Once, the goddesses had offered blessings freely. Passed from goddess to mortal as gifts of kinship. A flame to keep a child through winter. A tide that rose only when called. They were small, sacred things. The patron ceremonies came later, twisted into law by the ones who sought control and the goddesses who craved worship. These books were older than the rites. Older than the rewritten histories. They remembered what had been stolen.
I tucked them into the saddlebag. If I couldn’t protect Aurelia from what she was becoming, I could at least give her the truth.
By the time I stepped back into the courtyard, Lysara was already arguing with Santiago near one of the mares.
“I’ve been riding longer than you’ve been alive, Navarro. I do not need your help.”
Santiago grinned, holding out his hand anyway. She rolled her eyes but let him boost her up, laughing under her breath.
I adjusted the reins on my mount just as Aurelia approached. She looked up at me, expression unreadable, but her eyes were brighter than they had been in days. Clearer.
“Hi,” she said, simple and soft.
Something tightened in my chest.
“Hi,” I answered.
Gabriel appeared at her side, and without hesitation, she turned and wrapped both arms around him in a full embrace. Closed her eyes. Let herself be held.
I didn’t blame her. His kind were born for this. The Shadow Elves Eryndis once blessed could take the sharpest edge off fear just by being near—an old magic of resonance. Gabriel didn’t steal emotion; he softened it, steadied it, drew panic into something quieter. But the weight of what he absorbed never vanished. It settled somewhere behind his eyes—a burden he carried in silence. He’d always borne that cost, even after Eryndis was torn from him.
No wonder she leaned into him. Anyone would.
Aurelia pulled back and glanced behind Gabriel. “You don’t have a horse?”
Gabriel’s eyes went wide, then narrowed immediately at me. I shrugged, answering before he could. “He’s afraid of them.”
Gabriel shot me a glare sharp enough to slice marrow. “I amnot afraid of them,” he said, voice low. “I simply find their giant, beastly presence... unsettling.”
Aurelia blinked. “That’s not better.”
“It is for me,” Gabriel said. “Besides, I prefer to walk. It’s easier to stay hidden in shadow when you’re not dragging around a half-ton animal that snorts like it disapproves of your existence.”
Santiago laughed from the other side of the courtyard. “He’s not wrong.”
I checked the packs one last time. Food. Weapons. Cloaks. And the books Aurelia didn’t yet know I had grabbed for her.
I reached for the reins, but Aurelia was already mounting. “I’ve got it,” she said, firm and unbothered. With the practiced ease of someone who hadn’t spent the last week dancing on the edge of death, she swung into the saddle.
She turned and extended a hand down to me, palm open in mock chivalry. “Need help up, General?”
I arched my brow. “No, no, no.” A smirk tugged at my mouth as I stepped forward and took hold of the saddle. “You’re riding in front.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
“Because you’re significantly height-challenged, and I’d like you to see more than the back of my head for the next few days.”
Before she could argue, I hoisted myself up behind her.
Santiago, already mounted with Lysara tucked in front of him, chimed in with a grin. “He just wants an excuse to hold you all day.”
Lysara smacked his thigh. He grinned wider and pulled her closer. Aurelia snorted. Gabriel—adjusting the saddle packs at our mare’s side—didn’t even glance up.
“Malachi’s logic is sound,” Gabriel said evenly. “Stealth and strategy favor his position.”
Aurelia sighed and scooted forward just enough for me to settle behind her.
I tried not to notice how warm she felt. How snugly her back aligned against my chest. But even through the new leathers, I could feel her—solid and alive and fiercely present in a way that made my pulse stutter before I caught it.