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He opens his arms, and I don’t need to wait or ask. I lean in and let him hold me, then close my eyes as he embraces me—and jumps.
I thought he had air magic. Or that we were about to land on Cherry Cake or something.
No. We’re falling.
This is not how I’d like to die. Dying in my kindred soul’s arms, though. Not exactly a tragedy.
My kindred soul. I love him—in my dreams. And I’m about to die because he’s an idiot in real life. I think about the Almighty Mother, think about light, but I can’t come up with a way to save us.
The ground is about to squash us, when a powerful gust of wind finally slows us down. Not slow enough, as I soon reach the earth beneath me, hitting my feet with a thud. My balance is all wrong, and I fall—on top of Marlak.
My chest touches his, and he stares at me and chuckles, his eyes a mix of relief and amusement. “You thought we were dying.”
In less than a second, I release my grip on him and get back on my feet. “Oh, yes. That’s hilarious.”
Slowly, he rises and stands beside me. “I didn’t mean that.” His voice is soft, but he chuckles again. “I… for a moment I feared I’d fail. My magic slipped, but then…” He pauses, and smirks. “It came back.”
“How great to hear you almost killed us.”
He places a hand over his heart. “You mistrust my magic that much?”
Nuts. He’s the one who said his magic failed! But I focus on something useful—and a thousand times more urgent—and point to the top of the hill. “How long until they send someone to kill us?”
He narrows his eyes, as if calculating. “Three, four minutes, I’d guess. Quite enough.”
“Enough to escape?” He must indeed be crazy, or else he has a plan I don’t understand.
“We just have to reach the river.” His voice is calm, and he points in the direction opposite the hill.
“And they’ll magically leave us alone?”
“Exactly.” He snaps his fingers. “Let’s go.”
He tugs my arm before I register what he wants me to do: run.
As we dash through uneven terrain, leaping over tree roots and prickly bushes, I thank Otavio and all his grumpy assistants who kept me in shape. There’s no sound of footsteps behind us, but a bell rings in the castle, now getting farther and farther behind us. Despite running the fastest I can, I struggle to keep up.
Relief comes when I spot the banks of a river. This is not a wide, lazy river, but one with a fast current and a foaming white surface.
I trust Marlak as he pulls me, thinking he’s going to glide us to the other side, but instead, we fall into cold waters. Soon I feel that strange air bubble around me, Marlak holds me, and we spin.
When we stop, I open my eyes, wondering if we’re in the Nymph Court, but we’re just in another river. It’s not the Queen’s River amidst the Eternal Mountains, but there are too many trees by the banks for me to know where we are.
Marlak pulls me onto firm land.
While thankful we escaped, I’m wet, tired, and dizzy. His mood is definitely different, as he sits on the muddy bank and bursts out laughing.
I want to punch him. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m just relieved, wife.”
I decide to voice the question that has been bugging me. “Did you have to do that?”
His laugh stops. “Yes. Fae respect oaths, but they also respect power. And they’ll test your boundaries. What do you think she was doing?”
I shrug. “Trying to seduce you, I suppose.”
He wrinkles his nose, as if smelling something putrid. “She’s delusional.”
