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The iilra is there already, waiting for me.
9
The iilra sees me coming.
From beneath my skirt, the bag strap has come loose from around my legs and fallen to the grass. I tumble over it, bracing myself with just enough of a moment to protect my belly.
I snatch the bag and scramble to my feet—and the iilra’s outstretched hand reaches for me.
I slap my hand onto hers and she hoists me forward, stealing me away into the thickness of the willow tree leaves. Behind the opposite drape, she drags me, and there’s a skeletal steed waiting for us.
She’s quick to mount it, reaching back her hand for me. She reads the panic on my face too easily, knows we’re being pursued, and we have mere moments to get off the grounds.
Our only advantage is that, once we’re free of the castle, the prince doesn’t know where we’re headed.
I snatch the iilra’s offered slim hand and clamber my way up onto the rump of the steed. I scoot forward, latching my arms onto her back as she kicks into a gallop.
We take the mountain route, avoiding the bridges that cross the valley at the front of the castle. This is a path I haven’t taken before and, with every look I throw behind me, I find I’m more lost than I anticipated.
There’s no going back now. Not even if I wanted to.
We ride for a while before we reach the cusp of the mountains and the air is so cold that I’m starting to shiver. The iilra slows the pace of the steed down to a canter as we advance on a shadowy figure. But I see all too well who it is that lurks in the shadows.
I see Elden waiting for us.
His eyes are as cold as the mountains as he watches us near, then turns his own steed to parallel ours. “Onwards,” he demands, and we’re off again.
After a while, I dare ask, “Where is it you’re taking me?”
It’s Elden who answers, “The Wastelands.”
My heart flips in my chest. For a moment, I’m elated. The light is safe, the columns are protection from the darkness of the wilderness.
But then, I realise I have to cross the Wastelands alone to reach the light lands. And the longer on we ride, the more uncertainty bites at me.
Still, I say nothing, and we ride until the flickering lights start to grow in the distance, and I know we’re almost there.
“So you’re really just going to let me leave?” I ask, uncertainty creeping into my voice. Looking up at them all mighty on their steeds, I tighten my grip on the bag’s strap. “And the child?”
Maybe a part of me expected to be cut down before I could reach the light lands, or be forced to drink the termination tea. But as it goes—
Elden smiles something wicked. Darkness climbs over his porcelain face.
“You won’t make it to the light lands. You will die on the journey.” He turns his smile on the Wastelands smeared with pillars of light. “The ferals are out there. They will hunt you down and not only destroy you—but consume both of you.”
A ribbon of nausea unfurls throughout my body. Unsteady on my feet, I stagger back a stumble and blink at the callous calm on the prince’s face.
“And if they don’t see to your demise,” he adds, winking at me once before he smiles something awful at me, “the fact that time speeds up in the Wastelands will.”
For a heartbeat, I consider his words, a furrow knitting my brow together. I watch him for that too-long moment before it sinks in.
Time is faster in the Wastelands … And he cuts his gaze down at my belly.
I hug my pregnant lump. It doesn’t grow or swell or squirm—so I think I’m safe for the moment. I just have to move through the Wastelands as quickly as I can.
Elden doesn’t hold out much hope for me, though. He laughs before he tugs the reins and turns his horse’s rear to me.
I cut a look at the iilra. But she’s already turning to join Elden, and doesn’t look back at me.
