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Chapter31
Rafferty
Fire burns the forest around me. Heat licks my sweat-slicked skin as I scan the area for her. “Ember!” Heart pounding, I begin to run, sprinting as I leap over fallen trees and the bodies of the dead. “Ember!” Her name is a cry from a tortured man.
“Did you really think you could control her?”
I stop and turn. Taranus stands behind me, holding a blade in his hand. The left side of his face is scorched, leaving little more than charred skin still blistered. “Where is she?” I snarl, turning the blade in my hand.
“Dead if we have any luck.”
“What did you do?” I race toward him, stopping when I’m only a few feet in front of him.
“I did nothing. You brought this fate upon us all when you chose her over your world. Over your people. Some king you would have been,” he spits back. “You claim I was the traitor. Really, you were nothing more than a wolf boasting the face of a sheep.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You’ll what?” he demands. “Kill me? Go for it. I’m already as good as dead.”
* * *
I comeout of the nightmare with a pounding heart. Jumping to my feet, I scan the clearing for any evidence of a blaze. Of Taranus.
But there’s nothing. Nothing but sleeping forms gathered around a dying fire. The adrenaline surge begins to die, so I lean back against the nearest tree and take a deep breath. I haven’t dreamt of Ember since she showed up in that dungeon, what feels like decades ago.
My gaze drifts to the pile of blankets covering her slender body.
You’re right. You are stealing my choice, my ability to control the outcome of my own life, and I do hate you for it.
Even now, as those words are nothing but an echoing memory, they gut me. But I’m selfish enough that I’d rather she hate me than no longer exist. All we need is a witch, and they can break the hold between her and Taranus.
I’m sure of it because, if they can’t, if Ember really is here to die, how in the hell am I supposed to go on living?
Wide awake now, I take a deep breath and cross toward the tree where Fin is perched, keeping watch. “Fin? I can take over now,” I call out quietly.
No answer.
“Fin?”
Once again, nothing.
An owl hoots overhead. Fear unfurls in my gut, a vicious beast reminding me of all that could have gone wrong while I was sleeping. I race toward the pile of blankets where Ember had been sleeping. Ripping the green wool away, I find nothing.
“Ember?” Panicked now, I turn in a slow circle.
She wouldn’t have wandered off, right? Wouldn’t have left? And surely, Fin would not have taken her! Unless—“No, no.”
“Raffe? What the bloody hell is going on?”
Heelean’s quiet voice is little comfort to me now as I piece together what likely took place. “Ember and Fin are gone,” I tell her.
“What the hell do you meanthey’re gone?”
I close my eyes as I attempt to regain what little control I do have over the dark magic slithering beneath my skin. Reaching into my pocket, I withdraw a blade and slice open my forearm, the sting barely notable.
“Rafferty! What do you think you’re doing?” Heelean rushes toward me, already holding a cloth in her hand. She attempts to bandage it, but I shake my head.
“It’s the only way to keep control,” I tell her.
