Page 76 of Heart’s Rescue

“Heh,” I agree. “Yeah. Exactly.”

I reach for her hand, interlace my fingers with hers again. The world is still spinning all around us, but it’s not so horrible now. Now that I have a fixed point to hold.

Stupid. I grit my teeth and turn to her.

“You ready to do this for the last time?” I ask.

She nods. I close my eyes, lean forward, press a hand to the teleportation hub, and rip us into the Crystal City.

Solid ground slams into my boots. The scent of growing things rises to meet me as the cold bleeds away. Arryn yanks her hand out of mine. I struggle to open my eyes, leaning my body to follow hers, to see where she’s going.

And she’s puking. Lady Arryn is bent over a ring of bushes that were probably planted here for just this reason and emptying her stomach of my horrible, horrible attempt at cooking. I wait until she’s done, then uncap my water flask and hand it out to her. She accepts, drinks, and spits in the bushes. Her skin has turned an ashy shade of gray that makes my chest feel tight.

“Unpleasant?” I say.

Arryn makes a face, then nods. “As promised,” she says.

I try not to think about the way those words make me feel. Arryn takes another swallow of water, then tilts her hood back.

“It’s warmer here,” she whispers.

“Don’t do that!” I snap.

She stares at me.

“Your hood,” I growl. “Keep it up.”

Arryn frowns but pulls her hood back up.

“Voids below,” I grumble. “You’ve got to stay hidden.”

“What?” Arryn says, and even from under her hood I can see her dark eyes flash. “From all these people?”

She waves her arm around the completely empty teleportation ring and then gestures at the equally empty barrier gardens.

“Stop it,” I hiss.

I grab her arm and tug her out of the teleportation hub’s little gravel circle and into the shadows of the barrier garden.

“The Royal Guard patrols the Crystal City,” I say. “Anyone could see you.”

She glares at me, and I realize I’ve still got my hand around her wrist. She’s so close I can see her dark hair drifting out of the hood of her cloak and her full lips scowling at me. Just like the first time I saw her, this fierce and beautiful monster from the Worlds Above with ice melting in her hair.

I drop her hand.

“We need to be careful,” I whisper. “You— You’re so obviously from the Worlds Above. And the king—”

She pulls away from me. I want to follow, to reach for her, but voids that would be stupid. That would be the very worst thing I could do.

“I know,” she snaps. “My heart.”

I sigh. If I could fall through the earth right now, fall and fall and fall until the black shores of the void swallowed me whole, I would. I’d do it.

“Yeah,” I reply. “The king would take your heart. So follow me, stay quiet, and keep your damn hood up.”

I mean for the words to sound tough, but they come out sounding sad and tired. Like me. Arryn glares at me and then tugs on her hood as if demonstrating that, yeah, it’s up.

“Okay,” I say. “Let’s go.”