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The world revolved wildly,and I opened my eyes feeling like I had to cling to the earth to keep from being spun off into the sky. As nausea pressed at the back of my mouth, I rolled onto my knees to puke, only to find I was wounded. My head pounded, and the taste of vomit was almost enough to overwhelm the taste of blood.
I’d spent two hundred years being the monster in the night. When the knights first elbowed each other and said,prey,I’d been amused.
At first, I’d expected the knights to run. And then I’d expected I could beat them.
But my magic was drained, so I couldn’t move through the shadows. Every punch I threw seemed too light. One of the knights had slammed the hilt of his sword into my head, cracking it open. I raised my fingers now to find blood caked in my hair. After that they’d closed in, kicking me and beating me.
One of my last thoughts before I’d passed out—the one that came back to me now—waswhy now?With everything I’d done in my life, it seemed bizarre that I’d been beaten for… nothing. I’d have understood if they knew who I was.
My head reeled. With effort, I rolled over onto my back, staring up at the rustling branches high above. The moon and stars were a blur beyond the moving trees.
“Honor,”I called her.“I need you.”
I didn’t expect her to answer. She’d been lost in Talisyn, though I didn’t know how many hours that might have been before. Time was always flimsy for me, but especially now.
But then she was there.
“What is it?” Her voice said softly behind me, and for a second, I could believe she was with me physically. I turned my head over my shoulder, and my head swam, and I pressed my lips tightly together, trying to fight back being sick again. Everything hurt. I let my eyes close, letting myself fall back into the pine needles and rotten leaves.
And I opened my eyes in the darkness of my dreams.
In my dreams, I drew myself tall. I fixed my lapels, and in a blink, every trace of blood and filth was gone.
In case this was the last time I saw her, in case I died in the forest tonight and the animals crept out to nose my corpse—or while I was still alive—I was going to tell her everything she needed to know.
“Honor, love,” I said lightly.
“You haven’t called melovesince that time in the garden,” she said cautiously.
When I turned to face her, she was as heart-stoppingly beautiful as ever. She could have changed herself in her dreams, but she hadn’t. Her red hair had been braided, but the braid was loose, stuck through with twigs and leaves, and her hair haloed her face. She looked like a mess, and yet she was transcendent. Those eyes were big and luminous, her lips red, defined, sweet and kissable. My heart rose and fell and was completely unpredictable when I faced her… which fit my reckless, unpredictable girl.
“Lovewas a mockery, as it always is,” I said.And the truth was, it struck a little too close to home.“I haven’t felt like joking since you betrayed me.”
She walked close to me, as if she knew what went unsaid. After all, we could see an awful lot in each other’s minds. She looked up at me, touching my arm as if she wasn’t sure I was real. “Where are you, Zehr?”
“I’m in the forest. Outside Rylow.”
“We’re traveling to Rylow. Well, we’re resting now, but when we wake… Are you… near me?”
I shook my head. “Far.”
Far between life and death.
She licked her lips, an intent look on her face still. “Zehr…”
“Honor, I have a lot to tell you and not a lot of time.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because we both have miles to go and battles to fight as soon as morning light strikes,” I reminded her. “The isle needs you.”
“And you.”
“You didn’t need me to cure the Scourge.”
She hesitated. She had something she wanted to say, but I didn’t let her even begin. “I know you want me to grovel, but that will have to wait for another night. I have to tell you two things: how to beat Kallus and how to beat Ebba.”
She looked at me with her lips parting in confusion. Then she said, “I’m listening, Zehr.”
