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On instinct alone, I curled my body over Mareina’s just as an arrow found its home in my shoulder where her throat had been exposed the moment before.
A grunt escaped me as it pierced through flesh and bone.
“Nakoa!”Mareina cried just before Pumpkin reared back, nearly knocking us off her, and took off at a gallop. I gripped Mareina tighter against me with my uninjured arm, Pumpkin towards the forest cover nearby. I twisted to look behind me and found Pomona, Lokus, and Rayne, still astride their galloping horses, heading in the opposite direction towardsthe bandits.
“Take these Akash-forsaken binds off me!”Mareina yelled over the wind and pounding hoofbeats.
The swiftthunksof arrows narrowly missing us and being buried into the tree trunks beside us were like the sounds of dangerous seconds ticking by.
Indecision warred within me at whether or not I should follow through with my idea…
“Why? So you can kill me? Run away from me the second I piss you off?”
“So I can help you, you fucking fool!”
Too busy gritting my teeth against the pain radiating in my shoulder, I didn’t bother responding as I steered Pumpkin into the forest. I’d attempted towillthe arrow away, but it was, unsurprisingly, warded from anyone being able to do so. It would have to be removedmanually.
I needed to help myolana kah’hei.Although, together, I knew that whoever they came face to face with would meet Mors himself shortly after. And I was entirely unwilling to ride with her helplessly bound in my arms and didn’t dare risk one of the bandits taking off with her.
Mareina gripped me by the collar of my shirt with both hands, yanking me down to meet the severity of her gaze.
“Let me help you.”
I took her in, shock stilling my breath as her glorious green eyesglowed…Just as they had in my earlier visions.
As her words settled, I realized Iwantedto witness her being set free in all her bloody glory. Just as deeply as I felt the need to protect her.
I pulled on Pumpkin’s reigns until her gallop halted. My heart pounded a furious beat in time with Mareina’s.
I slid off Pumpkin, towing Mareina in one arm with me. We hit the ground less gracefully than intended, making the air whoosh from her lungs from where my arm was firmly banded around her waist.
After releasing my grip on her, I dared a glance down at my shoulder. It hadn’t pierced through the other side of my chest so that we could cut off the arrowhead and pull the shaft cleanly through.
In other words,this was going to fucking hurt.
“I need you to remove it.”
Mareina’s scowl tightened, briefly giving me a look of apology that told me she knew exactly how painful this would be.
She lifted her bound wrists, waiting for me to remove the binds.
My chest fisted with anxiety.
My Knowingness remained silent.
Do I dare let fate run its course?
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
MAREINA
Icould see the tension radiating through Nakoa’s body at the thought of freeing me. I watched as his eyes briefly slipped shut, offering a silent prayer toAkash.When his eyes opened again, the binds around my wrists and ankles vanished.
Tension wound tightly between us as my window of opportunity to escape cracked open.
Nakoa’s throat worked on a swallow, holding my gaze before he turned to offer me his back. My eyes dipped to the large dagger sheathed at his side, the handle angled towards me as if beckoning me to reach for it. With my speed, and now my magic returned to me, there was no way Nakoa would be capable of stopping me. I could kill him now and escape. Long, tense seconds passed as I held my breath- my window of opportunity quickly closing.
