Page 302 of Blade of the Nightking

“And you need to find Aedric.” He pushed away from me, putting space between us. “It’s all you wanted from the beginning, Eidra. Everything you’ve endured, everything you’ve done—it was for him. And now he’s within reach.” His mouth trembled. “You’ll get him back.”

I reached for him again. “But you don’t understand. I⁠—”

“Let me go, Eidra.”

“No.” I followed him. “You need to listen to me. I⁠—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“You have to. Rìan, I⁠—”

“Let me go.”

He was already turning away. Already leaving—I had to do it now.

“Please, just let me explain⁠—”

“No.”

I caught his arm and pulled, trying to stop him.

“Rìan, please⁠—”

“LET ME GO!”

He shoved me hard enough to send me flying sideways. I crashed into the furs, pain jolting through me as I hit the floor.

Rìan stepped toward me at once, hand outstretched. Then he stopped. His gaze dropped to it—the same hand that had pushed me away. His fingers curled slowly into his palm. His arm fell to his side. He stood there breathing hard. When he looked at me again, he blinked. Once. Twice.

For several long seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then he spun on his heel and pulled the door wide open. It hit the wall, sending the bones overhead swinging and knocking together. He paused at the threshold.

“Your magic got what it wanted.” His eyes met mine again, but there was not even a spark of silver there, as though something inside him had died. “Now let me go.”

He turned away.

“It wasn’t my magic that wanted you this time,” I managed, my throat finally loosening enough to call after him. “It was me.”

The words came out small. Broken.

For a single heartbeat, he faltered on the threshold, his body going rigid as though my words had struck him. But then he straightened and stepped into the night without so much as closing the door behind him.

He passed the struggling fire. I watched him turn his head and spit into it, the dying flames hissing as they shrank from him.

The delicate golden glow beneath my skin guttered.

And went out.

CHAPTER 63

The six Bone Women who accompanied us were armed to the teeth, slipping between the trees like skeletons given flesh. We were to make no noise. No speaking. Nothing that might draw the Infected. And truthfully, I was glad of it.

Rìan and I kept as much distance between ourselves as the narrow game trails allowed.

As the hours passed, the forest slowly began to change. The ancient trees grew fewer, replaced by younger growth. The canopy thinned overhead, sunlight spilling across ferns, moss, and scattered wildflowers. Here, spring had only just begun to touch the trees, their new leaves still small and tender.

Late in the afternoon, when we stopped to fill our waterskins beside a bubbling creek, I moved quietly to Saskia's side.