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“Szar.” He leaned his head against the railing, gasping for air. He peered behind us. No sign of the men, the village shrinking further in the distance.
We did it. We were safe.
For now.
Sitting next to him, my hand on my ribs, reality began to set in as the train hurled itself toward Romania. Twilight clawed in deeper, the turbulent clouds ahead warning us what was coming.
He didn’t want me here, which was clear, but I had no choice anymore. I could only go forward.
I was going with him into the land of no return.
Chapter 6
Ash
The train swayed and bumped over the tracks, my heart still beating wildly in my chest, sweat cooling on my skin. I stared forward, not wanting to accept how, in ten minutes, everything flipped on me. What I fought against had happened anyway. Like I had no say in the matter, no matter what I did. Except my own folly was what led to this. My actions biting me in the ass. Punishing me. I felt I had marked this girl for death. Dragged her down into my darkness because she dared to get near me. A gravitational pull that smashed everything around me to dust.
Kek and Lucas had suffered the same fate.
Curving my head, I peered at Scarlet. The train picked up speed, blowing her hair around. Her lids tapered in pain, her hand on her ribs as she took in slow, shallow breaths.
“You’re hurt?” I sat up straighter.
“Just a cracked rib.” Her teeth ground together, disguising her discomfort as the icy winds turned her cheeks and nose a reddish pink.
My attention dropped to the bracelet, realizing why she was still in so much pain. It was blocking her powers so she couldn’t heal quickly.
“We need to get that off you.” Especially because of where we were going. Standing up, I scowled at the metal. “You can’t fight or heal properly with it on.” I took her free hand, helping her to her feet. I could sense the intense magic in the cuff trying to siphon mine too. A familiar nausea pooled in my stomach. It was one I had experienced in prison. Not as much as Killian or Warwick, but enough to make me want to throw up just being this close to it again. The nightmares of that place lived freely in my head, tormenting my soul.
Something was different about hers, a magic weaving with the goblin magic I couldn’t decipher, something that made the hair on my arms prickle.
“Come on,” I muttered, my arm around her, helping her walk. I moved us through the door to the stock cart, sitting her against the wall in the only free space left. This carriage was narrow and filled with crates on one side, giving us third-class steerage with little space.
“Just rest.” I pinned my lips. Something twisted in my chest at seeing her hurt. A need to take it away, heal her. Tree fairies were nature’s healers, working with Earth’s gifts to help others.
Instead, I got her hurt.
“A shot of whiskey will help ebb the pain, but...” I looked at the door and back at her, scanning the room for potential threats. No one stood out, but I didn’t want to leave her alone again.
“I’ll be fine.” She nodded to the door. Seeing my hesitation, the fight going on within me, her voice became firmer. “Go.” She pulled out the billfold she stole back from the henchmen.
“You sure?” I took it, glancing around the cart again, a mix of women and men, muttering in groups or trying to sleep.
“Yes.” She flinched, adjusting her ass on the hard floor, her lids squeezing together. “Please.”
Her agony was the only thing that made me decide to leave her.
“You have the gun?” I muttered.
“Yes,” she huffed. “Now go before I shootyou.”
A snort choked up my throat, my head shaking. “Okay, I’ll be just a few minutes. Please, stay out of trouble.”
The amusement died rapidly as I exited the steerage, heading for the snack cart, shelving all the terrifying thoughts about her being on this journey into Romania with me. There was no choice now—unless I tossed her off a moving train, which might be a better option. Not only was she too young and inexperienced for what lay ahead, but now she was hurtandcrippled by the goblin metal. Basically, a baby fawn in the jungle.
She could fight extremely well, but that’s not what would protect her.
It was odd; I couldn’t sense what she was. Most of the time, I easily could figure people out, their energy buzzing around, their mannerisms or attributes giving them away. With her, I ran into a wall, but I sensed a darkness behind the barrier, a wildness I couldn’t explain. It seemed to go against her sophisticated, refined demeanor.
