Page 62 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

Fely gasped. “Wait, isn’t that…of course, I cannot be certain, because I only saw him that one time with that horrid display of the General’s…but then Achilles…”

But Hallie didn’t hear a single word she said.

She couldn’t. Everything in her mind went silent—all the thoughts and misgivings about Fely and the underlying dread of what would happen now that King Filip was dead.

Her ears rang with silence, like an explosion had gone off right next to her head.

Tingles danced down her entire body and back up again, flashes of hot and cold taking turns flaring through her skin, like she had just used her power again.

The pilot’s curly brown hair was more tousled than ever, made worse by his hand running through it as his eyes scanned the crowd. It had been a while since he’d shaved, a short beard decorating his cheeks. Her heart thumped harder.

How was he here? The timing didn’t add up.

But she didn’t care. She couldn’t care.

The last time she’d seen him, he’d disappeared into the twisting corridors beneath the Nardens, the memory of his lips on hers was all she had left.

She’d said goodbye with tears streaming down her face.

A part of her had believed she’d never see him again.

Never. She’d accepted her fate and prayed her fears would prove to be wrong.

He’d also been uncertain of what he would face when he reached Kyvena—whether he would be executed for his many crimes or locked in a dungeon cell.

She hadn’t realized until that moment just how much she’d dared to hope.

The thought of him amidst the turmoil in the Gate chamber had brought her there, to this exact moment in time, to make this possible.

Kase Shackley stood in front of her, alive and well, against all odds.

And then his eyes found hers, and the impossible became real.

Trying to catch her breath was pointless. Her vision blurred. She blinked furiously, the emotions swirling within her heart fighting for attention: shock, joy, anguish, love—

Love.

She brought a shaking hand to her mouth. A single choked sob escaped her fingers. A few people turned toward her, their expressions skeptical, but she didn’t care.

Kase.

She had recognized the pilot’s flight patterns. Kase had taken down the enemy without any effort. He’d swept right over her head without her even knowing.

Tears flowed down her cheeks, and she didn’t try to stop them. Her chest was going to explode.

She dropped the jacket. Fely said something, but she couldn’t hear anything else, see anything else but the cocky pilot frozen on the hover wing, his hand raised mid-wave.

Another breeze rustled her wayward strands of dark auburn hair, wisps sticking to her damp cheeks.

A watery smile split her face; it ached, but she couldn’t relax it.

Not when Kase was looking at her like she’d hung the moons in the sky, like the universe had finally given him a gift instead of a curse.

All she could see were those blue eyes and windswept hair, the teary smile meant for her. All she could feel was her pounding heart, the tingling having moved to her extremities. For that one moment, she could pretend she didn’t carry the world on her shoulders.

Another moment of uncertainty passed, then Kase leaped down and landed with a dancer’s grace, shoving through the crowd with his eyes anchored to her. She’d never seen him smile so broadly. He’d never had cause to. Not before.

He blurred in her vision once more, and she blinked the moisture away.

“Go.” Fely shoved her forward, and Hallie dropped her pack.

Then she was running, and he was running, the crowd parting, and Hallie leapt, crashing into his arms, forgetting the onlookers. He held her so tightly his heart pounded beneath her chest. She buried her head in his neck. He smelled of leather and woodsmoke and…home. He smelled like home.

All the terror of the last few days fell away with a single touch.

After spinning her around in circles, her feet floating weightlessly with each twirl, he set her down and pulled back to look in her face. Tears budded in his eyes, his voice husky as he breathed, “It’s really you.”

All she could do was nod, because if she opened her mouth, she might start blubbering. She’d seen him not even a week ago, but she’d lived an eternity in those few days.

She hadn’t expected to survive taking on and using her power, but she had. And she’d been rewarded by finding him again. She refused to think that maybe it was a boon that would eventually lead to something worse—the calm before the storm.

Even if she only had this one moment, it was worth everything.

Another smile lit Kase’s face like the sun as his hand tightened around her waist. He let his other hand trail down her cheek and rest, cupping the back of her neck, his thumb lazily tracing her jawline. He lowered his lips to hers.

Someone cleared their throat.

Hallie sucked in a breath and pulled back, her breathing heavy and her head lighter. Words wouldn’t form—couldn’t form. He was here . Her impossible hope had come true.

And she wasn’t dreaming. This was real.

“As much as I hate to interrupt,” Niels said, finally speaking.

The back of her neck prickled with annoyance as she turned slightly in Kase’s arms.

“Yes?”

With each passing second, the sounds of the crowd came back, and the world unfroze. Fely winked at her, but then she subtly nodded in the direction of the soldiers, who were staring daggers at Kase.

Niels set down her pack, the sword sticking up and falling over from where it’d been hanging. “We have information that needs passing along.”

Kase looked at Fely quizzically, his arms still wrapped around Hallie. “And you are? You look familiar.”

“A friend,” Fely said simply. She tucked a stray piece of midnight hair behind her ear and looked away, back toward the soldiers.

Kase held out one hand, the other not letting Hallie go. “I’m Kase.”

Fely hesitated, but she allowed him to give it a quick peck. “Fely.”

Kase then turned to Niels and shook his hand, though the exchange was cool at best. “Thank you for getting her back safely.”

Niels nodded, his jaw steely. “It’s what her father entrusted me to do.”

“Of course.”

Fely hesitated before stepping between the two men. “So, our information?”

Hallie tried to cover her unease with a smile.

She only allowed herself to feel slightly guilty at Niels’ tone.

She’d told him how she’d felt, but maybe flaunting her choice in front of him was too much.

However, with Kase’s arms still around her, it was difficult to feel much pity for him.

“Is there somewhere we can talk? And where is Papa?”

Kase looked like he wanted to forget about all his responsibilities and kiss her senseless, but he said, “He’s with your mother. They’re fine.” He looked over at the pack and weapon on the ground. “I assume you have an explanation for the scary-looking sword?”

“Define explanation.”

Kase raised his eyebrows. “Not sure if I should be nervous or not.”

“Later.” Hallie glanced at Fely, who shook her head and subtly gestured to the crowd still around them. With furtive glances at the sky, soldiers started herding people back into the hole in the ground.

“I didn’t expect you to be here so soon,” she said, squeezing his wrist. “How did you make it to the capital in only five days?”

Kase stared at her hard, his grip loosening a little. “Five days?”

“Give or take a few hours, I suppose, considering we’re on a different continent,” Hallie said, untangling herself and reaching for her pack. She made sure the sword was secure before pulling the straps onto her shoulders. “It felt like forever, though.”

Kase looked at Niels, then at Fely before finally focusing on Hallie again. “Not sure I follow.”

Hallie tilted her head. “Well, it should’ve taken you a few days to go through the tunnels in the Pass, I’d think.” She looked to Niels for confirmation, but he only shrugged. “Which would mean you somehow made it from the Pass to Kyvena in two days. How?”

Kase stared at her, forehead wrinkled in confusion. She’d never seen him look at her like that before.

Her heart sank, heavy with unease. “Kase?”

He shook his head. “I, uh, stole that in Nar.” He pointed at his hover. “It’s quicker than most hovers. By a lot.”

Both Hallie and Fely’s mouths dropped open. Hallie recovered first. “You stole a Cerl hover?”

“Yeah, with your father.” He took her hand and led her to his hover; Fely and Niels trailed behind them quietly. “But that’s another story for another day. The point is, we did go faster because we had this, but it took us three days. Not two.”

“Still quick!” Hallie said, still trying to figure out what was going on. Something didn’t make sense. Maybe she’d lost track of the days? She truly was exhausted, though seeing Kase had injected some adrenaline into her veins.

Kase stared at her quizzically. Distractedly, he ran his hand along the airship’s nose as if petting some sort of dog. A second later, the hover faded, replaced by the foliage behind it. She gasped. Kase jumped, but he quickly recovered. “That explains it.”

“What?” Nothing was making sense. She thrust her hand out, her fingers colliding with the metal. It was still there—she just couldn’t see it. Interesting. She spread her fingers out, marveling at the cool metal that she could no longer see. It was as if her hand pressed against solid air. “How?”

She nearly dug out her sketchbook to take a few notes, but it was not the time. She might persuade Kase to show it to her later. This was unbelievable.

As if invisible hoverships were much less believable than her ability to create a Passage with her magic and transport her thousands of miles in seconds. She shivered.

Kase shrugged. “Not really sure, but it’s already saved me once or twice.” He held his hand out for her pack, careful of the sword; he pulled the pack onto his own shoulders before helping Hallie into her jacket.

She thanked him and nodded toward Kyvena and the invisible hover. “That’s how the Cerls took the city, isn’t it?” She fiddled with the sleeve cuffs. “Do you know when the attack was?”

It was Fely who answered her question. “The day Achilles fell.”

Kase gave her a look of suspicion. “Yes.”

Hallie would have to tell him who Fely was—later. For now, she steered the conversation in a slightly different direction. “So five or six days. Why are the Cerls still bombing the city?”

Kase shook his head, concerned instead of confused now. He pulled her closer, putting his palm against her forehead. “I think we should maybe get you looked at. You’re not making sense.

“Excuse me, I am making perfect sense.” But he was looking at her like she’d started speaking Yalven. “What are you talking about?

He turned slightly to look at her, searching her eyes and her face for some sort of answer, but he didn’t seem to find it. “Hals, it’s been nearly two weeks. I haven’t seen you in about eleven days.”

Impossible. Her calculations couldn’t be off by that much, no matter how little sleep she’d gotten.

While she was doing the math again just to make sure, Kase cupped her cheek. “Are you hurt? Did something happen?”

Hallie could only stare blankly at him. It still wasn’t adding up.

“No, it’s only been five days. I’m almost positive.

” She pulled out of his grip and started counting on her fingers.

“It was night when we left the Gate chamber. But it’s midday here, and I’d guess it’s only been a half hour, or an hour at most. Okay, so let’s say six days.

We spent yesterday hiking up to the city from the ruins.

Before that, we were underneath the ruins, then in Ravenhelm, then Stoneset.

And we spent three days there.” She held up her fingers as if Kase couldn’t see them clearly in front of her.

“That’s only five. Six at worst, considering the rotation of the planet, but that shouldn’t have thrown us off all that much.

Of course, maybe we were in the Gate chamber longer than I thought, though it couldn’t have been more than late evening when… well, when everything—”

“Hals. Wait. You’re confusing me.” Kase held up his hand. “I swear to you that I haven’t seen you in nearly two weeks. Let’s get you to the hospital ward and let—”

Fely stepped up and put a hand on Hallie’s shoulder. “We need to discuss this privately after we deliver our information.”

“I don’t understand,” Hallie said. She couldn’t get her brain to work right. Stars, she needed sleep. Had they stayed in Stoneset longer than she’d thought? Maybe she’d lost time when she’d used Navara’s journals?

Maybe something had gone awry with the passage. She’d lost control, she knew, but the Gate’s remaining power had gotten them here. Fely had said that herself. She looked down at her hands.

Her power could reverse time in small increments.

Other than creating or opening Passages, it’d been limited to healing that didn’t hold, whatever she’d done to the beam in the Myrrai ruins, and…

well, dissolving a man before her eyes, but she was desperately hoping that might prove to be an anomaly.

“Swear it’s been that long?” Hallie asked, her stomach rebelling. Her skin flashed hot and cold.

Kase cupped her elbows and bent a little to look into her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure of it.”

She didn’t know how she’d done it, because it hadn’t been intentional, but if her theory was correct…well, it was a miracle they’d only lost a week.

Her voice shook when she spoke again, so quietly Kase had to lean in to hear. “Then that means that I…somehow…sped up time.”