Page 61 of Winds of Ruin
Mama was hurt.
I tried and failed to bang on the brick wall beside me to get their attention. A broken hip—it sounded serious, and my father’s sullen appearance offered me little relief from my worry.
“Will she be alright?” I gasped.
Elsedora’s expression mirrored my concern.
El grabbed my father’s hand and pulled him inside to go to Mama.
The door slammed behind them.
Unable to travel by Egress, and with the walk home a week-long journey, I stood frozen at her doorstep.
I now understood why Specters haunted the forest, turning travelers around to trick them into joining the spirits in death.
While not dead yet, I felt nearly as lonely and helpless.
Chapter 26
Elsedora
Our Griffiths landed in a snow-streaked meadow south of Lamoreaux. Small patches of dead grass stuck up through the frost.
Wildflowers overtook this area in spring. But now, in the heart of winter, the only color the meadow afforded us came from the pines towering around it and the red berries clinging to bramble bushes beneath the trees.
Each week Cassidee forced me out here to train with her, even after I’d mastered most of my Wind-wielding abilities. I’d never been terrible with blades.
Ryn had made sure of that—after I’d tried and failed to kill him a few times. Krait’s faith in him was the only reason I’dstoppedtrying. That and my weakening to his charm.
“Let me help you with that,”Ryn had once said, and then corrected my offensive position against him with an infuriating smirk. It’d taken over a year for me to warm up to the Moon-wielding Prince of a land that had destroyed mine.
Mayra bobbed her head impatiently for me to dismount. Cass’ Griffith, Paren, ruffled his neck feathers before snapping his beak at Mayra in a warning to keep her troublesome antics to herself.
I needed to hit something today.
Cass and I handled things much the same way—it’s why we got along. If I kept moving, training, doing, traveling, then I wouldn’t have time to think about my injured friend. Or her cursed son...
Angeline wasn’t doing well. Like a coward, I’d stopped visiting last week—unable to see her so frail, and hurting.
“You look distracted,” Cass said as I dismounted.
I shrugged.
Each passing moon reminded me that the calm would end.
I’d run all my leads for relics dry. The moonstone would not show Asterie how Caym might rise despite her best efforts. He may not have a body to return to, but Caym had faced us before through envoys.
A new war would come to my doorstep after I’d finally found my way back home. The hollow halls of Lamoreux still lacked something.
A home filled with laughter.
Family around a table.
The way it once had been.
Cass cleared her throat, expecting an answer.
“No more distracted than usual. Where is Wyeth today?” I asked. Cass’ spritely partner sometimes joined us to harvest from the woodlands surrounding the meadow for her potions.
