Page 106 of Tarnished Crown

“Where’s Davin?” I asked when we separated.

“He’s meeting us at the tunnel,” Oli said, his gaze searching my face with concern.

“How did you get word to him?” I asked, trying to focus on anything other than the gaping hole inside of me.

“He got word to us.” There was a rueful sort of pride in my uncle’s voice. “He figured out who his informant was, apparently, and they met us in the tunnel to explain everything.”

Well, that made my lack of awareness distinctly embarrassing by contrast.

I nodded, though all of this felt like a lot to process. “So it’s open? But wait. How did you find us? How are you even in Socair?”

Da’ helped me on to my horse, and he and Oli mounted their own horses before my father answered.

“When we found out ye’ were gone...” He trailed off for a second, and guilt crashed over me.

“We went to Hagail,” Uncle Oli jumped in. “We...questioned the innkeep who arranged for the smuggling, and we saw the cave-in.

“It took us months to get through the rubble,” Da’ said. “And then Fia came to help us find our way here.”

“Fia’s here?” I asked.

“No,” Oli drew out the word. “After she got us where we needed to go, she returned. She said, and quote, ‘Unless you want me to go shanking my way across the countryside, I’m going to get out of this Kingdom.’ Apparently, she hates it here.”

A ghost of a smile passed my lips. “In fairness, there are several people in Socair who could use a good shanking. Perhaps we can fetch her back.”

My father shook his head, chuckling under his breath. “I’ve missed ye, ma bhobain.”

My darling rascal.

“I’ve missed you too, Da’. How did you know we had gotten out on the other side?” I asked, largely to distract myself.

“We didn’t,” he said quietly. “But I wasna going home without ye, one way or another.”

Without my body, he meant. The tears I thought had dried up stung the back of my eyes now.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask about my family, and Da’ didn’t volunteer the information. He always seemed to be keenly aware of what I could and couldn’t handle at any given moment, and a few months away hadn’t changed that.

All of it felt surreal. My father coming. Finally going home after five months away. Seeing my family again.

Leaving Evander.

The reality that I mightneversee him again.

The further away from the estate we rode, the more thoughts of him came flooding in. He had let me go without a single guarantee that we wouldn’t go to war. He hadn’t even made me promise not to marry Theo.

Hadn’t he said he would make whatever choice he needed to in order to protect his clan, that he would do it without reservation, without remorse?

But he had let me go.

That sinking feeling inside of me grew. I couldn’t think about any of that right now. At least now Davin and I would be safe from--

“Ava!” I practically yelled.

Both men turned to look at me.

“She’s alive. She’s here, using a false name...” I trailed off at the utter lack of surprise on their faces.

My father looked furious and even guilty, but not remotely shocked.