Page 139 of Elysian

Sealed

Iblinked my bleary eyes. We set out once dawnlight came. After claiming each other against the cave wall, again and again, I was spent. Yet Cassiel seemed rejuvenated, carrying me out and whistling sharply for Abrax. Then we began another harsh journey. I was glad to leave because what we’d left behind was madness. My only hope was that Liadan and Jude had managed to stop the invasion.

As we rode, all I had were memories and grief to sit in. So much had been lost to men’s gluttony and forceful control. Even so, much had been gained by all that refused to cower. Even when matters were not in favor of resisting.

Cassiel pulled the reins sharply to the left, weaving off the current trail we traveled.

“What is it?”

Cassiel never acted without reason. “I hear riders approaching,” he murmured. He navigated Abrax higher through the compact woods, clomping up onto a side embankment, over untrodden paths that jostled me hard against Cassiel.

He pulled the reins, and Abrax stopped.

“The terrain is too rough to go higher. Let us wait for them to pass.” Cassiel jutted his chin down toward the trail we had come from. Branches thick with leaves jutted out, providing cover.

I rolled my ankle and flexed my calf. If we were staying here, I might as well stretch my aching legs. It always made it easier on my hip when riding long distances. I dismounted with ease, holding onto Abrax to gather strength in my legs.

“What is it?” Cassiel demanded, dismounting as well. “What ails you?” He crouched, hand sliding under my frock and taking hold of my calf. My hands slapped his shoulders to brace myself.

“Saints, Cassiel,” I groused, yanking at my leg until he released.

One moment he crouched, the next he was upright. Dusklight filtered through the tops of the trees and fell across the consternation twisting his features.

“Can a man not worry for his bondmate?”

How humorous—he sounded chastising. It was a shift to see him without weakness seeping through his every move. The man standing before me was so like the one I had met the first day. Strong, alert, with violence dancing in his eerie eyes.

“May I?” I asked quietly, hand hovering over his chest.

“You do not need to ask to touch me.” An impertinent smile tugged at his lips. With the sunlight shining across his face, the curve of his mouth, and even wearing the dirtied, ripped up clothes, he enraptured me. As sure as death—he stole my breath.

I wrenched myself back to the present and lifted on my tiptoes to reach his collar. The split material fell open at my tug. Creamy, strong, and smooth. I ran my fingertips lightly over the skin. He shivered, and his eyes softened. No sign of withering.

I let out another exhale. Despite seeing his skin clear of it, the reminder was needed. I had been terribly close to losing him.

“The small roof space over the watermill, surrounded by wheat, you found after you were run off from your home.” He had grown terribly still, refusing to look at me. “Is that where you lived?”

In his memory, I found myself sitting on a hard surface, surrounded by straw, cobwebs, and the musty smell of a damp chamber.

“Yes.” His throat bobbed. “For many annums. Until I was discovered.” His lips twisted. I could see how difficult it was for him to speak. His tongue darted across his lips. “I fled to the East before I was hanged.”

Laughter reached us from afar, echoing through the trees and sending birds into flight. I pulled my hand back. Cassiel raised a brow at me. I wrinkled my nose, sheepish. I had grown so used to hiding my affection.

Instead of festering over the realization, I turned toward the noise, hiding behind a tree. A group walked down the path we had been on. If they were also not traveling along the main road, they must be keeping hidden. A wagon creaked with each pace the horse pulled it. Rope crossed the bulging bed of the wagon. Three children clung to the sides, legs straddling the edge. Four men and seven women completed the company.

Even from a distance, bright blue splotches of blood and wounds stained many of them.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“Traveling to find new homes. They argue over whether to stop now or continue into dusklight. Their village was attacked by Hollows.”

I let out a tight breath. “While I was in The Barren, it trembled and it seemed as if . . . they were coming from the ground.”

“It is a symptom of the faltering threshold.”

“I knew it.” It had not been far off to assume what it had been, but I preferred the confirmation. “You know the truth about the realms and the Barren?” I looked over my shoulder. He was currently beside Abrax, checking all of his hooves.

“About The Barren not being a place to cross, instead that they had thresholds to reach the other realms? Yes.”