Amarantha's Daughter

Camp Windhaven

2 days earlier...

DIANTHE'S POV

Dianthe wasn't planning on going for a long walk, and she had definitely not planned that she would be getting lost. It was very typical of her luck, which was terrible. She had terrible luck. But didn't that mean she would be lucky in love? There was a saying about that. You're either lucky in cards or in love. Well not so lucky in love, considering she'd been abandoned.

Back to the challenge at hand. Finding back to the cabin. Dianthe liked to think that she was pretty aware of her surroundings, but the Cabin was simply not to be found. She could have sworn that she even followed her own footsteps back, but there was no cabin. Maybe it didn't want to be found? Maybe she had upset the cabin when she'd attempted to fly inside and broken all that stuff? But she had apologized for that, had she not? Maybe she hadn't...She'd put on a jacket provided by said cabin, but even with that it was getting cold. The weather was picking up too. She had to find shelter somewhere. And since the cabin was no longer an option...

It wasn't like she actually wanted to return to the so-called House of Wind, which she thought was a stupid name just fyi, but what other choice did she have? It was the only place she might be able to locate. And since there was no walking there, she got ready for her first solo flight.

Flying was amazing. She'd never felt so free in her entire life. It was funny how she'd always felt so stuck growing up. She'd always loved climbing trees and hiking up the tallest mountains, it made sense now. She had been born for the skies.

She flew towards the mountain they'd come from. At least she thought it was that mountain? When she got to it, there was no house of wind however, so maybe not. Drat. But then she saw another mountain that looked more right and started towards that one instead. After a couple of hours, she realized she was probably not going to find Velaris. It probably had magic to protect it against outsiders. That was probably why Koschei had dropped her in the ocean, and not inside the city. The ocean! She could fly there and then just swim back in! But where was the ocean? Fuck. She couldn't see it anywhere, and she was getting really tired. But were those lights in the distance? If she squinted, it looked like there were lights in the distance. What other choice did she have? Dianthe followed the lights.

It took her two hours to get there. The lights were a crude camp near the top of a forested mountain. The buildings near the tree line seemed to have been built on bare rock and mud. Other than that there were a couple of other constructed dwellings she wasn't sure she'd call buildings and a bunch of tents centered around large fire pits. From above, she could see the sparring and training rings on the opposite end of the camp. They were fully stocked with various weapons, weights and training supplies. And all around were people with wings. People like her. Illyrians. What was this place? Had she walked in on a war camp? Was there a war right now that she hadn't heard of? The camp radiated a lack of warmth and joy, but it was all that she had. And she was Illyrian too. Surely they wouldn't throw her out on her ass? Maybe they knew Azriel? Or how she could reach him? She was shivering, exhausted and not able to fly a foot longer. Her landing was miles from gracious, but since she landed just outside the camp she doubted anyone had seen it, so it didn't matter.

Shivering so bad that her teeth were chattering, she wasn't the most inconspicuous intruder. She accumulated a great number of stares as she walked through the camp, none of which belonged to any friendly-looking people. Well men. They were all men. Where were the women? Was it like she thought that Azriel chose her as his mate only because there was a lack of female Illyrians? She sure didn't hope so, or other men might get the same idea. Could you have more than one mate? Az had claimed it was really rare, so maybe not. But what if they didn't care that she was his mate?