Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

“I think we’re being followed,” Grady whispered in the darkness of the unfamiliar chamber of the Bell’s Inn, somewhere in the Midlands.

We lay facing one another on a narrow, stiff-as-a-board bed, but at least it was an actual bed indoors. We’d spent a few hours the night before camped alongside the Bone Road while coyotes howled and whined as if they could sense the Hyhborn’s presence and were unsettled.

The only reason we were together was because the Bell’s Inn didn’t have a lot of rooms, and the Hyhborn, well, they might have curled their lips at the accommodations, but they weren’t all displeased when they discovered that the owner offered more than food and drink to his patrons. The owner, a thin man who went by the name Buck and didn’t seem all that concerned when he spotted me barefoot and Grady bloodied, also had flesh on the menu.

Just then, a cry of pleasure came from the floor above, momentarily overshadowing the steady thump of a headboard hitting the wall.

The Hyhborn were clearly enjoying themselves.

My gaze flicked up, where thin slivers of moonlight crawled across the ceiling. We were supposed to be sleeping. That was Prince Rohan’s order, but the thin walls did nothing to block sound. We could hear every grunt and moan.

“Gods,” Grady muttered wearily. “Do they ever stop fucking? They’ve been at it for hours.”

“I hope not.” I pulled my gaze from the ceiling. “They may separate us.”

“Yeah.” Grady sighed, and he shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable, but he couldn’t move very much with his arms bound above his head with chain secured to the headboard.

I wasn’t bound.

Because according to the Prince, I wasn’t being held captive. I was being rescued, and I thought they really believed that. But I also knew they had no reason to fear me attempting to make an escape. They were partly correct there. The first thing I did the moment they left was try to free Grady. I even used the lunea blade they’d yet to discover on me, but the chain . . . it was constructed of the same material, and I learned then that lunea could not pierce, crack, or shatter itself. But again, they were partly correct. Thanks to Hymel, they knew I wouldn’t leave Grady behind. I glanced at him, hating that he was in this situation because of me.

“Your eyes,” he said, voice thick. “I can’t get used to them.”

My eyes . . .

I’d finally seen them when we were placed in here and I was able to use the bathing chamber. There was a dirty mirror above the vanity and the light in there had been dim, but I’d seen them. The incandescent blue rings circled my pupils, just like they briefly had before. Whatever glamour the Prioress supposedly used had hidden them all these years, and I didn’t know if the glimpse of them before had been the glamour weakening or something.

“Are they . . . weird?” I asked.

“Kind of,” he admitted. “They’re also kind of pretty.”

I shook my head. “You were saying you think we’re being followed?”

“I heard Lord Arion talking to one of their knights this evening, before we stopped here. I didn’t hear why he thought this, but that’s why they wanted off the Bone Road for the night,” he said.

I swallowed, throat dry. There hadn’t been much in the way of food and water. Just a glass for each of us and something that was supposed to be a beef stew that we’d been given on our arrival. But if we were being followed? A tiny bit of hope sprang alive. Was it . . . was it Thorne? And if it was, what would happen then? “Do you think it could be . . . Thorne and his knights?”

Grady didn’t answer immediately. “I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.” I squeezed my eyes shut, opening my senses to find an answer to no avail. “I don’t see anything. I don’t know if it’s because a Hyhborn is following us or if it’s just that I’m . . . I’m tired and . . .” I sucked in a shallow breath that did nothing to alleviate the pressure gathering in my chest and stomach. “We’re what? About two days’ ride from Archwood?”

“Based on our pace, probably a little farther out than that,” he replied. “Prince Thorne went north, right? To meet with his knights. Even if he managed to still return to Archwood when he expected to, he would still be at least a day or so behind us.”

Whatever little hope had sparked was quickly extinguished as the thumping continued overhead. Not only would Thorne have to have ridden like hell to catch up with us, there was this trouble Prince Rohan had ensured Thorne and his knights would encounter.

There was also the fact that Thorne had no reason to come for me. He had no knowledge of me being this ny’seraph. I didn’t even know what it was. The journey had been a tense, silent one. That was how Prince Rohan preferred it.

Another guttural moan echoed from above.

At least, that was how the Prince preferred it up until now.

“But if it is him? Prince Thorne?” Grady said after a few moments. “I’m not sure that’s going to be a rescue.”

I closed my eyes as that pressure increased, feeling as if it would drag me through the bed. I’d told Grady everything while I tried to free him. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of Thorne killing me, especially when I felt safe with him. I wasn’t afraid of him.

But he also didn’t know what I was, I reminded myself. That could change the moment he discovered that I was this . . . this thing that basically stripped him of his immortality. Why was that even the case? There was so much I didn’t understand or know, and it made this all the more frustrating.

“Lis?”

I opened my eyes. “Yeah?”

“You like him, don’t you?”

“Gods,” I muttered as a piercing pain hit my chest. He’d asked this before, but it felt different now. More real. Harsher.

“Lis,” he said, and the sorrow in the way he said my name, the sympathy and . . . “Do you remember when I was getting with Joshua?”

I stiffened. “Yeah, of course I do.”

“And do you remember what you told me?”

“To stop messing around with someone who was married?”

He huffed out a dry laugh. “Besides that. You told me to cut it off before I got deeper and got hurt.”

“Yeah,” I said, thinking of the handsome banker. “And you didn’t listen, if I recall.”

“I know.” There was a pause. “I’m telling you the same thing.”

“What? It’s not like that. It’s nowhere near like you and Joshua— ”

“You and this prince may not have known each other long. You might not have been pretending make-believe like Joshua and I were, but I know you, Lis. You don’t get interested in anyone. It might be because you could touch him. It might be whatever the fuck you are to him and he’s to you, but— ”

“Okay. I understand what you’re saying. I do. But what I feel or don’t feel for him doesn’t matter.” I rolled onto my back. “We have way bigger problems to deal with.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t.” His exhale was heavy. “What does is that you need to get out of here.”

All tiredness vanished in an instant. “What?”

“You’re not bound. You can escape. There’s a window right above us that looks like it can be easily opened,” he said. “You should’ve already made a run for it.”

I turned my head toward him. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Lis—”

“I’m not leaving you. Gods, I can’t believe you would even suggest that again. That you would think I’d be okay with doing that . . .” I trailed off, suddenly understanding Naomi’s anger. Naomi. My breath snagged. I stopped myself before I could learn of her future, like I’d done the last two days. I didn’t want to know, because I needed to believe that she was alive. That she’d gone to her sister’s house and that it remained untouched despite the fact that I knew Laurelin wouldn’t live to see the end of the Feasts. That this attack could have been what ended her life.

I just needed that little piece of hope, because I knew when I closed my eyes again, I would see what I had when we’d been taken from the manor. The bodies of staff and guards I’d seen every day in pieces. Bodies strewn about the lawn, lit by moonlight. And the city? Homes had been burning and the path to the city gates had been cluttered with stone, broken wood, and . . . and shattered bodies. So many bodies, lowborn and Hyhborn. The old. The young, some that were—

“What happened in Archwood wasn’t your fault.” Grady interrupted the spiral of my thoughts.

Clamping my mouth shut, I scrubbed my hands down my face, wiping away the dampness that had found its way to my lashes.

“I know that’s what you’ve been thinking. It’s not,” he said, voice low and hard. “The King didn’t want Archwood defended. He wanted the city destroyed. Prince Thorne told you that.”

I flinched at the sound of his name.

“Archwood was fucked whether or not you ever set foot in that city.”

Dropping my hands to my stomach, I shook my head. “Well, it was mighty convenient that Prince Rohan came for me the same night they laid waste to a city.”

“It wasn’t convenient. It was fucking Hymel. What was going to happen to Archwood was going to go down. They just took two birds with one stone.”

Maybe Grady was right. That Archwood would’ve fallen no matter what, and if Hymel had never gone to the Hyhborn, then we might have died that night in Archwood. Maybe we would’ve escaped. I didn’t know.

But what I was sure about? What I needed no intuition to know? Grady wouldn’t be in this situation, his life hanging on whether or not I displeased the Hyhborn. He wouldn’t be here, for better or worse, if it weren’t for me.

The only thing I could do now was make sure that Grady got out of this in one piece, and I would, even if it was the last thing I ever did.

I didn’t remember dozing off, but I must have, because I was suddenly wide awake and my heart was pounding.

The chamber was quiet— the entire inn was silent, but something woke me.

“Lis?” Grady nudged my leg with his knee. “There was screaming.”

Swallowing, I turned my head toward him, able to make out the line of his profile. His head was tipped back. I followed his gaze to the ceiling, where there was nothing but silence. A chill skated down my spine as the streams of moonlight retreated from the ceiling, slipping across the beams and out the window—

The gas lantern in the bathing chamber suddenly turned on. Every muscle in my body tensed. The glow pulsed. Ice drenched my insides as the lamp on the table flickered to life, pulsing wildly. Air lodged in my throat as the air all around us charged with static— with power.

“The Hyhborn,” I whispered. “Something is going— ”

A cry pierced the silence, sudden and abrupt.

Sitting up, I grasped the front of Grady’s tunic. The air was torn apart by a shrill shout, then another scream . . . and another.

“What’s happening?” Grady gasped, straining against the chains.

“I don’t know.” Heart thumping, I scrambled to my knees and peered out the window, but I saw nothing but darkness. I jerked back from the window at the sound of a skin-chilling wail that ended sharply. That had come from outside, in the distance of whatever village we’d entered.

Twisting, I slipped off the bed and stood, wincing as sore muscles protested. Breathing raggedly, I reached for the dagger—

“Don’t,” Grady warned. “Keep it on you and run, Lis. Please. Fucking make a run for it.”

My fingers curled around empty air as a shriek sent a shudder of dread through me. I backed up, each breath feeling too shallow, too quick. Turning, I crawled back into bed.

“Lis, please,” Grady begged, his voice thickening.

Shaking my head, I stretched out beside him, pressing my face to his chest as I gripped his tunic once more.

Then the screaming began in earnest.