I yearned for him to be closer still. I yearned to believe him.
“I’m so tired of being angry at you.” A reluctant confession I could not stop from escaping. Warm fingers grazed my cheek. My eyes fluttered closed. Every fiber of me longed to surrender, to stop fighting. “But I’m too afraid not to be angry.”
“Baradaz…” His breath whispered over my lips.Lyr, please…
Boom!
The house trembled with a thunderous roar, and for a confused instant, I believed it was the final warning of my unraveling sanity. Another boom followed, mere seconds after. Dread pulsed through me. No, this couldn’t be happening.
I dashed out the door without a word, sprinting through thehouse to the outside. My heart pounded painfully in my chest at the sight that awaited me.
How could the world transform so completely in just an hour?
The morning’s clear blue sky had vanished, replaced by dark, towering clouds that stretched over the horizon. Lightning struck in the distance, tinged with ominous amethyst and emerald. Another boom of thunder followed. The wind yanked violently on my braid.
“Chaos storm.” Noctis had followed me outside, pulling his tunic over his head. His voice was full of apprehension as he looked up at the sky.
“But there was no warning,” I cried. “And it’s much too late in the year for it. I didn’t think…”
My araks were in the hills, with no protection at all. If we didn’t act quickly, they would die.
“What do you need me to do?” Noctis asked. His firm grip on my arm grounded me.
I took a deep breath, attempting to quell my rising panic and devise a strategy. “We must bring the herd down as swiftly as possible. It’s the only way.”
Noctis gave me a determined nod and hurried to the stable to saddle Nacin. I raced back inside to fetch the Chaosdagger, tucking it into the back of my breeches. Despite the danger of using it, we might need it.
Noctis’s eyes held the same stark worry I felt as he helped me up behind him on Nacin’s back. Without a moment’s delay, he spurred the stallion onward, heading straight for the darkened hills.
Directly into the heart of the brewing storm.
CHAPTER
32
Noctis
This was sheer madness.
I knew it even before urging Nacin into the tempest. The wind tore at us with such ferocity that I had to clutch the reins tightly, steadying the stallion as he let out a frightened whinny. The biting rain lashed against our faces, obscuring the road and soaking our clothes and hair within seconds. Being outside in a Chaos storm like this, with no protection from the raging elements, was more than dangerous—it was bordering on suicide. Yet abandoning the araks to their fate wasn’t an option. Not for me, and certainly not for Rada.
I slowed Nacin to a trot, trying to veer out of the way of the broken-off branches that hurled through the air like deadly arrows. Rada held on to me for dear life, her arms vise-like around my middle. The rain blurred my vision, blinding me. Chaos sizzled in the air, heavy on my skin, its force stealing my breath.
A strike of lightning. Perilously close. Throwing our surroundings into stark relief, it unveiled a fallen tree in our path. In a futile attempt to prevent a collision, I pulled harshly on Nacin’s reins.The stallion reared up with a shrill neigh, and suddenly the world tilted.
Terror blazed through me as Rada’s grip broke and she was ripped away from me with a torn-off scream. The impact with the road rattled my teeth, even with the dirt already turning to squelching mud. It clung to my hands as I scrambled to my feet, but thankfully, I wasn’t injured. Nacin galloped back the way we had come, likely retreating to the barn in his fright.
“Rada!” I strained to see through the downpour, searching the road behind me. Blessedlyr, where was she? My breath hitched painfully when I couldn’t find her.
“I’m here.”
Sweet relief flooded me in a dizzying wave as her voice called out. She stumbled out of the darkness and rain. I reached out instinctually to steady her. A flash of lightning revealed the paleness of her face, mud splattered over the entire right side of her body.
“Are you hurt?” I had to shout into her ear to be heard over the boom of thunder.
“No, only shaken up a little,” she yelled back. “But where’s Nacin?”
“At his speed, probably already back at the farm. We have to continue on foot.”
