Chapter 59

Ellery

We spentthe next two weeks in the Revenant Woods, hunting the Hooded Robber. An increased movement of amsirah in the forest made the woods louder and more crowded than before, but it didn't matter as I was only pretending to hunt.

We encountered a few amsirahs searching for somewhere safer than the towns that were once their homes. The fact they believed they would find that in the Revenant Woods spoke volumes about their desperation.

My heart broke for all those trying to escape King Ivan and the aristocrats' ruthless hold. There was nowhere for them to go. The towns and the forest were both full of death.

Last week, King Ivan circulated more posters declaring no one should worry, we would all be safe, and that shutting Tempest off from the other realms was good for us. No one could invade us again.

With the delivery of the posters, they gave each household member five carisles. That pitiful amount of money was an insulting drop in the bucket compared to all we'd paid since they captured King Leonidas.

The poster promised more to come if we all remained calm. I'd gone to The Hollows after the poster and money arrived. No one there was happy about it, but they were all too defeated to fight anymore and had few options.

They pocketed the money and went about their lives the best they could. I hadn't returned since; I could do nothing for them anymore.

I was sure some of the occupants of Tempest had bought King Ivan's propaganda about closing the realm to keep us safe, but not many. They could do nothing to change what happened or fight against it.

They could only hope his promise of more money came true.

I didn't believe it would. A man who helped plot something like this wasn't a benevolent soul.

He was a power-hungry dick who had trapped us all in a much bigger maze than the one at the palace. He'd done so to play with us without being concerned we might escape.

Many of the amsirah entering the woods to hide from King Ivan and his army stayed toward the outskirts, where they felt safer. The guards had captured some, leading to the others moving deeper into the trees.

While hunting for the Hooded Robber, we found a few corpses, and I recognized the ghost of the man from whom I always bought my meat pastries. Unexpected tears burned my eyes when I stopped to watch him pass.

Why was everything turning into such a mess? How had it all gotten this horrible?

When the man passed, I spotted Ryker standing across from me, watching. "Did you know him?"

"Yes."

We didn't speak again as we traveled deeper into the woods, but we hadn't talked much over the past couple of weeks. I didn't think either of us knew what to say, and we didn't kiss again. We didn't even touch.

I missed the connection and wanted it again; after everything that happened, our kiss seemed like a lifetime ago. We were different immortals then, and while things hadn't been all sunshine and flowers before they trapped us in Tempest, at least a feeling of impending doom hadn't encompassed me all the time then.

Despite believing that kissing him again wouldn't be my best decision, my heart raced and my skin tingled every time I was within three feet of him. He made every part of me come alive, and I longed to touch him, but it was more than the death and despair surrounding us that kept me away.

He'd grown distant again… more like the man I met that day when Mouse's hand was on the line. I didn't know how to break through that again and wasn't sure I should try.

Distance was best, considering I was taking us on this journey to hunt myself. Guilt continued to fester over this, but I didn't know how to end it.

My mother believed we would get the ransom to help us, and Ryker was more determined than ever to find the Hooded Robber, as he pushed harder every day. I didn't know why he was more driven to find the Hooded Robber, and I didn't ask.

Maybe it was because he'd learned his father had trapped him in this realm and he required something else to focus his wrath on. I wouldn't be too talkative or friendly after learning that either.

Ryker held back a tree branch for me; he turned away when I took it from him. When we started this morning, he'd opened a portal into the area we'd left behind at sunset yesterday and continued our search from there.

Every day, when we stopped to return home, we would find a tree and carve a new marking into it. The next morning, one of us would picture the symbol from the night before and open a portal to it.

The symbol that brought us back this morning was a star with two flags protruding from the top. Starting where we ended the night before had enabled us to move farther into the Revenant Woods than I'd ever been before.

I'd told him I wasn't familiar with the area and had no idea about the creatures residing here, but my warning didn't deter him. I was certain there were many lethal things this far into the woods, but so far, we'd managed to avoid death.

I didn't know how long that would last.