skin. Gods, she was a fucking psychopath. And it seemed to only grow worse with time. When had she become a monster? I offered her no retort before I walked away.
Once I was out of Valla’s piercing stare and the prying eyes of the palace, I ducked into an alcove shrouded in darkness. My hands trembled as I fished out the scrap of parchment and charcoal from my tunic. I scrawled a warning to Kade:
Complications. Valla is accompanying me to the docks. Be there in a day’s time.
Rolling the message tight, I summoned a small Hollow and coaxed forth a shadow crow. Its form wavered like black smoke in the dim lightning before taking the message in its beak.
"Fly swift," I murmured, releasing it. The shadow crow flew into the Hollow and the shadows dissipated. My pulse quieted, but the dread lingered. I took a steadying breath, and with one last glance at the palace, I headed to the stables.
This was going to be a long fucking trip.
Chapter Eighteen
Emelyn
The sky was painted in shades of blood and ash. My body protested every movement as I emerged from my tent, muscles aching from the strain of using up all of my strength yesterday.
Near my tent’s entrance, a small bedroll lay crumpled on the ground. Kade had stayed close through the night. My chest tightened at the sight. He was gone now, but his presence lingered, the faint tug of our bond reminding me he was near, watching, waiting. His shadows, though they thought they were being sneaky, felt like whispers brushing against my skin, and I shivered involuntarily.
The weight in my chest was unbearable, but I kept my mental barriers in place. I refused to let him in, so I threw myselfinto earth-bending practice, hoping to drown the storm of emotions clawing at my insides. The familiar rhythms steadied my trembling hands as I hurled boulders into the horizon and raised walls of stone around me. Each of my strikes was a futile attempt to vent my anger, my frustration, my sadness. Sweat poured down my back, soaking through my clothes as I pushed harder, the exertion numbing me in ways nothing else could.
But no matter how much I moved, no matter how much I fought, I couldn’t escape the thoughts circling my mind like vultures. The bond between Kade and me thrummed faintly in the background, an unrelenting ache that refused to be silenced. But I kept shoving it down, down, down. How had he done this for so long?
