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I grabbed the branch overhead, the howls drawing closer while I swung my leg up and over, hoisting myself into the tree.

Bastian leapt up behind me, throwing his bound hands over the branch and hauling himself skyward with ease.

The moment I was satisfied that he could keep up, I climbed higher, one bough to the next, slipping through the branches until the ground was barely visible below us and I pressed my back to the hulking trunk.

Bastian found a place at my side while he coiled the rope attached to his hands up in his lap, his arm pressing to mine as we shrank into the shadows of the trees and the howls of the Wolfpack drew closer.

I bit my tongue against any words, fighting to slow my heaving breaths while reaching out with my gifts for some sense of the Fae closing in on us along the road.

The thundering hooves drew closer, their pounding beat driving into my skull and a flash of movement becoming visible between the thick pine needles as I peered towards the road.

Bright colours mixed with dark as a herd of Pegasuses and Centaurs galloped closer, the Wolves spread out around them and howling while they ran.

A hint of their desires called to me and I swallowed thickly as I tasted what I’d been hoping I wouldn’t.

Every one of them was aching for blood, thirsty for revenge, desperate to claim penance from the Fae they hunted in the names of the warriors they’d found butchered in the outpost we’d left behind.

One of the Werewolves barked sharply, the legion drawing to a halt as the huge, grey beast turned its snout towards the edge of the road where we’d left it.

I cursed internally, taking hold of as many threads of magic as I could and tugging lightly on those desires I could feel, boosting them as subtly as I could and stealing a hint of their power for my own.

The moment the magic was within my grasp, I wielded it, shrouding us in shadow and casting a shield of air around us to hide our scent.

The other three Wolves circled the Pegasuses and Centaurs, all of them moving to sniff the edge of the road while the horse-like beasts whickered and pawed at the ground impatiently.

“Well?” barked one of the Centaurs, his upper body still clad in a dark shirt and leather coat while his lower half had taken on the appearance of a chestnut horse. “What is it?”

The lead Wolf growled in reply, still sniffing the road and I eased my dagger from my belt.

I cut a strip of fabric from the hem of my shirt then reached over to do the same to Bastian’s.

He watched me curiously but said nothing as I knotted the scraps of fabric together, our scents combining as they had on the road.

I eyed the legion of Flamebringers as I cast air magic around the scraps of fabric, making sure none of them were looking up into the trees then using my magic to launch them over the heads of our enemies and into the road beyond them.

I wielded the air so a soft breeze tumbled towards the Wolves, carrying our combined scents on it while I extended my shield out to cover the area we had crossed through the trees and block off any trace of us coming from this direction.

One of the Wolves lifted its head, looking back towards the road and I hurled the knotted rag away from us, letting its scent run back to them on the wind.

My magic strained as the rag drew further away from me, the tiny amount of power I dared steal from the Fae on the road burning away faster than I could replenish it. I didn’t dare take more from them in case they noticed.

I stretched my fingers out, leaning forward as I pushed my magic as hard as I could, sweat beading on my brow as I forced every drop from my skin, urging the rags which carried our false trail to make it as far down the road as possible.

I gasped as I slipped forward, my stomach lurching as I fell from the tree, my concentration on urging the magic away from me costing me precious seconds as I threw my hand out to try and catch myself.

My fingernails bit into the bark of the tree trunk then broke loose, my heart leaping into my throat as the ground far below loomed up at me.

I jerked to a sudden halt, my shirt yanking tight around me as Bastian caught it in his fist and stopped my fall a moment before I could tumble to the dirt.

I twisted to look at him as he hauled me back onto the branch, my back colliding with his chest before he threw his bound hands over my head and yanked me closer to him firmly.

Heat radiated from his body into mine, the flames of the Dragon inside him reaching easily through his flesh as our hearts pounded frantically together and loose pine leaves tumbled to the ground in my place.

One of the Wolves lifted its head, its ears flattening to its skull as it peered towards the foot of the tree we hid within.

My fingers curled around the hilt of my dagger as I prepared to fight, but then one of the other Werewolves howled long and low, its nose to the ground as it caught the false scent I’d laid and led the charge away down the road once more.

The Pegasus and Centaur herd broke into a gallop, the rest of the Wolves turning and racing away too, their magic moving out of reach all too quickly as I fought to capture a few more dregs from their bloodlust.

We remained there as the thundering of their footfalls became distant, neither of us willing to risk movement until we were certain they were gone.

The heat of Bastian’s inner flames coiled around me, my frozen muscles relaxing piece by piece as I allowed myself to lean into him, gluttonous for the relief from the endless cold.

Perhaps another Fae would have thanked him for saving their life but I wasn’t dumb enough to believe he had done so out of anything other than a desire for his own self-preservation.

I might have been a soulless creature fixed on delivering him back to captivity but at least I was a known threat.

Those Flamebringers would have killed us both without waiting to hear a single word about his innocence for the crimes they were hunting us for, and he knew it.

He shifted behind me, his grip on me tight enough to stop me from falling and perhaps tight enough to count as a restraint too.

I eased forward but he held me tighter.

“What now?” he growled in my ear, his stubble catching in the strands of my hair and scratching against the side of my neck.

I swallowed thickly, ignoring the way his grip made adrenaline spike through my limbs far more sharply than the presence of those hunters had managed to.

I was a child holding the leash of a monster when it came to him and in that moment, I was certain I wasn’t the only one wondering when that leash would break.

“Now we run for the western road,” I said firmly. “Put as much distance between us and those hunters as we can before my shield burns out and our scent becomes traceable again.”

Bastian raised his bound hands before me and I leaned against him, expecting him to lift them over my head and reacting too fucking slowly when instead he yanked them tight around my throat.

“I think, perhaps this is the moment when I leave your corpse at the foot of this tree for them to find, little mouse. All broken and bloody – an end to their hunt and freedom for myself all in one.”

I lowered the hands I’d raised too late to defend myself and shrugged.

“You’ll never make it past the gates of Leergaith with my curse dogging your steps,” I said simply.

“But if my death will bring you satisfaction then you can have it – I only ask that you wait until I’ve delivered the same fate to the man who escaped your cavern back in Stormfell.

Once he has met with the end he deserves, I’m ready to meet with mine too. ”

“Is that a promise?” Bastian sneered and despite the racing of my heart which seemed determined to fight for its survival I offered only a broken laugh.

“If you want it to be,” I said darkly, not caring if I kept to that oath or not.

“Then I’ll make you a deal. Untie me and I won’t make any attempts to escape you until we leave Pyros.

The two of us are being hunted in this place and I have no more desire to remain here than you do.

I’ll make no such promise beyond the border so we will find out whether or not you can drag me to the Wrathcourt once we step beyond these lands.

Your curse upon me will break when I set foot in Stormfell after all and I can see the sense in using you to get me out of Pyros. ”

“And why should I trust the word of a Stonebreaker when I already hold your fate in my hands regardless?” I scoffed.

Bastian chuckled darkly. “Oh sweetheart, if you think you own my fate then you’re going to want to get in line.

There have been claimants on that since an age before your great granddaddy was born and I’ve spent more time denying those claims than you will ever get to taste in all your years combined.

But as for my word – you can have it on a star promise if you’d like it?

My cooperation in Pyros with no attempts to escape you in exchange for your death like you so sweetly offered. ”

I sneered at his suggestion. No Fae ever entered a star promise unless they were mad, desperate or suicidal.

Seven years of bad luck for breaking the promise was a death sentence in the Endless War.

Then again, wasn’t I all three of those things now?

And if he played nicely while we worked our way out of this hellish place it would certainly make my life easier.

“Fine,” I said and the way he stilled made me think he hadn’t actually expected me to agree to his terms. “We’ll work together to get out of Pyros.

You won’t make any attempt to escape me or fuck me over in any way until my curse upon you is broken when we re-enter Stormfell and in return my death is yours. ”

I turned my head to meet his eyes, those flecks of silver seeming to spark in his dark gaze as he drank in my words.

I raised my hand to offer it to him and his fingers flexed around my throat as his breath rushed over my lips. We could have been two lovers embracing for the closeness of us, not two enemies making an alliance of hatred and paid for in blood.

Bastian smiled darkly as he took his hands from my throat, my skin missing the heat of his grip even as I drew in a full breath without the constraint of his hold.

His hand enveloped mine, gripping it tightly so that our callouses scraped against one another. The heat of him blazed with more intensity as he kept me captive in that ruinous gaze and he leaned in to place a tether on my soul in turn.

“Deal,” he breathed against my lips, as tender as a kiss and as damning as a blade through my heart.

Magic sparked between our palms as our bargain was struck, the stars binding us to our deal as certainly as any curse might.

And as I looked into the smiling eyes of the monster who I had just gifted my death, I smiled right back. Because I was done with the pain of this cursed life anyway and I was more than willing to marry myself to nothing but bloodshed, carnage, ruin and rot from this breath until my very last.