“The love of your people is the key... This love will win the day.”
The Fae huntress sat bolt upright, working over this enigmatic reply for a long while. What's that supposed to mean? she wondered. This hadn't been the kind of answer she'd been expecting; it was too cryptic. What do you mean that the love of my people is the key? What good does that do me right now? Kaleb is... She sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm down. She was pleased, at least, to have established contact with the lake. Please, tell me more. I don't understand, she continued, in the hopes that the lake would pick up the thread and elaborate.
No reply came, however.
Though she sat listening for a long while and pressed the lake for a better answer several times, she heard nothing more.
Is that all, then? Is that all I have to work with? She nestled up against the sleeping Faelyr, gaze drawn to Kaleb's suffering form. As the energy was ripped from his body, he seemed to fall into a trance of torment. The energies he might have expended in expressing the full extent of his pains were being sapped away with all the rest, leaving him with nothing to give but staggered cries and moans. His entire body convulsed after each utterance; the Elders, having set firmly upon their course, had not ceased their chants since beginning earlier in the day. Though they themselves were not being tortured, the strain of the ritual was apparent in all of them, as well. The ancient Fae panted and wheezed through their work, slumping as they continued in unison.
How long will this go on? she wondered, a fresh wave of tears spilling forth. How many days will he have to endure this? The night was otherwise uneventful; the night-shift scouts had orders to seek her out in the event of trouble, but so far she'd been left undisturbed. There were no crises for her to distract herself with. All she could do was to sit and watch Kaleb in his agony. She couldn't stop things—not now—but she longed to ease his suffering, to bring him comfort in this most troubled hour.
You can't do that, she told herself, overriding her instinct to stand and walk toward Winterlimb. If you disrupt the ritual, it will have been for nothing. She once again buried her head in her hands, blocking out his cries and squeezing her eyes shut. There's nothing to do. You just have to wait for the ritual to end. When it's all over, hopefully... hopefully he'll still be alive...
But she couldn't sit still.
I love my people, she thought to herself. But I love Kaleb, too.
The clouds were churning in the sky and the moon was visible only at turns. She'd spent a good deal of time amongst the trees on the border of Pan, where the conditions had been a good deal more predictable. All day, the vast fields beyond the ruined Trading Center had been home to dust storms, and repeated reports had detailed unexpected snow and hail storms from adjacent regions. Even then, if she looked far into the distance, she could make out bolts of lightning surging through the shield of grey clouds. Minx rose to her feet, a gust of powerful wind coming in from the plains and threatening to topple her. Mau stirred as she set out toward Winterlimb, but did not rise. Had the Faelyr awakened just then, she likely would have tried to stop what was coming.
Minx managed to approach the site of the ritual without the least resistance, and came up on the flanks of the Elders completely unnoticed. It was only Kaleb, whose anguished gaze was cast here and there in his fits of pain, who caught sight of her as she advanced. At seeing her, his body jerked and his eyes widened. There was no mistaking the joy in his eyes, but neither could she deny that he was alarmed. No matter how pleased Kaleb was to see her just then, his gaze was clearly telegraphing a warning. Stay back, Minx, he seemed to be saying. I wish I could speak to you, be near you... but you have to stay away.
Hours of witnessing his anguish had steeled her resolve, however.
She couldn't just sit and watch him suffer anymore.
With a deep breath, she slipped past the Elders and into the circle. Two of the ancient Fae, dazed for their hours of chanting, looked upon her and gasped. They nearly lost their momentum and tripped up in their recitation of the spell. Minx dashed by them, rushing straight toward old Winterlimb and wrapping her arms around the dragon shifter who'd been leashed there.
There was no telling what would happen. It was possible that her presence within the circle would interrupt the ritual, or that she herself would be destroyed by the magic of the Fae Elders.
No matter the consequences, Minx flew to her love. Better that they spend this moment together, she wagered, than to spend another second apart. Minx combed the hair from his face, finding him half-delirious with pain, and did what she had longed to do since he had first submitted to the ritual.
She pressed her lips to his and held him as tightly as she could.
Chapter 24
Dazed though he was, Kaleb responded to her kiss. Her passion seemed to blot out the immense suffering that had overwhelmed him for so many hours, and when finally she pulled away, he regained his breath and uttered her name. “Minx...?”
She took firm hold of Kaleb, burying her face against his sweat-dappled chest. His body exuded a tremendous heat, as though he had a raging fever. “I couldn't leave you,” she blurted, looking up at him tearfully. “I couldn't just sit and watch...”
Kaleb peered down
