Page 18 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

A growl tore from her as she yanked my wrist and pounded us both to the ground with a thud that knocked the air out of me. She pressed her arm into my throat, and I gasped, scratching and jerking against her. She leaned her weight forward, and I dragged a ragged breath into my nose. But it wouldn’t pass. My heart pierced with warmth and the sharp edges of panic. Air. I needed air.

She smiled. “Turn around and go home, and I shall let you live.”

“I know,” I choked, “something… that….” I coughed over the words, my vision blurring. “You… don’t.”

She lessened the pressure. “And what would that be?”

I gulped in a breath hungrily, like a starving animal offered food. My throat ached, but I scratched my voice out. “If you are so desperate to stop me, you would have killed me before drawing my attention.” She glowered, and I spat the sentence at her. “You must believe that I’m a high deity’s child, and that the only god who can kill me is Zeus, who holds the spark. But you weren’t aware that I suspected that. Which means you’re trying to scare me because it’s the only move you have.”

She clamped her teeth together and jerked the blade from my hand. “That might be so, you filthy half breed, but I know something you don’t as well.”

I trembled and attempted to grab another weapon, but she pressed her weight against me, freezing me. “What’s that?” I asked.

“You have enough mortal aspects that, while you may not die, you can suffer.” And she stabbed the blade into my arm and then ripped it out. Blood, thick and coppery, surged forth, gushing from the wound. She rose, her face speckled in burgundy. She blinked, her features pinched, and then she disappeared, that glittery, floral essence filling the air.

The forest stretched quiet and cool and lonely again.

I stood but then fell to the ground, hitting the exposed roots of a tree with a thump that banged my shin bones.

Blood coursed down my arm, hot and sticky. At the rate it flowed, I had limited time before I passed out. I crawled to my bag and fumbled, opening it with one hand. I pulled out a tunic and wrapped it around the injury. It slipped, and I cursed under my breath, using my teeth to pull a knot tight.

Sweat had broken out over my forehead, and I fell back against moss. The world blurred, a swirl of sage and gray. The sun had already draped down to the skyline. Night would fall soon. I had to get out of the woods.

If I knew what magic I might possess, I could pull on those powers to help me.

But I didn’t know.

I stood and stumbled forward, catching my hands against rough bark that scraped up skin.

Shit.

All right. I could do this.

One breath at a time.

I took an uneasy step.

Everything narrowed to the moment.

The squish of my feet pressing into the ground.

The chittering of pine needles clambering together in the wind.

The sway of my hips and the blurring of my vision.

It felt like eternity had passed, the sun burned out, the world birthed itself anew by the time I reached camp. The group had already erected tents, and they fluttered in the breeze, twilight sweeping over them like the sky draped itself over everything.

My steps grew as heavy as stone, but I continued dragging myself forward.

Pip lifted her face up to me as I approached the light of the fire. “Temi!” She gasped and jumped out of her seat. “Oh, my gods, what happened?”

Guards jumped up, rushing towards me. I fell into their arms. Valerian pushed others aside, his eyes doubling in size. “Lay her down over here.” His hands fumbled over the fabric on my arm. “Shit. Heat water, now,” he yelled. “I need cloth boiled, my equestrian bag, someone grab my shears, so I can cut this sleeve away.”

“It’s fine,” I whispered, my lips growing numb. “It won’t kill me. I’m a deity.”

And then the world faded to black.

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