Page 20 of Hearts Lost

“No!” I scream.

My feet pound the grass. Motion is slow, like I’m moving through honey or suspended in amber. Ithronel turns toward me, her dark eyes wide, her hair billowing around her bare shoulders.

I slam into her torso and drag her to the ground, covering her body with mine. Ithronel grunts as her shoulders hit the grass hard enough to force the breath from her lungs. I brace for the agony of claws against my back, of teeth sinking into my neck.

Nothing. Ithronel stares at me, her mouth open and her dark eyes blinking up at the purple-tinged sky. I risk a glance over my shoulder, toward the monster that had been about to devour this woman from the Worlds Above.

And Ithronel punches me in the gut.

Pain explodes inside my skull. I bend over, my body curling on the grass, hardly aware of the way Ithronel’s scrambling out from under me. The monster—

No, the part of my mind that’s spent decades training for the Royal Guard says. I saw the woods behind us. They’re empty. Still, I force myself onto my knees as I gasp for air. Ithronel’s still on her back, although she’s pulled her body away from me, and she’s watching me with a hard, guarded expression.

“What the fuck was that?” she cries.

“Did it touch you?” I respond.

Her brow furrows. I run my eyes over her bare arms and neck and chest, searching for any injuries.

“Did it touch you?” I ask again. “Anywhere, even a little scrape. Are you hurt?”

“Well, good morning to you too,” Ithronel grumbles.

I force myself to take a deep breath as the pain in my abdomen subsides. Ithronel is still glaring at me, but she hasn’t reached for my dagger yet, which has to be a good sign. She’s wearing the same dress she was when we stood together outside the teleportation hub, but she’s cut the sleeves off, loosened the laces, and shortened the skirts, leaving quite a bit of dark skin exposed. A whisper of unwelcome arousal stirs somewhere deep inside me; I try to shove it down as quickly as possible.

“I’m sorry,” I say, with as much dignity as I can muster given I’m on my knees and still winded from her gut punch. “I thought that void beast was attacking.”

“The what?” she asks.

I gesture toward the woods. “The void beast. That enormous shadow monster who was about to eat you. I’m pretty sure you couldn't have missed it.”

She’s still frowning. I push on.

“Look, they’re incredibly dangerous. Even a tiny scratch from a void beast can carry void-touch, and that kills. We should probably—”

My voice dies in my throat. Get moving, I was going to say. But move where? I raise my eyes to the pale, twisted trees, to the open spaces between them. They’re empty, for the moment, but that void beast couldn’t have gone far.

We need to get away from it. But, stars above, where should we go? My eyes trace the tops of the trees, the strange violet-tinted sky, and the blue grass waving all around us. Go? Go where?

“Wait,” Ithronel says as she pulls herself up to sit and curls her arms around her knees. “You’ve been here before?”

I shake my head. I only know this place by the legends and the half-mad ravings of the few lunatics who’ve claimed to travel here and survived long enough to tell the tale.

“But, you recognized the animal,” Ithronel continues, her eyes wide. “You have a name for it. Do you know where we are?”

I try to swallow, but my mouth has gone dry. The pale, shifting branches of the trees seem to mock me.

“Of course,” I say, and my voice comes out in a harsh, ragged whisper. “We’re in the void.”