Chapter Two Rosemary

I was drowning, but I couldn't muster the energy to give a damn. Rain streamed over my face, unpleasantly warm and doing nothing to wash away the mud that weighed down my every limb. Coughs and spluttering hindered every breath as I inhaled the falling water, no matter how I tried to protect my face with my hands.

Forget fire and sulfur. This was hell.

The bounty hunters had to be close, if they'd survived the mudslide. I was pretty sure most of them had been knocked into the swollen river, but I had been too busy trying to keep myself out of those deadly waters to confirm that they had all been swept away.

Since when was I that lucky? No, almost certainly some of those dangerous men were still chasing us.

I had to stay awake. Not because I particularly wanted to live at this point, but because Ivan was still beside me. I could feel him more than see him. A solid weight in the mud. One that was once warm, but no longer. Either I was too numb to feel warmth, or he had none to give.

He was alive though. Barely moving, clutching his side where a huge branch had crashed into him, but breathing. I was sure of it.

He had to be.

He'd hauled me through the storm and the darkness without a word of complaint. Not that I could hear anything he said over the roar of the weather, but I was pretty sure he'd only cursed me under his breath at most. My brother was the only thing that had kept me going this long. After everything .

My father had made damn sure that I was weak, and the bounty hunters hadn't done me any favors either, but Ivan had come for me. Even when the sensible thing to do was to forget that I ever existed, he had crossed the border between our country and Raksim, and rescued me.

All through this bitter night, through rain and mud and utmost exhaustion, I told myself that if he could still be upright and moving forward, then so could I.

Except neither of us is upright now.

If I had thought that giving myself up, either to the hunters or to death, would free him to go on without me, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, Ivan had proved over and over that he'd never just leave me to my bad luck. He'd prod me on until I collapsed.

Then he'd carry me.

Stupid godsdamned brother. I loved him so.

So I kept going all night. I pushed myself to take one more step, and then another, over and over. I'd lost my raggedy shoes a while ago. They were goners once the ground soaked up all the rain and started trying to slurp me in as well. My feet were numb now, and it hardly seemed to matter. My dress- if a bundle of rags can still be called a dress- was heavy with mud, and every part of my body was so leaden I felt more like a monster made of sludge than a girl.

I stroked my brother's head as he lay in the mud beside me, wondering if he could even feel my fingers at this point. Maybe we'd wake up and feel better tomorrow. Maybe the mud would hide us from the bounty hunters.

Maybe falling asleep really was the right thing to do.

It felt like the right thing. Ivan was already asleep, after all, and he wasn't shivering anymore.

I was so tired.

Ivan had planned my escape from the bounty hunters with his usual keen attention to detail, including finding us a secret cave to hide in once he squirreled me out of the hunters' camp. He always was really good at finding hidden places in the forest. As children, we had spent candles in them, little hollows in trees, or grassy huddles deep in a thicket of brambles, waiting out our father's temper.

Ivan had been so proud to show me his latest find, a tiny cavern carved out by water and time, nestled under a natural rock formation. One of many that dotted the forest. The cave was accessed only by a crevice that was nearly impossible to see, hidden by bushes and ferns.

Was this really still the same night as when we entered the cave? It had to be, but I felt like I hadn't seen the sun in days.

Even with all his good planning, Ivan had failed to account for extreme weather conditions. The tiny cave had been quickly flooded by the storm, forcing us out as the river rose.

Even then we'd have been fine. The night was so noisy from thunder and rain, we could have escaped their notice. Ivan had cast his scent-concealing spells, to hide my omega perfume, and we were both good at creeping in the dark. We could have gotten away, no matter how hard they searched for us.

Unfortunately, almost the moment we emerged from underground, soaked to the skin and prepared to tiptoe through the trees all night if we had to, we were spotted by one of the bounty hunters who had already noticed their prize had fled.

We were so damn unlucky.

I guess I should be used to it by now.

Forced to run, the bounty hunters right on our heels, we crossed the valley river, already wild with rain, then scrambled down a broken path alongside the water. The valley walls on this side were too steep to climb, even if it would give us the higher ground. We both knew I would not make it.

I was not a strong runner, but desperation fueled me and we managed to stay ahead of the six hunters for almost a candle, with Ivan throwing every spell he could think of behind us to delay them. Unfortunately, even my stubborn little brother had his limits, and he gradually wore himself down, until his rich, brown magic was streaked with the black that meant he was drawing on his life force. Already gasping with panic and exhaustion, I was struck with the fear that his heart was going to stop.

I felt the moment the spellstone gave up, and my scent came flooding out. Ivan had told me that strong emotions, or anything that brought out my omega side would cause the spell to run through more quickly. Not that it mattered now. The hunters knew what I was, and hiding my scent would make no difference.

I had almost decided that I was going to just let the damn bounty hunters have me, in exchange for letting Ivan go, when we all heard a sharper rumble underneath the rain. Like thunder, but it went on and on, growing louder by the second.

A mudslide. Barreling down the side of the valley toward us.

For the first time my luck changed, and the tremendous mass of mud and debris fell almost directly between us and the bounty hunters. As it crashed into the river, those awful men caught the brunt of the displaced water, and were swept away, while we just managed to get clear, clipped by the edge of the pummeling debris as it poured past us. Ivan took a branch to the gut, while I was untouched, because the gods knew that made the most sense.

We kept trying to run for a little bit after that, but when I'm the one pulling Ivan along, you know the situation is bad.

You know it's probably over.

So now I was curled up in the mud of a riverbank, one hand gripping my little brother's arm, my other hand on his head. Was he breathing? Surely he was. Surely we just needed to sleep a little bit.

If only the rain would stop so that I could sleep.

I knew I needed to get up to save us both. Of course I knew. Somehow I would find the strength… somehow I would care enough to push through.

I tried to care, to make myself get up, but I just… couldn't. My limbs just wouldn't respond.

My eyelids were sinking to their final destination when the dull thud-thud of hooves penetrated my brain. A voice. A vibration that I could feel deep inside, where something in me was still warm. Still waiting.

No! If the hunters found us they'd take me, and leave Ivan behind to die.

They might stab him a few times to make absolute sure he didn't follow.

I used every ounce of love and irritation for my little brother, who just had to pick a cave that was going to flood, and just had to follow me in the first place, and dredged up enough energy to crawl forward, trying to shield him from the hunters.

I felt him stir under me, felt his hand weakly grip my arm. He was alive .

I only managed to get part way across his body before everything went black.