Jeo’s scream breaks off as his knees land in the snow. I get one more second of his eyes on me, and then he falls face-first in the snow and doesn’t get back up.
The horses have gained their momentum now, going so fast it nearly sends me skidding off the back, but I hold on, eyes frosting over as I stare and stare at where Jeo lies.
I know it’s shock, but I have no breath to scream, none to whisper. My tongue is frozen to the roof of my mouth, unable to form his name. All I can do is watch as shadow and light swirl together beside Jeo’s discarded body, hiding the man responsible. Magic clings and splits in deathly calm wisps that not even the punishing wind seems to touch.
Tobyn and Nile lie unmoving in front of the safe house like a macabre garden planted by Death. Planted there where their blood has taken root, where the ground has soaked in their life and sprouted their end.
Pruinn yells again at the horses to hurry, and the assassin’s power dissolves in the air. I suck in a breath as he stands there like Menace made flesh. Not a force of soldiers sent to kill me, not a band of cutthroats. Just a single deadly man with evil power curling around him.
The man pulls back his hood slowly, and then I see his dark eyes watching me from a patchwork face of two-toned skin. As if that too is playing with light and shadow.
Our eyes lock, and I’m unable to tear my gaze away, unable to do anything except stare as bile battles with my throat. He looks at me with a dangerous promise, but I look at him right back.
You, we both seem to say.
You.
Then, the cart cuts a sharp corner against a rocky hill of snow, and my view of him is gone, the sound of the horses’ pounding hooves somehow sounding like Jeo’s knees as they slammed into the ground.
Far off, I hear the toll of the castle’s bell echo through the mountains, a warning for the storm that’s beginning its furor. It will rage with ice and wind, and come morning, Jeo’s body will be nothing but a lump of snow, hidden by the sky and stolen by the ground. Come morning, Highbell will be out of my grasp again and under the control of the man who used me to get it in the first place, while I’m forced to flee from the shadow he sent to eradicate me.
Fury like I’ve never known before hardens like jagged waves of a sea gone glacial, stuck in a freeze that it has no way of thawing. When the blizzard hits, I don’t even notice it. I’m far too cold on the inside to feel it.
Chapter 34
AUREN
I sleep like the dead, so deep that it’s like clawing out from six feet underground to pull myself into consciousness. But I do it, because my subconscious is warning me that something is…off.
Peeling my blurred eyes open, I jerk upright, trying to bat away the last dregs of slumber, my senses prickling.
When I catch movement in my dim bedroom, I experience a moment of panic before my eyes land on the intruder.
“Lu?” My voice is croaky and cracked, but I stare at the Wrath incredulously. She’s sitting in front of the fire with her feet propped up, a book in one hand and a wine glass in the other.
She casts me a look. “Took you long enough. The sun went down an hour ago. You were snoring.”
Embarrassment makes me grumble indignantly, “I was not.”
I probably was.
Gaze flicking over to the balcony and windows, I see that Lu was right, I slept right through the entire day. Not only did I get a bath in before dawn, but I passed out just as the sun was cresting, and I’ve been sleeping ever since. Slade’s attentions wore me out in the best way.
Rubbing my face, I shove the covers back and stand up, stretching my arms over my head, feeling little twinges of soreness all over. Although, I think those have more to do with my nighttime activities than my exercises, and I have to keep a blush from my face as the swarm of memories crop up.
“How did you get in here?” I ask as I wander over to Lu, noting that not only is she drinking my wine, but she’s also helped herself to my tray of food that the servants sent. She must’ve built up my fire though, because it’s blazing warm and bright.
I flop into the chair across from her and look over the remnants of food on the tray. Looks like Lu helped herself to the cuts of meat and whatever used to be in the bowl. All that’s left is one chocolate scone, some gritty fruit, and half of a sandwich with a cinnamon crust that has a bite taken out of it.
I raise my brow at her. “Enjoy my food?”
She shrugs. “I’ve had worse. But why this kingdom thinks it’s a good idea to slop sugar on everything, I’ll never know. In the city, I ordered the beef stew, and it was smothered in syrup.”