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He cocked his head. “Okay?”
“I’ll do my best to get to the safe house. Once there, I’ll call Frankie, bond with her, and we’ll come get you.”
Her “to take you into custody” hung in the air.
“If it…” He took a moment to take a deep breath so he could get through the rest of the sentence. “If it’s too late for me, please tell Frankie I love her and that she’s going to be so much better off with you. Take care of her, please.”
“I will, but you’ll see her again.”
“Promise me,” Archibald said fiercely. “You have to promise.”
Pixie nodded. “I promise.”
Relief sagged Archibald to the ground. “Thank you. Now, let’s go through what you need to know, and as soon as the sun sets, you can leave.”
Chapter Nine
“Wake up!” Pixie shook him, and Archibald groaned with the movement.
He blinked rapidly, clearing the fog from his mind. “What time is it?” he muttered.
“A few minutes before sunset, not that you can even see the sun in this accursed place. Is it grey and rainy all the time?”
Archibald became aware of two things at the same time. One was the damp permeating his body due to the rain dripping through the blackberry brambles concealing them. The second was the warmth of Pixie’s shivering body pressed against his.
“From what I understand, this is typical weather for autumn, winter, and spring,” he said. “It’s warmer than the weather in the Heart, though.”
“Warmer, maybe, but I’d rather bitter cold and snow than chilly and wet.” She stood, and the sudden removal of her warmth sent a shudder through his body. “Are you ready?”
Archibald sighed. He wasn’t ready. The sleep had done nothing but sustain him. The magical healing that blessed his kind hadn’t been able to kick in with his energy reserves so low. He’d need food and proper rest to heal his feet, assuage his pushed past endurance muscles, and restore his energy so he could again teleport. “I wish I’d bonded with her,” he whispered. “If I had, she’d be able to come to us.”
Pixie crawled up the bluff and peeked over the edge. When she scooted back down beside him, she shook her head. “The number of goons out there has tripled during the day. They can’t find us, but they know we’re here. If you brought Frankie here, you’d be putting her in even more danger. It’d be better if you could pull yourself to her side.”
“Even if we were bonded, I wouldn’t be able to, certainly not and take you with me. But you’re right, bringing her here would be a mistake. This is why it should be you. I’m sorry. I’ve screwed everything up and put you in danger.” Regret consumed him and the ache in his chest he’d assumed was nothing more than exhaustion and cold intensified with his guilt.
Her next words were wry. “Maybe that makes us even, then, since this situation could’ve been prevented if I hadn’t defied Freyja’s orders and come to take you in myself.”
“You did what?” Archibald kept his voice to a whisper. They didn’t know what creatures were waiting for them to emerge, but they likely weren’t all human and might have enhanced hearing.
“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath.
Archibald would’ve grinned if he’d had the energy. “Let’s concentrate on getting out of here, then I’ll come with you to the Heart, and on the way, you can tell me about your rule breaking.”
“They’re here!” A voice shouted a few yards above them. “Both of them, hiding in the bushes.”
Pixie and Archibald looked at each other, frozen with fear. Footsteps echoed in the fog that was dropping over them like the softest of blankets.
“What do we do?” Pixie’s voice echoed tentatively in his mind.
Even though they’d practiced their telepathic link earlier that day to prepare for their escape attempt, it was difficult to grab onto her words and respond.
Archibald sent the equivalent of a mental shrug. “We should have gone earlier instead of waiting for the darkness to hide you.”
“What’s done is done. We need to move to Plan B.”
They hadn’t made a Plan B. Pixie hadn’t come up with any other viable ideas, and Archibald had been certain his idea was foolproof. It was the same sort of hubris that’d gotten them both into this mess.
Ash’s minions were nearly on top of them, and although they hadn’t been spotted yet, Archibald saw spears being methodically stabbed into the undergrowth. A few more yards, and they’d be on them. The best they could hope for was to be missed. If they made a break for it now, they’d be heard and seen, and either captured or killed before they could go more than a few feet. At least Archibald would. Pixie might get away, especially since they weren’t really after her, anyway.
