It was already sunset when they settled below the trees at the edge of the forest. Valerien smiled when the drowsy bard cuddled up against his chest. It should be easy to get some answers out of him now.
He leaned his chin onto Kirin's shoulder, letting his fingers brush lightly against the old scar.
"What does that symbol mean?" he asked.
"It is an 'F'. It is what fugitive slaves are branded with. I was lucky it was just my upper arm. It's usually burned into the cheek or forehead," Kirin explained.
There was no bitterness in his voice, just a simple statement of fact. Valerien closed his arms around him.
"Did you run away often?"
"A few times. But a child alone on the road draws too much attention, so I never got very far."
Valerien thought back to his own horror at being trapped in a weak, helpless body in that memory he had so involuntarily shared. For a soul to be born into a human child wasther a terrible punishment.
"So how did you get free? Did Owain find you?" he asked.
Kirin shook his head. "Lady Rowena did. She was Owain's wife."
"Was?"
"Those whom the gods love, they take early," Kirin said.
It sounded like a quote, and this time it was bitter. Valerien kissed the damp blond locks and said, "Then your gods are a useless, selfish lot."
The body in his arms tensed.
"Like Seren?"
"I told you before, she wasn't really a goddess."
"But you didn't tell me that she was your mother."
"She wasn't much of a mother either."
"But she was the one who created you? That is why you have that star mark on your neck," Kirin insisted.
Valerien looked at the stubbornly set chin and nodded, seeing no reason to deny it.
"Did Rhian tell you that?" he asked.
"No. But I am not stupid. I heard everything he said to provoke you, and later he called you Seren's spawn."
"Oh? Is that all he said?"
Kirin hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "He said you will take my soul and weave it into the Veil."
Valerien burst into laughter. Seeing the hurt and fear in Kirin's eyes, he pulled himself together and said, "You can keep your soul. That is just an ancient legend old Fae tell to scare the young and innocent."
The bard didn't seem convinced, so Valerien tried another approach.
"If you really believed that, why didn't you let me die when you had the chance?"
He remained silent for so long that Valerien thought he would get no answer when Kirin finally spoke, "I thought about it. But I could not do it. Don't make me regret it."
It sounded like an order, not a plea. Valerien raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, Kirin turned his palm up.
A flicker of white light sprang from it. Valerien reached out to touch it, but Kirin pulled his hand away.
"Don't. It makes strange things happen. I can't control it."
"It feels familiar, but it doesn't look like your Seeker magic."
"It isn't mine. It just … stuck to me when I touched that barrier between our worlds."
Valerien froze. The magic of the Veil was the most powerful force known to the Fae. That something could escape from it and attach to Kirin was beyond anything he had expected.
"Tell me what it does," he said.
Kirin looked at him nervously, then began to speak. Valerien tried to soothe him and asked questions to bring order to the jumbled explanations. Yet once he had his answers, he felt like he was drowning again.
That Kirin could absorb his magic was bad enough. But the very idea that someone could invade his mind and memories was intolerable.
He fought down the impulse to snap that fragile human neck and forced himself to think clearly. He had seen fragments of Kirin's memories, too. No, not only seen them, but experienced them. Whatever this was, it went both ways. There had to be a way to turn this to his advantage.
That strange magic Kirin carried in him had saved both their lives. It would be even better if Valerien could access it himself. It shouldn't be that difficult to make Kirin cooperate. For all his intelligence and bravery, he was still too naïve for his own good and so responsive to touch and the smallest tenderness.
"Are you going to kill me now?"
Not so naïve after all, Valerien thought. Kirin's question had sounded calm, but the slender body was shivering, whether with fear or cold.
"If you try to open the Veil again, I will have no other choice. But otherwise, I give you my word that you have nothing to fear from me," he finally said.
Kirin smiled faintly and hugged his knees. "Your cursed Veil almost tore me apart the last time. I am certainly not touching it again. The more I think about it, the more certain I am that it only let go of me because you took my hand."
It took Valerien a heartbeat to realise what Kirin was talking about.
"What your High Warlock told you about the Soul Bond is just romantic nonsense," he said.
"How do you explain what happened then?" Kirin asked stubbornly.
"I don't know yet. But the magic of the Veil is a dangerous, unnatural force, not some ridiculous matchmaker."
"But … what we did …," Kirin began, then broke off, looking too embarrassed to say it.
Valerien watched the colour rising from the flushing cheeks all the way to the roots of the fair hair. It was strangely charming.
"What we did was because we chose to do it. Why are you always so eager to blame your choices on gods, fate, or magic?" he asked.
Kirin seemed surprised by the question, but didn't answer at once. He pulled the cloak closer around himself and seemed to think about it.
"Because it is easier to blame all the trouble I get into on someone else," he finally admitted.
Valerien laughed and stretched out his arm. "Come here, trouble."
Kirin cuddled up to him without any hesitation and muttered, "At least that's better than 'little bird'."
"My mistake. Birds don't bite. Maybe you are part wolf," Valerien teased.
To his surprise, a warm tongue flickered over the bitemark on his nipple, making him shudder with pleasure.
"I didn't mean to bite that hard. I just got carried away," Kirin said sheepishly, then planted a shy kiss on his collarbone.
Valerien reached under the cloak, but the bard caught his wandering hand and complained, "You just promised you would not kill me, yet you are trying to drain me to death."
Valerien sighed and leaned his forehead on Kirin's shoulder.
"Bards. So melodramatic," he muttered.
"Demon Fae. So whiny about a little nibble," Kirin retorted, then hid a yawn behind his hand.
Valerien grinned and said, "Get some rest. I'll keep watch."
The firefly glow lit up the darkening sky and flew into the forest.
"What are you doing? You will exhaust yourself," Valerien said.
"It's all right. There is no source of magic for miles in that direction, so your brother and his princess won't arrive tonight. You don't have to stay up to wait for them," Kirin explained.
"I don't expect them to arrive tonight. But a hyrox will return to its master as soon as it can. It might mistake you for dinner when it doesn't find him."
Kirin grimaced at him, then picked up a blanket and rolled it into a pillow. He dropped it on Valerien's thigh to put his head on it. Valerien stared at him with indignation, but Kirin just snuggled into place and pulled the cloak up to his neck.
After a heartbeat, amusement won over irritation. He ruffled the blond locks and let his hand rest on the soft mess. Kirin let it stay there for a while, then turned on his back and looked up at him.
"What if your brother doesn't come at all?" he asked hesitantly.
"He will come," Valerien said with more certainty than he felt.
"Is he the same brother who always protected you?"
"Did you see that in my memories, too?" Valerien asked back, trying not to show how deeply that thought unsettled him.
"No. You called his name when you were injured, and you told me about him in Caernarvon."
"Oh? What did I say?"
"You said when you were my age, people called you a tainted creation of a mad witch, so he beat them up until they stopped."
"Do you always remember everything people tell you?"
"Do you always answer questions with questions until the person forgets what they asked in the first place?"
Valerien smiled despite himself. "It is the same brother. I only have the one."
"He must be very dear to you," Kirin said, his blue eyes filled with sadness.
It was a statement, not a question, so Valerien didn't reply. He loved his brother. But any kind of attachment meant weakness. He had always known that, but until recently, he had not fully grasped what it really meant. The only three people he had ever cared about were so strong that they had never needed his protection before. And now that they did, it felt like he was failing miserably.
He had almost gotten Elinor killed. His father's head was still at stake.
Worst of all, he feared Lioren was lost to him. Whatever spell, whatever threat, whatever madness had seized his brother, he had to find out what it was and destroy it.
A soft, contented sigh drew him from his thoughts. He looked down at the young man falling asleep in his lap and wondered if he had added another weakness.