“I’m fine,” I say. “Just mad at you.”
He reaches out to rest his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I promise I wasn’t leaving you behind. I wouldn’t do it. Not like that.”
I purse my lips. “Well, then, you were just being an idiot.”
He huffs a bitter laugh and smiles. I loosen a deep breath, expelling the rest of my tension.
“What about him?” I nod to the wraith.
“I’m not sure what he’s here for. I don’t think he was planning to harm me.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Good. I still don’t trust him.”
“Did you come to help us cross the fire wall?” Rev asks hopefully. “We could use an ally.” His hand slides down my back.
“Of course not.”
My lip curls. “Then what? What purpose could you possibly have?”
“I will not help you cross the flame wall because you will certainly perish the moment you do.”
I roll my eyes. “Then what, pray tell, do you suggest?”
“What do I suggest?” the wraith drifts closer, his smokey magic billowing. “I suggest you turn back. Caelynn goes through the gates to the land of the living.”
“And leave Rev behind.”
“It is the only way.” His eyes remained narrowed, as if unsure if I’m safe to approach. I haven’t ruled out the possibility of attacking him again.
“You’re a coward. And you think me one if you’d bother to even suggest such a thing.”
“It would be a very brave thing to do, child.”
“No. No, it wouldn’t. Because it wouldn’t solve anything. The Night Bringer would still try everything in his power to control me. He’d still find a way to torture me. He’d find a way to win. I’d lose Rev just to keep fighting this same battle elsewhere.”
“You do not see how very close to defeat you already are, child.” His voice is soft now, concerned.
“If I die, then they lose. Rev can still complete the mission and save—”
“No,” Rev growls in my ear. “That is not a solution.”
“There is no solution!” I throw my hands up.
The wraith narrows his eyes again, drifting closer, and then circling us. “Days ago, you hated her, Prince Reveln.”
“I was angry and hurt. I didn’t ever want anything bad to happen to her.”
Rev pulls me in closer, and I let him because his warmth sends shivers through my body.
The wraith’s eyes turn eager, pinned to Rev. “Perhaps we could come to an agreement...”
“No,” I snarl, done with this conversion. I don’t need him manipulating Rev into doing what he wants. No. It’s not going to happen. “We’ve made our decision. If you don’t intend to help us complete the mission, then you are not on our side. You are not our ally or our friend. So, leave. I don’t want to hear what you have to say.”
The wraith stops, chest puffed out. “Very well. I can see you are a lost cause.”
I cross my arms and watch as he drifts away, up, up, up, and over the mountain, along with scattering ash and dust, until his form disappears completely.
Rev
The wraith disappears over the mountainside, but my eyes are pinned to Caelynn. We left the cottage less than eight hours ago, but already her eyes are sallow, her face pale, and her posture defeated.
“You mean it?” she whispers, still staring up at the mountain. “You weren’t going to leave?”
I grip her upper arms tightly and spin her to face me. “Of course not.” My jaw tenses. “I promise. I won’t leave you if you promise not to leave me.”
Her lips part. Confusion flickers across her expression, then finally, the tension drains from her body and she nods. But there is no joy in her now. It’s resignation, as if I’m asking something terrible of her. As if continuing to face the pain of this place is a torture she’ll endure for my sake only.
She steps away from my grip. “How long did I sleep?” she asks as she begins north toward our current camp.
“About an hour.” I fall into step beside her. “We still have four or so before sunset, I’d guess.”
“Let’s grab our things and head toward the wall. We can find a place to see without being seen.”
I frown. “You’re up for that?”
She nods.
I’m not sure what the right choice is. Clearly, Caelynn needs... something. Rest. A break. Hope. But I’m not sure what sitting in that stone nook will achieve toward that goal, and getting information on the fire wall is important.
I let the silence settle between us, only the crunch of rubble beneath our boots sounds around us for the next few minutes. We reach the cave, and Caelynn ducks in first. She assembles our abandoned supplies with renewed purpose, and I just watch her for a few moments—there isn’t room for both of us moving around in that little nook anyway.
She shoves my blanket inside my backpack hastily. Followed by a sheathed dagger—I have two others strapped to my body—and a water bottle. She zips it up and tosses it to me.
She finishes grabbing the rest of the supplies and crawls out of the hole. She slings her own pack over her back. “Ready?” she says, already stomping south, but I grab her arm to stop her.
She frowns. “What?”
I step closer, towering over her, finger gently gripping the lapel of her leather jacket. “Are you really okay?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” she says, her voice high pitched. A lie? I narrow my eyes. She looks more energized than before, livelier than even minutes ago. Maybe she is okay. But I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong.
“You’re sure? Nothing is... wrong?”
“Everything is wrong.” She lets out a bitter laugh, but her shoulders slump, and one side of her mouth tips into a small smile.
“I mean, besides... everything.” I rub the back of my neck. Everything is wrong, she’s certainly right about that. I knew my time in the Schorchedlands would be torturous, but once she showed up, things grew significantly worse. Now, my only chance at completing my mission will mean leaving my soulmate behind in this terrible place. Not my only chance, I remind myself. I’ll find a way.
“I’m fine.”
“Nothing hurts? There’s nothing I can do to help you?”
She purses her lips, and then her gaze flickers down to her forearm.
“Let me see,” I demand.
She scrunches up her nose. “It’s nothing. Just a scrape from the wolf attack.”
“Let me see,” I demand again.
She sighs and then drops her backpack and rips her jacket off her body, leaving only a cotton shirt, stained with brown and red. She pulls the sleeve up carefully as it sticks to greyed flesh.
My stomach roils as she exposes a gaping wound on her forearm. “Cae...” I gasp.
She frowns. “It wasn’t that bad before,” she mutters. “I don’t think.”
“Sit,” I bark. “In the cave, actually.” I shake my head. We’ve got to be smart about this. She needs to be healed before we head out into dangerous territory again.
“You don’t need to heal it,” she says half-heartedly.
“Have you seen it?” I exclaim. “I can see your bone, Cae.” Not only is the wound large, skin and flesh torn away, but it doesn’t look right. It isn’t red and swollen like I’d expect. It’s colorless, white flesh and darker in certain splotches, appearing grey. Like her arm is... dying. In only a few hours since the injury occurred.
“It looks worse than it is. Doesn’t even hurt.”
“We are not going back out there until I heal it.”
She grumbles and scoots back inside the cave. I drop my backpack and pull my own jacket off, then I drop to my knees.
She gasps, eyes wide as I crawl toward her. My eyes flit over her body. Shit, not supposed to be thinking about that sort of thing right now, Rev. Caelynn has a potentially fatal wound. Make it better. Then you can think about fucking her.
I swallow and refocus. Caelynn resettles, sitti
ng cross-legged, and offers me her arm. She concentrates on something over my shoulder. A gentle shield of shadows washes over the entrance to our cave. Blocking anyone outside from being able to see my glow of magic.
I grip her wrist gently, and my left-hand warms immediately without even needing to concentrate. My magic is ready and willing to heal my mate. My eyelashes flutter as the light rushes into her open wound, searching and clenching, stitching the tears in her flesh. It takes very little concentration to enter her this time. Now, I know her. I feel her. Caelynn’s dark energy washes over me. Her magic mingling with mine. I feel her pain, her bravery, her thirst, and fear. Her hope—a gentle glow so gloriously beautiful it takes my breath away. But that light is flickering, barely hanging on in a storm of raging winds. It’s cold. So cold.
My magic rushes forward, seeking to devour the cold, to warm her, to—
Caelynn rips her arm from mine, and I blink back to reality. Unbearable heat returns, my skin prickling with sticky sweat. Her eyes are wild, pained. She holds her arm to her chest tightly, leaning away from me. “What was that?”
My lips part. “I don’t know,” I whisper.
She blinks rapidly then shakes her head. “Let’s go.”
“Your arm is okay?”
She turns her arm over, skin pink and healthy.
“Okay. Let’s go.” We gather our bags, but I pause. “Will you promise to tell me if you’re not okay?”
Her eyebrows pull down. “I don’t know if I can tell anymore.”
Caelynn
Rev is quiet, standing just a foot behind me, watching the roadway that leads to the fire wall.
We’d spent a full hour wandering the mountain west of the wall to no avail. We reverted back to the smaller mountain tucked between the larger two and finally found another small cave near a cliff where we can see the pathway leading to the flames.
We’ll have to walk a dozen feet around the corner to reach our sleeping place, but that might be a good thing. So, we’ve settled down on a large sturdy rock to stare at the flames for a very uneventful hour.
The area is still. No sign of wraiths. No shifting shadows or distant sounds. Nothing.
Then, breath catches in Rev’s throat, and I shift my gaze just as the fire ripples. A tiny opening unfolds and out hops a rabbit.
I blink and grab Rev’s hand to notify him of what I’ve seen without making a sound.
An undead rabbit, rib bones entirely exposed with one floppy ear, bone and sinew hanging off of it, hops a few steps beyond the flames causally. As if the fire holds no danger whatsoever.
It stops to sniff the air then freezes.
Its pitch-black eyes shift to the ledge we’re on, and my breath catches. A moment of quiet stretches as all three of us wait. Then, the rabbit darts toward the rocks and disappears into some unseen crevasse in the mountainside.
“Did it see us?” Rev asks.
“Yes,” I whisper, watching the place it fled. “Maybe we’re not as inconspicuous as we’d previously thought.”
“You’re using your shadow magic?”
“Yes, but only a veil, not a full shield. It would take more energy for that.”
He pursues his lips. “Should we use more shadow magic?”
I bite my lip. “Probably. But that comes with some drawbacks. It’ll drain my power pretty quickly if I cast a full shield day in and out.”
“We can rely on my magic for offense. Yours for defense.” Rev’s light magic is impressively effective against wraiths, so it does make some sense. But I hate the idea of weakening myself and having to rely on him to defend me if an attack comes. Not that I can’t fight without magic, even entirely drained, I’m stronger than most of the creatures we come across. So long as there aren’t too many of them. I picture the clawing skeletons from the bog piling on top of Rev.
I remember that helpless feeling because I couldn’t reach him in time. Well, I could have. Would have if I had to. Back then, I had an ally helping me. Sort of. He would have happily watched Rev drown in that smelly muck. Just like in my dream, he wants me to leave Rev behind.
That wraith that called himself my ancestor is pretty high on my list of enemies. I put him just behind the Night Terror because she’s the bigger threat. I’m not sure where I should rank the Night Bringer because he’s not here inside these walls and he can’t get in. Even so, I’ll never forget him. The way he hunts and waits for the right moment. Luring fae into his trap.
I shiver.
“So, what now?” I ask. We can only wait here for so long.
“We still don’t know how to pass through the flames,” Rev answers.
“That rabbit crossed without so much as blinking. Maybe it’s not as formidable as we think.”
“Look at where we are,” Rev says with a flat voice. “It’s more likely to be worse than we think, not better.”
“So, what? We just keep putting it off? We try to figure out some puzzle we only have one piece to? We have to make the leap, Rev. We can’t just wait this out. It’ll only get worse.”
Rev winces. “We can gather more information by continuing to watch.”
“How? What do you think we could find out?”
“Maybe we should have talked with your wraith ancestor. He could have—”
“He could have purposefully gotten you killed. That’s what he’s most likely to do. He isn’t trying to help us, Rev. He wants something from us, just like everyone else.” I swallow and look past him toward the glowing wall of red fire, eagerly lapping into the sky like fingers reaching for something to burn.
“I’ll go,” I say.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll go first. If I don’t disintegrate into ash, you can follow.” Easy solution if you ask me. It’s certainly possible I’ll die a very painful death, but at the end of the day, that’s better for the both of us anyway. Well, I mean, I’d prefer a painless death, but that’s never been a likely option for me anyway.
Rev clenches his teeth, his jaw muscle popping. He steps forward. I cross my arms, holding my ground, but my heart races. It always does when he gets this close.
“What do you think your chances of survival are?” his intense grey eyes pinned to mine. I feel like that rabbit facing a predator. My magic is stronger than Rev’s, but he has power over me that I cannot control.
“Slim,” I admit, forcing my stare to remain solid.
His fingers grip my chin. “Why do you wish for death, Caelynn?”
I close my eyes, suppressing a shudder. “You said you want more information. You know we need to cross the fire. We can’t wait forever. This is doing exactly what you’re asking for in a way that limits the risk. That’s it.”
“Limits the risk,” he mutters, shaking his head. His jaw ticks. “If we’re taking huge risks with our lives, why not talk to a wraith?”
I step back, lean against the rocky hill behind us, and slide down to my butt. “The risk of talking to a wraith is that I get captured and taken to the Night Terror. I’d rather gamble with my death.”
“Then, I’ll talk to them. They don’t want to kidnap me.”
“No, they want to kill you.”
“That’s the same thing you’re willing to risk. Your life or my life. My plan has more likelihood of success if you ask me.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You’re impossible.”
“Tell me, how is it different?”
I frown but meet his intense stare. He knows how it’s different, he’s just digging for a response.
I lean my head back against the stone and stare up at the hazy sky. “Because you need to live.”
“And you?”
I grind my teeth. “I know what you’re trying to pull out of me, and yeah, I think it’s better for everyone if I die. Okay? Reahgan was right. If I’m dead, they can’t use me and their plot ends. They lose, Rev!” I’m shouting now, and I don’t even know how that began, but my emotions are exploding. The pain and regret and rage an
d fear, all of it pours out of me. “There’s no winning against them. But we can make sure they don’t win.”
Rev
I brush my knuckles against Caelynn’s cheek, wiping away tears streaming down. I’ve never seen her cry, I realize. She’s seen me cry. She’s held me while I melted down.
“There has to be a way,” I whisper. There has to be.
She presses her eyes tighter. She doesn’t want to live any longer, and for some reason, that scares the hell out of me. But it’s the pain and rage that simmers inside of me that’s most surprising. “I never took you for a quitter, Caelynn of the Shadow Court.”
“I’m not quitting...”
“Sure you are. You’re giving up on yourself. On me.” On us. My stomach churns.
“No.” Caelynn shakes her head. “Never on you. This is for you. All of it.”
“Well, stop it,” I say firmly. “If you die, I’ll never complete this task.” I say it as motivation for her, but as the words leave my lips, I realize I believe them. This is too big for me. I could survive the Schorchedlands on their own. But against an army of wraiths? Against an ancient creature imprisoned here for centuries because the leaders of that time couldn’t control it?
Truth be told, it’s probably too much for both of us. But we have to try.
“Maybe it won’t matter,” she says, sniffling. “Maybe once I’m dead, the Night Terror won’t pursue you or the book. What would she have to gain at that point?”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I drawl. “Those creatures don’t at all seem the kind to desire vengeance or to kill for the hell of it.”
She lets out a bitter chuckle.
“Maybe there’s another way to cure the lands like my wraith said,” she shrugs. “Like the gates implied. Maybe you could leave now, forget the wall of flames, go back to the fae world without the spell book, and...”
“And take the gamble that if I don’t have the power to cure the lands—a concept that seems pretty damn far-fetched as it is—that no one could get the spell book out of here for another decade? I won’t do that. You know I wouldn’t.”
Soul of Thorns (Wicked Fae Book 3) Page 7
