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He flutters his wings.
They are different. Faded. But he is somehow still so powerful. I don’t understand it, and I don’t understand why my body responds to him the way it does.
I wish it didn’t.
With my entire being, I wish I could stop feeling this way.
But when I look at him now, dripping wet, his shirt open, his pants low on his hips exposing his flat, sculpted stomach and the line of hair that leads down to his...
I shake my head and turn away.
Get a grip, Alana.
Get a grip.
As if he knows exactly what I’m thinking, Eldrion’s lip curls into a smile. He puts his hand on my shoulder. It is not kind, but it is not too firm either.
“We can talk about what just happened if you want to, but it doesn’t have to mean anything.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “Just like all the other times don’t have to mean anything either.”
“You gave me a release I needed.” I tip my chin up and stare at him. “That’s all.”
“Indeed.” He adjusts his shirt as if there’s anything he can do to make himself look less dishevelled when he’s still soaking wet. But then he tilts his head and looks towards the trees. “Do you hear that? I think our backup has arrived.”
I follow him to the edge of the treeline. We have almost reached it when four large black horses arrive. On one of them sits a Shadowkind guard I do not recognise. He looks pale and clammy, and when he nods back towards the forest and opens his mouth to speak, no sound comes out.
“I will explain, but not now,” Eldrion barks, jumping up onto the largest horse. “There are no more survivors. We return to Luminael.”
The guard purses his lips. He looks as though he’s trying not to vomit. His nose wrinkles with the memory of charred flesh, and the gesture brings back my own memory.
To shift it, I jump quickly onto my own horse, tap its sides, and gallop away.
I race as fast as I can.
Through the forest, not looking at the bodies or the debris, barely breathing until I have escaped the fog and the death.
Then across the meadows towards Luminael. Through the streets towards the castle.
I could leave. Right now, I could take a new direction and race away from here and never have to see Eldrion or this place or Finn ever again.
Except, I can’t. Because I caused this, so I have to try to undo it.
And because I know, deep down, that even if I did run... Finn would find me.
He would not let me go that easily.
When I reach the castle, there is more movement than I have seen in a long time. Briony greets me, reaches up and helps me down from the horse.
“How are they?” I ask, hurrying along beside her. “Where are they?”
“The healer came, and she’s helping them.”
“Raine’s baby?”
Briony blinks at me, presses her lips together, and swallows forcefully. “The healer is trying to save them both.”
I stop, gripping Briony’s hand tightly. “I’m so sorry.”
“So am I,” she says. “We both believed Finn was something different.”
