Chapter 25
Kull and I watched as evening turned to dusk across the Wult mountains, ocher light turning gray as the sun disappeared behind us. We’d stood on the deck overlooking the river until the air had grown chilly and we’d descended to walk the forest path. We held hands, and I refused to let go of him, because when I did, I knew it would be one of the last times I would ever be close to him again.
“What happens next?” I asked.
“I will walk you back to the keep,” he said, “and then I must return to Grandamere’s cottage,” he said. “She’ll worry if I don’t come back.”
The moon rose over the forest, dappling the ground with its bluish glow, enveloping us, casting its moonbeams on our entwined hands. Kull didn’t say anything, but I held his hand so tight I was certain to have crushed his bones.
He shouldn’t have kissed me, because now, leaving him behind would be a thousand times harder.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “I will return to the castle.”
“You will?”
“Yes. I can’t hide any longer. Now that you’ve recovered, we cannot afford to delay our quest anymore. I will complete the journey to track the bloodthorn, but I will make no promises to succeed. If I choose to take back the crown, it will be when I am ready.” He sighed. “I don’t know how we will track that cursed creature. He disappeared into the wild lands, and tracking anything in that wasteland is suicidal.”
“I suspect the wild lands aren’t his final destination,” I said. “He’s trying to get to the top of Dragon Spine Mountain—that’s where he tried to make me take him. That’s where the entrance to the undiscovered land is located. If we take the light-rails, we may be able to catch up before he gets there.”
Kull stared out over the mountains, his face pensive. “Something’s not right, Olive. I feel we’ve been tricked from the start.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Something feels wrong. I don’t know how to describe it in more detail—except that I suspect we’ve been misled.”
Sighing, I couldn’t deny that I felt the same way.
“What do you know of the undiscovered land?” he asked.
“Nothing. A year ago, I didn’t even know it existed. Geth took me there once, after he’d captured Mochazon, but I know that dark magic exists there, and I know that the Regaymor, the bloodthorn, and the spider we fought in the unicorns’ forest all come from that place.”
“So, there’s a dark world beneath our own, and no one seems to know anything about it?”
“Yes. Not even my stepfather could tell me more, which is why I suspect the entrance to the undiscovered land is impossible to get through except by creating a portal. It’s also possible that this is the case inside the undiscovered land.”
“If that is so, then how were the creatures we have battled able to escape?”
“The Regaymor created portals, which explains how they were able to navigate from their world to ours, but it’s my suspicion that the bloodthorn and spider did not have strong enough magic to open the sort of portal they would need to break through the barrier.”
“Then how did they escape?”
“I don’t know. We may not have our answer until we reach the top of Dragon Spine Mountain.”
“The elven girl we met in the unicorns’ forest, could she have opened a portal?”
“I don’t believe so. Her magic would need to be incredibly powerful, and since she wasn’t even able to stop us, I doubt her power was strong enough.”
“Then we are left with a mystery as to how the two creatures escaped, and I fear we won’t like the answer.”
“I agree. It doesn’t bode well for us—or for anyone, for that matter.”
The path broadened, and I spotted the tops of the fortress’s towers, dark parapets against a star-flecked sky. I squeezed Kull’s hand, not wanting to let go, never wanting to let go.
I had trouble understanding why he refused to let me into his world of war and politics. His own father had married and found balance between being a king and husband, but perhaps the relationship I had with Kull wasn’t to the point of discussing a future between us. Still, I could only assume that he didn’t want me because I was not a Wult, and—as his father had told me once—if Kull chose to marry, it would be for the purpose of unifying the kingdom.
I was half-elf, half-human, hardly what one would consider noble blood, and I spent most of my time on Earth. I had a job there that would be impossible to part with.
Perhaps we just were never meant to be together. He was a king now, and I was still a nobody. But did that really matter to him? It never had before, and I didn’t think it would now. What then? Why did he feel he needed to keep us apart while he ruled the kingdom?
The thought nagged me until we reached the steep steps leading to the back entrance. I stood on the bottom step, but instead of entering the keep, I faced him.
My stomach suddenly soured. He was leaving me. It was happening all over again. We’d shared a moment together, but now the pain and heartache—my two closest and constant friends—would come back again.
This time, I wanted an explanation.
He’d told me it was because he was king and he’d had duties and obligations, but there had to be more to it. If it was because he didn’t love me, then I didn’t believe him. I saw the intensity in his eyes when he looked at me. He felt the same way about me that I felt about him.
“Kull,” I said, cupping his cheek, “Why?” I asked. “Why can’t I be part of your life?”
He rested his hand atop mine, then gave me a gentle kiss. “You already know the reason. You made the decision for me,
