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Your heart doesn’t stop beating when you lose someone you love. The world doesn’t end. It just feels like it does.
Vynthar stepped onto the trail, spooking my horse. I sighed, and he turned his head, his elongated eyes narrowing further. My mouth twitched, and I glanced at Demos.
Our eyes met. His expression softened, but he immediately looked away. On the trail ahead of us, the Drakoryx was carrying something in its mouth. Some kind of animal. He stepped back off the path, disappearing into the forest.
Happy hunting.
Demos was frowning into the forest now, clearly deep in thought.
His voice ran through my mind—as it so often did. “Close your eyes. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
He’d been trapped in the cell next to me, his body fighting to heal from the iron that had been slowly poisoning his body. If one of the guards had come for me, there was literally nothing he could have done.
And yet, something about the glint in his eyes, the determined set of his mouth, and the almost arrogant way he held his head…
I’d believed him.
Demos had been keeping his vow ever since. And now he thought I’d thrown it back in his face. Thought I’d deemed it unnecessary. Thought I’d rejected his natural need to protect.
I was tired of it.
“I hadn’t thought you were the type to choose silence,” I told him.
He wasn’t. Demos was the kind of man who fought relentlessly for what he wanted. I would have preferred his vicious temper over this.
His shoulders stiffened, the only sign of his irritation. “I don’t know what you want from me, Asinia. When you figure it out, let me know.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Two days later, we were all exhausted, irritated, and hot.
There was an empty space where Cavis should have been riding next to Marth. And it was quiet without Asinia and Demos sniping at each other. Too quiet.
Insects buzzed in the underbrush, our horses kicked up clouds of dust, and I drank greedily from my waterskin, the summer heat suffocating, even in Eprotha.
When we marched against Regner, would our soldiers be exhausted from the heat? Would they be drained from flicking away bugs, enervated from dehydration, and irritated at the unrelenting sun?
Or would Regner wait until winter, knowing his soldiers were used to the cold, while the fae and hybrids tolerated the heat better?
Worse yet, would there be no need for a war, because he would take down the barrier and kill us all?
If I didn’t learn to manage the grim thoughts that constantly plagued me, I would be useless for the next part of our plan. I pictured my mind as a lake, each thought a ripple that disturbed the clear surface of the water. It helped for a while.
Gray flickered across the sky to my right. A pigeon fluttered downward toward Lorian, a tiny scroll bound to its slender leg. Lorian held out his hand, and the pigeon dropped into it, cocking its head as he slipped the message free.
“My spy has reported in. He took Rekja’s guard by force. Just hours later, news of her relationship with the prince was delivered to Eryndan.”
My mouth tasted like ash. I didn’t even know this woman, and I’d had her kidnapped with just a few words. She had a life, and I’d yanked her from that life without warning. Worse, I’d ensured that until Eryndan was dead, she would never be able to return to that life.
“Keep her safe,” I managed to get out. Lorian pinned me with an intent look, but I dragged my gaze away.
We stopped to rest near the river before the main route to the city walls. Everyone was quiet, well aware that this would be my first time using the hourglass. Stretching my legs, I wandered over to Rythos, who was staring into the water.
He looked at me, and his eyes were so grief-stricken, all I could do was wrap my arms around him.
“It doesn’t seem real that he’s gone,” he said, his own arms encircling me and squeezing. I stroked his back, helplessness eating at me.
Lighthearted, playful Marth had become someone who could explode into rage at any moment. Galon was grim, barely speaking, his eyes hard. Rythos kept disappearing, preferring to be alone, while Lorian was burning with suppressed wrath.
