Prince Nera Mossveil's Arc

Chapter 12 of 23

The fawn had stopped shivering. Nera knelt by the hearth and pressed two fingers to its throat. The pulse was there, but slow. Its coat was damp from snow that had melted against his ribs during the climb. Cold had worked into the small body while he ran, and the ride north was still two days off. If he waited for morning and the promised mount, he would be carrying a dead animal out the door. Atletha crouched beside him. She did not touch the fawn. "It needs heat from inside," she said. "Warm milk. Not fire." She looked up at the hall. "This house is ice. There will be no milk here." Glacienne Frostwhisper watched from the doorway and did not offer any. Her staff tapped once on the floor. "I keep no herd," she said. "I keep no nursing beasts. What I have is snow and salt." She turned and walked out. Nera understood the terms. The mount and the map by morning. Nothing more. Rosalind Emberheart stepped in from the side hall where she had been speaking with Angel Frostborne. She looked at the fawn, then at Nera. "Love camp keeps goats," she said. "Two ridges south. My people will not turn a fairy from the door." She unslung a small satchel and pulled out a folded cloth bundle. Inside were two winged kittens, pale orange, curled around a warm stone. "Heart-born. They hold body heat. Put them against its ribs while someone rides." Nera set the kittens against the fawn's flank. The animal's breathing eased within a minute. It was a stay, not a cure. He looked at Atletha. "You ride," he said. "Rosalind's mark will get you through the camp gate. Bring back milk and a warming pouch before dawn." Atletha stood. She did not argue. She pulled her cloak tight and took the token Rosalind handed her, a small stitched heart on a cord. Nera drew the fairy-blessed dagger from his belt and held it out hilt first. "For the road. Riders are still on the low ground." Atletha took it without a word and slid it into her belt. Rosalind said, "My scout will meet her at the second ridge. She will not ride alone past that point." Then Rosalind walked back to the side hall and closed the door behind her. Atletha left through the ice door Angel had opened for them earlier. Nera stayed by the hearth with his hand on the fawn's ribs and the two kittens pressed to its side. The pulse steadied. It steadied more. By the time the hall clock struck the next hour, the fawn lifted its head and took water from his palm. He had kept it alive. He had also sent his steward into the dark with his blade, and put a debt to a fire-born queen on his account before he had paid the one he already owed this house.