“Calm my nerves?” I ask suspiciously. The last thing I want is to lose my senses again. However, I can’t deny the eager delinquent within me who’s enthralled by the prospect of leaving sobriety and its discomfort behind.

Her face betrays no emotion as she nods.

I squint, still wary, then chug it down. Immediately, a pleasant lightness, a powerful happiness, consumes me. Perhaps I can have a fun night with those rowdy bandits and their insufferable leader. Yes, I can enjoy another night of drinking and dancing.

It would be a far cry from the lonely nights I spent in Verdana, hounding the most handsome stable boy I could find to enjoy a night of thrills. Not that any of them lived up to my expectations. None wanted to drink as much as I did, laugh as loudly, or talk as much. None were like him, the bastard. That rotten, filthy tongued, uninhibited, untamed, undeniably gorgeous bastard.

I take a weightless step out of the door, and the Minea calls out. “Idalia. One last thing about your fate.”

As her words wash over me, I wonder if I am imagining them.

“The Great Darkness is in your blood, Idalia. Should you choose to face your fate, you will not survive it. However, should you choose to ignore your fate, the world will be swallowed whole, and all light shall pass away.”

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Braizen

Lin tosses me a look as the Idunns leave the table. I turn away, watching Nuri walk towards one of the wooden buildings. Breto joins her and tugs her close. Another male walks with Rianne back to the grimshka pen. When they’re out of earshot, I turn back to Lin.

“Well, what the hells are we going to do?” He says instantly, his eyes brimming with panic. “We need to go home, Braze. We can take some food from here and buy more with the money in the carriage. We’ll make it just fine.”

I stare at my plate and clench my jaw.

“Come on, Braizen! I know that you don’t want to disappoint your father, but this, this is too much! He doesn’t know a single name of The Cloaked, and I doubt he’ll go blabbering about our failure. He wouldn’t want the Kingdom to know he hired a bunch of thieves to do his dirty work. We need to go. We’ll get a good rest tonight and leave first thing tom—”

“No.” I cut in.

Lin stops and jerks back.

“No? No?! What in the Lady’s name do you mean no? If Nuri’s telling the truth and The Others are looking for us, we likely won’t survive. We can’t continue with the mission!”

“No, we most certainly can’t,” I say, bringing my ale up to take a sip.

“Right,” Lin says slowly, though he looks confused. “So, you agree then? We leave tomorrow?”