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Her body had gone limp again. Her forehead was hot, but her lips had turned pale, and she was shivering like she had last night.
“What happened?” Kah called out from the next cell. I couldn’t see him with the rock wall between us, but we were close enough to talk.
“She passed out again,” I said, my throat going dry. I couldn’t lose her. Not here, not now.
“Is she breathing?”
“Barely.”
“Maybe the poison is working its way out of her body,” he said.
I exhaled, shaking my head. We both knew that no one survives the sting of the bramble. I wasn’t even sure how she’d stayed conscious this long. I pulled Raven’s head into my lap and removed my cloak to drape it over her trembling body.
“She’s not lost to us yet,” Kah said when I didn’t respond.
“No, we’realllost,” I snapped. “Even if she wakes up and we find a way to escape these cells—they took our map, our food,our supplies, and weapons. Within hours, we’d drown in an ocean of black bramble out there. We now know why no one ever leaves this place alive.”
I’d known all along that we’d never be able to cross through the bramblelands with nothing more than an old map and raw determination. The Bramblemen weren’t like the Rathalans. They were an enigma. They moved like assassins, fast and silent. Their weapons were deadlier than malarite blades. Their bodies were immune to the bramble’s poison. They were like a deadly extension of the bramble itself. I’d never faced a foe like this.
“Pull it together,” Kah said sternly. “We’ll figure this out.”
Kah was rarely more optimistic than me, unless the circumstances were dire like this. Most of the time, he second-guessed my decisions and served up harsh reality checks right before I dove headfirst—and weapon-first—into action. Being together since birth, he knew when to challenge me and when to steady me. So, if he was telling me to pull it together, I needed to listen.
My father’s voice resounded in my head.Only the weak of heart succumb to their fate, son. Kovaks fight for what we want.
Iwouldfight to save Raven, just like I would for Lila. I would fight my way to the gates of the shadowlands to bring her back if I could.
The sound of approaching voices caught my attention. Three guards appeared, brushing the bramble aside like decorative ivy before stepping into the cell. Two of them were men, the other a woman. They all had the same long dark hair, slicked back into single thick plaits that ran down the back of their heads like a braided horse’s mane.
I stood up to create a barrier between them and Raven.
“Move aside,” one of the guards said, his voice as prickly as the bramble. “We’ve come for the girl.”
When I didn’t move, three spears aimed at my chest. One small prick and I knew even my Kovakian blood couldn’t heal me fast enough to recover from a listless death.
Kah’s growl reverberated off the rock walls. None of them even flinched. “Don’t let them take her, Jeddak,” Kah called out. I could hear his long claws scraping against the wall, as if he was trying to rip out the boulder between us.
“I won’t,” I muttered through clenched teeth, balling my fists at my sides.
“Move!” the female guard barked, thrusting her spear forward.
I raised my hands in surrender, taking a small step to the side. Noticing my compliance, the guards relaxed just enough to make them vulnerable.Fools.
I sprang at the closest guard and grabbed his spear with one hand, twisted around, and elbowed him in the face. He doubled over, pawing at the blood gushing from his nose. The other two guards advanced on me, but I now had a weapon. Using the spear like a staff, I deflected their blows and then thrust the sharp tip straight toward the male guard’s neck. He leapt to the side, and the spear only caught him in the shoulder. He stumbled backward into the wall with a cry. The female guard stalked toward me like a cat. I blocked the point of her spear from stabbing my chest, but then she jammed it between my feet, tripping me. The second I lost my balance, she shoved me against the wall, the point of her spear at my throat.
My pulse pounded as I watched the other two guards recover and carry Raven’s unconscious body out of the cell.
“No, no!” I cried.
Just like that, Raven was gone.
“Trespasser,” the guard spat like a curse word before turning to follow her comrades through the bramble barrier. She made sure to take the spear I’d commandeered with her.
When they disappeared, I slumped down against the rock wall, defeated. The backs of my eyes were stinging.
You did this, the dark voice inside my head said again.
I didn’t deny it. I’d led Raven here on a string of lies. I’d put her in more danger with every sliver that had disappeared from the waning moon. I was the one who deserved to die, not her.
