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“Why?”
“You promised,” she said simply. Her blond hair was down, strands of it blowing across her face in the wind. She was just as beautiful as always.
“I tried,” I choked, falling to my knees. “You have no idea how many times I tried. I can’t do it alone,” I whispered.
“But, Keera,” she said, taking a step toward me. She held my head in her hands, but I couldn’t feel them. “You don’t have to be alone.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. I stood up and wiped it away with a gentle caress of my thumb.
“You’re not here.” The words clanged against the dark pit inside me. “I have no one.”
“You promised,” she said, taking a step back. “You have more than your ghosts, Keera.”
She dashed past me before I realized what she intended. Before I could reach out and stop her.
I watched as she ran toward the cliff edge, leaping into the air knowing there was nothing to land on, nothing to catch her. Knowing that I wouldn’t reach her in time.
I reached out anyway, my heart pulling itself from my chest, as I watched her fall toward the rocky chasm below.
I screamed her name.
And then I woke.
The dreams plagued my journey across Elverath. It had been so long since I’d dreamed at all. I’d spent years falling asleep in a drunken oblivion that kept the dreams at bay. Now, they’d returned with a vengeance that woke me each night, ragged and sweating.
The elixir Hildegard had given me was working. My throat still burned each morning, craving the taste of wine, but with thewinvrait was manageable. My stomach didn’t churn anymore, happy to have something other than alcohol run down my throat. I could feel the strength in my limbs returning. My body didn’t ache from the days on horseback. The dark circles that had lined my eyes were fading too.
I hadn’t realized how weak I’d become. No wonder the Shadow had bested me. Thoughts of him plagued me too as I rode from Silstra to Caerth. Every night, I would lay next to a fire nestled into a hillside, staring up at the sky. I didn’t notice the moons or the stars. All I could see was the Shadow. His tall frame towering above me, his lips on mine.
I replayed that scene in my head over and over. Trying to understand why he hadn’t killed me. He had been so close, yet I was alive. The ghost of his lips burned my skin everywhere he had touched me, haunting me each night.
Why had he kissed me? It didn’t make sense. And the current that flooded my body the moment his lips touched mine... I knew he had felt it too. No matter how many times I replayed the night, I was only left with more questions and no answers.
Maybe when I unmasked the Shadow and removed his head from his neck, I would finally get the answers I needed.
I smelled Caerth before I reached it. The scent ofwinvraand smoke wafted over the hillside and blew through my clothes. The fields of wheat I’d been riding through for days faded into bountiful orchards and farmhouses that got larger and grander with every step toward the small city.
Mobs of peasants lined the outer city, crumpled in the dirt with bowls sitting in front of their withering bodies. Most of them were old, their bodies broken from decades of labor in the field. The younger ones were missing limbs. The ones who could walk did so with the help of a cane.
I tapped my horse and sent him into a canter. I didn’t want to look at people I couldn’t help. My black cloak choked me as I rode into the city, the silver sword leaving its imprint along my neck. There was a Shade waiting for me at my usual inn. Her dark hood was pulled forward, her hips flanked by two long blades. Every passerby gave her a wide birth as they walked along the street. My eyes scanned the road; I didn’t see her partner. She must’ve been fetching supplies in one of the nearby shops.
“Mistress,” she said with a bow as I jumped off my horse.
“A message?” I asked, holding out my hand. It was the only reason Shades were ever waiting for me.
She pulled a thin envelope from her bag. “The bird was sent to Cereliath since there are no Shades posted here. If you have nothing for us in return, we will start back to Cereliath immediately.”
I tore the seal of the letter and recognized the thin script as Hildegard’s. At the bottom of the parchment was a stamp of a bow. I read through the letter twice before answering the Shade. The Shadow had struck in Volcar. He stole two transports of grain and set fire to a farmhouse full of Halflings. The king and Prince Damien would stay in Koratha until the Shadow was vanquished.
“Did any of the Halflings survive?” I asked the Shade.
She shook her head. “They used an accelerant. The entire house was turned to ash within an hour.”
“When did this happen?” I asked, crumpling the letter in my hands.
“The night before you left the capital. We are to return to Cereliath and leave with the Shades posted there for Volcar immediately,” she said as her partner appeared beside her. The second Shade bowed but remained silent.
“Very well,” I said quietly. “When you reach Cereliath, send a bird to Hildegard. Let her know that I will still travel into the Faeland. If I don’t find anything, I’ll take the southern pass and meet you all in Volcar.”
