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“I’m as much a victim in this as you are…” I stopped myself from calling him by his first name, painful as it was.
We were never going back to the way it was. Why would I ever believe that I could be good enough for someone as wonderful as Zen?
Because I had wanted to believe it. I had believed in the love I had for Zen, because of the way he had looked at me, and how he’d always protected me.
He laughed mirthlessly. “You’re a victim?” he echoed. “You’re with the Order of Souls, aren’t you?”
I paled and hung my head. “Yes.”
“Then you’re no victim.”
I parted my mouth to explain that I’d never had a choice, but Zen was already moving ahead, leaving me behind before I could utter another word in my defense.
“Are you coming or just staying here? Either way is fine with me.”
His cutting tone snapped me back, and I realized I hadn’t moved as he cleared fully onward. We were losing light, and my sense of direction was fully skewed now, a fact that I admitted aloud.
“I don’t know where we are.”
“I do,” he growled. “These are my woods, remember?”
I pursed my lips, the sun slipping lower over the tree line. “It’s getting dark…”
He whipped around to glare at me, his slate eyes a dark granite in the shadow of the shrubs. “So?”
“So… I mean, we don’t have flashlights or cell phones.”
“We have magic,” he reminded me sharply.
I bit on my lower lip. “Maybe we should stop for the night unless we’re close?”
He scoffed, but he didn’t start moving again, my words sinking in.
“How much longer is it to the castle?” I pressed when he didn’t speak.
“You were the one with the grand plan,” he grumbled. “Didn’t you account for that?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “I was just concerned with getting you out of the house.”
“Your house, you mean?”
“It’s not my house. It’s Agnan’s house,” I sighed.
“That wasn’t your room I found you in?”
“It was, but—”
“Never mind,” Zen cut me off. “I don’t care. We’ll set up camp here for the night. There are caves not far from here.”
My blood ran cold as he started to walk again, and I froze in place. “The same caves where you found me?”
Without turning, he snorted. “No, of course not. Those caves are walking distance to Silverhold Tower. We’re about halfway to the castle through the woods now. You’re right. We should stop for the night. The nocturnal creatures will be awake soon, and it’s dangerous without my ability to shift—thanks to you.”
“I didn’t…” Inhaling, I stopped myself and continued after him. There was no sense in fighting with him. “We should find some water.”
Again, he said nothing, and I shook my head.
Maybe I should just leave in the night, go back to Agnan.
