“Worse.” I can practically see his face-splitting grin from here. “You will no doubt like him.” With that thought, the clouds sweep back across the sky, a dark curtain signaling the end to my blue-sky performance.
She grips my wrist. I wish she wouldn’t. “No. Bring back the sun.”
“I can’t.”
My brother’s horse, Flame, moves as fast as a wildfire. In moments, they are within shouting distance.
“Brother,” Raff calls with delight as if I have been gone a lifetime or returned from the grave.
The girl gasps. “What’s that thing on his shoulder?”
I roll my eyes at the creature gripping Raff’s hair, holding on for its life. “A mire fox. It is his constant companion and an insufferable troublemaker.”
“It looks more like a monkey than a fox, and it’s so cute. Your brother’s not bad either.”
I huff a sigh. I cannot wait to be rid of this girl.
“Greetings,” says Raff, nodding at my passenger, his tawny eyes round as saucers as he joins us.
“Brother. What brings you here?” I ask, drawing his fickle attention my way.
“The sunshine was glorious, Ever. I was with Kian at sword practice in the onyx courtyard, and we had to remove our doublets. All morning the weather was grim, so I knew you were returning from your hunt, but I couldn’t believe it when the skies cleared again with you so close to home. What were you doing to make it happen?”
Jinn sidles up to Flame, nickering with joy. As the horses move forward together, my eyes stay fixed ahead. I refuse to look at my brother and answer his irrelevant questions. If I choose to clear the skies, it is my business why I do so and none one else’s.
“Ever, why don’t you answer?” he says, his gaze flicking between me and the mortal.
“There’s no place like home,” I mutter to no one in particular.
Raff growls and pushes my shoulder. “Brother, I insist you at least tell me what this pretty, disheveled creature you’ve found is called.”
Pretty? Now that is a grievous stretch of the truth. Jinn is more beautiful than she.
“Are you losing your eyesight?” I ask.
The human’s muscles tighten beneath my hold.
“I suspect you are, if you can’t see she is as succulent as a ripe berry. What exactly is she, a human girl? We have not seen one of those in a long—”
“That’s right,” the wasp interrupts. “I’m human. My name is, Lara, and I can talk and everything. Hello.”
Delighted with her insolence, Raff laughs. “Pleased to meet you, Lara. I am Rafael. I ride the noble Flame who you see beneath me. And the ignoble creature riding my shoulders is Spark.”
He cuts her a half bow, grinning like he’s been introduced to a princess from the Shade Court and is about take her for a whirl in the Endless Dance at Beltane. I cannot see for myself if the human smiles at him, but I hear it in her voice when she reaches for the mire fox, and says, “Aren’t you adorable?”
The little demon twitches its long, pointy ears and chatters innocently as it plays with the mortal’s hand.
“Be careful, it bites,” I say sourly, twisting my garnet ring around my finger.
“You must excuse my brother’s discourtesy, Lara. For some of our kind—I speak of my mother and the brother who holds you in his arms—royal blood goes to their heads, and they think themselves superior to all others.”
She looks over her shoulder and squints at me. “Royal? What do you mean?”
Raff’s grin turns rhapsodic. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? He is no humble huntsman, Lara. You are being transported about the land by none other than the thirteenth Black Blood Prince of Air, he who is destined to reign over—”
“Raff,” I warn in a low voice.
He ignores me and continues revealing secrets. “Our mother, the queen, thinks thirteen is a lucky number—and that Ever shall survive the curse, unlike our brother Rain and our fath—”
“Raff!” I bark. “Shut your jaw or I shall shut it for you.”
Lara leans and tugs his crimson sleeve.
Why, by the Elements, must Raff use her given name? Now it runs through my mind like an irritating rhyme.
“He’s a prince?” she asks, voice full of doubt. “This huntsman sitting behind me is fae royalty? I don’t believe that—”
“Oh, yes, Everend Calidore Fionbharr here is our future king. The heir to the Throne of Five. Did he tell you nothing?”
She mustn’t be impressed by royalty because she creates space between us, wriggling forward in the saddle as though she cannot bear to touch me. Well, it is far too late for that.
Over the duration of our journey, our bodies have melded into one. I know the chill of her skin, the scent of her sweat, the precise depth and breadth her ribcage expands with every breath she takes. She is known to me, and it cannot be undone.
A high-pitched whistling comes from overhead, and I look to the sky. Seven sets of silver and gold wings circle above us. The órga falcons have arrived.
“Ah, brother, your creatures have come to welcome you home.”
I delve into a saddle pack, locating the trout I’d saved for this moment, and then with a flick of my wrist, I produce an updraft, sending the fish spiraling into the air. The girl yelps in fright, and Raff and I laugh as we watch the birds devour their meal mid-air.
“Raff,” she starts, already taking liberties and using his familiar name. I don’t like the way it sounds from her lips. Soft and gentle. “What’s this thing about the Black Blood prince? What does it mean?”
“All our heirs are cursed with the black poison running through their blood, and unless he finds his queen by—”
My hand shoots out and cuffs Raff over the head. “What is wrong with you? I do not give you leave to tell this human these things. She is our prisoner, found trespassing in our land. What do you hope to achieve by giving her this knowledge? Where the court will soon be sending her, she will not require it.”
The wind whips her rust-colored locks against my face, and my brother laughs as I tear it away.
We round a bend in the trail, and the city and castle set high atop Stone Hill come into view.
The wasp says, “I see why it’s called the Emerald Keep. It’s like a beautiful jewel, something from a fairy tale.”
Neither Raff nor I can argue with her assessment.
The path winding up toward the city gates is like a bright ribbon of green tourmaline wrapping around the hill. It’s enchanting to look at, but I would take a different pathway if I could. One that leads in the opposite direction.
“So,” says Raff as we commence our ascent, the órga falcons screeching hoarsely above us. “You won’t tell me how you cleared the clouds earlier?”
I sigh into the girl’s hair. “Another time perhaps.”
With the steep incline, her weight sinks back against me, the friction between our bodies an unwelcome distraction.
Most likely realizing I am not one to impart information, she directs another question to Raff. “When we arrive, if anyone bothers to feed me, should I accept it? Would it be safe?”
Raff throws back his tawny head and laughs. It’s a kind sound. A friendly sound. “What do you think will happen if you do?”