A Midwinter Fantasy - Leanna Renee Hieber [74]
“Let’s go,” he said, not wanting to discuss it any more.
They arrived at Falloweld with a heralding roar from Mace as he set himself down in the main street. The inn was packed, half the town still there to hear the news. No one was going around giving any gifts now, not recognizing the strength of the gift in their presence. The sound of dozens of conversations faltered as Mace shifted to human form, disgorging his passengers. Sally and Travish stood together at his side, while Ruffles pressed nervously against his pant leg—he’d put his clothes back on before leaving the bandit camp.
Faces pressed against the windows all around, staring out at them.
“Oh, no,” Travish gasped, stepping back with fright. “I can’t stay here.”
Sally reached out and put a hand on his arm. “It’s all right.” There was a calmness to her now, a balance she hadn’t had before, though Mace sensed her nervousness at her family’s imminent reaction.
“We’re only here to get Jayden,” he said.
Both of them looked at him. Mace leaned down to take Sally’s hands, well aware of all the people watching through the window and the now-open door. They were coming outside, spreading out in the street to see them, and he said nothing to them, wanting them all outside where they could see. “If you want,” he told her, “you can come to the Valley with me. I have a home there for you, and I want you there. Both of you.”
While his mother’s eyes filled with tears, Travish’s held on to his doubt. It would be a long time going away. “No one’s going to trust me after what I’ve been.”
Mace just stared at him. “I’ll have to introduce you to our chancellor. If you think your past sins are bad, you’ll have nightmares at his.”
There was a commotion at the door to the inn. “Let me through!” Mace heard Jayden yell, just before the boy pushed his way out of the whispering crowd and stopped on the front porch, staring at Mace uncertainly. Mace felt all the boy’s old doubts: that he’d be ignored, that he’d be left behind, that he’d be seen as a duty and nothing else. That Mace had only come for him because he’d been ordered.
Mace opened his arms. “Come here.”
Jayden’s eyes widened, and then the fourteen-year-old ran to him.
Mace held the child and looked at Sally. “Do you want to come with us?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she whispered, tears on her cheeks.
“And you?” he asked Travish.
For an instant in that bandit camp, he’d felt the fire of a battle sylph in the boy. For that and for Sally, Mace was willing to accept that Travish was his son, just as he was willing to take Jayden as his son as well. Most of the other battlers in the Valley would think he’d gone mad, but Ril and Heyou would understand. If the boy came.
Travish eyed the townspeople watching them, all of them muttering but standing back for fear of the battler. Mace could feel their anger at seeing the young man whom they’d always considered a bastard and then decreed a traitor. There was no future here for him except the jail or the noose. Deep down he had the soul of a battle sylph, though. In the Valley he’d have a home.
“I guess I have no choice,” he muttered. But at least he was willing. Mace nodded. What he did in the Valley was up to him, but at least he would have more choices.
As for Sally, she had the most choices of any of them. He’d have to sit down and explain exactly what a battle-sylph master was and what it meant. He’d introduce her to Lily, and for once in his life he’d make it clear. He loved Lily and he belonged to her, but in Sally he had the chance for