“I... I’ll give you some time alone,” he said, voice wavering. “I should go find Rune. Kade...” He trailed off, as if uncertain what to say; but Kade couldn’t even bring himself to turn away from Florian to look at him. “Just… Take all the time you want. We’ll be in the other room.”
He moved his head in what felt like a nod, but Koji was already walking away, his footsteps hurried. With a shuddering sigh, Kade leaned back a bit, holding Florian with one hand as the other came up to scrub at his face, trying to clear his vision blurred with tears.
“What am I supposed to do now?” he croaked out, his voice rough and shaking. “I don’t know what to do, Florian.”
Of course, there was no answer. He had felt a similar uncertainty and fear when his father died, but this was a thousand times worse. Then, he’d known he would be going back to Florian. He’d had the comfort of knowing that the pain would be temporary—that his love would give him the strength to see it through. He knew that he had a place where he belonged.
Now there was nothing to look forward to. There was nothing to strive toward, no end to the struggle in sight. He didn’t think he could get through the pain now. The thought of returning alone to the wolf kingdom had none of the sweetness of returning to Florian.
The wolf kingdom. “Oh, fuck,” he breathed, squeezing his eyes against a fresh wave of tears as the realization made him cold all over.Howwould they get back now? Florian was the one who would teleport—even if the Blight was gone, how could they get back to their homes on foot? They didn’t have the supplies for that kind of journey.
And he had to bring Florian back to the Winter Court, all the way on the other side of the continent. He couldn’t just leave him here. He didn’t know what to do. What could they possibly do now?
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” he whispered between choked cries. “I would have done it, Florian. I would have done it instead. We need you. We need youhere.”
Kade wept until his face hurt, until no more tears came from his burning eyes. It might have been minutes, or hours. He was starting to feel like he was outside his body again—only then could he focus enough to think. He had to find Rune and Koji. Maybe together they could figure something out.
“Come here,” he said softly to Florian, holding his body close to his chest as he stood on shaking legs—careful not to push theArrow further into his chest, or stick himself with it. Somehow, Florian still felt warm in his arms.
Cold resolution overtaking him, he staggered back out of the ballroom and into the entrance hall. He could hear Koji and Rune speaking—it sounded like Rune had stopped crying now too, but both of their voices were shaking as they spoke in hushed tones. When he stepped through the doorway, though, they both fell silent, staring at him and Florian cradled against his chest.
Rune’s face was red and streaked with tears. Koji looked pale and sickly, motionless as a statue beside Rune, who couldn’t seem to stop moving—running a hand over her long braid over and over and chewing her bottom lip.
“We need to… We need to figure out how we’re going to get out of here,” Kade said, voice hollow.
“Oh, kraken-god,” Rune groaned. Her face seemed to crumple, and she turned away. “I forgot. We’re stuck here without him.”
Kade nodded tersely, keeping his eyes fixed on a point on the wall ahead of him. If he looked at either of them, or back down at Florian in his arms, he thought that he might start crying all over again.
“There’s got to be a curtain somewhere nearby,” Rune continued after a moment, looking out the window, as if she couldn’t bear the sight of him. “We can find it, and go through, and get a plane or something closer to home.”
“We have to take Florian back to the Winter Court,” Kade replied, shaking his head. “We can’t just... leave him here.”
They were silent again for a moment, considering.
“The Blight is gone,” Rune croaked, pointing toward the window. “Look. You can see the sky.”
Kade closed his eyes, taking in a long, shuddering breath. He didn’t want to look. He didn’t care about the Blight or any of thisany more. His arms were aching, but the numbness settling over his body was beginning to drown all feeling.
“I’ll fly us,” Koji said abruptly. “Without the Blight, we’ll be okay. If I fly us, it should only take a few days to get there. I think we have enough supplies.”
“Staying shifted that long is—” Rune started to protest, but Koji interrupted her, his voice suddenly hard.
“We don’t have any other option,” he snapped. “I can do it. I have to.”
“Then we’ll do that,” Kade decided.
“We should...” Koji started, then winced as he looked down at Florian, trailing off for a moment. “We should try and wrap him up, so he’s easier to carry.”
Kade wanted to scream. The thought of letting Florian go, putting him down to wrap him up in something, felt impossible. But he couldn’t carry his body for days on the back of a dragon, no matter how much he wished he could.
“I think one of the tarps should be big enough,” he forced out, voice rasping. Koji nodded. “They’re in my pack. But... Here. Help me get the Arrow out first.”
Neither of them wanted to be the first to approach, looking at Kade, then at each other with pained expressions. Finally, though, Koji stepped toward him, and Rune followed close behind.
Before Koji could touch the Arrow, though, Kade realized it had started to glow—faintly, at first, then suddenly it was bathing them both in golden light.
“What’s happening?” he burst out, shrinking away. “What did you do?”
