Page 45

Chapter 45

Kat

“Rahk!” I burst into his study, gasping for air. He apparently heard me barreling through the hallways and is already getting up. “You must come at once!”

“What’s wrong?” he demands, grabbing his cloak and striding after me.

I’m so winded I can barely get the words out. “Caphryl Wood—there are people—growing stuff—”

His hand lands on my back. “Are you hurt? Did someone threaten you? Frighten you?”

“What?” I look up at him. “No—no! It’s not me. It’s the land! It’s magic! People are growing food that is strange! And there is a troll that wants to eat everyone!”

“People you don’t know?”

“Never seen them in my life!”

“And it’s your land?”

“Well, some of it, yes, but that’s beside the point! You need to come and see what is happening. I ran Bartholomew back hard, so I shouldn’t take her out again. We’ll have to take two of your horses—” I bolt toward the direction of the stables, only to be nearly yanked off my feet when he takes hold of my elbow to guide me in the opposite direction. “What are you—?”

There is a glint in Rahk’s eye. A glint that makes him look wild—and very, very fae . “Horses are slow. There’s a faster way to get there.”

I look at him blankly. Unless he’s trying to say that there are Paths in the human world as well, I have no idea what he means.

He pulls me after him around the back of the house, past the creek, beyond the view of any windows. Then he turns toward me. There is something in his expression, something in his wide-legged stance, that reminds me—as I’m so often forgetting—that he is a warrior who can tear me apart with his bare hands. That he is not just a tall human with long silver hair, but something entirely different. A being from a different world.

And then reality ripples behind him. The trees shiver like a droplet of water falling into the clear reflection of a still pond. I would have stumbled backward, tripped and fallen over the hem of my dress, if not for his grip on my arm.

Because right before my eyes, a great pair of jet-black wings spread from Rahk’s back. They catch the sunlight, turning dark blue.

“You—you—” I stammer.

His mouth spreads in a slow smirk. He pulls me close to his chest, arching an eyebrow down at me. “You’re going to have to hold on tight.”

“I—what? No! Absolutely not!” I try to pull free, but he bends and wraps an iron-like arm around my ribcage, and another around my knees as he hoists me up against him. “This is so unsafe!”

He makes a sound at the back of his throat. “Katherine Vandermore, concerned about safety? No, I don’t think that’s true.”

And with that, he launches into the sky.

I scream bloody murder as the ground shoots away from us. Wind pummels me from the force of his wings. I instinctively flail my legs and arms, fighting to get away from his hold on me. He tightens his grip, growling something at me that I cannot hear over the roar of air and the sound of my own knife-like terror.

We seem to even out, our direction shifting from up to parallel to the ground. I stop screaming long enough to glance down. Then my screaming renews even more violently. There is nothing between me and the plunging fall of my death—nothing except Rahk’s two arms which hold me tightly to his chest.

“Oh saints, oh saints, oh saints!” I shriek, only now realizing that I have a choking grip on his neck.

“I’m not going to drop you!” he shouts over the wind. “Just relax!”

“I’m going to die! I’m going to die!”

“You are not going to die.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Don’t look at the ground. Just hold on to me.” He places his mouth against my ear so I can hear him. “I promise you; I will not let you fall. Trust me, Kat. I’ve got you.”

He says it so gently that part of me relaxes. A whimper still escapes me as I squeeze my eyes shut and cling to him, as though to my own life. But then I notice just how solid his arms feel around me, how warm he is against the whipping wind.

I peel one eye open. He smirks at me again.

“You’re embarrassing yourself at this point,” he says.

“It is a crime that you never told me you had wings! Or could fly!” I protest, even though I did technically see his wings once before. It was dark, though!

“If it is a crime I have indeed committed, then please accept my apology.”

“I’m sorry for lying to you! Now please don’t kill me for vengeance!”

His long silver hair streams when he shakes his head and smiles. He pulls me closer so his lips touch my ear when he says, “How many times must I tell you I’m not going to kill you? Now look. See how beautiful the world is from the sky?”

I wrap my arms tighter around his neck and venture a peek below. From here, I can see the shadows of clouds playing across the fields, the spring green brilliant in its splendor. “Oh! It is beautiful!”

Pleasure radiates from him. His thumb on my ribs traces a soft caress. And then he nuzzles his nose into my hair. My gasp is swallowed by the wind as he says, “I’ve wanted to take you flying for so long. I wish you could feel what it is like to have wings.”

I smile. “It is probably like riding a galloping horse—except this is far higher.”

It’s only a moment later that he tells me, “It’s time to land. I will do it as gently as I can. Try not to scream, to avoid giving us away.”

The words barely register in my mind before we swoop downward and leave my stomach high in the air above us. My shriek—not entirely made of fear this time—slams against my teeth, but I manage to perform the feat of the ages and keep it contained.

As suddenly as it began, everything is still. The wind has stopped. I peek open one eye and find Rahk watching me, his head tilted to one side. He holds me tightly, as if to convince me that he was never at risk of dropping me.

“We’re done?” I squeak.

“For the moment.”

When he sets me on my feet, my legs go boneless on me, and I flop to the ground, groaning as I fling my limbs out in all directions. “That was terrifying . . . and amazing.”

Rahk shoots me a smile, but it is quick to vanish as he climbs the rise of the hill we landed on, keeping low so he isn’t spotted as he peers over the edge. I’m still flopped on the ground, breathing hard, but I shield the sun from my eyes and watch him. His shoulders tense.

I moan low and then roll over, pushing up to my knees. My feet do not want to work, but my curiosity overpowers their weakness. I climb the rise and settle myself beside Rahk. It’s as it was when I left—people planting haphazardly, while others pluck fully ripened fruit or vegetables off of enormous plants. They give Ymer and his cudgel a wide berth.

Rahk watches the tableau before us with a hardened brow. A quiet curse escapes him.

“It’s from the magic?” I ask. “From the forest receding?”

He nods.

“Are you afraid Ymer will kill them?”

He shoots a look at me. “How do you know his name?”

“He has been screaming it at the top of his lungs,” I say quickly, kicking myself for the slip. “Unless he is referring to someone else named Ymer.”

Just then, the troll shouts: “Ymer will grind your bones into a fine dust and snort it up Ymer’s nose!”

Rahk plants one hand on his thigh. “Yes, I am afraid he will kill them.” He pushes away from the rise and gestures for me to follow him back down.

I scurry after him. “Aren’t you going to talk to them? Or to the troll?”

“No.” Rahk walks far enough away from the hill so we won’t be seen. “No one in that field is going to listen to me. We’re going to talk to the queen. At once.”

“This is very bad?”

“It will get bloody soon if there is no intervention.” He fixes his dark gaze on me. “And that’s your land. If anyone ought to be profiting off it, it’s you .”

I wave a hand. “I’m not worried about the land or the money.” Just how on earth I’m supposed to get past them to get into the forest for my raids?

He holds out his hand to me. The tall grass waves against our calves, my skirts blowing in the wind. The sky is bright blue above us, with only a few clouds.

“I will fly back with you on one condition,” I say, not stepping close enough just yet.

“What is that?”

“That this is not the last time you take me flying.”

The dark furrow of his brow is gone in an instant, and it is as though a light has been ignited inside his eyes. He pulls me straight to his chest, his eyes sweeping over my face once before he scoops me up into his arms.

“I wouldn’t dare deprive you so cruelly,” he murmurs into my ear—and then shoots into the sky.