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Riven clenched his teeth. “I didn’t take my elixir this morning.”
I was already at Riven’s horse. I helped him onto the saddle before climbing up in front of him. “How bad is it?” I whispered once we had started back down the cliff.
Riven took a moment to answer. I could feel him wince against my back. “I’ll be fine once we get back.” I grabbed his arm with my hand and wrapped it around my waist, refusing to break contact with his skin for a single second.
Riven relaxed into my touch with a soft sigh that proved to me the pain was worse than I feared. In that moment I was grateful for themiiskwithirbond we shared and that my touch could ease his pain. “Is that better?”
Riven nodded against my shoulder. “Much. Thank you,diizra.”
He didn’t speak as we crossed through the portal and then rode through the Dark Wood to the next one. I heard the others keepingpace behind us, but couldn’t see them in the darkness. When we reached the edge of the city, Feron and Lash were waiting for us, both of their gazes wide and unfocused as if they were witnessing a parade of ghosts.
Lash helped Riven dismount his horse and handed him a small vial of green liquid Feron had been holding in his hand. I narrowed my eyes at the vial and Feron pointed at a vine hanging from one of the nearby trees. “I sensed he needed it when you crossed into the wood.”
I blinked. “I didn’t know your magic could do that.”
Feron stood straight, barely leaning on his cane, as he took in a deep breath. “My magic can do so much more now.”
Lash waved his hand and five giant rings of fire spiraled overhead before splintering into dozens of tiny stars of flame. They danced in the air, spinning and twirling like puffed seeds as the others broke through the edge of the wood. Lash waved his hand once more and the tiny flames faded to smoke and blew away on the wind.
I turned to him. There was no sweat on his brow and no labor in his breath. His displays at the moon ceremonies were just as intricate yet took him days to recover from, but now he was barely winded. Lash cracked into a smile wider than I had ever seen. “I do not know what you did. But we felt it immediately.”
Riven grabbed Feron’s shoulder and they exchanged a brief look.
“It is not enough to fight Damien’s armies,” Feron said. “But it gives hope at what may come to be when the other seals are broken.”
I nodded. The magnitude of the task ahead finally settling on my shoulders. Riven noticed and squeezed my hand. “We only have to break one seal at a time.”
My chest eased. That was an easier task to manage.
I turned to Lash. “I want to increase my training. I think it’s best if I do one session with Feron every day and then another just with you.”
Lash’s bushy brows furrowed together. “There is nothing I can teach you that Feron cannot.”
I raised a brow and lifted my flame-covered hand. “There isn’t?”
Lash’s eyes went wide and then he broke into a devilish grin. “Shall we begin right now?”
I opened my mouth to speak but Gerarda threw her knife into the ground. “That can wait until we know how we’re getting to the next seal.” She grabbed her blade and stalked back to the city without waiting for any of us to follow.
My mouth went dry. The rest of the seals were all in the kingdom.
Lash’s face fell to a serious mask. “Which one will you go after first?”
I sighed. I knew there was only one Gerarda would allow.
CHAPTERTWELVE
THE MEETING ROOM WAS COLDERthan I remembered. The fire still burned in the hearth, long dancing flames licked the stone chimney and cast amber rays across the floor, but there was a piercing chill to the room, like a winter breeze had entered through an unseen window.
I hadn’t been here in weeks. All I remembered from that last meeting was Gerarda spilling my goblet of wine across the floor and scratching the table with one of her Elvish blades. I peered down at the stone circle from where I stood in front of my regular chair.
Eight hundred fifty-two.
The number of Shades and initiates that had been left at the Order. The number I’d abandoned, just like Gerarda had told me that day. My skin itched as I looked down at the thick lines of Gerarda’s perfect scrawl.
There was a hollow ache in my belly knowing we would be returning there too late to save them.
I waited in silence for the others to arrive. Nikolai and Killian walked in first, whispering and laughing almost arm in arm. They took their usual seats and Nikolai leaned over his armrest to offer me one of the rolls he had brought up from the kitchens. They were still warm to the touch.
