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I have the sudden urge to run through, but I stop myself. I don’t want Thieran to sense I’ve crossed the wards. I’m not even sure if he can tell I’ve manipulated them or not. Best to gauge his reaction at dinner tonight and see if he suspects anything.
Taking a step back, I watch the smoke slowly blow away and the barrier heal itself until it looks as it did before, clear and unblemished. This time when I touch it, it doesn’t yield under my fingers.
The effects don’t appear to last long, but it works. And if I arrive ready to leave, I’ll have plenty of time to slip through. With Meera, I can cover ground much faster than I did before. And this time Thieran won’t know to follow me because he’ll have no idea I’m gone.
An uneasy feeling settles in my chest as I collect the remnants of the candles from the ground, toeing dirt and leaves over the bits of wax and ash left behind. I pack everything carefully back into my saddlebag and shove the feeling away. I have nothing to feel guilty about. What’s transpired between Thieran and me doesn’t change things. Why should it?
Stuffing the blanket back on top of my supplies, I carve a slice of apple off and hold it out to Meera. She doesn’t take it, turning her head away from me and staring at the ward’s barrier as if she can see it plain as day.
“What? You’re disappointed in me now?” She snorts and shakes her head. “I don’t know what you want from me. Did you expect me to stay here? And do what? Rot in the Shadow Realm until I die and end up in Meren or Síra for all eternity when Railan and Hayle and Nevon are forced to judge me? There’s life out there.”
I gesture in front of us and hold up the apple for her again, but she still refuses to take it. Shoving the bite in my mouth, I stuff the rest of the apple back in the bag and sheath my dagger.
“Pout about it all you want.” I swing up into the saddle and let her dance and sidestep her frustration before taking charge and turning her toward the barn. “But I’m doing this for both of us.”
She nickers her disagreement, and when we step through the trees, the palace looming in the distance, that prickly feeling of guilt returns and settles heavily on my shoulders. I shrug it off.
It’s a useless emotion and an irritating one. Why should I feel guilty for taking the one thing that should never have been denied me in the first place?
When the potion for the shielding ritual is ready, I’ll test it to be sure it works. And if it does, Meera and I will be on our way back to Acaria not long after. Whether she likes it or not.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Grass on the verge of death, dried and stiff, crunches underfoot as I patrol the far edges of the eastern border. Garrick walks beside me, silent and stoic as always. It’s the first time I’ve had to visit this part of the Shadow Realm since Elora arrived. And what I see concerns me.
No matter which side of the veil you find yourself, the view is the same. Nothing but miles and miles of forest. Mortals on the Acarian side cannot pass through—usually. Instead they wander and wander in the forest until they eventually find their way back to whatever border town they came from or succumb to the elements or beasts.
From the inside looking out, the souls are actively repelled by the barrier. Residents of Meren are never given tasks that would bring them close enough to the veil for it to be a problem, but in general, they shouldn’t even know which direction it lies, let alone be able to get close to it.
And they haven’t been. Not for decades. Until this morning. When Garrick rushed into my study to inform me that a group of newer souls had wandered away from their assigned tasks and nearly reached the barrier before one of his men discovered them and pushed them back.
Now I can see why. Where nothing but an unimpeded view of the forest should be is instead a thin haze. As I move closer, it writhes, almost in recognition, and Garrick clears his throat behind me.
“Stay here,” I command before shifting to the other side of the veil.
The effect is the same on this side. A mortal might mistake the haze for mist if they wandered in this far and weren’t paying attention. They also have less incentive to try and cross than a soul from Meren or Síra might. Most mortals never wander into the forest this far unless they have a death wish already.
I turn away from the veil and survey the forest around me. Unlike on my side of the veil, here you can make out the distinct sound of animals. Birdsong, faint rustling from rabbits and other small game.
Forest guardians roam this stretch of land. They’re tethered to the veil and to me. They’re not meant to be able to wander far. A deterrent for a mortal who does manage to get too close.
The one that escaped and made its way into Aeris’s territory did so when the veil thinned too much and its tether to it stretched until it snapped. Once Aeris drove it back into the woods, it took it upon itself to wander from her territory to Kaia’s, where it attacked and then chased Elora. All told, a distance of more than half the length of Acaria’s southern border.
I shudder to think of the damage and hysteria it might have caused if Elora had found her way back to Rhagana with the beast on her heels. No doubt word of the incident would have reached Fontoss and my brother’s ears.
When it did, he would have paid me a visit, glee sparkling in his eyes at seeing me fail. It has always been one of his favorite ways to amuse himself. That and bedding as many women as possible under his wife’s nose to remind them both he married her out of greed and a desperate grasp for power and nothing more.
A small cluster of trees to my left rustles, the tree’s limbs shaking violently, followed by a series of grunts and inhuman squeals. A young fawn darts from the brush, followed by the bent figure of a beast meant to terrify. Half man, half wild animal, and covered in fur from head to toe.
It stops when it sees me, falling to all fours and giving its own version of a bow. I flick my wrist in its direction, and it immediately turns and lopes back the way it came, disappearing from view, the sound of its ambling steps slowly fading. The fawn lives to see another day.
I hurl a bit of power at the veil, which trembles but holds. The beast’s tether is still attached, but not for much longer if I don’t shore up this weak spot and then figure out what the fuck is happening.
Appearing back on the other side of the veil, Garrick still waiting patiently where I left him, I hold out my hand for his dagger. He draws it from the sheath at his waist and presents it to me handle first.
I move closer to the veil and lay the blade in my palm. I’m tired of bleeding for a realm that shouldn’t need it. Not with Elora here. Not when her presence has been such a balm to the problem I haven’t known how to fix for so long.
Drawing the blade across my flesh, I press my bloody palm to the hazy air and watch rivers of red run down the invisible barrier between the dead and the living. As my blood drips, the air sizzles and the wind picks up. And slowly, much slower than it used to, the haze sharpens to nothing again. As if it’s blown away in the wind.
