Page 25 of Cold Hearted
So he’d heard about the horse too?Great.
Admittedly, I was a little surprised myself that the cuffs hadn’t fallen off already. I thought going out of my way to help rescue the fae would cause them to fall off, but I guessed deep down part of me still wanted to do Zander harm. That, or these things were defective.
“Have you met Commander Zander? If you never noticed, he is rather vexing,” I growled.
One corner of Captain Regis’ mouth quirked up before he smoothed over his features again.
I shrugged. “I’ll admit I wouldn’t pass up the chance to give him one solid hit for the trouble he’s caused me, but that doesn’t mean my conscience is settled with leaving him to die.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Can you prove to me that you know him? I cannot send my tracker fae out on a ruse.”
Tracker fae. That sounded promising.
I placed one hand on my hip. “Well, for starters, I rode his horse Omen here willingly—I didn’t steal him. And secondly, I slept in his sister-in-law’s barn yesterday. Brienne and her twin sons Kegan and Kipp. If that’s not enough proof—” He held up a hand, the color draining from his face.
“When was he taken?”
Finally!It seemed the mention of the personal names of his family had spurred this fae into action.“Several hours ago. There were six bandits, and they used a debilitation rune of some type that drained his power and nearly paralyzed him. One of the bandits said his boss wanted to speak to Zander before he cracked me over the head, and I was knocked out.” I peeled my hair back to show him the egg that had grown there and was now blessedly healing.
The captain rushed passed me and burst out of the tent. “Get me Tomas and Gwen!” he barked to the men.
I stood there silently as the minutes ticked by until the captain returned with two lithe-looking fae. They weren’t wearing the regular Northern Army regalia. Instead they wore strips of leather and moss. Small twigs hung from their long brown hair as they regarded me.
Fascinating, they resembled trees or bushes.
One was a young female, maybe sixteen, and the other male, not a day over twenty. They had similar features.Brother and sister?
The young female, Gwen, flared her nostrils as she stepped closer to me. “She smells of him. She speaks the truth.”
“Do you require food before we set out? I’ll need you to take my trackers to the last known spot the commander was,” the captain asked me as he strapped a sword on his hip. The sense of urgency had just been ramped up a notch.
“I’m fine. I can chew on some smoked meat on the way,” I told him.
He nodded, and with that he burst from the tent and within minutes I sat atop Omen once again. The way Captain Regis’ eyes widened when he saw the stallion told me he recognized the horse as Zander’s, and he started moving even faster. After mounting,we were ready to ride out with over a dozen members of the Northern Army behind us and only the moonlight to guide our path.
Captain Regis leaned in to one of the soldiers who was staying behind. “You will make all decisions about the war in my absence. If the rebellion has him, then we have a much bigger problem on our hands.”
I frowned at that, but when his gaze flicked to mine I wiped my face of all evidence that his words of a war and a rebellion affected me.
Was there a war going on that I didn’t know about? Was this related to what Brienne and Zander were talking about in the kitchen? He’d pulled her away to update her about some rebel invasion. It was all a possibility, I only got to this realm a few days ago. It made sense then why these men were out here. They were at war. All while the Northern lord sat in his pretty castle, no doubt, as his people bled for him. That was infuriating and gave me the fuel I would need to kill him without guilt.
I led the way out of Harpy Bay, barely even needing to guide Omen to the spot where I’d lost Zander. A dozen times along the ride I asked myself what I was doing. I had a horse, I had a current map that the elderly couple had drawn me—why wasn’t I riding for Noreum where the lord sat and taking his heart? Sure, it would be easier to get an audience with the Northern lord with Zander’s help, but I was skilled and trained well enough to be confident I could sneak into the castle and get the job done.
The truth was, every day that passed was a day my people in Faerie suffered. Crops were decimated by the darkness. The sunlight that powered my people grew dim. But no matter how logical it was to turn Omen around and seek to complete my mission on my own,I couldn’t force myself to abandon Zander to his fate. The inability to put my mission and the fate of the Summer Court before anything and everything else scared me, chilling my blood more thoroughly than the freezing northern air ever could.
Why was I risking all of that for a guy?
Snuggle bunny.
Little bird.
The bastard had grown on me. His incorrigible flirting, his stupid pet name for me. I couldn’t just leave him to die.
“Why do people keep trying to kill or capture Zander?” I asked his captain.
Captain Regis gave me a side glance and I noticed a pelt of fur ran down the back of his neck and disappeared under his shirt. He was part beast, as all unseelie were, but I was becoming less and less revolted by that, and more simply curious.
“He’s the commander of the entire Northern Army. His enemies are many.”
