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He nodded again.
“But why? Why do you want me to remember this map specifically?”
Mitch took a deep breath, then stepped closer to the map, minding the torch in his opposite hand. He thrust his index finger at me, then tapped the spot on the map where the leylines joined.
“You don’t mean for me to go there, do you?” My heart sunk as he nodded once more. “Mitch, I barely made it this far. How am I to run across the realm…an ocean?”
He ran a large palm over his shaved head in frustration, like I wasn’t understanding the point he was trying to make. He glanced around the room and found a dark blue gemstone cast to the side. He plucked it off the floor, pointed to the spot on the map once more, pointed to me, then handed me the stone. His hand wrapped around my own and closed my fingers around the gem, pressing the smooth rock against my palm.
“You need me to retrieve the stones before your comrades?”
Mitch bobbed his head enthusiastically, eyes widening in excitement.
“Can you tell me why?”
The muted soldier sighed and stepped back. He slowly dragged a finger to the mountain, tapping it lightly on West Mirth before spreading the expanse of his hand across the spot, blocking it from my vision.
“We can’t set her free.” I whispered in realization, no longer questioning what he was asking me to do. He handed me the torch and gestured widely to the map. I nodded to him this time, although my questions remained numbered. “Give me five minutes to memorize it. I’ll join you when I’m finished.”
From what I understood, I had two very shitty options.
The first was the obvious choice, the choice of the mountain where I return to the queen and deliver the news. I could tell her they found the leystones and were going to set her free, whatever that meant. I would be honored, trusted, worthy of the calling I trained for the past twenty years. It was everything I ever wanted, everything I thought would make me happy. But something about the fear in Mitch’s eyes warned me against this choice. He knew something I didn’t, a fact so gravely important he would risk his rank and his life.
My other wasn’t much more attractive in terms of survival. I could run to a clearing to meet a winged man and share with him the secrets I learned, thus betraying everyone I knew under the mountain and forever cutting my ties as a chosen. All this for a stranger I didn’t even know if I trusted. If the queen found out, I would be banished from Her Majestie’s audience, forbidden to approach the stone kingdom ever again, dishonored in every way that mattered.
Would that be such a bad thing?Azriel’s voice whispered in the back of my mind, and my hesitation to answer told me everything I needed to know. Somewhere in the truth he teased me with and the one I learned during my time here, there had to be a connection—a way out.
The drawbridge groaned as it fell against the barren earth. The sharp rattle of chains startled me out of my thoughts. In front of me was the imaginary path forking in two different directions. One road led northwest, in the direction of the mountain and a sure future. The other led south, toward a strange man and the uncertain promise of answers. One step was all it took to change the future forever, not just for myself, but for the entire realm. I drew a deep breath and pushed off the balls of my feet.
And for the first time in my life, I made a choice.
6
“You look like shit.”
The voice originated from a shadowed figure perched on a bare branch, the moonlight darkening his silhouette and obscuring his features. I rolled my eyes but smoothed the tangled mess of my hair thrown quickly into a loose braid only an hour ago.
“The Dark Army was a terrible host,” I replied, crossing my arms to hide the stench perfuming the air he scented. “I’m pretty sure they gave me the scraps of their dinner and the worst bed in the citadel.”
“Did they lack a bathtub as well?” Azriel asked. “I smelled you before you reached the clearing.” His body shifted on the branch silently, wings opening to embrace the night air as he dropped gracefully to the ground in front of me.
“If you’re just going to insult me, I’ll turn around and go back to the mountain. At least I can be insecure in silk sheets and a warm bed.” I frowned. Just the thought made my heart heavy. I was going to miss my room.
The dim moonlight skimmed his profile, revealing a wide grin of amusement. “Oh, but I can give you a bed just as warm and provide something nice to look at.”
“The views are just fine there, I assure you.” A smirk formed on my own face after recalling Killian and the others. They would be waiting for me in the cave in a few hours. A pang of guilt formed in my stomach as I pictured the scene in my mind—they’d be sitting there a long time.
Azriel scoffed, the grin falling from his face slightly. “Well, if you liked your old home so much, then why did you come here? After a lifetime of loyalty to the queen, you sure don’t seem to be in a rush to return.” He stepped closer to my position in the field, each footfall slow and precise. His great wings dragged behind him as he walked, the silver feathers skimming the pale grass with a serpent-like sound.
I shuffled on my own feet nervously but never dropped my gaze from his. I wouldn’t allow this man to turn my confidence to mush, no matter how beautiful he was. “Maybe she doesn’t deserve my loyalty.”
“And I do?”
“That’s not what I said.” He was circling me now, a poor attempt to make me feel vulnerable under his watchful glare. I pulled my arms tighter across my chest and pretended not to care as his eyes raked across my backside. The slither of his wings the only sound giving away his position. This man was an incredible hunter, and I was more like his prey with every second I stood in the open clearing.
“You promised me answers.” I spoke again.
“In exchange for what you learned at the citadel,” he said with a voice as rough as the sheets I pressed to my skin that morning. Why did his voice always bring me back to bedding?
