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I wrapped my hand around one of the wet branches. The tree was narrow but solid. “Do you think it’ll hold our weight?”
“Only one way to find out,” Jeddak said.
Kah grunted. He was shaking his head.
“What is it?” Jeddak said to Kah, then paused like he was listening, though I couldn’t hear the bear’s response. “Come on, really?” He seemed agitated.
“What’s wrong? Can he not climb?” I asked.
“Oh, no, he can climb. He says that tree won’t hold his weight.”
Looking at Kah’s immense size, I had to agree. “What now then?”
Jeddak slicked back his wet hair off his forehead, thinking. “You’re going to have to sneak inside here.”
“What about you? Are you not coming?”
“I can’t. If Kah goes back to the gates alone, it’ll arouse the Wolves’ suspicion. I’ll have to go with him and meet you inside.” His voice was tight like he didn’t like this plan.
I realized I didn’t like the plan either, suddenly feeling hesitant to part from the two of them with the Rathalans looking for us. But I reminded myself that whatever Jeddak was hiding might be more dangerous than sneaking into the marketplace alone.
“How do I get down on the other side?” I said.
“See if there’s something to jump down onto. I’ll wait here until you get safely to the other side.”
I turned toward the dead tree and grabbed ahold of a branch to hoist myself up. My stomach ached for a meal, I was coveredin mud, and I couldn’t deny how desperate I was to feel my toes again. At this point, I didn’t care if I had to jump the two stories down. I would do it.
“And Raven? Don’t wander off, k’da? We’ll meet you right there on the other side,” Jeddak said as ifhewas the one hesitant to leave me.
“Fine,” I said, moving slowly up the dead tree, careful not to slip on the wet branches. My hands were shaking and numb from the cold.
Jeddak waited for me to locate a place to jump down before he and Kah disappeared into the darkness.
“Ow!”I huffed when I slid off the roof of a shed and landed on my butt on the frozen ground. Not a graceful entrance.
My arm throbbed from where I’d sliced it on the rock back in Malengard. The cut had finally stopped bleeding, but it was still swollen and painful. It felt like the least of my worries, though.
Standing up, I pulled my hood over my wet hair and studied my surroundings as I waited for Jeddak and Kah. Scattered among the sparse trees were several tents and a few wooden shed-like structures, like the one I’d just climbed down from. By the look of the tattered tent fabric blowing in the wet breeze and the dilapidated buildings, this area of the marketplace was abandoned. Everything was quiet except for the thrum of the rain.
That’s when it hit me. I was finallyfree.
I should have felt ecstatic. Instead, there was an aching hollowness in my chest without Hen there. I’d always thought that if I escaped, I’d be with her. But she was gone. After all the horrors we endured together, she had nothing to show forit except a swift trip to the shadowlands. How did I deserve to be free when she never would be? Could I have done something to save her? The sadness and guilt cut into my abdomen like a blade.
I wiped at the mixture of fresh tears and rain on my cheeks, wondering what she would say if she were here.You’re free now, Raven. Don’t waste it.
“I won’t,” I whispered into the night.
And stop crying.
I smiled at that. She may not be at my side, but I knew that a part of her would always be with me.
The sound of a branch snapping on the other side of the wall shifted my attention. If Bloodbain’s men had followed us here, I suspected that they’d find the same backdoor entrance to the marketplace as we had.
Though my memories of Bloodbain were sweet and rosy, I knew whatever lay beneath was sour. There was an intensity in his eyes when he’d asked me about the stone connected to my tribe, making me suspect he wasn’t happy to find me—and the map I possessed—stolen from his chambers last night. How far would he go to hunt me down?
I scanned the area for Jeddak and Kah. Shouldn’t they be here by now?
Then it occurred to me that leaving me to climb over the wall by myself might have been his way of ditching me. He seemed to have some hidden agenda, and I’d spent the whole day wondering how long before my role in it was terminated. Perhaps I’d just received my answer.
