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“Can you still shadow travel?”I desperately wanted to be able to shadow travel myself. Then I could bring all my men together again.
“I have a small, miserable bit of power. I don’t want to use the last of my power until I must. I’m…walking.”Zehr sounded very dour about that concept.
“Meet us in the forest.”
Zehr scoffed.“I'm not sure I want to be within arms’ reach of your men when I can't shadow travel out of the way of any possible bloodshed.”
“They won't hurt you.”
Lynx came close to me, then must have seen the faraway look in my eyes, because he looked concerned. I told him that I didn’t know why I could still communicate with Zehr when I hadn’t been able to reach Caldren or Jaik.
Lynx looked thoughtful. “Is Zehr meeting us?”
“He is a little worried you all might kill him when he's not being actively useful.”
“He should be worried, after everything he's done,” Lynx muttered. “But no. He's safe with me, and I assume he's safe with the others too.”
“And why is that?” I asked, needing to hear it. I opened up my mind and let Zehr see the moment.
“Because you love him too,” Lynx said bluntly.
As Zehr laughed in my mind, I slammed the door shut between us as fast as I could, blocking him out. Then it was just Lynx and me in the deep hush of the woods.
“I'm not so sure about that,” I managed evenly.
“As terrible as he is, he has been there for you. In ways the rest of us can't be.” Lynx rested his hand lightly on my shoulder, smiling down at me. “That is, after all, why you need more than just one of us, right? We all suit you in different ways. And in some way... You and Zehr need each other.”
“We’re just bonded because of our families. Because of the magic. Because of their arrogance...”
“It's more than that,” Lynx said.
I stared up at him, studying that impossibly handsome face, the way his golden hair waved above those sharply perfect angles. Lynx looked at me with so much kindness and understanding. It still amazed me to have someone as amazing as he was look at me that way. As if there was nothing that I could do that could ever break his love for me.
“You can really love me if I love a monster?”
“There's nothing that can change the way I love you.”
A sudden wave of sadness rushed over me. that wasn't entirely true. Teris had changed the way Talisyn loved me, although he hadn't been able to destroy his love completely, not forever.
A Scourge, snarling and wild, leapt out of the forest. I hesitated, searching its face for any sense.
By the time I brought my sword up, realizing it was too far gone, Damyn had gotten there first. He cut the Scourge down and turned to me with frustration written across his harsh features, but he swallowed whatever he’d been about to say.
“Before night falls, we need to reach the safehouse,” Damyn said curtly. “We can’t stay out in the wilds. And we’ll need rest too, to face Rylow.”
“I just want to get to Rylow,” I said. “Jaik will take his forces back to our capital too.”
“You don’t know if Jaik is there yet,” Damyn sounded furious, but I was beginning to realize that was how he was when he worried. “You can’t trust the nobles or the dragon knights. When they realize what you’ve done…”
He trailed off. He would never finish that thought.
“But you don’t hate me for it?” I asked. “For what I’ve done?”
The words seemed to hang in the hush of the forest.
“Don’t be stupid,” Arren said. “It had to be done.”
He switched his sword to his other arm, always ready for an attack, and slung his arm around my shoulders. He steered me away, his grip comforting.
