Page 23

Chapter

Twelve

DAIN

I woke with a violent jerk, my body buzzing like I’d been struck by lightning. The tug in my chest was back, but this time it wasn’t a gentle pull. This was a vicious yank, as if someone had reached between my ribs and grabbed hold of my heart.

“Fuck,” I rasped, sitting up and clutching at my sternum. For a moment, the sensation was so intense that I couldn’t breathe.

Beside me, Ezabell bolted upright, her golden eyes wide with shock. “The Dokimasi,” she gasped, her voice trembling with excitement. “It’s pulling me toward the sunstone.”

She looked at me, her hair a black cloud around her shoulders. “You feel it too?”

“Yes,” I said. Unfortunately.

Her eyes sparkled. She clutched my arm. “Oh, Dain, I’m so relieved. This is going to be the best day ever.”

Obnoxious, tugging magic aside, the morning was shaping up to be pretty nice—and it was entirely due to her sitting stark naked beside me.

Purple predawn light streamed through the window and over her pink-tipped breasts.

The pillow next to her bore the imprint of Nikolas’s head, although he wasn’t in the chamber.

Probably, he’d gone to the privy. The three of us had dined the night before and then fallen into bed together, exhausted and sated. We’d slept tangled in each other, Ezabell nestled in the middle of the feather bed with me and Nikolas bracketing her.

My dick stirred. When Nikolas returned, maybe the three of us could?—

The door swung open, and Nikolas entered with a covered tray in his hands. He kicked the door shut, his smile wide and his eyes bright. He’d obviously been up for a while. He was fully dressed, and his damp hair curled against his collar.

“You’ll never guess what I found,” he said, crossing the room and setting the tray on the small table by the window. With a flourish, he pulled off the cover. “Eggs!” His smile faltered as he looked us over. “The magic is back, isn’t it.”

“Yes,” I said, rubbing my chest.

Ezabell threw off the covers and left the bed, heedless of her nudity. “It’s never been this strong before,” she said, her voice breathless as she gathered her clothes. “We need to go. Now.”

Nikolas’s mouth tightened, but he nodded. “Eat first,” he insisted, gesturing to the tray. “We don’t know how far we’ll need to travel.”

I climbed out of bed, wincing as another powerful tug pulled at my chest. “He’s right,” I told Ezabell, who looked ready to bolt out the door. “We should eat.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “Of course. And we’ll take any leftovers with us.”

We ate quickly, the chamber silent except for the sounds of chewing and the scrape of cutlery. Nikolas tidied the table while we dressed, his expression unreadable. But I knew him well enough to see the tension in his shoulders and the tightness around his eyes. He was worried.

Ezabell draped her scarf around her head, arranging the fabric over her ears.

“Ready?” Nikolas asked, his tone neutral.

Ezabell nodded, and the three of us made our way downstairs. The innkeeper watched us pass, her hands stilling on a pile of laundry. Nikolas winked at her as he placed a small stack of coins on the counter. “For the inconvenience,” he murmured.

Outside, dawn broke over the city, staining the buildings orange and pink.

Yawning merchants stocked their stalls. A cat trotted across our path with a mouse in its mouth.

We passed carts piled with oranges and apples.

The city was just waking, but Ezabell marched forward with a sense of purpose, her skirts swishing around her ankles.

“Which way?” Nikolas asked, glancing at her. He pulled an apple from his pocket and shined it on his shirt.

She frowned at it. “Did you—?” She shook her head. “Never mind.” She pointed east, toward the city gates. “We’re going that way.”

The magic yanked me forward—and kept yanking as we moved through the streets.

By the time we reached the eastern gate, the sun swelled the horizon.

A long line of merchants in carts rolled through the gates.

As we left the city, the guards in the watchtowers gave us nothing more than cursory looks.

They were more concerned with people entering the city than those leaving it.

About a half mile outside Saldu, the pull in my chest expanded, the tug throbbing so hard I thought my bones might crack. I clenched my jaw and kept moving.

“Does it hurt you?” Ezabell asked, concern in her eyes as she strode at my side.

I took her hand, and magic sparked between us.

She squeezed my fingers.

“I’m fine,” I said, squeezing back.

Nikolas walked on her other side, his half-eaten apple seemingly forgotten in his hand. “We’re moving northeast,” he said, sweeping his gaze over the road.

I heard the worry in his voice. And he was right to worry. Because just one major city lay in the northeast.

Solbarren.

“Does it matter?” Ezabell asked, her attention fixed on the horizon. “As long as we find the stone?—”

“It matters,” Nikolas said sharply. When Ezabell flinched, he softened his voice. “We just need to be cautious about where we venture. Dain and I haven’t always left the best impression on certain places.”

A brilliant flash of light streaked in front of us, bringing us stumbling to a halt. I threw up a hand, shielding my eyes from the brilliance of Helios’s arrival. For a moment, his radiance matched the sun.

“Helios!” Ezabell cried, rushing to him.

Helios dimmed to a tolerable brightness. “Bel!” He took her hands and looked her over like he was checking for injuries. “Thank the gods, I found you.”

“Where have you been?” Ezabell asked, giving him the same inspection. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I stayed in the forest the first night.

Then I tracked you from that dirty little human village to Saldu.

And, honestly, Saldu ? It’s like you’re asking for someone to notice your ears.

I don’t know why you insist on—” He snapped his mouth shut, his gaze shifting to me and Nikolas.

He narrowed his eyes. “You’re hiding something from me,” he said flatly. “All three of you.”

Ezabell sighed. “I told them who I am.”

The sunsprite’s body flared brighter. “You what ?”

“I had to,” she said. “Corvus betrayed me. He’s taken the throne, and I have reason to think he sent hunters across the Covenant to kill me.”

Helios gasped. “That can’t be true. Not unless he was plotting for years.”

“He was,” Ezabell said bitterly. She described the events of the past two nights, covering how she’d read of Corvus’s takeover in the news sheet, followed by our flight from the village when men showed up looking for us.

When she finished, Helios buzzed with obvious anger, the flames on top of his head shooting higher.

“That snake!” he hissed.

“That was my first reaction, too,” Ezabell said, her face falling.

Helios’s expression softened. “I’m so sorry, Ezabell. I know you loved him.”

She glanced at me and Nikolas. “I… Maybe I was wrong about that. I was young when I met Corvus. Being away from him has changed my perspective.”

Helios stared. Then he slanted a suspicious look toward us. “Did it, now?”

Nikolas bit into his apple. “What are you looking at, sunburn?” he asked as he chewed.

Helios drew himself up. “Watch your mouth, thief, or I’ll singe your pretty eyebrows off.”

“Enough,” Ezabell said, turning her gaze to the road. “We need to keep moving.”

Nikolas stared at Helios with an arrested expression. “You think my eyebrows are pretty?”

Ezabell started down the road. “Come on,” she called without turning around. “I want to cover as much ground as possible in case the Dokimasi fades again.”

Helios cast Nikolas a dark look before swooping to her side. Nikolas and I stared at each other. He tossed the apple core into the grass.

“Let’s go,” he said quietly, sudden tension rolling off him. We followed Ezabell and Helios, becoming a party of four once again.

We continued down the road, the forest thickening on either side of us. The pull in my chest grew stronger with each step, becoming a constant, insistent pressure that made it difficult to think of anything else.

But as we walked, a more pressing problem gnawed through the pain. Solbarren was the very last place Nikolas and I should go. He was quiet beside me, his features grim.

I caught his eye. This is the way to Solbarren.

His scowl deepened, his eyes flashing with irritation. You think I don't know that?

Have you come up with a plan?

His jaw tightened, a muscle twitching beneath the dark stubble he’d lacked time to scrape away. I'm working on it.

The sun climbed higher. The forest around us grew denser, the trees older and more gnarled, their thick trunks indicating centuries of growth. Birds called from the canopy above. Occasionally, something rustled in the underbrush beside the path.

By midday, we were all tired and hungry. Ezabell’s pace had slowed, although the determined set of her jaw told me she wouldn’t be the first to suggest stopping.

But when we came upon a small clearing beside a stream, Nikolas declared it time for lunch.

“Wait here,” he said, disappearing into the trees before anyone could argue.

Ezabell sank onto a fallen log, her face flushed. She pushed the scarf off her hair and swiped at her brow. “Where is he going?”

“To find food,” I said, sitting beside her. The magic in my chest twisted like a blade, and I hid a wince. “He won’t be long.”

“Will he hunt for it?”

I stretched my legs before me. “Depends what you mean by hunting,” I said carefully.

Helios snorted.

As I predicted, Nikolas returned shortly, carrying two loaves of bread and a wineskin. He placed them on a tree stump, took out his knife, and started slicing a loaf.

Ezabell frowned, looking from the bread to Nikolas. “Where did you get this?”

“Little cottage down the road,” he said, spearing a slice on his knifepoint and extending it to her.

“They gave it to you?” she asked, pulling the bread from the knife.

“The window was open.”

Disapproval flashed across Ezabell’s face. She opened her mouth like she’d scold him. Then her stomach growled. Sighing, she took a bite.

Within minutes, we’d finished the first loaf and half of the second.

Nikolas glanced at the sun as he uncapped the wine flask. “We’re making good time. We should slow down a little. Save our energy.”

Ezabell shook her head. “No. I want to move faster.”

His frown was fleeting but I saw it all the same. “Are you sure?” he asked. “What if the magic leads you in the wrong direction?”

“I think Ezabell knows more about magic than you do,” Helios said. “If you don’t want to move quickly, no one is forcing you to accompany her.”

Ezabell didn’t seem to hear him, her gaze on the trees as she appeared lost in thought.

Nikolas didn’t reply, but he held the sunsprite’s stare as he tipped the wine back.

Helios folded his arms, his hair flaming higher.

Nikolas’s throat worked as he gulped the wine. He lowered the flask, releasing an exaggerated “ahhh.”

The sunsprite’s glower deepened.

“See something that interests you, heatstroke?” Nikolas asked, dragging the back of his hand over his mouth.

Helios replied in a mild tone. “Not at all. I’ve seen animals eat before.”

Ezabell roused. “Stop it, you two.” She stood, putting a hand in the small of her back. “We should get going if we?—”

The clatter of hooves cut her off. Helios vanished in a streak of light, disappearing into the forest with blinding speed.

Nikolas and I tensed, ready for trouble, but a moment later, a single horse pulled a wooden cart around a bend in the road. A plump merchant sat atop the cart, a piece of hay protruding from between his lips.

He sat up straighter as he spotted us. “Sunny day, isn’t it?” he called around the hay.

“Sure is,” Nikolas called back.

The merchant pulled his cart to a stop, curiosity touching his eyes as he looked us over. “You three headed to Solbarren? I could give you a ride.”

Nikolas’s expression didn’t change. “No, but thank you for the offer. My wife and I are just walking to a friend's farm.” He glanced at me. “With my wife’s brother.”

I lifted a hand. “Hello.”

The merchant nodded. “Suit yourselves.” With a click of his tongue, he set his horse in motion again, the cart creaking as it continued down the road.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Ezabell turned to Nikolas. “This road leads to Solbarren?”

“Yes,” he said, the hint of a hard edge in his voice. His dark eyes were sharp as he looked at me. “Is that where the magic is pulling you, Dain?”

I stared at him, letting my expression speak for me. You said you’d come up with a plan.

His jaw clenched, his eyes flashing with irritation. I said I needed time to think.

We're out of time.

His expression darkened. That's what I tried to tell you last night!

“Why are you two staring at each other like that?” Ezabell asked, interrupting our silent argument.

Before Nikolas could respond, a high-pitched whistle split the air. Something flashed past his head, missing him by inches before thudding into the tree behind him.

An arrow protruded from the bark, its feathers quivering.

I grabbed Ezabell and dragged her to the ground.

Nikolas dropped into a crouch, his dagger appearing in his hand.

A second arrow hissed into the clearing, piercing the air where Nikolas’s head had been a split second before.

We were under attack.