A while later, Elara lay snuggled against her husband under the wool and fur blankets, fatigue poking at them.
“You will introduce me to this fairy you have met,” he said, not quite an order but firm enough for it not to be taken lightly.
Elara looked up at him from where she lay tucked comfortably in the crook of his arm. “Only if you give me your word you will not capture or harm her.”
“You have no room to negotiate with me,” he cautioned.
“Amelia took a chance trusting me and I will not betray that trust,” she said, with a resolve that let him know she would not have it any other way. “Besides, meeting and talking with her will get you what you need to know. There is no reason for her to be taken captive.”
“The king might think differently.”
“Perhaps it is time he does,” she said softly. “The healer he so desperately seeks will not be found until she is ready to be found. That means I failed the king.”
“We failed the king,” Dar corrected, “in that regard. If we can bring him news that would help, it might make a difference.”
“Like the man who will help change the tides of war?”
“Aye. If we can find him and see what help he can offer and find out why the fae folk are now making themselves known, then perhaps that will be enough to appease the king and prevent him from condemning us for failing him.”
His remark turned them silent and soon Dar heard and felt his wife’s steady breathing. She had fallen asleep while his busy thoughts fought off sleep that crept close.
Hunts were always easy for Dar. There was the prey, the tracking, and the capture. Know who you went after, follow the trail, and capture them. This hunt had turned into more than one prey, and yet he felt, deep in his bones, that all the tracking would lead to one person or one conclusion.
The question was… would it be in favor of the king?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Outside the Village of Ancrum
The Road to Pratus Castle
* * *
Dar swung down from his horse and turned toward her.
“You are not going with me.”
The words came without warning.
Elara straightened. “You mean to leave me here?”
Elara glanced around. The road had already fallen away behind the trees, the narrow track they had taken swallowed by brush and shadow. Moss softened the ground beneath her boots, and ferns crowded close, their fronds brushing her skirts. The forest pressed in, dense and quiet, the kind of place meant to be passed unseen rather than traveled. No markers. No clear path. Only the low murmur of wind in the branches and the faint scent of damp earth and pine.
“Aye,” Dar said, then looked to one of the Hunters. “Brice.”
The man stepped forward at once.
“You stay with her. You do not leave her side.”
Brice inclined his head. “Understood.”
Elara’s gaze returned to Dar. “You did not say you intended to leave me in the forest.”
“I also did not say I would take you with me.”
“I could go with you. Listen. Watch.” She lowered her voice. “Perhaps have a vision.”
Dar shook his head once. “Nay. Pratus already showed his interest in you. He will not be given the chance to do so again. And if he did… I would have no choice but to kill him.”