The thought of Lil Bit, and her parents, and Trey’s family, and everyone else Scout had ever known trapped in a cage, tormented by the demons who had ripped their souls from their bodies made Scout sick. She dropped her head in her hands.
“On the bright side, it makes it easier for us,” Ashra said, exhaustion evident in her voice. “Only the ones with souls will roam free, and I think we just killed the majority of their forces.”
Scout remembered their red-glowing eyes, the faster-than-her-eye-could-follow movements, the strength, and she shivered. “I hope you’re right.”
They walked for hours, until Ashra’s hooves began to stumble on small rocks and Torz’s mighty head was so low it nearly dragged on the ground.
“We need to rest,” Trey said. “The grass here is soft and at least in the canyon, we’re not easy targets.”
Scout slid off Ashra’s back and wandered to the trees, pulling off blue apples and bringing them back to the unicorns to purify. Trey cupped water in his scepter and watched as the fire from Torz’s horn burned away the evil in it that wanted his soul. They ate in silence, staring into the darkness.
“Scout, can I — can I talk to you?” Trey didn’t look at her, instead picking at a tear in his black pants. His breath came out in puffs of frozen air.
Scout’s fingers were numb. They needed to make a fire, but it would make them an easy target.
“Ariston already knows where we are. He found our cave easily enough with no fire,” Ashra muttered.
Torz’s horn lit up, and a fire formed at Scout’s feet, warming her completely icy toes. She held her numb fingers out and almost groaned out loud at the delicious warmth.
“Scout?” Trey asked, still not looking at her.
“Yeah. Of course.” She heaved herself to her feet and held out a hand to pull him up.
He took it and did not let go.
“Will you guys be okay without us?” she asked, only half-teasing. The unicorns needed them. Not as much as they needed the unicorns, but still.
“I think we’ll manage.” Ashra’s tail wisped, waving them away.
They walked in silence for several minutes until they were hopefully far enough away that Ashra and Torz couldn’t hear them. Because that would be awkward. Scout was positive she could feel every single cell on Trey’s hand, and she didn’t want to let go. Traitorous, torturous heart.
Trey stopped, pulling her to a stop with him. She could feel his eyes searching her face in the darkness, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. So he tipped her chin up with his fingers, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I thought you forgave me.”
In his voice was a year’s worth of pain and regret and guilt, made worse because he’d hoped it was over, and she’d led him to believe that it was not.
She hurried to reassure him. “I did forgive you, Trey. I’m over it.”
His lips tightened, and he shook his head. “No, you aren’t. You think I didn’t notice how you pushed me away back there?”
She dropped her head, leaning against his shoulder. “Trey…”
His hands tangled in her curls, hesitating. And then he stroked her back, rubbing at the knots. The Leerhas had healed the injury from the accident, but the past two days had done a number on her muscles.
“I can’t. I can’t love you again — not yet.”
His hands stopped, and she felt his heart pound next to her head.
“But I thought you forgave me.” His voice cracked.
She lifted her head, half-hoping he could see how much it hurt her, too. “Trey, for one thing, you still have Kylin.” He opened his mouth to object, but she held up a hand, keeping her voice gentle. Despite how it might seem, she did not want to hurt him. “But more than that, I did forgive you, but I didn’t forget. I almost didn’t survive last time you left me, Trey. I can’t put myself through that again.”
“But I won’t—”
She cut him off. “I know you won’t mean to, Trey. But what if it happens? What if you have to leave me? What if you die?”
Trey jerked away like she’d slapped him. “You’re refusing to be with me because I might die?”
Belatedly, she realized that speaking honestly might not have been her best choice. “I didn’t mean—”
“That’s the most — I don’t even — What happened to you, Scout? When did your heart become so hard?” Trey flung his arms around the way he always had when he was upset.
Don’t. Don’t you remember how adorable he’s always been when he’s upset. “What happened to me? I got my heart broken, Trey! And I don’t want it to happen again.”
He turned on her. “You said you forgave me!” he bellowed.
“I did forgive you! That doesn’t mean I have to be in love with you!” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Scout would have given anything to take them back. They weren’t true. She’d never stopped loving him. But she was so scared…
She watched as he sucked in a breath like she’d punched him in the stomach. His face was pale in the barely-there moonlight.
“I see,” he said quietly. He turned toward camp, walking away from her for several feet before he paused. Without looking at her, he said, “Kylin told me she hoped I died with you. And I agreed with her. If you were going to die, I wanted to die with you. Anyway, I think that means she and I aren’t together anymore.”
****
Trey felt like Scout had ripped his heart out with that wicked little curve on her scepter. The one she was so fond of tearing soul stealers apart with. It was worse this time. The first time she’d told him she hated him, he’d been expecting it. He’d deserved it. This time, he thought… he thought forgiveness meant she could love him again. He was wrong, apparently. How stupid of him.
“Trey, wait!” she called behind him, but he shook his head and kept walking. He couldn’t talk to her right now.
“I take it things didn’t go well?” Torz asked mildly, quietly, in Trey’s head as he approached them.
“Not exactly.”
Scout stormed up behind him. “Stop, Trey. Just listen for a sec!”
He turned slowly to see her glaring at him, hands on her hips, looking for all the world like a warrior princess in her cloak. Yet the top of her head didn’t come to barely his chin. “I’m listening.”
“I’m not saying we have to hate each other again—”
“I never hated you, Scout. I never stopped loving you.”
The anger in her eyes softened, and she dropped her hands from her hips. “I know, Trey. But give me time. I can’t go back to the way things were. I’m not that girl anymore. I need to get to know you again.”
Well. There wasn’t much he could say to that, was there? I never stopped loving you. Why isn’t that enough? But he understood. He didn’t want to understand, and he wanted to be angry and pout and tell her she was wrong. But she wasn’t. “I see,” he said instead.
She reached for him, and the hurt, angry side of him wanted to pull away. But he wouldn’t. Ever. If Scout wanted any part of him, asked anything of him, no matter how much it broke his heart, he would give it to her.
“Please, Trey. I’m not saying it won’t happen. I’m just saying… let me learn to trust you again.” She widened her eyes, sea-foam green and the most beautiful he’d ever seen, pleading with him.
“Yeah, Scout. Of course.” Half-forcing a grin, he said, “But do it fast, okay? I already lost a year. I don’t want to lose any more time with you than I have to.”
She smiled back at him as tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“Well, this is awkward.”
Trey glanced at Ashra in surprise. He’d completely forgotten about their unicorns.
Torz pawed the ground, his horn sparking the fire to keep it lit. “I suggest we eat and get some rest. I assume the master’s lair will be within a day’s walk.”
They all looked to Ashra. She was the one with a mission of vengeance. Scout and Trey wanted to save thei
r families — and Iros’s lost girlfriend, who had been Ariston’s very first victim. No one even knew if she was still alive, or if her soul had been torn to shreds to create an evil one for the soul stealers. Torz was here because he loved Ashra at least as desperately as Trey loved Scout.
But Ashra… Ashra was here to kill.
Ariston had been the rider of Ashra’s mate — Azezial. Ariston had tricked Azezial and cut off his horn, killing not only the unicorn that trusted him with his life, but the entire Corste line. The magnificent red unicorns who escorted souls to heaven had all died instantly.
And because Ashra’s foal had Corste blood, she'd died, too. Ashra had lost her entire family in one second.
Never mind that Ariston had done it to save the love of his life. His betrayal hadn’t even saved her. Instead, Iros, the Irwarros’ human commander and Ariston’s brother, had taken the horn and cast Ariston out of Paradesos. Ariston became master of the Taraxippus, or soul stealers, as Scout called them. And his very first soul taken had been Aella, the betrothed of his brother.
“She’s still alive.” Torz’s voice echoed in Trey’s head, and he shook himself from his thoughts. He’d been standing there staring at Ashra for who knew how long. Scout watched him with one perfect eyebrow raised.
Ashra, for her part, ignored him completely, purifying grass before ripping it free with her razor-sharp teeth.
“How do you know that?” he asked Torz silently, crossing their little camp to take the weird, awful, worse-than-cardboard fruit Torz was purifying for him. No one else could hear them. It was like text messaging, but with no phone. And face to face. So, pretty much not like text messaging at all. Trey rubbed the back of his neck. Clearly, he was exhausted.
“We talked of this last night. I thought you were awake,” Torz said, and vaguely Trey remembered something of it, but he’d been so tired. Torz continued, “I know because Ariston torments Iros with visions of her. Like he’s tormenting Scout with visions of everyone she loves. Her parents… her sister. You.”
Trey’s head came up like he had strings attached to his neck, and someone had yanked on them. “Me?”
“I believe the saying humans use is ‘Duh’.” If unicorns could grin, Torz was.
Trey scowled at him, but it was half-hearted because it was difficult to scowl when hope was causing your heart to nearly explode up through your throat.
They ate in silence, too exhausted for any more drama. There were no bugs here, no groundhogs or mice or pests or owls or birds. The only sound was the occasional sizzle of Ashra's or Torz’s horn and the chomping of razor-sharp teeth.
“Sleep. We ride early tomorrow,” Ashra commanded, wandering off to disappear in the shadows, keeping watch, protecting them.
Trey glanced at Scout. Well, this was awkward. Did he lie down across the fire from her and let them both freeze? Did he lie down next to her and wait until she fell asleep to move close enough to keep her warm? Or did he—
“What if we sleep on my cloak and sleep under yours?” she asked around a yawn. She glanced at him through dark eyelashes, a blush barely visible in the firelight.
Trey nodded, pretending like his heart hadn’t just leapt for joy. “Yeah. That might keep us warmer.”
She swirled her cloak off her shoulders, glaring at Ashra momentarily for good measure — presumably because it was a cloak and not sweats, and then smoothed it on the ground. She bit her lip shyly. “I don’t know—”
He lay down, grateful for the soft, weird, moss-grass stuff that made sleeping on the ground so much better than it could have been. She hesitated only a second before she collapsed next to him, curling into his side with her head on his chest.
This is heaven.
“Do not stay awake all night, Ashra,” he heard Torz say as his eyes slid shut. Absently, he stroked Scout’s tangled, silky hair until sleep finally claimed him.
Chapter Four
She heard the voice, slinking through her subconscious, and she fought to wake up before it found her. She couldn’t.
“This is a very bad thing you’ve done, Scout.” His voice slid over her like scalding oil, leaving her skin raw. Her entire body shook, but refused to wake. Maybe Ashra was right, and someone needed to hit her.
“Ashra. Ashra, help.”
“Interesting that you can talk to the unicorns,” the voice continued.
Now screaming rose from behind him, visions of a towering castle with sharp angles casting knife-like shadows on the ground below. Scout stood in front of it, and a man stood before her, as if guarding the doorway. Soul stealers swarmed in the background, and the wails of the souls trapped inside the castle followed their movements. She tore her eyes from the monsters to land on the demon before her — once a man, now the worst kind of evil.
“I was a rider, once. One of the greatest. And I cannot talk to them. They won’t allow me to talk to them. You killed my Taraxippus. Do you know how hard it is to create them?”
She squinted into the darkness, but he was only a broad shape in the shadows. Big, she could tell — as big as Iros, easily. “I will kill them all if they stop running from me.”
Ariston chuckled, and it seemed to hold real amusement — not a sound she pictured coming from him. He stepped from the shadows and came toward her, and she could finally see him clearly. Hair so black it had a blue sheen, like everything else in this forsaken place. He was handsome, she realized with surprise, and he seemed to read her thoughts. A smile slowly lit up his face as he came closer, step-by-step.
“Yes,” she said aloud. “You’re handsome until I look at your face.”
The smile died and a cold arrogance replaced it.
“Soulless black eyes? Totally not in style right now.” She didn’t know why she was surprised. The soul stealers had black, empty pits because they had no soul. She knew Ariston didn’t have a soul — it was trapped in the horn of his unicorn in Paradesos.
“And I want it back.” His voice confused her; she was so lost in her own thoughts.
“You want it back so you can conquer Paradesos. I will not help you.”
His face darkened, and the monsters in the castle behind him moved faster, roiling through the air in a frenzy brought on by his anger. She watched with horrified interest as silence fell around them.
“I have your sister. Do you recognize her screams, Scout?” A single, piercing shriek shattered the still air, and Scout did recognize it. She’d awakened often enough to Lil Bit’s cries in the middle of the night to know it instantly.
“Lil Bit!” Of their own accord, Scout’s feet propelled her forward.
Ariston opened his arms, a triumphant grin lighting his face. Until he was blocked by a giant, flaming shadow.
“Wake up, Scout. That’s enough!” Ashra stomped hard, splitting the blue grasses as the ground cracked right under Ariston’s feet.
He fell to his knees, swearing at Ashra in a language Scout didn’t understand and didn’t have to.
“I’m not afraid, Scout. I know you’re coming.” Lil Bit’s voice echoed through the darkness, much like Ariston’s.
When Scout was awake, Lil Bit was in her head. But here, in her dreams, Lil Bit was separate from her. Knowing she wasn’t a figment of Scout’s imagination gave Scout the courage to leap onto Ashra’s back and they soared away. A blue sun rose in front of them as Scout finally forced her eyes open.
Ashra stood above her, snorting and angry, dark brown eyes rolling. “Do you have any idea how hard that was?”
Scout’s head was cradled on Trey’s lap. He watched her silently — worry, terror, anger — all warring for position in his beautiful eyes.
“How did you — how’d you come in? I thought it was a dream.” Her voice sounded like she was half-dead in a desert. She swallowed several times, trying to moisten her throat.
“I’m just that powerful. And you’re, apparently, just that stupid.”
Scout frowned at her and Torz interrupted, his mild voice calming the raw
ness of her nerves. “If you go to Ariston — if he touches you in those dreams, he will take your soul. It is why he tempts you now.”
Scout pushed herself up, away from Trey’s warmth. You can’t love him yet. Not yet. “How was I supposed to know that? You could have mentioned!”
Ashra snorted and pawed at the ground. “I assumed you would be smart enough not to run into the open arms of our enemy, Princess.” Only Ashra could sound afraid and annoyed all at once.
“And what if I wanted to attack him? Huh? You could have told me.”
Ashra wheezed in frustration and moved away, nickering softly.
“So she’s swearing at me in horse language now?”
“You called me. That’s how I got in. You called me and believed I would come, and it opened a door.” Ashra spoke only in Scout’s head. Trey and Torz couldn’t hear her. Scout gaped at her unicorn.
“So… what you’re saying is I’m the powerful one,” she finally said.
Ashra’s chuckle echoed through Scout’s mind, but she didn’t respond for several minutes. Trey lay back down, and Scout curled against him, for his comfort more than her own.
Or so she told herself.
But she was a liar.
Torz went to Ashra’s side, pushing her with his muzzle toward the wall, apparently so he could take watch. It wasn’t until Ashra settled quietly on the grass, wings spread around her, that she finally answered. “We’ve always known you were the powerful one, Scout.”
Scout didn’t wake until she felt Trey sliding out from underneath her. Without his warmth, she couldn’t go back to sleep. “Any sign of anything?” She heard him ask.
“No. Nothing. If we fly, we could probably be there by nightfall, but I’d advise walking. Slower, but it gives us an element of surprise,” Torz answered.
“He knows exactly where Scout is at all times. It doesn’t matter if we walk, fly, or come in with trumpets blaring. They have bonded,” Ashra said. She sounded exhausted. Scout would be willing to bet her big, tough unicorn had stayed awake all night, protecting Scout from nightmares.
Warrior Everlasting Page 3
