Cassandra plodded forward, dragging her wings across the dusty ground. HighGodsit felt good to give her back muscles a break. Thankfully, Ronin hadn’t seen fit to scold her about itwhen the veiling potion had worn off…minutes ago? Hours ago? Days ago?
It was difficult to assess the passage of time in this place. With no sun nor moon above and nothing but packed dirt beneath their feet, only endless black spread out in every direction.
Occasionally, Cassandra caught a looming silhouette far ahead. But no matter how many steps they took toward it, it never shifted position nor came any closer. Remained a hint of palatial shadow on the fuzzy horizon.
She rubbed at her stomach, wondering why she wasn’t hungry or thirsty or tired. And why her other emotions weren’t on overdrive.
She should be terrified of whatever lay beyond these mists. Hopeful that Tristan had escaped his brother’s clutches. Anxious about her death sentence.
But the enveloping darkness dampenedeverything.
Were Ronin and Reena feeling as numb?
She couldn’t even muster the will to ask.
So she just kept plodding forward through the void.
Minutes,hours, days later…
A scream tore through the mists, and the trio halted.
“What was that?” Reena asked, tone flat.
Ronin cocked his head, but only dreadful silence shouted back. He shrugged and the group continued forward.
No one said a thing when they came upon the body sprawled face-down in the dirt.
Ronin bent down to flip it over.
A Beastrunner male—the shaggy-haired prisoner who’d asked the Vicereine why Eamon hadn’t attended sentencing.
His skin bore no marks, and his gray prison uniform, though streaked with black dust, was intact. The unnatural stillness of his chest was the only sign he wasn’t merely sleeping. Well, that and his body was completely devoid of color, like a black-and-white photograph.
Cassandra couldn’t tell if it was real or if the mists were affecting her vision.
Reena leaned down to touch the male’s head and chest, murmuring a prayer. “What do we do?” Her voice sounded hollow. “We can’t just leave him here.”
“We can,” Ronin said, and Reena frowned, rising to her feet. “And we will.
“Keep walking.”
They kept walkingand walking and walking.
And walking.
Nothing shone through the mists. No light. No sounds. No hint of a break in the darkness.
Cassandra wondered if this was what it felt like to go mad. Perhaps she’d died in the intake yard. Perhaps her body was still out there. Perhaps she was nothing more than a soul wandering through an eternal night.
A low hum bloomed to life between her ears.
At first, she thought it was the sound of her blood rushing through her veins.
But then it began to rise, both in pitch and frequency, before breaking apart into murmuring whispers. A susurration of voices.
Thousands.
Millions.
