Chapter 28

This time I know for a fact the ground is moving beneath me before I wake.

We're nestled in the crook of two fallen trees. Based on their state of decay, they've been here a long time. Blue sits atop a broken limb, head tucked under a wing as he sleeps. The sun is low in the sky, telling me I've been out for a while.

Acker's chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm. He has an arm draped over my legs, which are curled in his lap, his other around my back, palm flattened at the top of my spine to keep me locked against his chest. I don't move, afraid to wake him. His heart beats steady in my ear, and a sudden bout of loneliness hits me.

I've left everything I know, everyone I know, to travel to a place I've never been before. Not just any place, but a home I've only caught bits and pieces of in my dreams.

Acker's not my friend.

He's a man who's been with me along the way, who risked his own life multiple times to protect me. A friend from a previous life, a life that could have been, maybe, but he's only here due to a promise he made to my family, to my mother.

I don't know how much longer it'll take us to reach Kenta, but our time together is coming to an end.

I take a moment to take note of my pain level, ignoring the slight ache in my chest. Wary, I reach out a hand to touch the dirt on the other side of Acker; it feels cool. Lifting my fingers to my face, I scrub the pads of my fingers together, feeling the grit of the dirt between them. I have a strange urge to taste it. I bring the tip of my finger to my tongue, which I regret instantly. I hurry to scrape it off, regret hitting me hard as I bite down on tiny grains of sand.

My head bobs from Acker's silent laughter, alerting me that he's awake. Probably been awake, if I had to guess. His chest jerks as he struggles to keep his laughter contained before he loses the battle, a rumble of sound pouring from his mouth.

I can't help but smile in return. "I don't know why I did that," I admit, embarrassed.

My comment only serves to make him laugh harder, and Blue's head pops out from his wing. I don't move from Acker's lap, but I lift a hand for him to perch on. He's been such a good help, communicating with Acker while I've been sick. He's deserving of some neck scratches.

He makes the short leap to my hand and bends for me to get the pesky spot behind his head. He blinks at me and flies away.

Rejected, I pull my hand back. "That was strange."

Acker runs a hand down my back in a soothing gesture. "He's been keeping the perimeter for days. Hasn't boded well for hunting. He's probably searching for breakfast."

That's fair.

I turn my attention to Acker, looking at him for the first time since waking. His eyes are soft but alert. A few hours of sleep did him good. I don't think I'll ever get used to being under his sole attention .

He continues to rub his hand along the length of my spine, sending goose bumps down my legs when he reaches the dip in my lower back. "Any more dreams?"

"A few, but they were too confusing to make sense of."

Eyes searching mine, he says, "Tell me about them."

"Well, there was this raging bear. It had blood-red eyes and ran on its back legs as it chased me."

Acker pauses then bursts into another round of laughter. The sound is somehow even more lovely than the one from a moment ago.

I smack him in the chest. "It's not funny! It was terrifying."

That only makes him laugh harder. Annoyed, I shove away from him. He reaches for me, but I bat his hands away. It's not until my torn pants expose my knees to the moist soil underneath that I realize I'm kneeling on the ground between Acker's legs.

He notices at the exact same moment I do, his laughter dying in his throat, eyes steady as he takes in the sight of me before him.

"How do you feel?"

I make a face as I struggle to put into words the feeling in my bones. I lower my hands to the dirt, palms flat to the earth.

"It feels…" I'm scared to say it, but I can't think of any reason to withhold the truth from him. "Strange," I say. "But there's no pain."

He doesn't react like I thought he would. It's not that I was expecting an outburst of some kind, but I wasn't expecting the blank expression on his face, like he's lost.

Shaking his head, the smile returns to his face, smaller but there. "Hallis used to scare you with stories of a bear he called Fang Hands who waited in the woods for little girls in pretty dresses to walk by."

I scowl at him. "I don't have many positive thoughts regarding your friend, Hallis," I say. "Sounds like a rightful pri—"

Acker leaps to his feet and pulls me up with him, my back to his front a split second before men pour into the space around us. Like the fish that camouflage in the reef, they flow in from between the trees, swords and bows aimed in our direction from all sides. Dressed in foliage, they match the terrain with dark smudges under their eyes.

It's nine against two. I've seen Acker take down four men with ease, but nine?

I haven't used my legs in days, and I feel like a newborn calf as I gain my footing, Acker's arm banded around my waist to help steady me. I note the soldiers with swords. I'd need to get close enough to wrangle one from their hands, but I'm much too spent to perform that miracle, let alone wield a weapon.

A tenth man strides into the makeshift circle. He's tall with light hair, eyes a stark blue. It's eerie how similar he looks to the Alaha in appearance.

"Hold on to your weapons." He speaks to his men without looking away from us. "We have the Soldier of Chaos amongst us."

A frisson of unease flits around the circle, but none of them move, only their hands as they tighten the clench on their weapons.

The man dips his head in acknowledgment. "Ace," he says, eyes on Acker.

By the tightness of Acker's posture behind me, it's obvious he is well acquainted with the man before us. "Vad. Desertion looks terrible on you. "

The threadbare shirt and ripped pants don't temper the steel in Vad's gaze. "You don't look too well yourself." I do my best to not appear as feeble as I feel, but something tells me he can see straight through my facade. "And what do you have here?"

"Nothing you or your men are interested in," Acker says firmly. "I assure you."

"Mmm. I think you're wrong."

Acker's tone goes chilly, but I can tell there's a coldhearted smile on his face without looking at him. "I'm never wrong."

"You're in the wrong now, being across treaty lines."

"Spoken as a man of treason," Acker says.

"Cut the morality bullshit, Acker. We both know who's the most bloodthirsty here."

Acker doesn't speak or move behind me.

"There's no need to worry." Vad's eyes flick to me for a brief moment. "She's run through multiple scenarios of you killing every man in this clearing. She's not scared of you. Quite the opposite, actually."

I freeze. Impossible…

"I'm an oracle, darling," he says. "How did you think I managed to ambush your elemental friend? You'd be smart to remember that now you've returned home."

It's Acker's turn to go stock-still, nothing but solid muscle ready to spring at my back. Vad knows who I am and where I came from.

"Jovinnia, the lost Princess of Maile. Or do you prefer to go by Brynn?"

I haven't given my name much thought. Neither of them feel right. I suppose, if I had to choose, it would be Acker's version.

"Jovie it is," Vad says with a smile .

Acker damn near snarls in reply.

Vad lifts a hand in complacency. "If your goal is peace between our lands, we can forget I ever saw you. No blood needs to be spilled today."

The pointed look Vad gives me sends a chill down my spine. The blade at my waist gives me little reassurance.

Acker moves his arm across my upper chest, his breath a warm caress against my cheek. "You don't have to make me out to be the bad guy, Vad. I have no problem playing my part. And, as you've already discovered, she doesn't mind."

In the deep recess in the back of my mind, I feel Vad's power like a single lick of flame in the darkest night. There is no barrier, nothing to stop him seeing whatever it is he desires. The flame passes over and through my memories, inspecting them. Searching, searching, searching.

I can't stop the shake in my bones. I've known fear, but never like this. I pretend my mind is a well to douse the fire in my brain. I imagine the water overtaking the magic invading the space, but Vad's power evaporates any chance of keeping my innermost thoughts private. He can see and hear and feel anything he pleases. My mind is weak, weaker than I ever knew.

His smile only grows at my realization as he relishes my secrets. "Anything you'd like to know?" he asks Acker.

"Get out of her head," he seethes.

Vad is unfazed. He lifts a knowing brow at the man behind me. "I know you're curious."

Acker's nearly vibrating with anger. " Now ," he demands.

Like blowing out a candle, the flame turns to smoke in my mind, leaving the residue of soot behind.

"She finds the idea abhorrent," Vad divulges. "Sending children into battle. Matter of fact, I'm sure she'll agree with turning herself over to spare the same happening on her behalf."

Nausea rolls through me. I can't tell if it's from the invasion of privacy or the awakening. "I have no desire to be anyone's sacrifice," I declare, correcting him. No matter what he can gleam from my mind, I want him to hear the truth. "I would rather die than go anywhere with you."

I can feel Acker's smile against the shell of my ear. "Do women express that sentiment to you often, Vad? That they'd rather die than be in your presence?" He makes a clicking sound with his tongue. "Embarrassing."

Vad smiles. "You've always been a cocky son of a bitch."

"Tell him to back off," Acker says. One of the men to our right has been inching himself toward our flank this entire time.

"I don't have any authority over these men, Ace."

"And yet you've led them to their death."

Vad shakes his head. "You're not going to kill any of these men."

There's obvious familiarity between the two of them, and something in the way Vad holds himself gives Acker pause. I can feel his hesitancy behind me.

"How do you figure?"

Vad takes a step to our left, and each of the men follow, creating a counterclockwise motion around us. "Because she's dying."

I blink. I must have misheard him, because I thought he said …

"You've suspected it." Vad takes another step. Then another, his men following the same pattern. "You knew her body was probably too weak to make it through the awakening without a healer. You wanted to turn back to Kenta, where you knew a healer would be on standby the moment you made landfall."

Acker doesn't adjust our position, letting Vad disappear behind our backs. They're closing in on us, but he doesn't make any moves. As firm as a tree, his feet are planted to the ground. Still. Lethal.

"But she pushed, and you conceded. She was miserable on that boat, and you hated watching her break down a little more and more each day."

Acker's voice comes out low and cold. "That's enough."

"Tell me," Vad says, reappearing in our peripheral. "Is it different to witness on land? Does it make it easier to tolerate?"

"I said that's enough." An imperceptible quiver travels through Acker's body, barely concealed rage desperate to get out. I further relax into his hold, hoping to communicate to him to remain in control, to remain calm, my own emotions notwithstanding.

"I don't need to see inside your mind to know the truth." Vad completes his circle, stopping before us once again. "That's a symptom of being a mind reader since I was twelve. It leaves little mystery as to the human condition. People are…" He thinks on it a moment, eyes going skyward before returning with renewed energy. "Boring."

Each breath feels more labored than the one before. I focus on keeping a steady rhythm, afraid to let on how worn down I am from standing alone. Even with Acker to lean on, my strength is waning.

By the look on Vad's face, I don't think I'm doing a good job disguising my feebleness. "You've been practicing your mental defenses. I'm impressed at your ability to keep me out."

Acker doesn't speak. From the looks of the men surrounding us, it makes them uneasy, eyes shifting between them, uncertain of what is to come next.

"I'll make you a deal." He snaps his fingers and shoots one in Acker's direction. "I'll tell you the location of a healer here in Roison if you let me inside your memories for thirty seconds."

Acker laughs, a quick chuckle of disbelief. "You're delusional."

"Am I?" Vad makes a face. "It's more than a day's ride by horseback to the border."

Before Vad can utter another word, breathe another breath, a whiz of air being pierced sounds through the clearing. It's unmistakable. In the next instant, I'm punched in the chest. I look down. A wooden reed is protruding from the side of my sternum. Acker pivoted us in the split second before impact, having seen the incoming arrow, causing it to miss its mark. Sticking out from between my ribs, the reed pulses with the beat of my heart.

Acker growls, voice erupting as he throws out his hand. Weapons fly from the holds and straps of the men and into the necks and sides and bodies of the men standing next to them. Half of them are dead before they hit the ground.

There's another zip in the air, another wooden arrow narrowly missing Acker's jugular as he angles us away from its trajectory .

"Stop!" Vad shouts.

His men listen.

Acker does not. He calls his blade from one of the felled corpses into his spare hand.

"If you kill me or anyone else, you'll never know where to find the healer, and Jovie will die before you're able to get to the border."

Liquid bubbles up my throat, and I cough. Red flecks of blood splatter onto the hand I have pressed around the entrance wound. I'm grateful for Acker's hold. My legs would give out otherwise.

"Fine," Acker spits. "My mind is open."

Vad shakes his head, smile returning, taunting Acker as it grows. "You'll only kill us after. No. I want a blood oath of you swearing not to harm us."

Acker doesn't hesitate. He lifts his hand and uses his magic to swipe his blade across his open palm. "With this blood, I swear to do no harm to you or the men here today as long as Jovie doesn't die." He squeezes his fist and lets the blood drip to the ground along with the weapon.

Vad seems less pleased with Acker's terms, but he doesn't voice them.

Acker speaks through clenched teeth. "On with it."

As he tilts his head to the side, Vad's eyes zoom in on Acker before going blank. The arm Acker has banded around me tightens, but his body goes stock-still behind me. I concentrate on breathing. Each inhale feels tighter than the last, and the taste of metal coats the back of my tongue. I know it's only thirty seconds, no more than the same number of breaths, but it feels like a lifetime before Vad's eyes focus again and life returns to Acker's body. Whatever knowledge Vad was able to garner from Acker better have been worth it.

"There's a brook that cuts west. Follow it through the woods until you come across the trees covered in moss. There's a cottage tucked between the trees. It's disguised, so keep your eyes peeled."

"How far?"

"Twenty minutes," Vad says, eyes falling on me. "If you run."

Acker cradles me to his chest. I cough again, and I can feel the blood hot on my chin and neck.

A man's scream comes from high in the trees. From the archer, I presume.

"What is that?" one of the men on the ground asks, fear in his voice. "You said you wouldn't harm us."

Acker turns his back on the men as more screaming ensues. "I didn't say anything about the bird."

"Bird?"

I can't see Blue, but I hear his battle cry a moment before the shrieks turn into garbled moans, then choked silence. There's a long pause before the sounds of the men fleeing for their lives echo behind us.

But Acker doesn't look back or wait. He runs.